Skylanders: Giants

Skylanders: Giants

A direct sequel to Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure.

Skylanders: Giants
Platform Developer Age Rating Release Date
EU NA Europe North America
PlayStation 3WiiXbox 360
Toys for Bob
7+ E10+ - Everyone 10+ Oct 19th 2012 Oct 21st 2012
Wii U
Vicarious Visions
Nov 30th 2012 Nov 18th 2012
Nintendo 3DS
n-Space
Oct 19th 2012 Oct 21st 2012

Story

As a direct sequel the story picks up shortly after the events of Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure. The very basic premise of the game as told by a press release:

Players will resume their role as a powerful Portal Master, who controls their a team of Skylanders, including Giants, mythical and powerful heroes that play a pivotal role in the quest to save the Skylands from Kaos, who is back with another plan to rule over Skylands. Players will navigate perilous lands, battle powerful enemies, collect treasures and solve interesting puzzles.

Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow have returned to help write the story.

Characters

As well as being able to use all of the Skylanders from the original game, Skylanders Giants introduced 16 brand new characters to play as. This new lineup was made up of eight regular sized Skylanders and eight Giants who were about twice the size of the other characters.

Here are pictures of all of the Skylanders new to Skylanders Giants:

Life
Tree Rex
Tree Rex
Shroomboom
Shroomboom
Gnarly Tree Rex
Gnarly Tree Rex
Legendary Stealth Elf
Legendary Stealth Elf
Lightcore Shroomboom
Lightcore Shroomboom
Series 2 Stealth Elf
Stealth Elf
Series 2 Stump Smash
Stump Smash
Series 2 Zook
Zook
Tech
Bouncer
Bouncer
Sprocket
Sprocket
Legendary Bouncer
Legendary Bouncer
Lightcore Drobot
Lightcore Drobot
Series 2 Drill Sergeant
Drill Sergeant
Series 2 Drobot
Drobot
Series 2 Trigger Happy
Trigger Happy
Magic
Ninjini
Ninjini
Pop Fizz
Pop Fizz
Scarlet Ninjini
Scarlet Ninjini
Punch Pop Fizz
Punch Pop Fizz
Royal Double Trouble
Royal Double Trouble
Lightcore Pop Fizz
Lightcore Pop Fizz
Series 2 Double Trouble
Double Trouble
Series 2 Spyro
Spyro
Series 2 Wrecking Ball
Wrecking Ball
Air
Swarm
Swarm
Jet-Vac
Jet-Vac
Legendary Jet-Vac
Legendary Jet-Vac
Polar Whirlwind
Polar Whirlwind
Lightcore Jet-Vac
Lightcore Jet-Vac
Series 2 Lightning Rod
Lightning Rod
Series 2 Sonic Boom
Sonic Boom
Series 2 Whirlwind
Whirlwind
Earth
Crusher
Crusher
Flashwing
Flashwing
Granite Crusher
Granite Crusher
Jade Flashwing
Jade Flashwing
Lightcore Prism Break
Lightcore Prism Break
Series 2 Bash
Bash
Series 2 Prism Break
Prism Break
Series 2 Terrafin
Terrafin
Water
Thumpback
Thumpback
Chill
Chill
Legendary Chill
Legendary Chill
Legendary Slam Bam
Legendary Slam Bam
Lightcore Chill
Lightcore Chill
Series 2 Gill Grunt
Gill Grunt
Series 2 Slam Bam
Slam Bam
Series 2 Zap
Zap
Fire
Hot Head
Hot Head
Hot Dog
Hot Dog
Molten Hot Dog
Molten Hot Dog
Legendary Ignitor
Legendary Ignitor
Lightcore Eruptor
Lightcore Eruptor
Series 2 Eruptor
Eruptor
Series 2 Flameslinger
Flameslinger
Series 2 Ignitor
Ignitor
Undead
Eye-Brawl
Eye-Brawl
Fright Rider
Fright Rider
Lightcore Hex
Lightcore Hex
Series 2 Chop Chop
Chop Chop
Series 2 Cynder
Cynder
Series 2 Hex
Hex

Along with the brand new Skylanders and variants there will also be new "Series 2" poses for 24 characters from the first game (compared to the original characters they have a special "Wow Pow" upgrade and the ability to switch paths at will - you can use these toys in the first game but you won't have access to that extra power there) and eight LightCore characters (versions of characters who light up when placed on the portal and cause a massive in-game explosion of light when they first enter) who are made up of four of the new Skylanders and four of the old (they are not Series 2 so do not have a Wow Pow - you can also use these toys in the first game but again do not have any sort of extra power).

