Slateman operates what is quite possibly the best site for THPS ever created. (Well, except this one, but he came first so he has seniority.) Any questions you can't get answered here are probably answered at http://www.godflesh.com/thps/.
Neversoft has created a forum on Delphi (http://www.delphi.com/thps/messages/) which is read daily by myself and most of the other really serious THPS players, and receives frequent visits from the Neversoft crew as well. Definitely someplace worth hanging out.
Sometimes on the THPS forum at Delphi, you will see messages that look like this:
$@!+%!!%!#^! !%!#^! @%!%^!#^!$^! !$!^%! %$!+&!!$!%%!+^!$%!%$!^%+ !!!$^! $$!&%!%$!#^!^%!&$+$^! #^!!$!!&! !$!^%!!&!$^!+%!!%!^%!&$! %^!#^!%$!^$!%^!$%!^%+
These messages have been "encrypted" by the THPS Forum Coder, which I wrote for no real reason. I didn't expect it to catch on to the level it has. You can download the program at ftp://ftp.darklock.com/pub/thps/coder.zip if you'd actually like to read these messages. Back to Top
THPS2 IS OUT. See the THPS2 section.
A lot of people on the THPS forum and around the community in general will post high scores, sometimes for a single combo and sometimes for an entire run. There are a few generally accepted terms for these high scores to be considered "legitimate", which I will detail here in order to save people some time and effort.
Every once in a while, someone will start up a rumor about THPS. Anything I hear about the game, I PERSONALLY TEST AND CONFIRM. If you don't see anything about it here and you don't see anything about it in the FAQ, email it to me at caliban@darklock.com -- I'll test it, and if it *works* I'll put it somewhere in the FAQ. If it *doesn't* work, it may go here if I hear it often enough.
I am REALLY sick of telling people these things.
There are NO HIDDEN LEVELS. Period. Anyone who claims to have found one is full of crap.
There are two, count them, TWO hidden skaters: Officer Dick and Private Carrera. There are NO OTHERS. Period. End of story. Anyone who claims to have found one is full of crap.
There are supposedly two unreleased codes -- "points times 10" and "perfect balance" -- but Neversoft has confirmed that neither of these codes is in the final release of the game on PSX. The N64 has these and more.
Practice! But seriously, folks, here are the rules. Use some, use all, use whatever you can manage.
And remember, whenever you skate a level, look for places where you can throw off phat combos. Try to find a way you can grind, grab, and flip your way from one end of the level to the other in a single combo while grabbing every bonus medal you pass and clicking through as many blue text gaps as possible.
I (Blitzkrieg) was recently lucky enough to score an interview with Ralph D'Amato, the Associate Producer of THPS. This interview was originally supposed to be posted only at a website(www.playstationfan.com) that I work for but decided that it would be a great addition to my FAQ. You can also find a copy of this interview at Slateman's kick ass website, The Tony Hawk's Pro Skater visual FAQ. Check it out at www.godflesh.com/thps/. Definitly the best Tony Hawk site out there!
What exactly was your job in the development of THPS?
I was the Associate Producer for the THPS project. My job encompassed many things, but mostly it was making sure the other team members had the "things" they needed to get their jobs done. I assisted in coordinating communications between team members. I followed up and reported on project status on an ongoing basis. I assisted in maintaining the schedule and kept detailed meeting notes for reference. I provided detailed game play testing and design suggestions for the game as a whole, as well as instance by instance testing for each of the programmers/designers/artists. I monitored and assisted in the maintenance of our "bug" tracking system and coordinated our internal focus test groups from which we tapped a lot of great feedback.
On the Marketing side I created the first Neversoft THPS web page and was responsible for it's updates...or lack thereof as some of it's many visitors would say. I also assisted in THPS demos at conventions and a skateboard contest and took tons of the screenshots that were used on preview/review websites, in mags and in our ads. And for all the people that have sent mail to us about the game, I'm the guy who responded to every one of them.
How exactly did you come up with the idea to create a skateboarding game?
Short and sweet, Activision approached Neversoft with the idea of doing a skateboarding game while the Apocalypse project was in full swing. It was a sport that nobody had really captured well in a game...aside from 720, which many of us on the team had sunk tons of quarters into. We took on the challenge and the rest is...you know.
With the lackluster success of Street Skater, were you ever afraid that the gaming community wouldn't take to another skateboarding game?
No, not at all, we knew that we brought something completely different to the table in our game, and we banked on the wealth of talent that the THPS team has and knew we could deliver a skateboarding game that people would love.
What exactly were you trying to accomplish with THPS and do you think you accomplished it?
I think we are trying to deliver a cutting edge game that represents the sport of skateboarding well and will provide the gamer hours upon hours of gameplay. I believe we accomplished our goal, notwithstanding the fact that we weren't able to do everything we wanted to in this incarnation of the game.
While playing THPS, it's obvious that the skating physics are very well done. What specifically did you do to achieve this?
We watched hours upon hours of footage of skateboarders and got lots of feedback from the pros. All of that combined with the programming talent we have and a bit of trial and error got us to where we are with our physics.
The levels in THPS are very well designed, you can literally pull tricks anywhere at anytime. How did you manage such a task?
It was our intent from the very beginning to allow the skater to use anything and everything to trick off of or interact with as real skaters do. Knowing this our designers had quite a bit of layout work in their hands. It wasn't just mere placing geometry arbitrarily, they had to look for all the possibilities for skating "lines" and build accordingly. It was a very detailed process to say the least.
