Tony Hawk's Proving Ground DS: Better or Worse? - Square Eyed Jak

We've already seen how Proving Ground on 7th gen systems was the last GOOD Tony Hawk game. So now it's time to see how the DS version compares, is it the best of the DS lineup of Pro Skater titles or is this the beginning of the end?
Check out kickblips.com/ for the best chiptune Pro Skater songs! 🎮🎶
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Intro/Outro Music:
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#tonyhawk #hawktober #gamereview

[@Ikcatcher]

This was actually the game that introduced me to the series, spent way too much time on it than I willing to admit

[@niche8137]

Same, lol! This and THPS4 got me into wanting to skateboard as well, lol.

[@2Pi100]

As a 9 year old, this game on the DS was fantastic. Being that young, it was my first mobile tony hawk game, and I had no idea what they had needed to progress on in the series to make the game impressive. As it is without any insight to previous editions it's a good game for a kid.

[@repentantsky8285]

I never thought it would happen, but this is my favorite Tony Hawktober ever. Not just because of all the quantity of games, but because it's interesting to see all the different styles of the games make to the handheld's and to see all the visuals styles as well.

[@SquareEyedJak]

You're going to fucking love tomorrow's episode then, shit gets much wilder from here on out!

[@xj0462]

I remember when a relative found this game under a seat of a truck he bought. I still have this game that he found, though haven't played it very much

[@notyetskeletal4809]

hah. I found a Pokémon game on DS. It sold for a bit. I have no emotional attachment to that game so it was easy to let go.

[@kylespevak6781]

0:56 In ny opinion, Tony Hawk died when it tried to copy Skate. Skate is a sim, Tony Hawk is arcade. It's like comparing a tactical shooter and CoD. Ditching your identity to copy someone else's will always put you in 2nd place. I played Tony Hawk for fun, not realism. Skate is fun in it's own way too. Skate's gameplay loop is closer to real life skating, but Tony Hawk was literally never about realism, just fun

[@fastbreak333]

You're gonna need something bigger to wash the taste off Tony Hawk's Motion.

[@kei_nishimaru]

I always felt that this game, paired (bizarrely enough due to different genre) with NFS ProStreet, are like the most underrated titles of each franchise from their era. I tend to play them back to back.

[@kylespevak6781]

9:45 It's incentive to buy the version of technically inferior

[@jonasarena3523]

I own THPG on the ds and it's pretty good for what it is on the ds' hardware. Feels like a ps1 tony hawk game with the added mechanics and smooth frame rate. I'd say your review came off too harsh but the score was fine.

[@derpfish4385]

Same! I really thought not many others would have played it on DS, but yeah, I have good memories of playing this as a kid on the DS.

[@BugsyFoga]

HAWKTOBER: Grinding on the proven ground

[@-AK-]

I played Proving Ground on DS before Sk8land, so I was quite surprised that they were the same game when I got to play Sk8land years later. Also, the psp project 8 really should've included the classic levels in freeskate, but there are mods available to play them so it doesn't affect me much in the end.

[@Megumi_Bandicoot]

Square Eyed Jak should become a playable character in Nitro Fueled. He should be the “broken character” just like Penta Penguin from the original CTR.

[@TPGCSGO]

you forgot to mention a couple of things about THPG (ds). 1. The flip tricks are endless. you can hold down Y and do endless kickflips , 360 flips etc. (why is 540 flip a special trick when you can do a 1260 flip whenever you want?) 2. Your stats resets after falling out of bounds. it's super annoying if you fall into the water or somewhere outside of the map and when the game puts you back to the map again you have the same stats as a brand new character. (you can fix it by just bailing once) 3. The aggro kick doesn't give you a speed boost at all. It just looks like it because everytime you do a aggro kick the entire screen gets a blur effect that makes it look like you are going faster and the camera zooms out a little. (but if you time it and get a super aggro push the split second you are about to ollie in a ramp you will go a little higher)

[@Macrusader]

Most of those things are wrong. The only right thing is the flip tricks being endless, but ONLY Double or Triple variants.

