The Rift to Skylands

After the opening cutscene place a Land vehicle (eg Hot Streak (or Barrel Blaster on Wii U) from the Starter Pack) on your Portal of Power, once that has appeared place any Skylander character you like on the Portal along with it. In SuperChargers the game requires you to keep a vehicle on the Portal at all times, even when in the on-foot sections, the story explanation is to do with rift engines being used to facilitate the use of the Portal after Kaos blocked them otherwise.

Land

Once your Land vehicle and Skylander are placed they should appear on screen ready to drive forwards along the inside of a swirling vortex, this first section of the game just requires you to drive forwards. The coins you pick up along the way here are known as Gearbits and are used to upgrade shields and weapons on vehicles only. Note that Gearbits are stored on the vehicle itself so you'll need to gather Gearbits while driving the vehicle you want to upgrade. If you are drifting the value of the Gearbits you pick up is increased, so if you are able to it is highly encouraged to drift as much as possible.

Once you're through the vortex you'll pop out into the first level.

Chapter 1: Skylands in Chains

Walk up the slope to the right and then jump up the small step, if you then immediately take a right down a ramp you'll find a round object with a green arrow on the top. Jump on the bounce pad to be bounced up on top of the crates where there's some treasure on the ground and the first of the game's new treasure chests Epic Chest Epic Chest 1/5. The game presents it as a one-armed bandit slot machine type thing where you have to pull the lever and then spin the drum to win a random prize (the picture that comes up on the drum has no relevance to what you actually win) of a Hat, Skystone, Soul Gem, Winged Sapphire, or Legendary Treasure. You also get a load of gold which can be used to upgrade your Skylander. On a repeat visit to a level the Epic Chests that you have already found will be replaced with a regular looking Treasure Chest, a Present, or a Pinata. While they will no longer have the accompanying burst of coins Presents and Treasure Chests still have a chance to give you a random item but as you gather more and more items they will eventually start to become like the Pinata and give out exp, coins, gearbits or stardust. It's not an immediate cutoff point though, just because you've started getting exp doesn't mean there aren't still items to win.

Jump down off the cage to the left and move forwards to where you'll fight your first set of enemies, a few Chompies. If you're not familiar with Chompies they are small, fairly weak enemies but you are usually faced with large numbers of them at a time. Your basic attacks should defeat a Chompy in one hit but you should still be careful not to get surrounded by them. Once you've defeated them all bounce on the circular pad at the back to get up onto a cage, if you jump to the cage on the left you'll find the first Wishstone Wishstone location, it's only a chance to find it though as it might instead be a silver gem that is worth about 110 gold. You can also sometimes find Wishstones inside crates so it is quite recommended to smash everything you see.

Jump off the cage you bounced up onto to get to a few more Chompies pouring out of an orange glowing opening, defeat them and then jump into the opening they came out of. Inside you'll find some slumbering Chompies with the Epic Chest Epic Chest 2/5 at the back. You'll have to defeat all of the Chompies to be able to open the chest though as it has the crossed swords symbol on the front which means that you need to defeat all the nearby enemies before it is accessible. The larger King Chompy is a little stronger than the small ones and will take more hits before dying. Head back out once you've opened the chest.

Jump up the cages and then down off the end to where the others are being held, defeat the lone Troll holding the key so you can open up the cage to free Hugo, Cali and Flynn. Before you go up the ramp to the puzzle lock you may want to go into their cell and bounce up onto the roof of it, up there you'll find some treasure and possibly a Present Present or regular treasure chest that'll give you a random prize (these type of chests do not count towards the Epic Chest count for the level) but it could just be a Pinata to smash. Jump back off and go to the Live Wire Lock on the exit.

A new type of lock puzzle. Once again you control the little green Lockmaster Imp but this time he's on some sort of hovercraft and you must direct him around a board to get to the ignition key. Along the way you can pick up glowing lightning bolts to improve the reward when you finish. Very carefully move him around trying to avoid the circular bumpers which will bounce you away if you bump into them, if you're moving slowly you should be able to get around them on this lock without too much trouble as there's plenty of room to move about. The ignition key is in the bottom left corner, once you've gathered as many of the three lightning bolts as you want go to the key in the corner and activate it to open the lock. They do get a little trickier later on but not overly so. Head through the door once it's open.

