Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 has a surprisingly brutal nod to Guitar Hero hiding in its new Waterpark level, and it’s one that developer Iron Galaxy plans to remove from the game altogether.
One of the most interesting things about Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 is that it actually brings a decent amount of new content to the game beyond just remastering the old maps. Iron Galaxy got the chance to put together three new levels for Pro Skater 3+4 that show what the team can do with the series.
Related
Bam Margera Confirms Tony Hawk Got Activision To Reinclude Him In Pro Skater 3+4, Says His Passion For Skating Is Back
We love a good comeback story.
Chief among those new levels is Waterpark, which has become the big poster child for the remake. While the map itself is very good and full of things to uncover, there’s one easter egg within it that’s caused such a stir among fans that Iron Galaxy has issued a statement confirming it didn’t know about it being there.
Catch this Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 Guitar Hero easter egg before it’s removed for good
“We have the utmost respect for anyone who makes games”
Over on the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater subreddit, Redditor will-powers shared an easter egg that can be found in the new Waterpark level. Right next to the pirate ship’s water slide, you can find a trash can with a game box inside it that’s clearly supposed to be referencing Activision’s Guitar Hero series, and even has Neversoft’s logo on the front of it.
For those who don’t know, the original developers of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, Neversoft, also worked on Guitar Hero. Some fans have taken it as a not-so-subtle jab at the previous developers, although that hopefully isn’t the case.
The Banjo Champion box inside the trash can shows the same shadowy figure seen in Guitar Hero advertisements playing, you guessed it, a banjo. Even if Banjo Champion is clearly just a silly riff on Guitar Hero that was actually in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 as well, it being placed so clearly in the bin has led to some fans taking it as a thinly-veiled insult towards the series and its developers.
While you might just think that it’s a silly easter egg, it’s apparently one that Iron Galaxy isn’t happy to have in its game. What appears to be the official Iron Galaxy Reddit account replied to the thread and said that it’s “investigating how that got in there in the first place” and that it’ll be removing it from the environment art in the game’s next update.
That suggests that Iron Galaxy didn’t put the easter egg there on purpose, and that it might have been a rogue developer trying to just play a joke. Whether the easter egg would be sticking around if fans didn’t take it as an insult isn’t clear, but it seems like Banjo Champion’s days in the bin are nearly over.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4
Released
July 11, 2025
ESRB
Teen // Lyrics, Mild Blood, Mild Violence
Developer(s)
Iron Galaxy
Engine
Unreal Engine 4
Next
I Feel Like We’re Ignoring That GTA 6 Mostly Looks Great Because Of The Lighting
Strong lighting choices go a long way.