The "Second Coming" of Skateboard games is imminent and I couldn't be happier

Today sees the official launch for a game (well, a pair of games technically) that ruled my game consoles back in the day. Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 + 2 remastered brings the thrill and the absolute screaming-the-house-down-throwing-the-joypad-at-the-wall experience of those heady days of PS1 ownership into the modern world where middle aged gamers no longer need to fire up a console to resolve a "whose turn is it to wash up" dispute in a shared flat.

For that was what TH games became. Kicked off locally, those skateboarding sessions - as unrealistic and crazy as they seem nowadays, were the stuff of legend.

But it's fair to say I was actually more excited by the buzz around Skate 4. EA's Skate series yanked the rug right out from under The Birdman's hallowed turf, reinventing skateboarding games and making them feel a little more realistic (at first!) and utterly addictive thanks to some innovative twin-stick use.

But oh, it was the Warehouse level on TH that really caused more angst than anything else. 100%ing that level became more than a gaming experience. It became like a bitter grudge match between myself and a flatmate, both of us burning the midnight oil trying to knock off the perfect tricks and ramp up the highest score, well into the early hours of the morning (I remember one extended session where I absolutely Would Not Let It Go and looking at the clock to realise I had 15 minutes to get to a lecture I obviously never made it to! GAH!)

These games feel like they're ripe for a comeback in fact I'd argue that - at least in the case of Skate 3 - a game I still regularly play thanks to backward compatibility on the Xbox One, the only real use for the bloody thing - they never really went away. The sales did though, obviously but if the sheer popularity of these games for a modern game streaming audience is anything to go by, we're in for some serious treats when TH and Skate are battling it out for supremacy once again (we won't talk about the other skateboarding games, as they're not worth the air time - geddit? Air time? No? Oh bugger you then!)