How was it working with Tony Hawk? Did he help with the actual development of the game besides doing the motion capture for the skater models?
Yes, Tony provided quite a bit of valuable feedback. He was sent all the major builds of the game. What can I say the guy is a professional and very cool, friendly person.
Was there anything that was cut out or never made it to the final version?
Yea there were a few things. A couple of levels that didn't make it or were substituted with other levels, a few tricks that didn't make it as well as a few 2 Player modes and some special effects that didn't make the time line. The levels themselves changed quite a bit as did the characters. In the School at one time there was a secret area behind the start point that would allow you to jump onto some clouds, then you would ride on the cluds all the way down to the pool area where they would drop you off, after that the sky would get dark and it would start raining, way too "Marioesque" for a skateboarding game. The fire exits in the Mall would blaze into a major fire if you bumped them and there used to be a dinosaur skeleton that was replaced by the florescent lights you grind to get the secret tape. San Francisco originally was 4 times the size. In Roswell we had planned for a UFO to fly in and crash into the side of a mountain. As with any game project some things stick, some are discarded.
THPS looks to be a huge hit with gamers everywhere, we're you surprised at how well it has done? Are there any plans for a sequel?
We are very happy that people are enjoying the game. Are we totally surprised that people like it? Not really, I'm not trying to sound cocky, but we had lots of people playing and previewing the game way before it came out and they all seemed to like it. More importantly all of us on the THPS team really like it and we are connoisseurs of fine games, at least we think we are. These things, along with the success of the demo told us we were heading in the right direction.
As far as plans for a sequel, I think there would be too many bummed folks out there if there wasn't one. Don't you?
What is your favorite level and skater and why?
Hmm that is a tough one. They are all my favorite (politician answer). No really, I probably spend most of my time playing the Warehouse and the School. As far as skaters go, I like playing Tony because the 900 is one of my favorite tricks to do and I like to use Andrew because my fingers are tuned to do his bluntslides.
Lastly, if the group there at Neversoft were to hold a tournament, who would win?
The winner would probably be either our Producer, Scott Pease our Artist/ Animator, Noel Hines or out Designer, Chris "Team Chicken" Rausch. There are a few of us that could give them a run for their money, but these guys have the game down.
Thanks for your time Ralph!
Blitzkrieg for starting the FAQ.
Every site that's posting the FAQ.
Personal thanks:
| Danziger & Tim W. | They told me about the alternate path to get the hidden video in San Fransisco. Danziger also told me about a few errors I made for Hawk, Lasek, and Steamer. Thanks a lot!! |
| Ben C. | He showed me that video, simply amazing!! Look in the highest scores section for the URL for the video. |
| Slateman666 | Gave me permission to use his massive list of transfers and included a link to this FAQ from his page. A very big help!! Check out his online FAQ at http://www.godflesh.com/thps/ -- there is some really great stuff there and I suggest you visit! |
| ACouret | Told me about the autokick feature that I so blindly missed. After writing the most comprehensive Tony Hawk faq ever, you can't even imagine how stupid I felt when I discovered that. |
| Drunkfux | Submitted to me the third(easiest) way to reach the hidden tape in Frisco. I'm sure if I put his email address up here he would be flooded with thank you letters. |
| Spite | He just pointed out a few grammar errors. Something most of you reading this probably wouldn't take the time to do. Heh! |
| Darren | Told me about the tricks before you launch technique. Very Useful, especially for the 900! He also gave me a ton of info for the new section that shows the best places to skate in each level. |
| Bhodi-Li | Just told me about an error I made on the movie link. Also mentioned to me about the other way to do the fastplant and nollie which I should have put in there to begin with. |
| J F | Informed me about the Hall Pass Gap. Pretty tough to find without a strategy guide. Good job! |
| FenderBender | Listed a few more errors for for Cambell and Glifberg as well as some corrections for the yehaw frontflip and the burntwist which I still haven't corrected because I seriously don't know it. |
| rkoehler | Used a gameshark to get stats to 48 and discovered that in phoenix, the area with the ramp that launches you and you get the distance bonuses will actually register all the way up to 250 ft. Too bad I can't test this, that sure would be fun. |
| Grim Reaper | Submitted info on the Deck Grind. Thanks a lot! |
| Bracklebug | Found the gonz gap for me. I was really beginning to wonder where it was. |
| Jeff201 | Submitted info about "over the seven" in SF. Thanks! |
| KKorn | Corrected Officer Dicks "assume the possition" move for me. |
| CDarklock | Found an additional way to get "swim team gap". Go check it out! |
| GDawson | Found the graffiti mode glitch. Its the first one in the new glitch section. Thanks! |
| Phillipdc | Corrected point value for "assume the position". I really screwed up this trick. Only thing I got right was the name. |
| JJChamber4 | Gave me the idea for a FAQ within FAQ. Thanks a lot, except it didn't help with the email. But still a great idea!! |
| DALSARNS | Located PAL versions of the mother and father codes. |
| DEZRO | Private Carrera stats. |
| FREESTYLE818 | Private Carrera specials. |
| Robbie | Corrected a typo in the Private Carrera specials. |
| AMPN1 | Clarified the exact method of operating the CRUDCRUST cheat. |
| EliteRogue 1 | Provided the first reasonably complete list of working N64 codes. |
| THERUSH69 | Provided more working N64 codes. |