Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 [PS2, 2001]

This was the point where Tony Hawk became an addiction for me. Getting this as my first PS2 game the graphics blew my mind, and you can really see where the system's horsepower is being spent. The combo system really comes alive with the addition of the revert, enabling you to connect grab tricks into manuals and create much larger combos. The soundtrack (although absent in this video because the audio would be muted with it enabled) felt curated and well crafted, perfectly accompanying the gameplay. This was also the last game where they focused purely on the skateboarding, as the series would start branching into open-world and story, as well as removing the two minute time limit.