Fans eager to relive the glory days of skating in the upcoming Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 were somewhat mystified by the apparent exclusion of early 2000s skating icon and stuntman Bam Margera. Apparently, Mr Hawk himself decided to pull rank, demanding that Activision do whatever needed to be done to ensure that Margera was present in the games.
Chronicled by VGC, on The Nine Club skating podcast, it was claimed that Margera was added at the eleventh hour after Hawk himself intervened. Co-host Roger Bagley explained the situation:
"Well, here’s what happened. The game was already done. Tony called up Activision and was like 'hey, we’re putting Bam in the thing', and they were like 'hey, we can’t'. He goes 'no, you’re gonna do it', and basically made them fly Bam back out there to get body-scanned and everything else, and get him back in the game."
Co-host Chris Roberts then expressed our own thoughts, "So this might be news that's not out there yet, though?" to which Bagley replied, "Probably." VGC has contacted Activision for official confirmation of this series of events.
Margera has long struggled with substance issues, leading to friction with his Jackass colleagues, and escalated dramatically after the death of his childhood friend and co-star, Ryan Dunn. Director Jeff Tremaine fought for years to include Bam in the reunion film Jackass Forever (2022), but not only had to fire Bam from the project but would ultimately take out a restraining order on the troubled skater after he allegedly sent death threats to Tremaine's family.
What do you think of the apparent last-minute inclusion of Bam Margera in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4? Darkslide into the comments section below.
[source youtube.com, via videogameschronicle.com]
Comments 17
It ain’t the same game without Bam, good on Tony for pushing for his inclusion.
Let’s hope this leads to an Underground 1/2 remaster one day!
@DonJorginho yes to the underground remasters! I preferred those to the pro skater games
If Bam was in the game the first time round, then Bam should be in the game this time round. It's a shame other things from the first time around aren't present this time though, but that's for another post.
I just hope that Bam is doing better these days
Skating around as a fat haggard Bam is gonna depress a whole lot of millennials.
@Fartingale hahaha i'm sure they'll make him look like he did in the original?
@SJR from what I remember of 1+2 all the original skaters got aged up 20 years.
@Fartingale they should literally just upscale the Phil model from THUG and darken his hair slightly, then they wouldnt have to do any extra mo-cap work or design
Makes sense as they were literally hanging out together skating on a ramp the same day the game got announced.
Good to hear this, as I was not buying the game if they did not include Bam.
Tony making sure his friend gets paid and included in something he was a big part of making popular. Good to see.
No one asks to have the sort of problems Bam has. What a terrible precedent it would be if we censored soneone just because their life has gone off the rails.
And side note, how dare they assume to remove anything from the original release of the game.
I've always had respect for Tony Hawk, and now I have even more.
I wish nothing but the best for Bam Margera and sincerely want to see him happy and healthy.
@Corc11 Turkey Tom did a good documentary on Bam last year, it covers everything the rise, fall, his current bounce back and it's pretty respectful. I met him way back working on a H.I.M. tour, he was friendly but it was clear he'd never had anyone to help keep him in check. There's also a really good documentary about Steve-O called No Pain in Vain, by Flavio De Feo, it's also an hour long. I've watched that one a few times now, his life/story is really interesting and where he's at now is super wholesome to see.
Big respect to Tony, as always. Big rotten tomato to Activision for butchering THPS 4 and trying to exclude Bam.
It's getting very tiresome having a group of puritans that feel they need to censor content on our behalf.
These people would have had a stroke if they have to remaster Thrill Kill on the PS1.
Studios that fly someone back in for a body scan while they could have just plastered his mutt on any template character model shouldn't complain about exploding dev costs. Will they add a few thousand to give that weird fanboy a "HIM" shirt as well!?
Should include young and current Bam lol
Thing is Jackass and it's stars had Hawk on a lot throughout it's run so for Tony to step in and make sure Bam is in it is cool. Just hope whatever money Bam gets he can sort himself out because after Ryan death he's never been the same and it is understandable they were friends as kids and Ryan was funny as probably the best out the lot
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