why the tony hawk games (used to) scare me

i played the playstation 2 line of tony hawk games inside and out when i was younger, but as an easily-scared child i also made quite a few unsavoury memories with them all. this video is all about sharing those strange experiences i had and unpacking them a bit! maybe you can relate?
this video of course features some slightly unsettling imagery, but it's all played for comedy!
chapters:
0:00 - Intro
1:08 - Neversoft's Logos
4:12 - Early Graphics
6:29 - Gritty Aesthetics
12:53 - Easter Eggs
14:51 - The Later Years
18:36 - Outro
music:
intro: Beach - Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2: Bush Rescue
ch1: Main Menu - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
ch2: Funky Park - Bonelab
ch3: Deep Energy - Rain World | Dead Bird Studios Reception - A Hat in Time
ch4: Grumblebum - Rain World
ch5: Atlantis Crossing - Boneworks
outro: Keygen - Bonelab
some graphics like the eyeball jar provided by the talented @indigo_egg on twitter
freecam shots recorded via THUGPro
footage of the helicopter chase from THAW shamefully taken from ‪@MisterCSW‬ (because i didn't want to replay the entire story just for this video)
the pro skater series is (unfortunately) property of activision!

[@xtlm]

It never even crossed my mind to think of these games as scary lol

[@Ojos_Del_Sol]

same

[@cir4000]

Right? By the time I was like 5, I had already seen scarey movies. So with all due respect. XD The title of this video should be, "A Snowflakes Perspective of a Skating Game Series."

[@lukeautosymbol2668]

Yeah, Zoomers are just looking back at older media thinking it's weird. I use to think the same about 80s stuff as a 90s kid.

[@kingstarscream3807]

I had similar feelings towards the PS1 as a small sheltered child. The PS1 home menu primed me to feel fear.

[@z3roo0]

@@lukeautosymbol2668 zoomers were pissing and shidding their pants over "personalized" super mario 64 cartridges also...

[@miaouew]

This guy is scared of his own shadow.

[@DKfan87]

Billie Joe Armstrong is not in Fall Out Boy, he's in Green Day.

[@Mylork]

bro we just tought theses things were freaking cool actually

[@slothsong080]

I always thought the unsettling places were the coolest to explore. There's some kind of uncanny draw to how surprising or out of place they can feel. And that damn THUG Neversoft video. Spooked me once, so I just had to see it every time.

[@Ragesauce]

If the Playstation loading screen scares you, them you're a wimp.

[@catethps]

ps2 disc read error screen is genuinely terrifying, it's unsettling

[@U.F.O_0908]

Next video: Fifa '98 menu screen made me see a psychologist.

[@oskarsiwik3517]

This is an elaborate 20 minute prank, this guy said he got nightmares from Bam Margera saying you'll never beat his score and laughing.

[@rashko3845]

Hey dude, i don't know why everyone's shitting on you for being scared of these things as a kid (they weren't for kids, more that spooky older brother of your friend that broke the rules). Honestly a good video, covers a fair amount of content.

[@SleepyRobbo]

i honestly think it's just a generational difference thing! lots of people just can't relate cuz i was incredibly young playing these games. there honestly wasn't that much strictly adult content in these games despite the ratings, i always thought they were pretty goofy, so when there was something that could be seen as disturbing it was a lot to take in. thank you for the kind words and i hope you had a good time with this vid!

[@RIkumaru17]

thanks for this video i really really enjoyed it! I love to see more vids about your niche gaming experiences growing up if you can @@SleepyRobbo

[@TadIGuess]

The Neversoft logo did creep me out as a kid, but I was weirdly never bothered by the playable eyeball, I thought they were awesome. Great video!

[@ninjadude183]

One other scary easter egg on the Suburbia level on THPS3. If you go into the haunted house front door when it opens a small creek, you fall into an endless black void with a creepy demon voice screaming. Also playing as Demoness, the text on the screen says "Welcome home."