Chapter 2: Motley Meadows

If you head to the right you'll find a spot where you can sometimes find a Present Present. After talking with Hugo to the left (the Star above his head means that this next section is the part that will fulfil the requirements for the Land Star for the level) stay on the ship a moment and go a little to the left where you might find a Wishstone Wishstone (these are used in the hub world and are basically equivalent to a present). Once you've got that or the gem or whatever it is that's there go and enter the Land section (you'll need to have a Land vehicle on the portal).

Land Star Land

The controls in this driving section are going to feel a bit different to when you were just racing along a track, rather than going straight forwards and only turning left or right here you have free roam around an area so the controls now let you move around with the analog stick directly. Even with the stick scheme turned off you're going to find that it is different to the racing sections. What that basically means is that you don't need to keep the accelerator held down all the time, which is good here as you will generally want to go where you're directing the car to go but while you can use that same method of control on the race tracks it's not very good there as then you have to hold the stick forwards the whole time and turning becomes a bit less accurate. You can disable to stick scheme in the Controls section of the pause menu if it is getting in your way.

While driving around the place you'll notice a targeting reticule popup, that'll be because of the tiny fairly difficult to see Chompies wandering around. Shoot them with your weapon or just drive over them.

There are a couple of sub-objectives you can do while you're here, the first one is reached when you smash through some rocks on the bottom of the right ramp and go through the speed boost that appears, you'll zoom off onto a track section (although still controls like the open section) and if you grab the floating flags (hard to miss really) you'll start a timed collection mission which asks you to "Break the Barrels" of which there are six, five of them are directly along this path and the sixth is on the ground when you land back in the open section, gotta do it quickly or they'll disappear. The reward for completing it is some Gearbits, drift while they rain down on you to up the value.

A second optional objective is the collection of four puzzle pieces that are scattered about the place, again the reward is just some Gearbits so if you're not interested in them don't bother. One piece is in the far left corner, one is below the left ramp, one below the right ramp and one to the far right.

The main objective here however is to "Save the Pit Crew", a trio of land sharks who are currently holding onto poles for dear life. You just have to jump each of the ramps and bump into the sharks as you're jumping. Once you've saved all three of them some proper enemies will drop in. Drift around the Iron Equalizer turret shooting at it and once it's destroyed a few vehicle enemies will appear. After defeating them a red Toolbox Toolbox will appear on the floating island above, use any of the three ramps to reach it and unlock your first Vehicle Mod. Just like the chests the reward is random (although it seems that it is perhaps weighted towards the vehicle you're using) and you can collect a toolbox in the same place every single time you visit a level, there is no level total screen for collecting them so don't worry too much if you happen to race past one in one of the areas where you can't go backwards. Upon collecting a mod for the vehicle you are driving the game will give the option to equip it then and there but a SuperCharger can do this at any point when in a vehicle anyway (press a direction on the dpad).

Once you've collected this toolbox the gate below will open up and let you out onto a track section where the controls will go back to how they were originally. There's one split in the track just after the first ramp, if you take the right path you can find another Toolbox Toolbox up a small barriered ramp along the right side of the track. Again don't worry if you miss it the reward is random and you'll find plenty throughout the game. The path will lead you back to where the left path would have taken you (so if you're in a hurry take the left path), keep following the track as there's no more splits. There is however one more Toolbox Toolbox off the first ramp after you encounter some enemies but I don't think you can even miss this one. Don't be too concerned with the enemies you find a bit further on either, just don't drive into them and you'll be fine.

Chapter 3: A Fuel's Errand

Back on foot again. Go down the steps and keep on going straight ignoring the turn, you'll find some treasure on the ground and just to the left off screen is a spot where you can find one of those random Present Present spots. Jump back up a short distance and head towards the moving platform, if you jump on and into the air you can grab that floating gem/ Wishstone Wishstone. At the far end of the area is a couple of Cyclopses throwing mines at you, avoid the red markers that appear to avoid getting hit. Once you're up close they're fairly harmless. A gillman known as James Prong has a Sea Star for you that you can complete if you have a Sea vehicle (eg Sea Shadow from the Dark Starter), this is entirely optional so if you don't have a Sea vehicle (or just don't want to do it right now) go to the left where a giant lid will flip down to let you up.

Sea Star Sea

The first thing you're supposed to do here is shoot the Catalytic Cyclotron, that's the purple machines on the pipes sticking out of three sides of the central structure. You can find a Toolbox Toolbox by shooting the vertical vents you can find along the edges of this area, the vent in question is on the exact opposite side to the starting point. They're up in the air so you'll have to try to shoot them from a little distance. The other vents will drop Gearbits so it may be worth shooting them all.

