The first Tony Hawk's Pro Skater game was released in 1999. It launched on the original PlayStation on September 29, establishing the skateboarding series that would become one of Activision's major early-2000s franchises.
The game was developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. Although it was built around a real professional skateboarder's name and likeness, Tony Hawk was brought into the project after development had already begun. His involvement helped shape the game's presentation and authentic skating identity, while the developers focused on making tricks and level objectives fun rather than strictly realistic.
The original release was followed by ports for systems including the Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color, Dreamcast, and N-Gage. Regional naming can cause confusion: in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and parts of Europe, the game was released as Tony Hawk's Skateboarding.
Its success led to annualized sequels, beginning with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 in 2000. The first two games were later rebuilt together in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2, released in 2020.