[@athiestjesus8133]

Aside from the Neversoft logo in THUG 1, there was nothing remotely scary in the Tony Hawk games

[@TheNathanNS]

Three things out the entire series scared me when I was a kid: 1. The THUG Neversoft Intro I don't need to explain that, others already have, but I do have a memory of seeing that for the first time as a 7 year old and running out my room asking my mum if she got a "scary game" instead, when came back into the room it was playing that upbeat skateboarding montage. It freaked me out because I was dead certain "there was a scary monster" I saw. I actually did think that monster was in my game and I was a bit scared to play it in case he appeared and attacked me. Then when I rebooted it, I saw the intro again and quickly skipped it. Only then I realised it was the intro and not some monster hiding in the game waiting for me lmao 2. The funhouse area in THPS4 I found that completely by accident when I was playing it with a friend, neither of us knew it existed, so when the level suddenly changed to this dark, disorted thing with nasty looking skulls and a scary face at the end with the sound suddenly stopped, we both jumped because it was so startling. You are right in saying it is a jumpscare. There is no warning to it whatsoever. Just coming straight at you randomly like those old screamer videos of gaming hoaxes you saw a lot over KZbin in the late 2000s. Funny thing is, we were both interested in finding it again, but also absolutely terrified of it. Both of us spent hours combing every level to see if other levels had their own little scares waiting for us. We still hated it. Coincidentally when he found the Evil Tiki's "scare" in Underground 1, I didn't believe him. We spent so much time in THPS4 only to find no other areas like it exist. So I went around his house, he showed me and we started another hunt across THUG1 for those areas again. Good times. 3 The Ruins in THAW When I played through classic mode in THAW, that Ruins level really caught me off guard. Wasn't "scary" but definitely unsettling. I played through most of the series so weird courses aren't that new, but the sudden juxtaposition of the THAW levels being normal skate-ified areas of LA set during the summer days only for The Ruins to come along and show a completely bombed to hell LA with destroyed buildings, crashed trains, strange tannoy announcements, threatening messages and a very disturbing sickly-green sky was just startling. It's weird for a Tony Hawk level imho. If I remember correctly, you can also see the Hollywood sign in the distance, which we see a lot during the story, so it feels like it's some alternate universe.

[@Lucasub-Seiyuu]

The original Neversoft mascot never bothered me for whatever reason, even though knowing child-me would've hated that in any other cases. Also, for me, I used to find the memory card selection on the PS1 unsettling. I think...

[@ljuanmamx]

Agreed on some parts being scary but I think based on what you are saying, everything, everywhere scared you man!😂

[@SleepyRobbo]

you don't scare me ❤

[@BAIGAMING]

Speaking about the old textures being a photo wrapped around a model it's true but they had an interesting feature. They actually had a service back then for Underground 1 where you upload your picture online to their website, then you connect to PS2 online and it lets you download the texture into the game so you can play as yourself, it's so hilarious but felt revolutionary at the time. I remember back then an episode of Fairly OddParents in the early 2000's made fun of this too, where it showed AJ having the newest game letting you put your face into sports games.

[@SleepyRobbo]

i never had the opportunity to use that feature but i don't know if i'd have loved it or hated it

[@catethps]

@@SleepyRobbo you can still use it if you plug an eyetoy camera into your ps2, or on pc you can just put the image in a certain folder and it will load in-game for face mapping

[@javiersocastro]

You forgot about the Triangle Level on Tony Hawk's Underground 2. It has a bunch of airplanes flying through portals to space in the sky.

[@Dr._Nicolas]

yeah i miss elavorated easter egg hunts, now everyone solves it on day one or datamine it before anyone can even come across it naturally

[@TheNamesJER]

It’s always interesting what scares different people or creeps them out. I’m someone who was scared of everything as a kid but I always found the Tony Hawk games to be really funny and never really bothered me much. Good video!

[@magplexbitsandbobs]

The THPS4 Carnival jumpscare would have given me nightmares if I played it when I was young.

[@CreativeGeoff]

Great analysis! Things like this seemed creepy to us because we played these games mostly during late nights on weekends, holiday breaks, etc. We were also too young to fully make out what certain images were. A prime example was the Donkey Kong Country and Killer Instinct games during the SNES era. The ambient vibes, the dark pre-rendered imagery, that GAME OVER screen! I can't count on two hands how many nightmares I had during that era.