[@DrGamelove]

I liked the DS skateland, except for it being a bit easy and short but I still want this. I will say I’m not a fan of the big open and boring real world levels either. Pro Skater stages had way more personality. Those old stages are awesome.

[@metalbrainmextrememetalent6810]

This game looks pretty good. It’s the one Tony Hawk game I don’t own for the DS. It’s art direction looked a bit drab, but the gameplay in this video is changing my mind.

[@kylespevak6781]

Hearing it's basically Sk8land interested me. I might give it a go

[@tyler1234321]

I consider myself a very distinguished youtube connoisseur and wow man. Your content and quality is absolutely top tier.

[@Iron_Hawk]

So I finished watching through (didn't know psp p8 was in this episode, i've been waiting for your take on it since i'm working on a mod of it myself lol) and I got to say, i'm suprised you didn't cover any of the broken bugs in the port, like... - the transparency bug where your skater disaperas behind windows and water - the missing sponsor details, billboards, banners, etc from levels and how which sponsors were removed is inconsistent through-out the levels - the game crashing bugs in maps like hawaii and alcatraz - all the broken gaps and scripts in the classic maps, like bouny objects being soild, lip gaps triggering as grinds and sometimes keep triggering over and over, missing rail nodes, floating rail nodes, no shatter particles on any breakables, and the missing things like peds, animals (like birds and pigeons) and vehicels (like the jeeps in downtown) - all the missing main map mesh and broken mesh like the floating qp in the ruins, the missing billboards in chicago (skate park) and downtown, the missing store stuff in mall, the store door in mall being positioned wrong, missing detail textures like the rainbow in hawaii on the building, and other non sponser decals like the blood on the wall near the trains in the ruins, and some stuff in maps not even having the transparent textures set to transparent so the white is showing - and how buggy classic mode itself is, with sometimes the combo freezeing if you fail it so you have to restart the level to retry it, and stuff like that. Not shitting on the review, its great, and obviuslly your opinion, just seeing how much you have ripped other games apart for having such a lack of polish, like thaw and thug2 remix, it was shocking to see how much praise you had for the shitty job page44 did, and idk maybe it just urks me more cause i've spent longer playing the levels, and seeing them full screen on pc rather then playing on a psp, but yea, i'm suprised you didn't talk about any of it, even a quick like "Though a downside is these ports of the maps are really buggy, with missing mesh, broken scripts, and even some spots crashing the game" Anyways, thank you if you did take the time to read my shitty "rant" and great job with hawktober dude, keep up the great work and have a great day dude.

[@ValorDucky]

Game itself was pretty meh. But this game thrived with its online community back in the day. The official website had forums, tournaments, art contests, leaderboards and crews. The online features were ahead of its time on the ds and I had a blast interacting with the community.

[@TheNathanNS]

I tried to play Proving Ground on my 3DS and it ran like arse.

[@playerunkown8699]

TheNathanNS hey Nathan good to see you

[@brunocar02]

did you try an official copy?

[@chemselox]

wait did you use twilight menu? theres an option to change the megahertz

[@Hawk-q9d]

@@chemselox What option are you supposed to set it at to reduce the massive framerate issues with THPG? I'm having the same problem. Also is there any way to get American Sk8land to work? Some sort of trick maybe.

