This is a barely-acceptable companion title to one of the greatest skateboarding games of all time
This game consists of three equally-uninteresting game modes - Half Pipe mode, a 1-on-1 mode, and a tournament mode. The tournament portion of the game is the most interesting, but the fact that it only consists of 5 very short maps means that most gamers will be finished with the game in under 15 minutes. Unfortunately, the other game modes are not worth very much time either, and I don't detect a whole lot of replay value here. Achieving first place in a tournament is indeed quite difficult, but I can't imagine very many gamers feeling compelled to attempt it. The gameplay is lackluster and repetitive, the controls are sticky and unresponsive, and the enemies are overly aggressive. Giving the tournament two playthroughs and calling it a day was good enough for me.
All in all, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater for the Game Boy Color is just not a fun game at all by today's standards, and I can only recommend this to fans of 8-bit skateboarding titles. Back in the day, this was probably a decent portable skateboarding game, but today it pales in comparison to any more-modern handheld skateboarding titles. While not fundamentally broken, this is a very easily avoidable title unless you already own it somewhere. This used to be one of my favorite Game Boy games as a kid, so there might be a chance you'll like it too. The difference between this version and the home console versions is that I played the hell out of my N64 cartridge of this game as a kid too - and I still think that one kicks ass twelve years later. Needless to say, this GBC port does not.