Topic by TASVideoAgent

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater is the first game in a now extensive series of 10+ games that are still being created and released to this day. It was first released for the Playstation on September 30, 1999, and later ported to the Nintendo 64 and Sega Dreamcast. "Primitive" by today's Tony Hawk control standards, this game utilizes flip tricks, grab tricks, grinds, and special tricks, which can be done on street ramps, vert ramps, rails, and all sorts of other objects.

Game Objectives

Emulator used: Mupen64 0.5 rerecording v8
Aims for fastest time
Genre: Sport
Brings back 2000's memories
Rips your childhood apart

Here are the three main tricks used in this run:

Grinding

Grinding usually adds to your speed. This is why I jump many times on the same rail to reach optimal speed. Upward rails give speed faster than downward rails for some reason.

Wallriding

While wallriding, you can jump a second time to reach higher areas.

Jumping

Jumping keeps most of your speed. I abuse this technique a lot in this run.

Comments

Finally, this run is done! I'm glad I can add a new title to the list of N64 TASes. I put a lot of effort into this, despite the fact that this is the first completed TAS of the game; it came out just as good as I expected. I chose to skip 4 tapes to reach the ending credits as fast as possible, instead of going for 100% requirements. But remember, pro skaters get all golds...

Character Choice

I used Tony Hawk for great justice! After some investigation, it turns out that all characters behave exactly the same. Also, loose, medium or tight trucks don't change anything in the N64 version of the game. I don't know if this is true for the Playstation version of the game as of yet.

Stage by Stage Comments

Warehouse Woodland Hills

I re-did this stage about 40 times, always finding improvements here and there. In the end, because of some weird jump trick [dead link removed] I found, a whole new strategy was created, which ended up saving a second.

School Miami

Here is where Spider-Waffle's help came in handy. By wallriding on the left wall, I was able to land directly on the awning where the secret tape is, and barely obtain the pro score tape. It saved a lot of time compared to the SDA run.

Mall New York

Again, Spider-Waffle gave me a lot of tricks and ideas to try. I was able to obtain the secret tape, the "A" letter, and break the directory without wasting time or backtracking.

Skate Park Chicago

Grinding on the ramps to the right is way faster (thanks Spider-Waffle!). Performing a "Madonna" gave me enough points to get 3rd place in each round. Only the first two rounds are necessary to obtain a medal (this is also true for the other two competitions).

Downtown Minneapolis

There were four main strategies for Downtown Minneapolis. It was pretty close, but the one present in the run is the fastest.

Downhill Jam Phoenix

The big time-saver here is the "Fastplant" to the secret tape. Using this TAS-only strategy saved a lot of time. Also, landing in the water to respawn in front of the valve after getting the "E" letter (like in the SDA run) was 2 seconds slower.

Burnside Portland

Doing grinds with quick tricks for big multipliers went well here.

Streets San Francisco

Spider-Waffle's strategy was greatly used here once again. Not much to say. I obviously did a "900°" to make girls wet, with style.

Roswell New Mexico

Grinds, grinds, grinds, fun, bronze medal, etc.

Comparison Table

Here I compare the times I got in each stage with Discombobulator's (author of the SDA run) times. Since there weren't any better/TASed Tony Hawk's Pro Skater run, those were my goals to beat.

Levels	Nahoc's in-game time	Discombobulator's in-game time	Time saved
Warehouse Woodland Hills	18 seconds	26 seconds	8 seconds
School Miami	9 seconds	22 seconds	13 seconds
Mall New York	33 seconds	53 seconds	20 seconds
Skate Park Chicago	3 and 3 seconds	8 and 5 seconds	7 seconds
Downtown Minneapolis	32 seconds	54 seconds	22 seconds
Downhill Jam Phoenix	37 seconds	1 minute 2 seconds	25 seconds
Burnside Portland	4 and 4 seconds	12 and 12 seconds	16 seconds
Streets San Francisco	21 seconds	44 seconds	23 seconds
Roswell New Mexico	5 and 6 seconds	9 and 9 seconds	7 seconds

Special Thanks

Spider-Waffle: He gave me many, many tips and a lot of advice. He kept giving me new ideas to try and luckily, they worked quite often! Huge thanks to him.
sonicpacker: He encouraged me and gave me feedback throughout the run.
Discombobulator: His SDA run gave me a nice goal to beat.

Suggested screenshots

[dead links removed]

mmbossman: ~~Claimed!~~ And accepted! I spent so much time on this game as a kid, it's awesome to see it absolutely shreded.

Nahoc: Processing!