[@chemselox]

@@Hawk-q9d change the arm9 cpu speed 67 MHz (NTR) to 133 MHz (TWL) camera missions will be laggy. but it will fix some of the framerate issues in some areas

[@ImRTYule]

& welcome to how to make a bad day good 10 fucking 1, step 1 watch a square eyed Jak video...... instant fucking success

[@liefacts3000]

I just found this channel because I look for new thps content every week. Glad to see one last person in this world uploading thps content

[@user-uu3rc3fh6o]

I played this when i was around 7 years old and i loved it. Kids are so easy to impress. I still remember the videos of the pro skaters, that were included. Gosh i will never forget that. I watched them sooooo often. But tbh it aint a good game now, and it was not either back in the time

[@mondaybear21]

Definitely can’t wait for that review of Hue Pixel Paint-I mean Tony Hawk: Motion tomorrow! 😁

[@SquareEyedJak]

* *sweat intensifies* *

[@Fatelipe]

I played this game on my NDS as in 2009, it is not a 10 or 9 game but it is not a bad game, I think it deserves a 7/10. I very much agree on the character customization, it seems more like our character is doing cosplay. But compared to other Tony Hawk titles for NDS, Proving Ground is the best for me. '' Downhill Jam '' and '' Sk8land '' I don't like their cartoonish style (looks mediocre), they also feel so locked and linear... ''Motion'' is garbage Actually I'm playing Proving Ground on my 3DS again, and it's fun, the locations don't feel locked in and there are a lot of tricks to do... To be a game of NDS is well.

[@Sephinova]

Thank you so much for doing two weeks this year, simply can't get enough.

[@SquareEyedJak]

Glad people are happy with it. Was originally going to be 7 days but could you fucking imagine this episode crammed in ON TOP of Downhill Jam AND tomorrow's 25 minute episode? It'd have been torture. So fuck it, 2 week special! 😅

[@zexalsrevenge511]

I’m here for your reviews, dude. My favourite videos coming from you has always been the reviews.

[@Macrusader]

Actually, the 'Neutral' goals might not affect the Hardcore/Career status bar, but they count as goals you can complete for the next pro (skater) to appear (ex. if you want to be a Career skater, and ONLY a Career skater, you can do all of the Career and Neutral goals to progress). So, yes, the Neutral goals DO have a purpose unlike what you said in the video. (No offense.)

[@darknid158]

The custom touch screen threads was available in Downhill Jam for DS as well

[@Macrusader]

I was literally about to say that. In fact, in his Downhill Jam DS video, during the few seconds when he was creating his skater, he was actually in the Clothing Editor for a few frames (he didn't actually "use" it, though).

[@TombstoneChris]

i had no idea this one was even on DS. So cool.

[@kylespevak6781]

4:23 It's always so interesting when they make a half baked system like that. It's like a lie to players. Put the system in or don't. Let me be a sociopath and suffer for it

[@Sterling20073]

Unfair review, The DS versions hold up well & are far better than the gba games. DS Games are best played on Drastic emulator with hi resolution 3d rendering enabled & the picture is better than the DS gives itself

[@HavelsRing96]

Shits gonna get spooky tomorrow

[@cadaudioguitars2898]

i never understood why the ds versions had characters with the same body type as Jack Skellington riding a super fat board...was it really hard to make the models look decent

[@lilbrojoe2]

If you don't mind me asking, why did the box for Proving Ground have the ESRB underneath the Australian rating? Looks like it was just a sticker on the box, I've never seen that before!

[@SquareEyedJak]

Yeah we get that for handhelds a lot of the time, when the box art itself is the same across regions.

[@lilbrojoe2]

@@SquareEyedJak Interesting, so that doesn't usually happen to console games if the box art is the same, but only handhelds? I wonder why... thank you for the reply! :)

[@djtoxicdhg]

You know the only thing is going to suck about the series is whenever it eventually ends ilovesukie Tober I just really hope they would have you done reviewing all the Tony Hawk games you still do something cool for skate Tober I love you content bro keep up the great work we truly go above and beyond you really have a great work ethic keep up the phenomenal job!

[@sveng5885]

Another great video as always. Personally looking forward to you reviewing Project 8 on PSP, my most played Tony Hawk game by far when I was a kid.

[@SquareEyedJak]

Well you don't need to look forward to it, Project 8 PSP features in this episode.

