You have heard your kids talk about them non stop all year but you still don’t know what a Skylander is, much less how to tell your Swap Force from your Trap Team. Well luckily for you, we are here to guide you through your shopping list before Black Friday gets here. We can help you understand just figures work with what games, how to tell your Giants from Spyro’s Adventure figures and just in the world those Trap Crystals are for.
So you know your loved one wants some Skylanders for Christmas, but you don’t the first thing about them. Is it a video game? Are they toys? Well the answers is yes, to both.
Lets start with the basics.
Skylanders is a "Toys to Life" video game series, meaning that you use toys to add new content to the games.
Skylanders figures are placed on a portal that transports the character into the game. However, not every Skylander figure will work every Skylanders game.
Don’t worry, we will make it easy for you.
There are a total of four Skylanders games, one released each year since 2011.
The first one Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure.
This game will only work with figures from the basic Skylanders line.
The next game in the series is 2012’s Skylanders Giants.
This game featured all new Giant figures which do not work with Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure. However, all Spyro’s Adventure figures will work with Giants.
Next up is 2013’s Skylanders Swap Force.
This title features special swappable figures that do not work with any of preceding games. However, all figures released before Swap Force will work.
The most recent addition, is Skylanders Trap Team.
Skylanders Trap Team features the all new Trap Masters figures that only work with the new game and portal. However, all Skylanders figures will work in the new game.
This is also where the Trap Crystals come in. You know those transparent sword like things cost anywhere from $4.99 to $6.99. These pieces only work with the new Trap Masters game, allowing players to capture villains in them for later use.
If you are buying your loved one a Skylanders Starter Set it will come will come with everything you need to play (minus the gaming console).
Important note: All Skylanders figures will work for all systems (so long as there game is supported ), but Skylander games are Console specific. A X Box 360 game will not work on a X Box One console and so on. So check the box on those star sets carefully.
*Wii Starter Set includes an Wii U download.
So long as you remember the order that the games were released and that the newer games work with all the older figures you will be fine.
We hope this helps with your holiday shopping.
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