25 Years Ago, We Got The Greatest Sports Video Game Of All Time

Sports games have seen countless major franchises explode over the years, from the Madden series to EA's NHL games, becoming annual fixtures for millions of players. Soccer games have exploded over the years with FIFA, now EA Sports FC, while basketball fans have spent decades with NBA 2K. Baseball has MLB The Show, and even more specialized sports have produced classics of their own.

Expand the definition to motorsports, and legendary racing franchises like Gran Turismo, Forza Motorsport, and Need for Speed have pushed the boundaries of the genre with every new generation of releases. Yet the greatest sports game ever made has absolutely nothing to do with throwing touchdowns, scoring goals, or crossing a finish line, and more than two decades after its original release, this title remains one of the most revolutionary and important sports games of all time.

It features near-perfect, highly addictive gameplay, iconic level design, and an unforgettable soundtrack, and was part of nearly every gamer's catalog back in the day. I'm speaking, of course, about Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, the holy grail of sports gaming that defined a generation.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 Arrived At The Perfect Cultural Moment

In its heyday, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 was an absolute necessity in every gamer's library, bringing in players from all walks of life in a truly refined skating experience that learned valuable lessons from the previous Tony Hawk entries. It remains an undisputed high point in video game history, with the PlayStation 2 version carrying an extraordinary 97 Metascore and ranking among the highest-rated video games on Metacritic. It was the first game in the series released on the PS2, and that version in particular became one of the most acclaimed games of its generation.

THPS 3 introduced the iconic Revert mechanic, a feature that completely reshaped gameplay and let players string together ridiculous combos, letting players also discover hidden combos and featuring improved trick-chaining that gave it its signature arcade-style rhythm. It also had one of the greatest soundtracks of all time, with tracks from The Ramones, Motörhead, Red Hot Chili Peppers, KRS-One, and Alien Ant Farm that became the soundtrack to many gamers' youth.

THPS 3 arrived during the absolute peak of Tony Hawk’s mainstream rise in popularity, dropping at a moment when skateboarding was heavily featured on MTV, the X Games were huge, punk rock was blowing up, and early-2000s youth culture was obsessed with what used to be an underground niche sport.

THPS 3 Remains One Of The Greatest Sports Games Ever Made

Screenshot by Nicholas Becher

The wider Tony Hawk franchise had become a genuine commercial juggernaut at the time of THPS 3's release and eventually generating roughly $715 million in revenue by 2004. That legacy led to the two enormously anticipated modern remakes, with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 arriving in 2020 and becoming the fastest-selling game in franchise history to reach one million copies, demonstrating just how much fans wanted to dive back in.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 followed in 2025 and was still well received, earning an 82 Metascore, but it couldn't completely recreate the phenomenon of the original THPS 3, mostly because its success is simply impossible to reproduce. THPS3 arrived at exactly the right cultural moment, when skateboarding, punk and alternative music, and the PlayStation 2 were colliding in the mainstream.

The modern remakes are popular mostly because players simply want to relive that legendary era in gaming, but nostalgia could only carry the newer games so far. That said, you'd be hard-pressed to find a gamer without at least one fond memory of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, and there's no question it will go down in history as one of, if not THE greatest sports games ever made.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3

Systems

Released October 30, 2001

ESRB T For Teen // Blood, Mild Lyrics, Suggestive Themes

Developer(s) Neversoft, Shaba Games, Vicarious Visions, HotGen

Engine RenderWare

Multiplayer Local Multiplayer, Online Multiplayer

Franchise Tony Hawk's Pro Skater

Number of Players 1+