[@sveng5885]

Square Eyed Jak yeah just finished watching the video, thought this video was only about proving ground for DS lol. I was pleasantly surprised project 8 for PSP was in it too!

[@captainnintendo]

Would actually like to see you review Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure and the Jackass game. They do come off as extremely familiar in gameplay

[@franzpattison]

Marseilles = Mar-see-ay It actually says it in the audio at the very beginning of the level in THPS2 BTW I love this series

[@Rich-ir6ed]

Why is jak not at 100k subs yet? Love this guy!!

[@JamesBond-j4b]

Because nobody can stand him

[@UltraPrimeHunter]

Excellent video Jak!! Can’t wait for more of these!!

[@LiamStables-u3h]

What is this instrumental song called at 3:32?

[@selfaware7617]

Did you just casually throw in Rocket music and expect me not to notice? 😍

[@bthportugal]

God bless you Jak, I've been enjoying every video so far. Keep up the good work.

[@SquareEyedJak]

Cheers mate!

[@eclecticgamerdx9140]

Loving this series, great job.

[@Iron_Hawk]

Hell Yeah!!!! Week Two!!!!

[@jakeogden3492]

Everyone's agenda after this has all blown over: BINGE WATCH!

[@aidanhatcher1]

about time mate, been waiting since last episode. Legit only youtuber i watch (uk here) cant wait to watch this hope you have a great fucking day !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@RunTheJorge]

If you have a PSP with CFW there's a mod for THP8 that adds the Classic levels to freeskate and more skaters. Only trade off is no story or soundtracks. It's called Tony Hawk's Project Mod

[@BigRiggs77]

love your vids bro

[@JomasterTheSecond]

Motion... finally, time for you to go through the pain I did playing it as a kid! >:D

[@ToniSchmidt78]

I played it as a child an it was absoulute fire. People today are so spoiled from the grafics out there that they forget the good old time

[@zolux2884]

I wanted to buy THPS for my Nintendo 3DS but i saw that all THPS games were made only for the DS. My question is, if i buy one of the THPS games, can i play it on my 3DS without bugs ? Thanks for answers !

[@dirtcobain7777]

Yes, you can. But I’m 9 months late lol. It’ll work just fine

[@Bobby_T_]

I played it hundreds of hours on the 3DS, the other Tony Hawk games work well on it

[@CatFood420]

I loves this game as kid it made my childhood

[@Bakartridge2095]

I personally found Proving Ground on the DS to be better than American Sk8land, but I'm kinda biased as Proving Ground is my favorite tony hawk game, lol.

[@n1njahawkssecondchannel84]

Keep up the good work on your videos

[@planetaryashes]

Never experienced project 8 but I’ve definitely experienced the ds port of the proving ground and boy oh boy it looks like a polygon mess and a bit of an eye sore. Might need to get the actual console version of the two. Awesome video review dude!

[@JosePineda-jn8jk]

So if I haven’t played American sk8land is this the more worth it than that? Or should I just go sk8land? Just looking for a portably tony hawk game

[@SquareEyedJak]

Can't go wrong with either TBH, they're incredibly equal. I simply scored this one lower as it's nothing new. But Sk8land probably has slightly better maps and goals.

[@JosePineda-jn8jk]

Square Eyed Jak I really appreciated the feedback, I ended up getting proving ground since I already played through Sk8land and I am really enjoying it. I feel like some challenges are actually, well challenging lol. Not the greatest TH I ever played but definitely worth it for a portable version

[@ivv6954]

Are you going to play Tony Hawk motion soon

[@SuperMandibleclaw]

Is there going to be a video on the mobile game?

[@NanaKyoto]

Kind of a shame how Proving Ground DS doesn't offer anything new that American Sk8land already had. (With the exception of some gimmicks) But how often can you consider the PSP version of a game to be the definitive port? It's also kind of a shame that the PSP paled in comparison to the DS.