[@BDChupacabra]

I had a cousin as a kid that was afraid of all this shit too we used to scare him with the underground intro 😂😂

[@meatyofficial]

I would hate to see you play Silent Hill 2 and 3 if you thought Tony Hawk games were scary...

[@missrubyridge]

Real big fan of what you're doing here. Keep up the great work

[@xela12345]

No mention of the freaking Shining twin NPCs from Project 8??

[@kammhia397gaming9]

To this day I'll never know why Neversoft put a lot of weird and creepy things in the series speaking of THUG 2 I don't know if this was a glitch or not but in the Spain level if you go to one of the windows a blanket covering up a body on a stretcher and its constantly shaking and moving at first I thought it was just a glitch but years later after playing the game on different consoles it was still there freaked me out as a kid wondering if anyone else had this experience before.

[@Antipius]

Great video! :) There was one thing that really spooked me in a game as a kid: in Shadow the Hedgehog, in Cryptic Castle, just before the finish line of the level you slide down some rails... Then the camera turns around, showing you what's behind you, and suddenly you hear a weird scream and a giant skeleton on four legs starts chasing you down the rails! It is not a threat to the player at all (you have to really mess up to get caught) but it spooked the heck out of me as a kid. Especially since the game never elaborates on this at all. There's no buildup or commentary! That game truly suffered from tonal dissonance.

[@billydonuts4965]

Nothing outside of the creature from THUG’s Neversoft logo scared me as a kid. It’s funny that after finishing the mission you’re told that THUG 2’s New Orleans zombies were just a bunch of people who drank too much tho.

[@daemonvanmeir9697]

even though i was afraid of a lot of things when i was a kid, most of those things didn't scare me. i was especially afraid of zombies yet i always thought the ones in THUG2 were cool. so i find it pretty interesting that a lot of the things you mentioned were spooky (aside from the THPS4 easter egg) never spooked me, but the one thing i vividly remember spooking me (while also getting me to do it alot) was only shown for 2 seconds and not even mentioned at the part where you talked about suburbia. the door you can enter used to spook me a bit at first and is pretty creepy compared to the rest of the house, so i find it interesting that the only mention of it in the video was just a 2 second clip without talking about it.

[@Deathfromabove5]

They aren't. Saved you 20 mins

[@JarbasTardo]

I just stumbled upon your channel, and I have to say that I really appreciate that you're so open and vulnerable about your sensitivities and what gets under your skin. Being like that is very frowned upon and discouraged by society (especially if you're a man), but that's BS and you're awesome for being yourself. And as for the game stuff, I was never really scared of the THPS3 Neversoft mascot, more just curious about what it was even supposed to be, since I was way too little to even know if there was anything morbid about it. I started playing that game when I was about 2 or 3 years old (obviously I sucked, but I learned the basics) because it belonged to my older brother, so weird stuff like that was always somewhat normalized for me, lol. I even watched Jackass 2 at like 7 or 8, and more than anything I was just surprised at what the human body is capable of and also confused as to why anyone would do that stuff. And the fact that I wasn't that squeamish about those things is definitely not cause I was tough or anything, but because to be squeamish you need to have at least some notion of what consequences are, which I didn't. I just sort of didn't really think about it (I was a stupid kid hahaha), which means I actually got MORE sensitive growing up than when I was little. What kinda made me anxious as a kid was all the demonic references in THUG 2, since my household was always particularly religious and I thought I could piss off god for playing the game, lol. The only piece of media that genuinely terrified me as a kid was a music video by Supertramp called "better days", not just for the war imagery, but mostly because I thought that I could be one of the people randomly selected to be teleported into that weird tunnel all alone and die. Like I said, I wasn't a very bright child. Also there was a PS1 game called Fade to Black that freaked me out a bit as a kid, but it wasn't quite as existential. Sorry for the huge text, but I wish you the best!

