Skate Heaven Is a Place on Earth

Unlike surfboarding, where you need perfect weather and a seaside to make the most of, other extreme sports such as BMXing and skateboarding can be done anywhere. The world is your sandbox, and you're free to do what you like where you like.

Well, in theory, anyway. Real Life is a bit different. Some places just don't have ideal terrain to ride over; others are restricted, and you'll get thrown out or arrested almost immediately if you so much as try. Even if you did try it, some places are so dangerous that one wipe-out is all that separates you from a messy end.

Not so in a video game, though. Everything is a skate park, and at worst, falling into a vat of acid is merely going to cost you your combo. Security won't throw you out (unless the story calls for it), and nobody's going to do anything more than yell at you, even that guard with a gun you just knocked over.

Expect all the places to be littered with loads of quarter pipes to practice vert tricks off of, often lined up perfectly for a gap.

And yet, despite all the possible places available to do your gnarly shreds, the pros always seem to hang out in the same sort of areas. Even when you go trekking around the world to bring your sport to the masses, you invariably end up in the same kind of locations.

Funny note, despite his lack of a skateboard, Sonic the Hedgehog levels also have shades of this due to the eponymous character's method of movement, and more recent ability to grind (with his sneakers).

Note: Sonic the Hedgehog's grinding abilities trace to a Product Placement in the second Adventure game for Soap sneakers, which are actually used to grind rails in the absence of boards.

The following works are especially notable for featuring Skate Heaven Is a Place on Earth.

This trope is ubiquitous; examples playing it straight need not apply.

A suburban area full of houses and gardens. Expect at least one to contain a conveniently empty or drainable swimming pool that's just perfect for a half pipe.

New Jersey in Tony Hawk's Underground fits this trope perfectly. There's a pool, but already empty and apparently constructed for the purpose of skating, as well as plenty of houses to clamber up onto the rooftops.
Project Eight has a level called Suburbs which did indeed have a drainable pool, as did Suburbia in Tony Hawk's Pro Skateboarding 3, though that was also part construction site.
The Neighborhood in Backyard Skateboarding.

A school, usually with a goal about stopping "the man" from stopping you from your sport.

There was a school in the very first Tony Hawk's Pro Skateboarding, which was recreated for Underground 2.
School II in Tony Hawk's Pro Skateboarding 2.
Another school in Project Eight.
A college level (the first in the game) in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4.

A big city, full of cars, and giant skyscrapers. Don't be too surprised to have to jump down one of them for some big air.

San Francisco in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1.
New York in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2.
- And Philly.
Los Angeles in Tony Hawk's Pro Skateboarding 3.
Manhattan, Hawaii, and Vancouver in Tony Hawk's Underground. Indeed, a huge gap off a skyscraper in Hawaii becomes the focal point of the game's story.
New Orleans in Tony Hawk's Underground 2, at least until the zombies appear. Though you may cut through the rooftops so they won't bother you anyway.
- Kyoto and Atlanta on the PSP version count as well.
Practically all of the main areas of Los Angeles in Tony Hawk's American Wasteland, particularly Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and Downtown.
London and Chicago in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4.
- Averted with San Francisco instead taking place in a surprisingly accurate representation of the back of the SF Hyatt.
The Boardwalk in Backyard Skateboarding.
Virtually every level in Jet Set Radio.

A proper skate park, fully endorsed by the sponsors. It's either made of concrete if it's outdoors, or plywood when it's inside. Sometimes based off a Real Life skate park.

Kona in Tony Hawk's Pro Skateboarding 4 is a real-life park, made of concrete.
The Vancouver skate park used to host the Slam City Jam in Tony Hawk's Underground.
Skateopia from Tony Hawk's Underground 2 is also real, though it's neither concrete nor plywood
The Vans Skate Park and Wasteland levels in American Wasteland (the latter of which is by no means a real park).

Some kind of workplace where performing extreme tricks in real life would be impossible (due to security) or at least highly dangerous. Here, though, the only threat is bailing into some smelting pot, or being sucked into an engine and torn to shreds.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skateboarding 3 gave us both the Foundry, which was full of manufacturing equipment, and the Airport, which... wasn't.
- Then there's the Jeep Factory in Project Eight.
- The Oil Rig in American Wasteland was another deadly workplace, though not only is security not a problem, you're forced to do the work for the guys there to continue.
The Mall in the original Tony Hawk's Pro Skateboarding.
The train station section of New Jersey in Tony Hawk's Underground, though in this case you neutralize the one guy on security duty immediately.
The Big Shell in Pro Evolution Skateboarding. Complete with extremely hazardous drops and armed UAVs. The same level is included as a bonus in MGS2: Substance.
There's a car factory in Aggressive Inline.
The Docks in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4.
The Rooftops in Backyard Skateboarding: Game of the Year Edition.
The Hanger in THPS 2.
"The Ministry" buildings in Shaun White Skateboarding.