[@enter-ym2bc]

what are you going to do next tony hawktober season?

[@fizzpeak123]

He's probably gonna cover the activison o2 games which were spinoffs of tony hawk

[@cyanidegaming9617]

How did you know?????

[@JamesBond-j4b]

These guys reviews are a joke. I Hope he finally matured a because if not he's going to have a hard life

[@stefanchristopher6303]

Heh... "Muh-say-lees" it's pronounced "Mar-say" (Marsailles)

[@IAmTheBestMang]

@Yi Gotti Yes it is. It's French.

[@IAmTheBestMang]

@Yi Gotti Ah I get it.

[@pistachiodisguisey911]

I didn’t even know there was a proving ground mobile game

[@michelangelo5903]

there’s this awesome BMX game on PS2 (can’t remember the name unfortunately it was years ago) but you can make your own park and everything i remember always losing to my cousin on the challenge where you have to hurt yourself as much as possible edit- the case for it is red and one of the pictures on the back was a guy riding down a huge water slide on a bike we never got that far in the game tho but if anyone knows what i’m talking about let me know i wouldn’t mind playing it now that i’d actually know what’s going on lol

[@fizzpeak123]

Dave mirra freestyle bmx 2?

[@Peter_Gasoline]

This review really took me by surprise, I think you're way off base here. This is one of the better Tony Hawk games, especially on a handheld. Last week I revisited American Sk8land for the first time since it released an that game is like baby's first THPS game, it's so easy and short, so this one actually having challenging and well designed goals, and a lot of them, was a huge relief when I stared playing it. It was engaging. The levels were all well designed, the graphics were great for DS, performance was much better than Sk8land. I prefer this to THUG2 Remix even just because I don't really like THUG2. Even its classic mode was good. There's some useless and stupid features here, same with its console cousins, but by and large I feel like this game is a solid follow up to something like THPS4. It hits that same kinda difficulty level which is just right in my opinion, and it's structured similarly. Also similar moveset with no walking. This is a solid Tony Hawk title, really sorry to hear you didn't enjoy your experience with this one. It may be doing everything Sk8land already did but it's all just placed in a better, more challenging game with much more content this time around.

[@remicorbin3972]

I played this game as a kid like 5 years old and never passes the first mission I just stayed in the first park area

[@KanePerini]

Are you going to cover the project 8 psp port?

[@SquareEyedJak]

Are you going to watch the video all the way through?

[@KanePerini]

Square Eyed Jak oops

[@abcdefhgty]

where can I buy that shirt

[@SquareEyedJak]

Link in the description!

[@dicky_jones1214]

Is this games story the same as the console version!?

[@JacobParanoia]

Are you gonna review Tony Hawk’s Project 8 on PSP? It is very similar to the PS2/Xbox version. But it is still handheld

[@playstationskate345]

you might wanna finish the video bro haha

[@LEYLANDGAMER]

OMG: Master Jay is following me on Twitter!

[@brackkusamaz4015]

Yo should do a thug pro livestream

[@Dutchintheheart]

The way you said Marseille made me laugh so much

[@Joshuah24]

wonder when your going to review the tony hawk game released to phones just recently lol

[@kung-fucutman5463]

I can't wait to see your thoughts on Motion. I've heard horror stories

[@stevenatorbensonica4653]

Why's it 3d my version on ds had an isometric camera

[@RockYoMomsWorld]

You’re probably thinking of a different game tbh

[@KeiraLunar]

hmmm maybe i should give Project 8 a try via my PSP emulator at least if i don't like it i not lost anything but that classic mode deffintly sounds like a strong one but it really comes down to how good the creat-a -skater for me is as the previous PSP game remix i could turn Furry feline with body paint and facial markings

[@SquareEyedJak]

Project 8 has a terrible CAS but is still worth checking out for that Classic Mode!

