One of the most disappointing confirmations regarding the upcoming Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 on Switch and Switch 2 was that the Career Mode in THPS 4 would adopt the same timer-based structure as the previous games, thus revamping the original release which allowed players to tackle missions as they saw fit.
Now, as spotted by VGC, a hands-on preview from YouTuber andyTHPS reveals that the timer in THPS 4 can be extended by up to an hour. By default, it'll be set to 2 minutes, but you can change this via the options to 5 minutes, 10 minutes, or 60 minutes.
This goes a long way to alleviating at least some of our concerns. After all, the larger levels in THPS 4 never felt like they were built with 2-minute timers in mind, so extending this and actually having the time to explore properly is a big win.
On the other hand, it doesn't look as though the actual mission structure will change. Missions can simply be completed on-the-fly as you're skating around the levels, much like the previous three titles. It's a shame, because we loved how you could activate the missions via short dialogue sequences with the in-game characters, but alas, it seems like this aspect is gone for good.
it was also recently confirmed that Bam Margera will indeed be making a return for the upcoming remake, with Activision sharing a behind-the-scenes video of the skater expressing his excitement. Tony Hawk himself has also revealed his desire for a Tony Hawk's Underground remaster, but clarified that "I'm working with a much bigger company that's a lot smarter than me".
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 will launch on Nintendo Switch on 11th July 2025. A Switch 2 release date has not yet been confirmed.