When people first heard about the Tony Hawk franchise coming to the GBA, they were skeptical. Tony Hawk on the GBC wasn’t all that well received. Frankly I thought it was terrible. But when the first shots and movies of Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 for GBA hit the net, people were floored. Could this really be possible? And does it play as good as it looks? You bet your boneless!

From the second you fire up this game, it’s all Tony Hawk 2. At least of what I’ve played so far every gap, rail, jump, S-K-A-T-E, hall pass, table, video tapes, rooftops, and ramp are intact. I played a lot of the original THPS on the N64, and played a little of the sequel on the Dreamcast. It’s all in here. The one major difference is the fixed diagonal camera view. It takes a little while to get used to, but once you do, you’re in for a real ride.

Controls are rather simple, The D-pad controls the skater, A = grind, B = crouch/ jump, L = flip trick/Toggle ollie, R = grab trick/switch. Control feels exactly like the original THPS. After a few minutes you’ll be doing some rad tricks and grabs. It took a while longer to pull off some combo’s and big air…but in no time, the controls become second nature.

Graphically this game is one of the most impressive Game Boy Advance games I’ve ever played. The models of the skaters are very realistic for a GBA game. They are well detailed and look excellent. I’ve played all the tracks already (god bless cheat codes already up), and nothing has been left out of this cart. All of the different courses have been preserved and shrunk down for the GBA.

The sound in Tony Hawk is absolutely fantastic. The music, in a nutshell…rocks. While I’ve been writing these impressions I’ve put the game on pause and listened to quite a bit of the music, and enjoyed it. The rockin’, hip hoppy, skate punk tunes packed into THPS 2 are rather impressive. The sound effects are also true to the THPS2 series. All of the sound effects seem to have been transferred quite well. Due to the high quality of sound in this game, headphones are suggested.

So is there anything I don’t like about this game? Well actually…yes. It’s rather difficult. There is a serious learning curve. If you haven’t played a Tony Hawk title yet, you might want to rent one and give it a whirl before you pick this up. I believe the transition to the GBA will be a lot easier. It took quite a while for me to open up three courses. Then again, there are cheat codes you can input so you can make things a lot easier.

Outside of that one complaint, I think Tony Hawk 2 is a definite must have launch title if Tony Hawk is your cup of tea. All the mad skateboarding fun that is Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 is now portable. And delicious! I’ve shown this game to a couple friends and not only are they blown away with it, but they can’t get enough of it. Way to go Vicarious Visions!