[@KeiraLunar]

@@SquareEyedJak wow im really disapointed with the CAS can't even change gender AT ALL how sad nope not worth it ill just stick to the other games and THUG PRO

[@Beengus]

Better than actual Halloween Ur tony hawk vids are greet

[@gamerguy425]

Yes! the one I've been waiting for is next! the weird fucking DS one that no one talks about!

[@knightwish5175]

Keep up the good work Jak

[@donaldrocks101103]

Project 8 was cool on PSP because of the “Classic” mode, but the thing that pisses me off with that version is that when you bail, your board sets back to the default design, which makes it completely useless when buying decks. And only that, it happens with every other skater, what the fuck?? I just recently got a used 360 and got Project 8 on it, that version is a masterpiece compared to hunk of trash that is the PS2/Xbox and PSP versions

[@imafreakinninja12]

2:08 The same thing with fighting games.

[@OneCentPie]

How the hell do you even find these games

[@SquareEyedJak]

Big dive headfirst into a barrel of shit, usually come out with something to talk about 😉

[@MoonSpiritChannel]

Well, this game PROVED that it faceplanted on the GROUND

[@brunocar02]

I'd say you were a little too harsh on THPB DS, its a good game, it improves on the previous one in some ways and has a just as much replayability.

[@SquareEyedJak]

How does it improve? I need more detail please.

[@brunocar02]

You already mentioned the larger park and character creator, but it also adds the new mechanics from proving grounds, specially the sprint move that lets you cover more ground faster, it also has considerably better graphics and it used to have a really feature complete multiplayer mode.

[@dasallmaechtigeJ]

I liked the idea behind the world of the console version but you could see and feel that the game has no soul, no effort put into it. And this is the game where they finally put so much bullshit controls in the game that it was partially unplayable (aggro push over that shitty gap, you know what I‘m talking about)

[@reisu_3708]

You're my favourite aussie

[@stephenobrien6983]

It's a travesty that genuine lads like Jak here get so little views and recognition while other Aussies like Wood from BeatEmUps are as fake as they come and have hundreds of thousands of subs.

[@Thatfiya3401]

This game is the best game ever this game is so sexy u can do backflips and everything name a game where u can do triple backflips on this game do shit on this game

[@art2k179]

I nevered know it had a ds port

[@ashkirk3568]

7:31 There is free skate on this game 😂

[@SquareEyedJak]

Yes but you can’t free skate the classic mode levels

[@ashkirk3568]

@@SquareEyedJak Ah, okay 😂

[@ashkirk3568]

@@SquareEyedJak Thanks for clarifying

[@paulw858]

8:25 "But also includes mersaylees" Oh dear god, Jak, no. Noooooooo. Marseilles is pronounced roughly like "Mar-say." D:

[@SquareEyedJak]

I know, it's corrected in an upcoming episode. I've always said it wrong apparently.

[@paulw858]

@@SquareEyedJak Haha I see. I mean, don't feel bad, I was saying it wrong for years. Only really recognized the mistake when I started studying French back in 2010!

[@notyetskeletal4809]

Not quite as good as Sk8land but still fun. I dont think I explored the whole lot.

[@BugsyFoga]

HAWKTOBER CONTINUES!!!

[@theeasyjay335]

THPG on DS was a miserable game. I had it when I was a youth. Just like the ps2 version of P8, i had them and had to witness my friends play the ps3 version. I had serious jealousy issues to the point i actually bought a ps3 to play them in like 2016

[@razorchance6976]

Did shaba develop the psp version of project 8 in addition to the ps2 version? *as for your next review, may the gaming gods bless your soul, it looks like it's going to be a bumpy ride, possibly a skate way to hell 🤣🤣😂😂*

[@jakeekaj2623]

Proving Ground is 10/10 to me

[@timcollett99]

Awesome chanel and content but the way you pronounce Marseille is deeply disturbing

[@e93sports80]

Hey!

[@matthewseagriff3874]

Awesome