Funnyman Jack Black is set to appear as a secret character in the upcoming remastered Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2. After the demo dropped last week to much fanfare, one keen gamer decided to investigate the game’s source code and found an image of Black as the franchise’s long-suffering villain Officer Dick. The image was uploaded to Reddit and also posted to Twitter by CheezhOfficial, a well-known UK YouTuber and gamer.
For those of you a little too young to remember the glory days of the Tony Hawk’s, Officer Dick has been a mainstay of the series and would appear throughout the game and try and stop you from skating. His official bio states: “As a youth, poor Richard Envee was deemed as a ‘poser’ by other skaters. Distraught and overtaken by the need for revenge, Dick vowed to some day become what those skaters feared most…the long arm of the law!”
Officer Dick would appear in all four Pro Skater games as a secret playable character and even turned up in several other games, including True Crime: Streets Of LA and MTX Mototrax.
The appearance of Black as Officer Dick shouldn’t come as a surprise, with the Tenacious D member a huge video game nerd (he has his own YouTube channel, JablinskiGames) and Hawk fan. Earlier this year, the two caught up as part of Black’s YouTube channel, where Black got a sneak peek at the game.
There’s yet to be any official confirmation from Activision or Black about his cameo in the game, so it’s more likely than not true. If Black does turn up, there’s a good chance he won’t be the only celebrity to appear, with the franchise known for its colourful cast of unlockable characters, having featured the likes of Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong, Kiss’ Gene Simmons and Kelly Slater in previous entries.
While we’re still a few weeks away from Tony Hawk’s dropping, the hype continues to build. It’s been revealed the original soundtrack will return with an additional 37 songs from a host of new artists, including Aussie acts Baker Boy, DZ Deathrays and Alex Lahey, while a doco about the franchise, Pretending I’m A Superman, is available to stream online now.