[@evanpreston3432]

so breathing is scary, ok got it

[@ginnanchor6438]

I didn't know someone could be so professional with his editing, script adne video structure. Actually better than a lot of triple A channels.

[@Skornish]

So good at editing, and yet so wrong.

[@deadbeataffiliates]

​@@Skornishfacts. This is the corniest take.

[@reeseboyko1650]

I was around five years old when THPS 2x came out, the neversoft intro gave me legit nightmares for a solid month at least

[@epona268]

8:58 I have for years been convinced that it was a fever dream me doing an acid drop in tony hawks undergorund falling through the floor and hearing screams, the manhole cover glitch you had just we awoke that repressed memory

[@travkozak1201]

I just got the neversoft eye tattooed on my arm the other day, the algorithm really be watching

[@dcfc]

Definitely creepy dude! Great vid! I'm surprised you don't have more subs. I don't know when you were born, but you nailed the feeling of a 90s kid playing these games. I guess because we had greater imaginations when we were younger or we didn't have the internet to explain what we'd seen with our own eyes!

[@rad8078]

my 5 year old ass was enjoying the vibe in thps3, coming from someone who would shit themselves in fear when slenderman became popular when i was like 10

[@Cloudturd]

Quitting in banjo kazooie scared the CRAP out of me. I would leave the room any time that cutscene played

[@levilurgy]

the loading tunnels in between levels in American Wasteland are liminal asf when you stick around them and treat them as levels.

[@TheFlual22]

The eeriest level on the PS2 was Suburbia and I was already 13 or 14 when I played it. The strange music from the ice cream van, the lighting, the spooky house and sparse population were haunting. Strangely it gives me now the most nostalgia. It reminds me of the time around Halloween in my early teens. But if you want real horror vibes, play THPS3 for PS1. Basically every level was scary because it was not populated and the color saturation was not as vibrant as in THPS2. Also the poor draw distance made it really feel strange. Kinda like Silent Hill. I didn't like the graphical change around THUG2. The spooky vibe was so ingrained into my system and was so essential for TH Games that everything else felt wrong..

[@CanalAleblasco77]

I mean, when I was a child I was scared with both the Luigi's Mansion and Banshee Boardwalk in the Mario Kart DS game, specially the GP version because there would be Boos showing up at certain points of the racetrack, whenever I got one of those two tracks I'd give my father my DS to play them for me lol. I can say now that both tracks don't terrifye me as much as back then but I still find Banshee Boardwalk creepy due to the music

[@catethps]

thps3 intro with the eyeball man used to have me screaming and running out the room as a little 4 year old, I had to get my parents to turn the game on for me lmao

[@ThisBirdHasFlown]

The opening Neversoft logo for Guitar Hero used to creep me the hell out.

[@garfieldandfriends453]

The scariest THPS moment imho r is the Skate Heaven level. It is amazing, fun & I loved it but it is very eerie & textbook liminal which is in no way helped by the fact that when you fall off the side of the map (all suspended in a void), there is demonic laughter & a taunting message describing how you died/went to hell lol (sure you do go to Hell later but it is the stark juxtaposition to me that sets wrong). As for the PS2, the scariest moment was how monumentally awful THUG2 was, especially sandwiched as it was between 2 such GOATed titles.

[@SleepyRobbo]

you had me until that last part 😔 but that's what's so nice about these games, people have such broadly different experiences with them. thanks a lot for leaving a comment, if i grew up with thps2 i would've totally been the same

[@catethps]

how can you believe thug2 is awful but thaw is any good lol omg

[@jagtaggart936]

I can't put my finger on why, but THPS2's Hangar always kinda unsettled me, especially that outdoor area. I always got the feeling that I was being watched there, that if I waited long enough looking out at the snowy nothingness beyond the fence outside, I might see someone looking back.

