Who remembers SSX and 1080? The waves of Tony Hawk games that were all the rage in the 2000s? I do. I vaguely played a few of them, and watched my friends and classmates play a lot more of them.
I guess it was the “EXTREME SPORTS” trend of that period extending to video gaming. I don’t really miss it, but I can see the appeal. And I can also see how that influence extended into non-extreme sports games starring a certain Sega mascot.