User Reviews

It's decent for what it is but the documentary lacked the deep dive into the actual games. It had a much greater focus on the influence of the game on the pro skaters that were involved in it, rather than the actual game/development.

It really does just focus on the succes. Not much else and it doesn't linger on any of the massive failures that came later and how it influenced the company/future. Like you don't hear about Neversoft becoming defunct and Robomodo taking over and how that process went.

The documentary also has a 20 minute section on the history of skating which I thought was a bit much. Especially this being a niche documentary about a very specific skateboarding game. I would expect the audience not to need a history lesson and it felt like wasted time.

So it lacks depth in the game development department which I was looking forward too. Therefore the lower rating.

If you want to hear some legendary skaters talk about how THPS elevated their lives then its great, otherwise not so much.

This documentary, seemingly released to coincide with the release of the remastered versions of "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 & 2", was advertised on Sky Documentaries last week - and being a fan of the game series, I downloaded it. Whilst it has some interesting moments, ultimately the story wasn't quite interesting enough to be worthy of the documentary.

Combining archive footage with recent interviews with various personalities, the documentary tracks the rise of Skateboarding from child's activity, to a rebellious outsider movement, to X-Games popularity. It's most high profile name, Tony Hawk, a lifelong gamer begins to discuss a video game with various parties, before settling in partnership with Neversoft/Activision and producing a series of hit games that both reflect and then influence the skating scene.

The skating side of the documentary is perhaps a bit more interesting than the gaming side. Plenty of interviews with a number of skating figures that take you though that history. There is some needle in there, towards Tony I felt - with him being a big shot and taking their world mainstream with the X-Games and the game itself. It's then really interesting out the other side, when you have skaters that were totally inspired by "Pro Skater" and even learning that some tricks that began in the game and were thought impossible, have become utilised in real life.

The actual game development though unfortunately isn't really that interesting. They had a game they thought was OK, but might not sell. It did catch on though, and sold more than they could have hoped, so they drove the franchise into the ground by releasing too many games too quickly and diluting the formula. There was a little talk about the much derided skateboard peripheral, that didn't really work, but that could have been delved into further. There was no talk about the "Jackass-ification" of the series towards the end there though. There was some discussion about the soundtrack, however, which was a key aspect for some bands to get their music heard by wider audiences.

I enjoyed the huge nostalgia buzz, don't get me wrong - but perhaps a wider target, such as action sports games in general or a wider look at the history of Neversoft, would have been more interesting.

The first half hour is a history about skateboarding. I already saw many more in depth videos about it on different documentaries so it was kinda boring to me i knew all this stuff and i assume many people watching this will know this too. Could be interesting for people new to this tho.

Then they speak a lot about 1 and 2 and briefly about 3-4 and THUG then they talk 1 minute about the failure of RIDE and nothing about THPS 5 which surprised me. They briefly mention SKATE and how it divided the player base but i would have liked if they talked about it more what they were thinking at the time about SKATE etc..

There was really nothing in depth about the production of the game it was more like how the game impacted the culture of skating and people involved in it. But i saw many youtube docs and other content that already explained this.

If you already know about skate history and lived through the THPS craze like me (i'm old) you will learn nothing new in this. But it's still entertaining and a good watch.

This certainly cranks up the nostalgia. If you grew up playing the Tony Hawk games, or skateboarding, then you will probably enjoy this.

As great as the subject matter is, it's a rather bland documentary. Just a lot of talking heads, a lot of patting eachother on the back, and a quick overview of the series itself.

The documentary is best when talking about the first two iconic games; in particular their development. The impact the games had on not just the skating world, but the bands who featured on the soundtracks was interesting too.

This makes me want to listen to the music featured on the Tony Hawk games even more than it does play the games themselves. You're probably not going to learn anything new here. The sheer volume of quick interviews is enough to make you more dizzy than the gameplay angles.

But for all its documentary shortfalls, it's still a nice enough trip down memory lane.

I had heard about the Tony hawk video games though I did not know much about them.

I liked the interviews with pro skateboards and people involved with the video games.

I found it interesting to learn about some of the skateboarding video games that came out before the Tony Hawk video games. I suppose I thought that Tony Hawks games were the first skateboarding video games.

A nice little documentary about the franchise. I would have loved it to be a little bit longer with some more footage. Seems like some things were slightly glossed over. That being said, I'm not being a hater. It's worth a watch and will definitely make you want to run out and buy the new remastered games for nostalgia!

This is truly a magical 73 minutes and worthy of the long wait, and anticipation I've had for it. I wasn't sure what to expect, structurally, going in, I just knew my love for the game and the role it played in my growing up. So it's important to understand the focus of the documentary.

This doc is about the influence and impact of skateboarding (and it's culture) on the game's creation, and the subsequent impact of the game on the future of skateboarding and culture. This is not just a documentary about the history of the franchise that charts the rise and fall, details of development programming, the Robomodo games etc... This is all glossed over, but this is much more about how skateboarding, and Tony Hawk influenced a game, and how that game changed several landscapes for skateboarding, culture, and games to come.

It fully captured some magic here that truly speaks to my personal feelings when I think about THPS and it's impact in my gaming life, and life outside of the game. Watching it gave me goosebumps in a way I can't explain fully... They have put into video form some of the most nostalgic feelings of my late teens, and made me feel an era of my life in a way I haven't felt before... Kind of like when you smell the air on a certain day and you remember a time or place from your past.

