Skylanders: SuperChargers arrived on September 20, 2015, as the fifth game in Activision’s toy-to-life series. It is a role-playing platform title. Vicarious Visions developed it, Beenox co-developed, and it landed on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii U, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. An iOS version followed on October 25, 2015.
Trailer, via SkylandersGame.
Kaos Captures Master Eon
The plot does not waste time. Kaos captures Master Eon, Flynn, Cali and Hugo, seizes the portals and cuts their link to Skylands. Hugo restores the connection, and the Skylanders break into Count Moneybone’s transport ship to free the prisoners.
What they find is a machine eating the sky. Eon confirms Kaos used the Darkness to build the Sky Eater, and the SuperChargers are assembled to fly rift engines against it.
The Road to the Land of the Undead
The campaign runs from Motley Meadows to the Cloudscraper Mountains, where the Cloudbreather Dragon points the team toward the Land of the Undead. Lord Stratosfear falls, the Thunderous Bolt is claimed, and Eon is freed. The Darkness then turns on Kaos by becoming sentient.
Vehicles Split Into Three Classes
The big addition is vehicles, and they come in three classes:
- Land vehicles race on ground tracks
- Sea vehicles race underwater
- Sky vehicles accelerate, decelerate and run an autopilot system
Each track throws obstacles and alternate routes at players, and every course ends with a boss fight and a puzzle before the finish line. Collecting parts opens a customization screen automatically. Gearbits, earned through missions and stages, buy mods.
Supercharged Pairs and the Portal of Power
Matching a character to their own vehicle triggers a Supercharged state with extra abilities.
The redesigned Portal of Power is wider to hold vehicles, which are larger than typical characters.
117 Characters, 20 New Figures
SuperChargers introduces twenty matching pairs of SuperChargers and vehicles. The 117 characters added since Spyro’s Adventure remain playable, including Stealth Elf and Trigger Happy, both rebuilt with new abilities and upgrade trees.
Only 20 new figurines ship, because vehicles eat the shelf space. Racing packs add villain trophies, and the dark edition starter pack includes a Kaos trophy. The Wii, Wii U and 3DS versions feature Bowser and Donkey Kong as playable guests.
With all of Skylands on the verge of collapse, a special team called the SuperChargers has been assembled to pilot an unstoppable fleet of incredible vehicles.
A Sequel Arrived a Year Later
Skylanders: Imaginators followed in October 2016. SuperChargers Racing shipped as a standalone racer for Wii and Nintendo 3DS on September 20, 2015, the same date as the main release.
The vehicle pivot is the whole story of this game. It is the series’ boldest swing in years, and it also forced the roster to shrink. Twenty new figures against 117 legacy characters is a strange ratio for a toy line. Whether that was caution about the vehicle bet or simple shelf math, the source does not say. The Supercharged pairing mechanic justifies the gamble. The reduced figure count does not.
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