Kelly Slater Teases Bringing Back Surfing Take On Tony Hawk’s Most Beloved Series

Few sporting video games can rival Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater’s nostalgic appeal and cult following. Aesthetically capturing the spirit of skating culture, these games, from kickflips to 900s, became legendary mainstays in the gaming industry. There’s chatter these days about the potential return of the surfing equivalent as Kelly Slater thrilled followers with the prospect of bringing back Tony Hawk’s most treasured series in a popular surfing style.

Nick Diaz recently shared an Instagram story with a snapshot and tagged Kelly Slater. Adding back to Diaz’s story, the 52-year-old Slater wrote with a one-liner message, “Might have to make another game…!!??”. That story set off a wave of interest. Fans of the original game are feeling nostalgic about the game that Slater hinted about, sending vibrations of buzz across the surfing and gaming communities.

At 49 years old, Slater won his eighth Billabong Pipeline Masters championship, making him the oldest surfer still competing in the World Surf League. The most notable accomplishment of an American surfer is a record-tying 11X World Surf League championship crown. Holding 56X Championship Tour championships under his belt, Slater is considered one of the greatest professional surfers of all time. Interestingly, just one month before Tony Hawk’s ‘Pro Skater 4’ was released in 2002, ‘Kelly Slater’ came out.

Impact of Kelly Slater’s THPS4 Look

Surfing has never truly been as prominent as skating, considering the sport’s rich and storied past. Pro Surfer was also released with relatively little fanfare, much like all of Activision’s attempts to equal the success of its Pro Skater series with other extreme sports.

In the foggy, sunburned opening sequence of the game, you can hear Slater whisper, “We spend our whole lives just wanting to be at the beach”. Slater says, “Travel. Surf different waves. Dream of going to different places and discovering the wave. It’s just like, that unknown”. However, Kelly Slater is all about the spaced-out world of professional surfing, while Pro Skater depicts the Beavis and craziness of the skateboarding scene.

As Slater states in the introduction, Pro Surfer simulates surfing as a lifestyle rather than a sport. Every level begins with Slater recounting the legend of the surfers who have surfed at the actual location you are going to visit. This includes the main menu screen, which resembles a dilapidated ship that transports surfers from beach to beach.

Slater remarks, “The water in the summertime, it’s not too bad, if you don’t mind cold water, you can get away with a pair of trunks,” Slater mentions Trestles, a well-known surfing beach in San Diego. He continues, “If the wind’s blowing, you definitely need a hood ‘cause you get ice cream headaches like you’ve never had…I think it’s probably the scariest wave in the world,”.  He narrates about Mavericks, a well-known large wave location in northern California. It remains to be seen if the nostalgia teased by Kelly Slater comes out as a reality.