The PS1 big drop icon was changed in THPS3, whereas the N64 version recycles the THPS2 design. The Big Drop remained in the PS1 and N64 versions, due to those versions still using the Apocalypse engine. THPS3 does not feature the Big Drop mechanic, which was introduced in THPS2. Also, the skater could ollie from the lip trick, giving the ability to ollie, and then perform a flip trick to revert to keep their combo going nicely. Balance meters for grinds were introduced in the GBA and Xbox versions in THPS3, but the lip balance meter was still non-existent. THPS3 introduced a balance bar for lip tricks. a Kickflip could be easily transformed into a Kickflip to Indy or Kickflip to Crail). An ability that was cut out in following games were flip-grab blending tricks. This system would later be refined in THPS4, where these variations known as double-tap tricks and manual/lip/grind extensions.

However, the number of extra tricks are limited and take more air time, making it impossible to land them in flatland. For example, double-tapping the flip button would, naturally, make the skater perform a double flip.

Hidden Combos are variations of standard tricks that can be performed as flip, manual or grind tricks. This allowed for much longer combos than in the previous two games, where landing in a quarterpipe would finish a combo.

THPS3 saw the introduction of the Revert - one of the most influential moves in the series, a trick that enabled vert combos to be tied together with a manual by tapping a button when landing in a quarterpipe. The original Xbox version lacked online support completely, but players found a workaround in the form of System-Link bridging.

Users could connect directly to other players online on the PlayStation 2 version-even prior to the launch of the network adapter, with a USB Ethernet adapter, or on PC, where one could use the GameSpy lobby to play online, or simply play LAN on a local area network. The game stood out in the franchise for being the first title to have online capabilities.

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