Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3

It was the final official release for the Nintendo 64 (having been discontinued 3 months prior) and the only game that was released for the system in 2002, the first game released for the PlayStation 2 supporting online play and was a launch title for the GameCube in North America and PAL regions. 3 received critical acclaim, with the PlayStation 2 version being tied for highest-rated PlayStation 2 game on Metacritic alongside Grand Theft Auto III, and selling over 2.1 million copies in the United States by July 2006. Pro Skater 3 is also considered to be one of the greatest video games ever made. A remake of the game is included as part of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4, released in 2025.

• Title — Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 • Developer — * Neversoft • Shaba Games (PS) • Vicarious Visions (GBA) • HotGen (GBC) • Publisher — Activision • Programmer — Mick West • Engine — RenderWare • Series — Tony Hawk's • Platforms — * PlayStation • PlayStation 2 • Game Boy Color • GameCube • Xbox • Game Boy Advance • Windows • Nintendo 64 • Mac OS • Released — PlayStation, PlayStation 2'Game Boy Color'GameCubeNovember 18, 2001Xbox'Game Boy Advance'WindowsMarch 29, 2002Nintendo 64August 20, 2002Mac OSJanuary 31, 2003 • Genre — Sports • Modes — Single-player, multiplayer

• Illustration — The Windows version of Pro Skater 3 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 saw the introduction of the revert, a trick that enabled vert combos to be tied together with a manual, by tapping a button when landing in a quarterpipe; it allows for much longer combos than in the previous two games, where landing in a quarterpipe would finish a combo. It also added hidden combos. These were variations on standard tricks that could be performed as grab, flip, lip, or grind tricks. For example, double-tapping the kickflip button would make the character perform a double kickflip. This system would later be refined in Pro Skater 4. The game stood out in the franchise for being the first title to have online capabilities. Users could connect directly to other players online on the PlayStation 2 version—even prior to the launch of the network adapter, with a USB Ethernet adapter. The PlayStation and Nintendo 64 versions run on the Pro Skater 2 engine. The game has new tricks such as the Cannonball, Wrap Around, Fingerflip, Del Mar Indy and a new animation for the Airwalk. The Xbox version has an improved frame rate over the PlayStation 2 and GameCube version, as well as an additional level, the Oil Rig, that later returned as a level in Tony Hawk's American Wasteland.

The game features thirteen professional skateboarders, along with several unlockable original characters, depending on the version. Furthermore, the game features Darth Maul, Doomguy and Wolverine via licensing deals, as well as professional surfer Kelly Slater (to coincide with Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer). Additionally, the Japanese and other Asian versions feature exclusive Japanese pro skaters. • Featured pro skaters — Celebrity guest skaters • * Steve Caballero * Kareem Campbell * Eric Koston * Rune Glifberg * Tony Hawk * Bucky Lasek — * Bam Margera * Rodney Mullen * Chad Muska * Andrew Reynolds * Geoff Rowley * Elissa Steamer — * Jamie Thomas * Junnosuke Y * Shin Okada * Hiroki Saegusa * Sukehachi — * Darth Maul * Wolverine * Officer Dick * Private Carrera * Ollie the Magic Bum * Kelly Slater — * Demoness * Neversoft Eyeball * Doom Guy * X-Ray * Shaun Palmer * Mindy unlockable Japan-exclusive PC-exclusive Xbox-exclusive Game Boy Advance-exclusive

Shortly prior to release, Neversoft quickly amended some of the objectives in the Airport level due to sensitivity reasons in light of the September 11 attacks, where terrorist non-player characters were instead reskinned into pickpockets. Series producer Ralph D'Amato recalled: "When 9/11 happened, we were almost finished with Pro Skater 3. We had an airport level where the goal was to stop terrorists bombing the plane. We had to scramble and change it to stopping pickpockets".

A fourth game in the series, titled Pro Skater 4, was released the following year in October 2002.