Career Mode

Career Mode is the main mode in the Tony Hawk games, mainly in the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series. It takes place in several Levels where the player must fulfil a number of Goals to advance to the next Level, or to unlock content in the game. It is known as Skate Tour in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2.

This mode would appear as Classic Mode in Tony Hawk's Underground 2, Tony Hawk's American Wasteland and the PlayStation Portable version of Tony Hawk's Project 8, with Levels from previous Tony Hawk games making a reappearance.

Levels

Career Mode is divided into a number of Levels, dependant on the game. Games up to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater contain Levels with Goals, while each of them contain three Competition Levels, where they can win Medals.

Goals

The loading screen showing a list of the Level's goals in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater.

Goals are objectives that the player must complete to advance onto the next Level. The number is dependant on the game, with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater having five Goals, while Tony Hawk's Pro Skater has around nine, averagely. Some Goals can unlock specific items, exclusive to the Level or Skater.

In Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, Goals are now completed by interacting with NPCs around the map (or colorful tokens in the PlayStation version), and immediately starts afterwards, but can be cancelled at any time. It is similarly implemented in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5, except the player is given an option to start the Goal or not, and cannot back out of it.

Pro Goals were also exclusively introduced in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, which are optional, but required for 100% completion.

To unlock all Videos in the games, the player is required to complete all Goals with all Skaters. It would be revoked in In Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2.

TYpes of Goals

There are several typical goals that may vary from Level to Level;

• Score goals - They require the Skater to achieve a certain score. It is usually divided by the High Score, Pro Score and Sick Score.
• Collect S-K-A-T-E letters - They require the Skater to collect five floating letters around the Level.
• Collect C-O-M-B-O letters - Similiar to the Goal above, except the letters has to be collected in a single combo and in order.
• Collect/Destroy objects - This varies between Levels, where the player has to Grind five lunchtables in School, or ring five Bells in School II. Some goals may vary in number.
• Perform a Trick over a Gap - Requires the Skater to perform a specific trick given at an exact gap place. For example, Tailslide the Venice ledge in Venice or Bluntslide the awning in Philadelphia.
• Find hidden tape - get a VHS tape that is usually located in places that are tricky to access. Exclusively in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD, a DVD was added as a collectable.
• Get 100% goals and cash - The Goals must all be completed in one run, exclusively in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and the PlayStation version of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4.

Unlockables

In Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Levels, Decks and Stat Points are exclusively unlocked by completing Goals in Levels.

This was slightly changed by Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, where the player is now given Money that can be used to buy Decks and Stat Points in the Skate Shop, except for the latter in future games, which are found in Levels instead.

Time Limit

In Tony Hawk's Pro Skater to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, the player is given a 2-minute time limit to complete the Goals around the Level. If not all Goals are completed, the player is allowed to redo the Level to fulfill the other uncompleted Goals. In order to get the "100% Completion Bonus" in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 and the PlayStation version of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, the player must do all the Goals in one run.

From Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5, the timer was completely removed, allowing the Player to explore the Level and do Goals at their own pace. Certain Goals within Levels still have time limits, dependant on the overall difficulty. The gameplay would be worked into Story Mode in Tony Hawk's Underground.

The 2-minute time limit would be traditionally revisited in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2, being more in line with the original games' gameplay. It would also be the same for both tours of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4, despite the latter game's remade Levels originally having no time limit.