8. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (N64)

In August 2002, this became the final game released for the Nintendo 64 in North America. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 also received a port on GameCube (which launched the previous year!), and although the version on the older console was never going to fare brilliantly in direct comparison, it's still a very fine game.

Largely overshadowed by its flashier disc-based brethren, then, but Edge of Reality sent the console out on a high with this final entry in the N64's Birdman trilogy.

7. Tony Hawk's Underground 2 (GCN)

The original THUG felt like a welcome change for a series that was running out of refinements to make to the core gameplay — this sequel was more than serviceable, but a feeling that an annual release schedule wasn't conducive to innovations began to creep over series devotees. Tony Hawk's Underground 2 is very solid but as the fourth of five TH titles on GameCube, we began to wonder what a generational leap might offer.

6. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 (Switch)

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 on Nintendo Switch is a rock-solid port of a pair of genuinely fantastic remakes.

These really are two of the very best arcade sports titles of all time, revamped, reworked and re-imagined for modern audiences with all the graphical bells and whistles, collectibles and game modes we've come to expect in this day and age.

With flawless performance in both docked and handheld modes and visuals that still look the part after a few necessary concessions here and there, this is one collection we highly recommend you kickflip right into.

5. Tony Hawk's Underground (GCN)

Giving you the ability to create a custom skater and go on a narrative journey, for the first time in the series you don't play as Tony or any of his pro friends. Instead, you meet him on your own journey, impress him with your skills, and get involved in the THUG life.

It all sounds a bit old hat nowadays — every sports game has a 'rise-and-fall' story tacked on these days — but Tony Hawk's Underground was exciting back in 2003 and we look back on it very fondly.

4. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 (GCN)

If you enjoyed the previous Tony Hawk games, you will probably like Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, too. This game binned the time limits in the new, free-roaming Career mode that opened things up for the first time in a way the later games would explore. There were also various tweaks and improvements made to the core gameplay mechanics, with spine transfers debuting here.

And if the game itself doesn't instantly transport you back to 2002, secret characters Jango Fett and Daisy (Jenna Jameson) surely will do. What a game.

3. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (N64)

Edge of Reality's port of Neversoft's first Tony Hawk game arrived around six months after the PlayStation version and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (or Tony Hawk's Skateboarding as it was known in Europe) stands up very well gameplay-wise on Nintendo 64, although the reduced storage space on a cartridge versus Sony's discs means texture quality and, more importantly, audio both take a hit.

It's still a fine way to play the first game, though with the excellent remaster on Switch that bundles in its sequel, Nintendo gamers have a better option these days.

2. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (GCN)

It's easy to look back with rose-tinted specs and imagine things were better in the past. For most genres that's a fallacy, but when you look at Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, it's arguably true. 

Some might prefer Pro Skater 2 or Pro Skater 4 (it's tough to go wrong with any of them, really), but this is a classic in the skateboarding genre — the focal point and pinnacle of a skating X gaming cultural crossover before the series went off the boil and started trying a bit too hard in the mid-2000s.

Even people with zero interest in skateboarding know who Tony Hawk is, and it's thanks to these brilliant games, of which Pro Skater 3 might just be the best. Ah, the memories...

1. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (N64)

You'd be forgiven for thinking of Tony Hawk as a predominantly PlayStation franchise, especially in the early days, but Birdman turned up on practically every console of the day and got a bunch of N64 ports which stand up very well alongside their disc-based counterparts.

Edge of Reality's version may have come a year after the PlayStation game, but it holds its own in almost every department (besides audio, thanks to the restrictions of the cartridge format). We're very partial to the Game Boy Advance version, too, but Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 served skate-loving Nintendo gamers the full-fat experience on home console back in the day.

Sick! Surprised by the result? Feel free to let us know your thoughts on the ranking and share a comment about your personal favourite(s) below.

And remember: This list is not set in stone. Registered Nintendo Life users can click on the stars below and rate the games out of 10, and the dynamic ranking — based on User Ratings — is subject to real-time change, even now as you read this. Feel free to add your score to any game at any time, and it will still count and potentially influence the order.