Tony Hawk's Underground Unreal Engine 5 remake leaves fans stunned
Topics: Activision, Unreal Engine
Featured Image Credit: MitchMakesGames via YouTube, Activision
Topics: Activision, Unreal Engine
Fans are desperate to see Tony Hawk’s Underground remade, and I fully back the notion. Given that Microsoft has now finalised its acquisition of Activision, it has the opportunity to revive the newly acquired IP.
Tony Hawk’s Underground is a certified blast from the past. Developed by Neversoft, it launched on the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Game Boy Advance in 2003 with the PC port landing one year later in 2004. It pains me slightly that games I remember well are now considered ‘retro’. What set Tony Hawk’s Underground apart was that instead of simply featuring professional skateboarders, the game had a very fun amateur story mode. While there are currently no announced plans for a remake, one fan has taken on the task. YouTube MitchMakesGames has begun recreating this gem in Unreal Engine 5.
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What a hero. MitchMakesGames expressed that Tony Hawk’s Underground was and continues to be one of his favourite games, adding that he simply couldn’t ignore the game’s 20th anniversary. Seeing as Neversoft was later folded into Infinity Ward, MitchMakesGames raised that it’s unlikely we’ll see a remake, so he thought he’d take on the task himself.
MitchMakesGames began the project by importing the game’s first map, New Jersey, into Unreal Engine 5. There, he was able to adjust collision and begin testing movement before moving onto remastering. Unreal Engine 5 itself did a lot of the base lifting. MitchMakesGames then began cleaning up unneeded assets (like fake shadows) or replacing low-quality trees and fences with high-quality alternatives.
Textures were updated too, making a huge difference - although this process did take several days. A similar process was taken with remastering the character models. The final step was testing the actual skating mechanics. Thankfully, UE5 creator CodeLikeMe had already created skating movements that MitchMakesGames was able to modify. Eventually, Mitch was able to do a complete run through and honestly, the results are incredible. Now I just want to see a full remaster of this game.