Once you've shot the three parts of the central structure and the enemy vehicles that spawn after each one gets destroyed you'll earn the Sea Star. There is more to the Sea area but if you're just here after the star you can exit the level now. Go into the hole that you've blasted in the centre and down into a large pipe. Make your way along this ducking under the water where needed to pop out the other end, halfway down along the left side underwater there's a Toolbox Toolbox to grab.

There's a large pipe on the left side of the area at the end of which you can find a Toolbox Toolbox. Return to the open area and park next to a platform over to the right side where there's a Sea icon, you'll briefly get out of your boat and be able to open a Present Present if there's one there. Get back on your boat and a few enemies will drop out of the vents (which is why you couldn't shoot them), once they're destroyed go over to the other Sea icon to finish the section.

If you skipped the Sea mission you're now at the same point where the Sea mission ends. Jump down into a second glowing hole to the left. Down here you'll first find Epic Chest Epic Chest 3/5 next to where you land but also at the back your first game of Skystones Overdrive with a Mabu named Aimee. If you played Skylanders Trap Team you should be familiar with the basic idea of this version of Skystones, the rules of this version are a little modified however. The main difference being that attacks occur every single turn rather than after both players have taken a turn. That means you can now be even more tactical in placing stones.

For those who have never played the old Skystones Smash the object of the game is to reduce your opponent's health to zero (from a starting 30). To do that you place Skystones on the board (one per turn) so that they are either facing an enemy Skystone or a blank space. A blank space means the damage done (shown by the number in the top right corner of the Skystone) is done directly to the player whereas if there is a Skystone in the opposite position the damage will be done to that Skystone (with no overflow, an attack of 5 to a Skystone with 1 health will not damage the player it will just destroy the Skystone). The main decision you have to make other than which stone to use is whether you want to block the opponent's attack or let it attack you and instead directly attack the opponent as well - it can certainly be beneficial to ignore a Skystone doing 1 damage so that you can do 5 damage to the enemy. It is also important to recognise that the game finishes immediately the moment a player reaches 0 health, even if both sides would be reduced to zero on the same turn if all the active Skystones were used.

Another addition to the game this time is the presence of a fourth Skystone in your hand that represents the vehicle you have on the Portal, this charges up each turn and once fully charged is able to be played (if you want, you don't have to) and generally has a decent bonus ability (eg Hot Streak's 5 damage directly to the opponent). If the element of a Skystone matches the element of the Skylander on the portal it gets a small health boost, you can't just change the Skylander in the middle of a game however.

And lastly the played who goes second starts with an active rock Skystone on their side with 2 health and 2 damage so that the person going first still has to decide whether to defend or not.

You can collect more Skystones by defeating other Skystones players in the game as well as in the same way you get Hats, Soul Gems, etc. by finding them in Chests, Presents, the Wishing Well or the Shop. You can also unlock Skystones that match specific villains by putting a trap from Trap Team that contains the corresponding villain into the Trap slot on the Portal in SuperChargers.

After defeating Aimee at Skystones Overdrive she'll give you the Skystone "Toxic Tushie Skystone" which you can choose to add to your deck. Your deck is a selection of 20 Skystones that you are able to turn up when playing, choose the best ones for the way you play (attack, health, powers) to get the best out of the game. I'd recommend not automatically adding things to your deck as it may take out a Skystone that you quite like using (you can go into the menu and add it in again but you might not even notice it was removed).

Anyway, bounce on up and then up again to get back out of here. The line of coins going down into the lava is reached not by jumping into the lava but by rotating the section of pipe that they're on, simply walk in place towards them and they'll spin towards you with a gem or Wishstone Wishstone on the other side. Go right past a pipe spewing out lava and attack a few Enfuego Chompies before taking on another Troll and Cyclops. After they're gone you'll have to fight some more Chompies and then another group of Cyclopses and a Troll that come down in an elevator. Ignore the flashing arrow on the elevator for the moment and instead go to the right and jump into a glowing pipe.

In here you'll see several moving platforms and lots of treasure to pick up, jump from one platform to the other to get across to the far end where Epic Chest Epic Chest 4/5 is sitting in the pipe. Go back to the elevator and use it to start a Live Wire Lock puzzle. This one's a little more complex than the previous one, now you have to wait for the section you start in to rotate so that you can press the red button at the bottom (well, if you want to get all the lightning bolts, otherwise just go left), this starts the circle on the right turning so that you can now reach the right lightning bolt. There's one along the top and then the third is right next to the ignition on the left side. That'll probably increase your Portal Master Rank and the game will ask you to choose a power, there's not actually a choice to make for Rank 2 so just accept the XP Gain, further up the rankings you'll be able to decide between a few different options.

