Skate and Destroy

Another great old school skate game is none other than Thrasher: Skate and Destroy. This game came out during the late 1990's and was just as big of an impact on my interest in skateboarding as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater was, if not bigger.

In my opinion, Thrasher out did Tony Hawk's game. Although I did not play it nearly as much due to the fact that my copy of it got too scratched and eventually stopped working. Luckily or not so luckily for me, I was still left with Pro Skater. None the less, Thrasher rules. Only two companies, IGN and GameSpot, agree with me while the rest of the world does not. Thrasherr had noticeably less advanced graphics than Pro Skater did and was unfortunately one of the big reasons the game was ignored. The biggest reason being the difficult controls. Because Thrasher was not as simple as picking up a controller and playing, like Pro Skater was, a lot of people disliked it. This is a lame reason not to like a game. People just need to stop being lazy and accept change if it happens.

Unlike Tony Hawk's Pro skater, Thrasher had a storyline. The player picks one of six fictional characters and works through a total of twelve levels across the globe, gaining sponsors, decks, clothing and eventually ending up on the cover of the Thrasher magazine--from which the game gets its name.

Like Pro Skater, Thrasher has several game modes. Skate mode(career mode), sessions, nickel bag, H.O.R.S.E, Top Dog, Stick Fix, Long Grind and Big Wallride. Skate mode progresses through twelve levels in a series of two minute runs. Before actually starting each run, the player has the ability to explore the level without a time limit until pressing the select button, starting the run. Once the run is started, the player has two minutes to attain the required high score to complete the level without breaking their board, or getting caught by the police. Once the player startes being chased by the police, they must then skate to one of the designated exit doors. If caught, the players score is annulled and the run must then be started again.

All in all, Thrasher was one of the best skateboarding video games I have personally ever played, and is one of the biggest influences on my interest in skateboarding.