Skate Boardin' scores 7/10 in the verdict of The Games Market editorial team.
Once Upon a Time
Skate Boardin’, arcade evolutions in the footsteps of Tony Hawk!
by Simon Larocca·January 19, 2026
Se mi concentro abbastanza da risvegliarne i ricordi, assopiti da qualche parte tra le notti magiche del 1990 e i tiri a effetto involontari con il mio inseparabile SuperTele nerazzurro, riesco ancora a vedermi. Lì per terra sull’asfalto, le ginocchia sbucciate e le ruote consunte dello skateboard che girano a vuoto, mentre l’asse da stiro più ganza dell’universo giace sulla schiena dopo l’ennesimo capitombolo del sottoscritto. Che se la rideva, felice di essersi fatto male e lo sapeva.
No cellphones or improbable Tik Tok, mimicking dancers we will never be, but only adrenaline and very dangerous stunts at the skatepark, emulating His Majesty Tony Hawk! As my skater friend Luca would say, “certain tricks are pure poetry,” and it is precisely in the name of that on the road lyricism that Atari released Skate Boardin’ for its flagship console, back in that distant and seminal 1987.
A prendere le redini del progetto fu Absolute Entertainment, una delle tante società di sviluppo pionieristiche che in quegli anni post-crisi (the bleakest period in video game history) elbowed its way forward with ideas, dreams, and visions in pixel form: at the helm of this creative half pipe was none other than David Crane, who rose to prominence in the industry thanks to that masterpiece of reflexes, curses, and exotic settings called Pitfall, a great game, trust me. Skate Boardin’ absolutely had to catch the interest of video game enthusiasts with a level of difficulty that was challenging enough. At the same time, Atari knew full well that for a game of such a particular nature, halfway between a sporting discipline and a PaperBoy-style street experience (if you don’t know what that is, I’ll throw a newspaper in your face!), it was also necessary to work on marketing, so as to attract real skaters too, a true legion in the United States.
Impersonating a young hooligan running late for school, we will tackle a city route packed full of ramps, pipes, and various obstacles that we will have to use to score as many points as possible: the aim of the game is to reach the school gates within five minutes, helping to rekindle in the player the right dose of anxiety. Be careful though: to successfully complete the mission, pompously titled “The Cruise” in the in-game instruction manual (the good old days!), you will have to perform 50 tricks between ramps and pipes.
The literally timeless charm of a title like this is revealed not only by playing it: inserting the cartridge into the console slot is already an exciting moment in itself, as is the launch of the title screen, with the game’s name proudly displayed alongside graphics that we would rightly call retro today, but which in those years of experimentation represented the very best for video game players. The cover of Skate Boardin’ itself, with that sleazy guy in sunglasses, Hawaiian shorts, and a psychedelic-colored skateboard about to perform a boneless right next to a van in the middle of the street, sparks in the user’s eye the forbidden desire to string together tricks during sun-soaked afternoons of school-skipping summers.
Per farlo, we will also be able to make use of a ride: one of the most iconic maneuvers is the one that, in jargon, is called a skitch: in Skate Boardin’, in fact, we will be able to grab a moving vehicle and crouch down to cut through the air in the best possible way. This will literally allow us to skip ahead between one area and another, then detach and resume our crusade on the road!
Skate Boardin’ is not a modern game, of course: the gameplay is minimalist at best and, by today’s standards, the graphics are certainly a museum piece. Nevertheless, it can still entertain anyone who tries it, and the skateboarding tricks and sound effects, so wonderfully Eighties, make this title a must… without any more need to skin your knees.
But, let’s keep this between us, I kind of miss Mercurochrome on scrapes, don’t you?
7
Pro
A timeless gem for all lovers of the board on wheels, simple controls, and quick, fun matches
If you want to know one of the titles that anticipated the iconic “Tony Hawk’s,” now is the time
Consultation with real skateboarding aces during the game’s development, which shows an uncommon level of care for the product at hand, with all the console’s technical limitations, of course.
Contro
Let’s talk about an Atari title from 1987: any comparison with any modern multi-sport title is inconceivable; if you’re looking for peaks of graphics and have little imagination for imagining what could not be reproduced in pixels, look elsewhere.
My name is Simon Larocca, and I am a gamer, collector, and lover of pop culture in all its forms. I go to the cinema whenever I can, I have been reading since I started wearing glasses, so, basically forever, and I have a passion for storytelling in all its forms, so powerful that it became my profession. But as Doc from Ritorno al Futuro would say, there would be no present if one did not look at the past with respect and admiration, and it is the Simon child of more than thirty years ago, give or take a year, who is to thank for that.
Simon Larocca
My name is Simon Larocca, and I am a gamer, collector, and lover of pop culture in all its forms. I go to the cinema whenever I can, I have been reading since I started wearing glasses, so, basically forever, and I have a passion for storytelling in all its forms, so powerful that it became my profession. But as Doc from Ritorno al Futuro would say, there would be no present if one did not look at the past with respect and admiration, and it is the Simon child of more than thirty years ago, give or take a year, who is to thank for that.
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