Start with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 if you’re choosing between skateboarding games for PC and want to put tricks together. It is our first pick for arcade combos and the series’ original modes. The tradeoff is deliberate: you’re choosing that style of skating over learning a separate stick for each foot.
The other two picks change what makes a line worth repeating. OlliOlli World turns skating into an action-platformer with multiple routes through its levels. Session: Skate Sim asks you to learn foot control and weight transfer, then decide what looks good at a street spot without a scoring system. Choose between those activities before choosing a visual style.
Arcade combos
Platforming routes
Foot control and street lines
Choose PC skateboarding games by the line you want to learn
If a better run means a bigger combination of tricks, choose Tony Hawk first. If it means finding a satisfying way through a level, move OlliOlli World ahead of it. Session belongs first only when controlling the board itself is the practice you came for. That choice gives up an arcade score as the measure of your line.
| What you want to repeat | First choice | The cost of that choice |
|---|---|---|
| Putting tricks together in arcade modes | Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 | Foot-by-foot simulation is not the reason to choose it |
| Following and exploring platforming routes | OlliOlli World | You accept authored levels rather than a free 3D street-skating format |
| Learning the feet and shaping a street line | Session: Skate Sim | You learn stick and weight control without a scoring system |
These are three different answers to “best skateboarding games.” Someone who wants a score to chase and someone who wants to film a street trick can want the same board, stairs, and rail on screen, yet still need different games.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 for combos
Choose Tony Hawk if you want the trick combination to be the main event. The remastered collection brings together the first two games, their original modes, and the series’ handling. You’re buying into arcade skating; Session’s separate-foot control is a different reason to sit down and practice.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2
Recommendation
- Best for
- Players who want arcade trick combos and the original Pro Skater modes.
- Why it fits
- The collection joins the first two games and centers the series’ trick-combo handling.
- Skip if
- Your main interest is learning how each foot and weight transfer control the board.
Tony Hawk also makes more sense than OlliOlli if your starting point is the Pro Skater format itself. OlliOlli’s routes are a reason to switch, not a promise of the same game with different art. The official Steam description also lists Create-A-Park and local two-player modes if making parks or sharing a session matters to your choice.
OlliOlli World for platforming flow
Choose OlliOlli World when the route is what you want to learn. Its levels offer multiple paths, with grinding, tricks, and airtime built into an action-platformer. You give up the free 3D street-skating premise, which is a good trade if you want the level to present the next stretch of your line.
OlliOlli World
Recommendation
- Best for
- Players who want skating through authored platforming levels.
- Why it fits
- Multiple paths give you routes to explore while grinding, performing tricks, and taking to the air.
- Skip if
- You want a street-skating simulation where learning each foot is the central attraction.
This is the branch to choose over Tony Hawk when “one more route” sounds better than “one more combo.” Its official description emphasizes missions, challenges, and explorable levels. The colorful world supplies that platforming setting; it does not make a claim about how quickly you’ll master the controls.
Session: Skate Sim for learning feet and weight
Choose Session if working out how to move the board is the attraction. Each stick represents one foot, and the game asks you to learn control and weight transfer. That makes it our skateboarding simulator pick for this particular interest, with a substantial caveat: there is no scoring system to turn your line into an arcade result.
Session: Skate Sim
Recommendation
- Best for
- Players drawn to dual-stick foot control and self-directed street lines.
- Why it fits
- Each stick represents a foot, with weight transfer central to controlling the board.
- Skip if
- You need a combo score to tell you whether the next run was better.
The official Steam page describes a tutorial and four difficulty levels, but also warns that the first hours can be challenging. Those options support learning; they don’t remove the reason you might prefer Tony Hawk. Session’s filming tools and video editor offer another goal: getting a line you want to capture. Pick it because that process appeals to you, rather than assuming realistic scenery means a better fit.
The wrong default is the most realistic-looking board
If you want arcade combos, keep Tony Hawk first even when a street-sim screenshot catches your eye. Choosing Session for its appearance means accepting the foot-control practice and the absence of a scoring system too. Neither is a small detail if the pleasure you want is improving a scored run.
The reverse matters just as much. If making one street trick look right is enough reason to repeat it, adding more arcade modes won’t necessarily answer that wish. OlliOlli is a third choice, not a halfway point on a realism scale: its platforming routes change the activity. Screenshots can help you choose a setting, but these control and goal differences should decide the purchase.
Choose the line you want to learn
For an undecided player, Tony Hawk remains the first click because this recommendation starts with arcade trick combinations. Move to OlliOlli for authored routes, or to Session when you actively want to learn feet and weight without score feedback. Each switch should buy you a different kind of practice.
Start with arcade handling and the original modes.
Choose multiple paths, grinding, tricks, and airtime.
Accept dual-stick foot control and no scoring system.
Still deciding? Open Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 first. If its arcade-combo premise is what you were hoping to find, you have your starting point.
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