[@KyrieKirigiri]

The New Orleans Zombie thing is even worse, as the game's credits confirm that the 'Zombies' were actually just drunk people, so the mission to run over the 'Zombies' is just the player murdering 10 people with a tricycle

[@SleepyRobbo]

THAT TOO

[@RunTheJorge]

This is an oddly specific video that hits home lol

[@TotallyToonsTV]

Some bits of THPS did actually scare and I always thought it was weird. The thin man and the haunted mansion in Suburbia in THPS 3 unsettled me but I think it was the graphics that did it. 8 year old me couldn't handle any of the Neversoft logos. How endearing they seem now

[@B-Hopexe]

That video was amazing! :D

[@Str1ctur3]

I always thought the evil tiki was hilarious! And I'm pretty sure the eerie music track that plays when you have to get eric's board back from the dealers is also the background for the new neversoft logo with t.h.u.d.

[@marktheroux9465]

I was eleven when I first played Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 and became hooked on the series, and I was more curious about the creepy stuff than scared really (though watching the Neversoft eyeball get pierced in that game's opening animation was an uncomfortable sight.)

[@chucklebutt4470]

This is such an... I dunno, cute? video lol. In a way. Good stuff! I had this poster in my room as a kid, dunno what it was for but it had a guy with a big head and at night it was kinda scary. I never thought to take it down but I did use markers and crayons to deface it as much as possible hehe.

[@slfandoz]

man you def dont skate

[@jfr1941]

The damn sewer monster always made me hide behind my couch during the intro when I was younger 😂

[@Jolis_Parsec]

It scared me at first until I realized that the skater it drags back into the sewer and presumably rips to shreds given the gore that gets flung back out the manhole is none other than the player character’s “friend” Eric Sparrow, then I cheered it on whenever I sat through the intro screen.

[@NoviListovi]

Thank you for gathering up all of us who were traumatized by the Neversoft Eyeball early in life. It brings me great relief to know it was never just me. There's actually like... Eight of us. Maybe nine?

[@emperortrevornorton3119]

The Ruins level seems to be a reference to 1984 the book and movie's dystopian future especially with the voice over and the big screen in the level

[@the_manifold_curiosity]

I THOUGHT NOBODY ELSE FELT THIS WAY oh my god

[@bryandominguez864]

I was gonna mention how it was more unnerving than scary but it seems you got enough of those comments. Great video I enjoyed it thoroughly, please make more.

[@pushon10]

3:29 I remember seeing that at my friend Jonathan's house. he laughed at it, but I was a bit scared

[@pushon10]

I can now see why these games got 15+/16+ ratings here in Europe.

[@ThisBirdHasFlown]

2:20 wtf that's terrifying lol. I would never have played this as a kid.

[@nyaheat]

DUUUUUUUDE. im so glad im not the only one THINKING about these intros. i miss them. THUG's is memorable as it scared me and was forever engraved in my core memory!

[@yeti4954]

Yeah i'm not gonna lie, the School level always, *always* creeped me out.

[@Browningate]

6th generation 3D wasn't great, but some of the worst video gaming experiences of all time were the non-2D PlayStation and 64 titles. Those things have been virtually unplayable for years. A lot of people don't like to admit that, but it's the truth.

[@m8xm153n8r]

Only the neversoft intro in thug and the pro skater level from thug 2 were scary to me

[@m8xm153n8r]

Actually raising the dead was a bit scary too but that’s it

[@hellokittybebop]

Underground intro definitely scared the shit out of me

[@PanicDr]

16:30 that was my feeling playing underground 2 as a kid, i would just skate around and observe stuff

[@mordaciousfilms]

THUG 2 was the sillier, cartoon entry for sure.

[@gavynbrandt]

The ps2 red screen scared the fuck out of me

[@VarenvelDarakus]

Cool video:) played Tony hawk too long ago and also considered them odd but not scary , but I'm from Eastern Europe , only game who really scared me was silent hill or re1/2

[@jonjmar2541]

I feel sorry for you.. go play silent hill or clock tower now that shit was scary

[@sharpsonmusic]

I was only thinking about this last week! PS1 and 2 games always freaked me out a bit. Maybe it was just because i was younger but i think it was the emptiness of the games. I found when I stopped doing a mission and take a detour in a game it was just creepy af

[@BDSbowling]

THPS3 & THUG1 are the most iconic imo 3:35

[@RoxNoAnne]

for some reason the tanks in THUG1 Russia used to scare the shit out of me as a kid. I wasn't even afraid of them shooting. I was afraid of them moving.