Altogether that brings the total number of new toys to 62. Combine that with the 37 playable toys from Skylanders Spyro's Adventure and you have a grand total of 99 different playable Skylander toys.

In the Starter Pack you get three Skylanders (on console Jet-Vac, Cynder (Series 2) and Tree Rex, on 3DS Punch Pop Fizz, Cynder (Series 2) and Tree Rex), a Portal of Power, Trading Cards, a Poster, and the game. The Starter Pack was also available without the Portal of Power for those who already had one but it only had one Skylander: Tree Rex.

To help differentiate between the old and new sets, the base of the Skylanders for Skylanders: Giants are orange instead of the green that is seen on the bottom of the Spyro's Adventure toys.

Here's a table to show the compatibility and features of the characters:

Type of Skylander Wow Pow Path Switch LightCore Blast Spyro's Adventure Heroic Challenge
Giant No No No No Yes
Legendary Giant No No No No Yes
New Skylander No No No No Yes
LightCore New Skylander No No Yes No Yes
Legendary New Skylander No No No No Yes
Series 2 Yes Yes No Yes Yes
LightCore Series 2 No No Yes Yes Yes
Legendary Series 2 Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Series 1 No No No Yes No

All toys were compatible with the online world of Skylanders: Universe but it is no longer running.

Portal of Power

Portal of Power

Once again the game uses a Portal of Power, the technology inside has not changed so you can still use the portal that you got with Spyro's Adventure, there is however also a version of the game sold without a portal.

The portal included with the Starter Pack for Giants has a slightly different appearance to the old one; the base of the portal (previously green) now glows the same colour as the top but the runes on the side no longer glow at all. All console portals were wired this time to combat the issues with battery consumption that plagued the first game.

The new large "Giants" are sized so that you can still fit two of them onto the portal at the same time for co-op play.

The Portals (both new and old) also power the brand new LightCore features of certain special Skylanders. When brought near the Portal of Power they start glowing! All of the Giant Skylanders contain this LightCore feature but only a select few of the normal sized Skylanders have a LightCore variant. Those that have an additional LightCore edition are Jet-Vac, Pop Fizz, Chill, Shroomboom, Drobot, Hex, Eruptor, and Prism Break. The LightCore versions of these characters cost slightly more than the regular versions (and the ones in the Starter Pack are not the LightCore versions).

Platforms

The game was released on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, Wii U, and 3DS. There was not a PC/Mac version this time.

Music

The theme music was again by Academy Award Winning film composer Hans Zimmer and is a brand new score by returning composer, Lorne Balfe.

Exclusives

Toys R Us again had several Skylanders exclusives, including a Legendary Triple Pack containing Legendary Ignitor, Legendary Slam Bam and Legendary Jet-Vac. At launch they also had a single of the giant Legendary Bouncer.

Target in the US had a special darker version of Crusher, "Granite Crusher", as an exclusive.

At launch GameStop had an exclusive Golden version of the "Dragonfire Cannon Battle Pack", a normal version was also available elsewhere at launch.

GAME/Gamestation in the UK and Walmart in the US had an exclusive Glow in the Dark variant of the Series 2 Cynder and a Glow in the Dark Portal of Power in their console Starter Packs.


Comments
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#14115 minecrafter 13:38:49 16/12/2012
you never know..... the new skylanders might have gps mega spyro smilie
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#14114 minecrafter 13:38:00 16/12/2012
who agrees with me?

what if next year new skylander toy abilities would be if the toy says it's catchphrase.
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#14113 sprocketrocket 13:32:26 16/12/2012
wait so me + toys r us walmart target or gamestop + 12/23 = NINJINI faints


20 hours later ah I am awake and forgot why I fainted I better chek sees I can get ninjini 12/23 and faints again
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#14112 minecrafter 13:31:54 16/12/2012
Quote:
Quote: minecrafter

what if next year new skylander toy abilities would be if the toy says it's catchphrase.