Chapter 4: The Great Breakout

After the elevator go up the slope onto what seems to be some kind of runway that the ships are flying along and go towards the screen, at the end on the right you can find Epic Chest Epic Chest 5/5. Work your way forwards along the path avoiding the ships as they fly past by jumping onto the side sections. At the back on the left side you can find a Present Present spot but your destination is at the back to the right up to where you'll meet up with Flynn and Cali again. Flynn has a Star above his head, that's for a Sky Vehicle section that you can do now if you happen to have a Sky Vehicle (unfortunately the Kaos Trophy from the Dark Starter Pack does not work in the storymode Sky sections, only the dedicated racing part of the game).

Sky Star Sky

Get aboard your plane (or helicopter) and you'll be in a fairly open flying area. You can find a Toolbox Toolbox on the deck of one of the larger ships and a second Toolbox Toolbox on the deck of another, just fly close to the ships and you should automatically grab them. The third of the larger ships instead has some flags that will activate a barrel breaking objective. They're all in a line that loops back around to the ship so shouldn't be much trouble finding them even if you are having a problem actually hitting them. The red balloons with treasure chests attached to them will only drop gearbits or shield powerups.

The actual task you're trying to achieve however is to save the escape pods, you do that by shooting the enemies that are attached to each of them. After freeing the three pods you'll get a second task, to protect Sharpfin's ship. Again this is achieved by shooting down the five ships that are attacking the ship, they're marked by arrows so you should be able to see where they are from a distance. If they quickly fly past you hold the brake button and you'll turn around on the spot quite quickly.

After that a larger Cannon Ship will turn up, now you've got to shoot the three turrets on the ship rather than just the ships that are also now flying around. You'll find yourself flying directly at the cannons and flying into the path of their missiles, to avoid them perform a barrel roll to quickly dodge out of the way. Keep circling back around to shoot and dodge until all three are blown up. Land on the marked ship to finish the level (you therefore skip the short Land vehicle section that you would otherwise take part in).

If you don't have a Sky vehicle go up to the right to get on your Land Vehicle to begin a short track section.

Land

If you keep along the right side as you jump off the second ship you'll grab a Toolbox Toolbox. One jump later you'll land at the end of the section and finish the level.

Chapter 5: One Safe Place

Between each level is a chapter based entirely at the Skylanders Academy, this first one is designed to show you around its new look. Go find Mags by stepping on the bounce pad at the rear of the ship you start on and you'll land near Cali, Mags should be just to the right. If you're ever lost looking for an objective in the Academy just stand still for a moment and a thin blue line should appear that will lead you to your destination. Mags will point you in the direction of Persephone the upgrade fairy down the steps to her right. This is where you can spend gold on upgrades for your Skylanders, she'll also appear at certain spots in levels so you don't have to return to the Academy partway through a level just to upgrade.

Next you're off to Sharpfin who is charge of upgrading your vehicle, talk to the pit crew you rescued from Motley Meadows behind him to purchase upgrades and swap out mods. Finally go talk to Flynn to get moving to the next level The Cloudbreather's Crag. Or just wander around exploring the Academy until you're ready to leave, there are some other things available to do here already that the game will only introduce to you later on.


Comments
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#4 PortalMasterone 18:42:13 04/10/2015
Which elements appeared for you guys?

Sorry, off topic.

Pardon me, dark52, you should mention that you can try out the Elemental Gate at the Academy with Grizzo, and you can talk to him to change the Element.
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#3 Deja Vu 21:33:30 03/10/2015
This looks so weird. There's no icon that helps me recognize a place, why didn't Dark at least add chests, gifts & Supercharger gates as icons?
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#2 PortalMasterRob 20:46:15 03/10/2015
Actually this is fairly a simple task game, unlike Swap Force and Trap Team where you need a bunch of Skylanders to open an elemental gates just to get a item. In this an Epic Chest is more like a gamble to get the important prize. There is no more weird stuff to collect for each chapter and gamer like me with only little collection of Skylanders figures can enjoy playing this game.
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#1 Luminous35 19:42:34 03/10/2015
Its so weird not seeing any big elements anymore. smilie

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