A level set inside something like a museum. Expect to grind over the various assorted priceless artifacts.

The Museum in Proving Ground.
Aggressive Inline has a museum, including a dinosaur exhibit where you can grind a T-rex skeleton.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 is a bit of a stretch with an oddly accurate Alcatraz.

A level set on a construction site. Beams elevated by rope will never tilt, no matter how long you stall on them.

Boston in Tony Hawk's Underground 2 has a construction site in one area. By setting your board on fire and grinding the two cannons, you can destroy it, giving you access to even more girders to grind.
- The bombed church in Berlin is under restoration in the same game.
Project Eight's proper concrete skate park is partially demolished, allowing you to grind on the construction workers' vehicles.
Tony Hawk's Proving Ground opening level can have construction vehicles that you can combo on
- Not to mention how the entire Rigger story path revolves around building your own spots.
In Shaun White Skateboarding you have to escape from 'the Ministry' at one point. This involves grinding over a massive constriction rail then switching to another one (conveniently just as the first one is about to end) by jumping over when you're 15 Storeys High.

A bright and colorful level that allows for some more ludicrous things to ride over. Expect it to be set somewhere where the bright lights are naturally an attraction, not just part of a combo line.

Las Vegas from Tony Hawk's Underground 2 Remix on the PSP.
- It also appeared in Tony Hawk's American Wasteland, with some changes.
Santa Monica, which is bright, sunny, full of bright colors, and there's a freaking Ferris Wheel in it.
There's the level set in an amusement park in Project Eight..
The Tokyo level in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3.
Underground allowed you to skate around the stage of a KISS concert in the Australian outback, which for some reason was full of grounded aircraft.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 had a level set in a carnival.
Aggressive Inline had a level set in an amusement park.

A real life location where extreme sports aren't where one usually goes to have a good time. This is the closest anyone on the globe-trekking extreme sports adventure will get to sightseeing, and they still can't pass up the chance for a personal best.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 doesn't just visit a bullfighting arena, it fills the center with plywood and insists upon putting a contest there.
Pro Skater 3 contains a cruise liner level.
Pro Skater 4 then let you loose in a zoo.
Aggressive Inline had a level set in an amusement park.

The Theme Park Version of a foreign country (whether or not the city is explicitly identified, it will be used as a catchall stand-in for the entire country), which trots out every national stereotype you can imagine and then some.

Kyoto in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3. Bonus stereotype points for the giant Godzilla footprint. Canada, as well; It's mostly a frozen-over no-man's-land with a tiny skate park in one corner.
- London in Pro Skater 4.
Russia in Tony Hawk's Underground, where every mission involves either alcohol, the oppressive government, or the overbearing military.
Barcelona, Australia (not nearly as big as you'd think - actually it's just a part of the Sydney shoreline) and Berlin in Underground 2.
Merry Old Englandland in Backyard Skateboarding, which is a version of medieval England.

An unlockable level that is played entirely for humor. It can be anywhere, from the depths of hell to outer space to a Mayan temple to a post-apocalyptic future. Basically any level which has no grounding in the real world.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 had Skate Heaven, a level which was a Hailfire Peaks-style mashup of various other levels, set floating above the earth.
- The alien spaceship idea was done by a level called Pro Skater in Tony Hawk's Underground 2. The same level then went on to be a Mayan temple, and then went to Hell.
- Also the Triangle level in THUG 2. OK, it seems to be still on Earth, but where on Earth would you find an island dominated with pirates and aliens, in which airplanes cross portals in mid-air?
- American Wasteland had the post-apocalyptic future level.
Many of the themes for custom parks tend to be like this. Who would reasonably build a skate park in Antarctica, or be able to put one on Mars?
- When they get the chance, people will do it.
Pro Evolution Skateboarding has quite a few of these, including The Big Shell from Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.
Backyard Skateboarding has the Ultimate Skatepark State Station Alpha, a space station.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 had a level where you where shrunk down to ride around on someone's kitchen top.
Shaun White Skateboarding has you unlock 'Shaun White Island' (do you think Shaun White likes people to know who Shaun White is?) which is just off the coast of the city where the game is set and is filled with 'Shaun White Challenges'.