and they would have a GPS or somthing strage like that so if you're on a road trip its like "uh-oh were lost." *you put GPS skylander on the portal, tell it where you want to go and it tells you and make a holographic map like in the si-fi movies and it gets you out of there*


Hide Spoiler
yeh right like THATS ever gonna happen


it might, we skylander fans gotta stick together..... gps no. but they might say there catch phrases next year. if they do then you will feel heart broken like you reacted to my message.
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#14111 kingofarkus3 12:53:00 16/12/2012
Me is here
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#14110 wreckingballbob 12:14:39 16/12/2012
anyone here?
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#14109 paddyfitz 10:33:16 16/12/2012
Quote: Mori-DogMovies
I talked with my friend at TRU. Here are the details as I was given them:

- Wave 3 Giants boxes had arrived but they only got 5.
- ALL 3 remaining Giants are being released
- Street date is confirmed via email from local Activision rep as 12/23
- He seems to think the Hot Dog battle pack is going to be part of Wave 3

Take this as you will. I tried to get a photo and he even went to the back to do so but the boxes had been moved and they were extremely busy tonight. He has promised that he will try to email me a picture of this wave's figures as soon as he locates them. This was the same guy that got me a Crystal Stealth Elf a couple of weeks ago, so I have no reason to doubt him, HOWEVER, I'll believe it when I see it. Personally, I think it would be a huge cash-grab for Activision to make them all available before the end of the fiscal year as I'm sure there are plenty of children receiving the game for the holidays.

Sorry folks. I tried.

On a side note I found interesting, TRU has changed shelf tags to say "SKYLANDERS RETIRED 3PK" for the S1 triple packs (which they had plenty of the Camo/Warnado packs).



there thats better
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#14108 ZapNorris 06:15:19 16/12/2012
[quote=[url=http://forum.darkspyro.net/spyro/viewposts.php?topic=67248&post=3866449]Mori-DogMovies[/url]]I talked with my friend at TRU. Here are the details as I was given them:

- Wave 3 Giants boxes had arrived but they [b]only got 5[/b].
- [b]ALL 3 remaining Giants[/b] are being released
- [b]Street date is confirmed[/b] via email from local Activision rep as[b] 12/23[/b]
- He seems to think the Hot Dog battle pack is going to be part of Wave 3

Take this as you will. I tried to get a photo and he even went to the back to do so but the boxes had been moved and they were extremely busy tonight. He has promised that he will try to email me a picture of this wave's figures as soon as he locates them. This was the same guy that got me a Crystal Stealth Elf a couple of weeks ago, so I have no reason to doubt him, HOWEVER, I'll believe it when I see it. Personally, I think it would be a huge cash-grab for Activision to make them all available before the end of the fiscal year as I'm sure there are plenty of children receiving the game for the holidays.

Sorry folks. I tried.

On a side note I found interesting, TRU has changed shelf tags to say "SKYLANDERS RETIRED 3PK" for the S1 triple packs (which they had plenty of the Camo/Warnado packs).[/quote]


Bo-frickin-om.
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#14107 sneakysneaky123 05:43:38 16/12/2012
Mum just got me smilie and S2smilie smilie and S2smilie for christmas
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#14106 mradamjm01 04:11:28 16/12/2012
I honestly think if 1 gaint is commin last it will be smilie. I dont know why i just think sooooooooooooo strongly about that.
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#14105 sprocketrocket 01:55:44 16/12/2012
I am officially a green sparx
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#14104 mega spyro 00:29:01 16/12/2012
Quote: minecrafter
what if next year new skylander toy abilities would be if the toy says it's catchphrase.


and they would have a GPS or somthing strage like that so if you're on a road trip its like "uh-oh were lost." *you put GPS skylander on the portal, tell it where you want to go and it tells you and make a holographic map like in the si-fi movies and it gets you out of there*

yeh right like THATS ever gonna happen
avatar
#14103 minecrafter 00:11:08 16/12/2012
YES! IT'S A SUNDAY! my mom & dad would probs take me but i bet'cha i would only find new s.2.'s and maybe a new giant smilie
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#14102 minecrafter 00:09:52 16/12/2012
what if next year new skylander toy abilities would be if the toy says it's catchphrase.
avatar
#14101 minecrafter 00:06:34 16/12/2012
you know rider is actually a name :0

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