Skylanders is a toys-to-life action-adventure video game series created by an American company called Toys for Bob and published by Activision.

Players use collectible figurines of characters from the games, which have special technology called NFC. These figurines work with a device called the "Portal of Power," a themed reader that connects to the figurines. The Portal of Power reads and stores information on a small chip inside the base of each figurine. This information includes which character the figurine represents, as well as upgrades and abilities that can be used during gameplay. The data remains saved on the figurine, so it works across all games in the Skylanders series.

Each Skylander is linked to one of ten elements: Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Magic, Tech, Life, Undead, Light, and Dark. Skylanders with different elements have special strengths in certain parts of the game. They can also unlock hidden areas called "Elemental Gates," which are only accessible with the correct element.

Plot

The games take place in the Skylands, a world of floating islands in the center of the universe that is often in danger from evil forces who want to take over and control all worlds. For many years, a group of heroes called the Skylanders has worked with the Portal Masters to protect Skylands from evil and keep the Core of Light safe. Spyro is one of the known Skylanders. Each Skylander is connected to a different element: Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Light, Dark, Magic, Tech, and Undead. Skylanders with the Dark and Light elements first appear in the game Skylanders: Trap Team after the Core of Light is restored.

Before each game begins, the Skylanders are sent from their home world to Earth by an enemy named Kaos. On Earth, they become frozen because there is no magic in the human world. In most games, they are mistaken for toys and sold in stores.

Players take on the role of a Portal Master, using the Portal of Power to send the Skylanders back to their home world. There, they fight against Kaos, a villain who appears in many games, as well as his army and other enemies.

Characters

There are 144 playable Skylanders in total. They are organized based on the game they first appeared in, with some Skylanders grouped into special categories.

The Giants are Skylanders who are larger than regular Skylanders and use their great strength to fight.

The SWAP Force are Skylanders who gained the ability to swap parts of their bodies with each other after being caught in the eruption of a magical volcano.

The Trap Team are Skylanders who capture and imprison villains in Cloudcracker Prison and use weapons made of Traptanium.

The SuperChargers are Skylanders who drive their own vehicles.

The Senseis are Skylanders who learned different fighting skills and helped train the Imaginators.

In addition to the 144 playable Skylanders, there are many recurring characters in the series. The most important of these non-playable characters, because they appear in every game, are:

Games

Spyro's Adventure is the first game in the Skylanders series. It includes 32 Skylanders, with four for each of the eight elements. Light and Dark elements were added later in the fourth game. The Skylanders work to restore the Core of Light, which was destroyed by Kaos. They collect the Eternal Sources of each element and other parts to achieve this goal.

Giants is the second game in the series and follows Spyro's Adventure directly. It introduces a new group of Skylanders called the Giants, who are officially the first larger-than-normal Skylanders. The Giants were created to stop the Arkeyans from ruling Skylands. They are strong enough to lift, throw, and destroy trees, rocks, and walls that usually require bombs to break. Their mission is to stop Kaos after he reactivates the Arkeyan Conquertron and tries to take over Skylands by bringing back the Arkeyans.

Swap Force is the third game in the series. It takes place in a new area of Skylands called the Cloudbreak Islands. It introduces a new group of Skylanders called the Swap Force, who can swap their top and bottom halves to combine abilities. Together, the Swap Force and other Skylanders work to stop Kaos and his mother from harming the magic restoration process of the Elementals on Mount Cloudbreak.

Trap Team is the fourth game in the series. It adds two new elements: Light and Dark. It also introduces a new group of Skylanders called the Trap Masters, who use powerful weapons made of Traptanium, the strongest material found in Skylands. The Trap Masters were assigned to guard dangerous prisoners in Cloudcracker Prison until Kaos released them. The game includes a new feature called the trap mechanic, which allows players to trap enemies in Elemental Traps made from Traptanium. These trapped enemies can be temporarily summoned as playable characters. The Skylanders and their trapped foes team up to stop Kaos and the Doom Raiders.

SuperChargers is the fifth game in the series. It introduces a new group of Skylanders called the SuperChargers, who drive special vehicles on land, in the sky, and at sea. The Skylanders must stop Kaos and his Sky Eater, as well as The Darkness, which has its own plans. SuperChargers includes a racing game mode similar to Mario Kart, which can be played online or locally. It was the last game released on tablets, the Wii, and the 3DS (with the 3DS version called SuperChargers Racing, focusing only on racing). It is the only main Skylanders game available as a digital download.

Imaginators is the sixth and final main game in the series, developed by Toys for Bob. It was released on October 13, 2016, in Australia and New Zealand; October 14, 2016, in Europe; and October 16, 2016, in North America. It was the only Skylanders game released for the Nintendo Switch. The game introduces two new types of Skylanders: the Imaginators and the Senseis. Imaginators are characters created by players with customizable appearances and abilities. The Skylanders must stop Kaos, who uses Mind Magic to create evil Skylanders called Doomlanders. Crash Bandicoot and Doctor Neo Cortex appear as playable characters, their first video game appearances since 2010. Their figures were first sold with PlayStation 3 and 4 starter packs but later released as a separate set.

In 2011, Activision released Skylanders Universe, an online browser-based multiplayer game. Players could interact in Skylands, play mini-games, customize their own islands, and track their Skylanders collection. They could connect their portals to computers to summon Skylanders, as in the main series. The service is no longer available.