[@user-nh6fu2dn6h]

to answer your question, no. They weren’t scary at all, and they weren’t made for kids either. i think you were just a very sheltered little dude. i grew up with these games and never thought twice about any of that stuff. on a side note, in your defense, the hell level at the end of thug 2 is pretty weird. maybe it’s a nod to selling your soul in the entertainment industry. probably not. but maybe.

[@Slopping]

people are such puussssiiees now a days, its wild anyone would think thps was scary in any way, literal sheltered weirdos

[@SleepyRobbo]

definitely true to an extent! i was extremely young when i played these games, younger than most. but regardless i really appreciate that you still watched the video and gave it a chance! it's more than what most people do

[@user-nh6fu2dn6h]

@@SleepyRobbo of course. i enjoyed the video. and you brought up some valid points.

[@ThisBirdHasFlown]

14:05 had I played this as a kid, I think I would have fucking loved it.

[@revolverocelot3741]

I can only relate to the graveyard in New Orleans but come on.. The menu of THUG1? 😂

[@butters3063]

after playing thps4 it was hard to go back to thps3 after realizing how empty the levels really are. that’s the only thing that sorta made me feel uncomfortable, i think you might’ve just been a wimp

[@Jorgemagottnumber9]

In the first section i was waiting for the intro with the little alien in Project 8 but i guess no ones played Project 8

[@Kimonia6]

I think it shows up later

[@Jorgemagottnumber9]

@@Kimonia6 It does, i just thought it would fit better in the first section of the video

[@thesporkguy]

I was playing Doom and Goosebumps: Escape from Horrorland when I was was 6 so I never even considered these games being even the slightest bit scary, especially not deliberately. Then again, I supposed I my under-supervised childhood led to a much different outcome, lol

[@PanicDr]

Imagine if Underground had 3xtremes menu theme

[@soulman3729]

Whatever you do do not look up the las vegas sphere and the eyeball lol

[@EmergencyChannel]

PS1 was a horror factory for small children.

[@HondaMoto14]

Bro you know that’s Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day, not fallout boy… right?

[@mr.roachclip1792]

I like Bigfoot's distorted sound sort of reminds me of Devil Hulk in ultimate destruction

[@johnboy4955]

I loved Paulie “TAKE A DRINK BITCHH!!”

[@joemomma69420]

I thought you would mention the credits from thps 4 it used to always scare me as a kid

[@paso6234]

Intro killed mah ears

[@Skornish]

What weren't you afraid of?

[@ThisBirdHasFlown]

I kept wanting to quit the video and watch Cyberpunk but this video sucked me in. Good work.

[@pushon10]

I always turned the blood off lol

[@kazmiller7195]

Anyone remember the weird bloody gurney that would shake on THUG2

[@SleepyRobbo]

oh my GOD how did i forget to mention that??

[@WigglesMcFluff]

I enjoyed this video, but not for the right reasons - I can only come to the conclusion that this guy is either the most easily spooked fellow since the dawn of time or that this is satire? I knew we were off to a bad start when he said he was scareed by the boot screens

[@tugboatfool]

you was a disney kid huh?

[@seanwilliams5848]

Must be😂 getting creeped out over the main menu in underground is unreal😂

[@XenonOrion]

ha said he still watches the suite life of zach and cody in another video of his

[@shawklan27]

​@@XenonOrionthat explains it

[@Kimonia6]

4:03 I think its because of the secret level in that game.

[@DiscBurner]

THUG 1 was the peak and then downfall

[@andersondiazcampos8720]

i dare to say the only good proving ground version is the ds one because of being an improvement of the american skat8land gameplay

[@GrapefruitMcgilicuddy]

How eerie some normal games were was a lot of the appeal for me.

[@garfieldandfriends453]

That a joke about Fallout boy? Not a huge Green Day fan but I liked them enough back when that I don't feel comfortable having Billie Joe done like that.