This doc is a personal masterpiece for me.

I just saw the movie in Google Play Movies (Youtube Movies). Gave it 9/10, because, while it is a good movie, I really want to see more of what Neversoft guys have to say about the story. In short - the movie is otherwise good. Not as good as Stacy Peralta's documentaries on skateboarding, but still good. I enjoyed seeing it. I am one of these people, which this video game inspired to get into skateboarding, even late as now I am 44 years old. and I know I am not the only one. In the past I started with THPS2 and since then, every new game for me and my brother was like a holiday - we played for countless hours. So for sure, there was a need for this movie to be made and I am glad it is a reality now. Good thing about the movie is, that there are interviews not just with the skaters and few Neversoft guys, but also some of the musicians from the soundtrack and some of the influenced kids.

Basically, the movie represents more of Tony Hawk's point of view on the story and it is a good one. We see of course interviews also with the other core game skaters, such as Rodney Mullen, Steve Cabalero and more. I was looking to see Elissa Steamer, but she was not featured in the movie. Still, the presented material was interesting. There were stories, Tony tells what other options he had, the development around the game, which is the X-Games competition and the legendary 900 and many other things. Just as in the game, the movie features cool soundtrack.

Fun fact: Rodney Mullen wears a Debian linux logo t-shirt. I am curious why - is he a linux guy too? Won't be surprised, but need to ask. Asked him on his Facebook and Instagram, so let's see what he will reply.

The movie duration is like 1:11hrs and the rental price on Google was like 4$, so it was affordable and fun to watch.

Very well made and produced piece of film. If you played the games as a kid just as I did you'll love it.

The first twenty minutes of Pretending I'm a Superman offered promises of what the rest would fail to contain: interesting stories. Whilst everyone I wanted to hear from is featured to some extent they all fail to tell an interesting story past that of their own success from the videogames. It's nice to see a mention of the music but there's very little here involving the developers and the worlds they created.

There is little new to learn from the rest of the film. Small snippets of the film reveal a few minor worries with the videogame but there's a distinct lack of storytelling here. None of the frustrations develop into anything big. Every person seems to say the same thing - 'There could have been a problem, and I was worried about x but it was alright in the end,'. There's nothing inspiring to learn.

Missed opportunities include failing to show some of the prototypes that were talked about. One person recalls Bruce Willis skateboarding with a gun on his back but we don't get to see this. There's also no mention of Robomodo of what I would consider to be the downfall of the series.

It feels like the creators had to be kind to Activision and this damages how authentic the viewpoints of the people speaking are. By the end I was watching incase anything interesting happened, it didn't. The film became a corny drag to watch and I eagerly waited for the credits so I could get back to doing something else.

When I first heard about this crowd-funded independent documentary I was expecting it to be a min-documentary uploaded to youtube for free.

When I heard it was a near feature length film with a $10-$15 price tag, ($5 rental) I was pretty apprehensive, I mean much of this info's already online for free, right?

It was one of the later trailers that sold me on the film though, Seeing the production from the prescriptive of neversoft, Tony hawk and other pro's may make this worth the price.

I went 'All In', and bought the film, And I have to say I was very impressed!

It's not just the story of "Tony Hawk Pro Skater" the Video game even just the series as a whole. It really goes into how it changed skate culture forever!

The editing and directing are fantastic, and it far exceeded my expectations! --- I do have a few minor gripes though,

First, I feel the pacing could be a little better in some spots, There's about a 18mins at the beginning, before they talk about the first game's development. It sets up how skateboarding was back in the 70's 90's and early 90's, but I feel it could have been trimmed down a bit, or at least paced better.

Second, I wish they spent a little more time taking about the other entries in the series. Most of the time is spent on the first game, Significantly less on the second, and by the time they get to even Pro Skater 4, we only get a few seconds. Not even a mention on how systems like manuals and reverts effected design. Or even what led to the dramatic changes between Pro Skater 4, and the underground series. And while The motion control games are mentioned, there's Zero mention of Pro Skater 5, the HD collection for even the new 1+2 remake (remake was announced after this film began production)

And 3rd, it would have been cool to see more early development work or production prototypes, But I'd imagine after over 20 years, much of that may have been lost, or may be legally owned by Activision.

--- But Again, it seems like the goal of this documentary was just to hear about how the game series began, and it's influence on skateboarding.

Reading the reports online is one thing, but hearing it first hand from those involved is another thing.

The team behind this did a fantastic job!

If you even have a passing interest in the 'Pro Skater' Series, You NEED to watch this film!

I am definitely not a skater never have been never will I am not coordinated but I definitely grew up playing the Tony hawk games. Now I have not played every single Tony hawk game but this was a very nice documentary about Tony hawk and his career skateboarding in general and they did mention a lot of the Tony hawk games. I was a little disappointed because I thought at the end they would've at least mentioned Tony Hawk's Pro skater 1+2 remastered games which is about to come out. Oh well.

If you played all the Tony Hawk games, just got Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2 than this is the absolute perfect cherry on top of everything Tony Hawk related. This doc combines everything together to give you a deep analysis of what went on before and during the THPS series. Very well documented and would 10/10 recommend.