How old were you when Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater was released back in 1999? Were you a kid, teenager, or young adult? For me, I was a brand new teenager just starting high school, and to say the game had an impact on the culture of the place for me is a bit of an understatement. Skateboarding was not a common sight outside of maybe 1 or 2 people at the beginning of the school year; by the end of my sophomore and junior years though so many people would be walking around with boards strapped to their backpacks! I had attributed this boom in skateboard popularity to one thing: the release of the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games, and my hunch from back in the day was pretty much spot on.
Screener provided by Wood Entertainment.
To this day the first 3 THPS games remain in my frequently played section of my collection and have been featured in a number of my videos to date. Because of this, I was ecstatic to hear there was a documentary about the game being produced covering the creation of the franchise! Pretending I’m A Superman promised to look back at the creation of the games from the perspective of those who made it and include a number of behind the scenes moments that have never been seen before. Thanks to Wood Entertainment, I was treated to a pre-screening of the film before its August 18th launch on digital platforms and what a ride it was.
Just to get this out of the way upfront, Pretending I’m A Superman includes far less about the creation of THPS than I would have expected. Now, that isn’t to say I am disappointed in what we got out of the final product. Quite the opposite actually. Under the leadership of director Ludvig Gür, Pretending I’m A Superman gives us as viewers a look into the history of skateboarding as it evolved from the late ’70s into the ’90s, through the inception of the THPS franchise, and finally its lasting impact. While gaming history is at the forefront of my hobbies, I find the history of just about anything extremely fascinating, and the look back at skateboarding was no exception.
While not an in-depth look, considering the time constraints to fit the entire story into an hour or so long film, the beginning does an amazing job of getting you to understand the culture behind what skateboarding was! Numerous interviews with the likes of Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero, Rodney Mullen, Chad Muska, and Jamie Thomas move the story through its phases. Each talk about their experiences with the sport and how they became involved with the THPS series. Hearing how some of these guys got involved was fascinating and the type of stuff I get excited about.
We do get a few behind the scenes looks at the development process that took place at Neversoft, including some motion capture sessions with Tony and storyboards for characters and levels. Hearing about Activision's pitch to Tony and the first Demo Neversoft developed for the occasion were particular highlights. I also love knowing how closely Tony worked with Neversoft on the feel of the game as he would test builds himself throughout development. We also get to see how close to release the now famous 900 was added into the game, showing some true dedication by the team!
Neversoft
Now as I said, the documentary doesn’t spend as much time on the development as I thought it would. I really thought I would be more disappointed by this, but following the coverage of the game’s release, discussion follows about every continuation until the release of Tony Hawk: Shred. Not every game gets as much time to shine as the original of course but it is still an extra touch I wasn’t expecting and thoroughly enjoyed, even if my favorite entry in the series (THPS3) got glanced over relatively quickly.
Throughout these talks about the following games, the overall impact of the franchise is also discussed and this is by far my favorite aspect of the entire documentary. Because of playing THPS, many people began to seek out careers in skating. Because of the representation of women and minorities, people started skating. Because of the game's amazing soundtrack, bands were put on the world stage that had never found that level of success before. Does Goldfinger’s Superman just emanate late 90’s to anyone else, or is that just me?
Goldfinger’s John Feldmann discusses the impact THPS had on the band.
Pretending I’m A Superman didn’t turn out to be the documentary I went into this screener thinking it would be, and that’s ok! What we got in the final product was a well-rounded overview of nearly 40 years worth of material with loads of great commentary along the way. The emphasis on the impact the series has had as a whole truly struck a chord with me and makes me want to further examine and learn about more of the details involved along the way that couldn’t be included. In the end, that’s what a documentary is supposed to make you want to do!