Activision also made spin-off games for mobile devices, including Cloud Patrol, Battlegrounds, Lost Islands, Collection Vault, mobile versions of Trap Team and SuperChargers, Battlecast, and Ring of Heroes.

Development

Skylanders is a new version of the classic video game series Spyro the Dragon. After Activision combined with Vivendi Games and bought all the rights to the Spyro games, the Toys for Bob studio was asked to create a new Spyro game. At first, they planned a version with dark, violent scenes, but this idea was quickly stopped because people inside the company did not like it. Instead, they decided to make a game that is friendly for all ages and uses communication between toys and a digital world. The first Skylanders game cost Activision about $100 million to create. This amount is similar to the money spent on games like Call of Duty.

Version differences

The Skylanders games have been released on many platforms, and different companies made versions of the games. These versions have important differences in how they work and what players can do.

The Nintendo 3DS versions have special stories and gameplay that focus more on jumping and moving through levels. These versions use a smaller portal that connects to the console using infrared technology. In the first two games, players had to load two figures at the same time and could switch between them using the touch screen until a new figure was added. Starting with the Swap Force game, every figure scanned is saved permanently in the game. In the Trap Team game, villains are captured using the touch screen instead of real-life traps, which the 3DS portal cannot support.

The first two games were made for the Nintendo Wii. The HD versions of these games were later released as ports with slightly better graphics. However, starting with Swap Force, the games were made for HD consoles, and the Wii version had much less detailed graphics. The Superchargers game on Wii and 3DS was a separate game called Superchargers Racing, which only included the racing parts. The Imaginators game was not released on Wii or 3DS.

Although portals usually work across different platforms, the Xbox 360 and Xbox One versions need their own portals because of rules set by Microsoft.

The Nintendo Switch version of Imaginators does not use the Portal of Power. Instead, figures are scanned using NFC technology on the game controller. Like the 3DS versions of earlier games, scanned figures are saved and can be switched through a menu. Traps are not supported in this version, and Vehicles only unlock Imaginite Chests.

Media

Cavan Scott wrote a series of books, starting with Skylanders: The Machine of Doom, which takes place before the events of Spyro's Adventure. He later wrote the Skylanders: The Mask of Power series, which also happens before Spyro's Adventure. Another series, Skylanders: Book of Elements, focuses on two elements in each book. Shubrik Bros. Creative wrote the first book in this series, and Barry Hutchson wrote the second.

Two art books, Strata: The Art of Skylanders: Swap Force and Clutch: The Art of Skylanders: Superchargers, were created by Vicarious Visions. These books are employee exclusives, meaning they can only be obtained through online sellers or charity events.

IDW Publishing made a comic series connected to the Skylanders franchise. The comic takes place between the games. It was reportedly cancelled to avoid conflicting with Skylanders Academy, which follows a different official story.

In 2016, it was announced that Activision Blizzard Studios would create an animated television series based on Skylanders. The first season premiered on Netflix on October 28, 2016. The second season aired on October 6, 2017, and the third and final season began on September 28, 2018. On April 30, 2019, it was announced that Skylanders Academy was cancelled.

Activision has discussed the possibility of making a movie based on Skylanders. On May 6, 2014, Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg stated that the company was interested in creating a film adaptation of Skylanders.

Future

After the release of Imaginators, the franchise took a break, and some people guessed there might be a seventh game for consoles. However, future projects in the Skylanders universe were limited to a mobile game called Ring of Heroes, which shut down in 2022. The studios worked on other games that were not related to Skylanders until Activision Blizzard was bought by Microsoft in January 2022. Activision's CEO, Bobby Kotick, said that Microsoft wanted to bring back some of the studios' popular games, such as Guitar Hero and Skylanders.

Reception

Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure received mostly good reviews according to Metacritic. The game was nominated for two Toy Industry Association awards: "Game of the Year" and "Innovative Toy of the Year."

Skylanders: Giants received mostly good reviews on most platforms according to Metacritic; however, the Nintendo 3DS version received mixed or average reviews. Overall, the reviews were slightly lower than the previous game, especially for the Nintendo 3DS version, which had the lowest Metacritic score in the series.

Skylanders: Swap Force received mostly good reviews on most platforms according to Metacritic; the Nintendo 3DS version received mixed or average reviews. The Metacritic scores for this game were the highest and most positive in the series on most platforms.

Skylanders: Trap Team received mostly good reviews on most platforms according to Metacritic; the iOS version received universal acclaim. Although the Metacritic scores were slightly lower than the previous game on most platforms, the iOS version had the highest Metacritic score in the series.

Skylanders: SuperChargers received mostly good reviews according to Metacritic. The game was also nominated for two awards: Best Family Game at The Game Awards 2015 and Favorite Video Game at the 2016 Kids' Choice Awards. Despite its positive reception, Activision reported in February 2016 that the game did not meet sales expectations.

Skylanders: Imaginators received mostly good reviews on most platforms according to Metacritic; the Nintendo Switch version received mixed or average reviews. Despite the generally positive reception, the game sold only 66,000 copies during its launch month.

As of February 2015, the Skylanders series reached $3 billion in sales, with 175 million toys sold since 2011, making it one of the top 20 highest-selling video game franchises of all time. By June 2015, over 250 million toys were sold. By 2016, over 300 million toys had been sold, and the franchise became the 11th biggest console franchise of all time.