I don't think I've ever suffered as much nostalgic whiplash as hearing that rapping robot from Giants in my entire life, I replayed that mission so many times as a kid good lord
The fact Kaos and Moxxie have the same voice actor was such whiplash, I do not know how to describe this bridge between my childhood and modern life but i am glad to know it exists.
I genuinely think that giants locked me into playing tanks in games because my brother and I played it and loved it so much. Giants was the best game in my opinion but I do feel like no matter what, each game had at least some good Skylanders, but Giants was just so much farther ahead than the rest.
Another fun challenge would be to nuzlock every game in order with the deaths continuing from game to game on nightmare difficulty after resetting your skylanders. And if you want even more of a challenge, you can limit the amount of skylanders to 3 or 5, or only using gen 1 skylanders.
@@ram1420 I don't wanna say people can't enjoy different things! But I really did not like Disney infinity. The only thing it had over skylanders was custom level creators. Skylanders imaginators should of had that!
Man i still play every skylanders today and collecting them. If you where hear and wanted to try it out Man i wouldve shown you the beauty of this game
Giants is by far one of my all time favourite games. Areas music and character feel so unique. The feel of skylanders in giants felt like its prime. I was stupid enough to not write it into the script but the kaos boss fight in that title alone is the best one in the entire franchise.
Honestly, I agree with you for trap team. Trap team as a game felt really good (mainly cause I spent like 100+ hours playing it) but the mechanic it introduced was underwhelming. Unless you have the Kaos trap crystal (no seriously he has a full heal that you can just spam and it was really useful for playing on nightmare difficulty) or you wanted to play the mini games, there was little reason to pick the villains over the skylanders.
It's one of the earliest forms of pay to win. I think it was slightly overlooked especially because the product was psyical. People feel more robbed now days because you rarely get keep sakes for purchasing digital content. Which is why I'm so fond of skylanders. Amibos are also a good example 👍
Yea i’ve spent like probably 50 hours just at the academy. I’ve probably almost spent 200 hours playing skylanders trap team 😭 because as a kid i liked trapping villains and i had knight light and i liked him 😭
13:16 This was because some characters had moves that could only be used if two buttons were pressed at the same time (Like chop chop) and sometimes those button combos were uncomfortable, so they mapped the attack buttons to the bumpers to allow players to pick which buttons they used. Really wish they didn't remove it in future titles.
This is a great retrospective on the Skylander series which gives the franchise a more honest appraisal than most people give it credit for. Skylanders was more than just Toys to Life, it was a fully fleshed out game and world with a lot of care put behind it. It would not have sold as well if it were just a gimmick, it's a real and well polished game series packed with creativity! But for as good as this video was, you missed the best part! That feeling of exhilaration when you put a new character onto the Portal and get to experience a whole new moveset! That's a huge competent of what make Skylanders so much fun, all the unique characters with unique movesets! I think you partially experienced that joy when you got Crypt King and played him in Trap Team but it really is a huge competent of the game to play with as many Skylanders as possible to keep the combat new and fresh! I'm not saying break your wallet collect all the Skylanders but anyone who wants to give this series a show should at least get 5-ish Skylanders from that game to have a core team to play around with and keep things fresh! Just pick the Skylanders who you think look the coolest and I'm sure you'll have a blast, most of them are dirt cheap used on the aftermarket!
Honestly I completely agree with you! The portal summons are so unique to the franchise and till this day no game or TTL games have done it better. I think I missed this feature out because I had experienced the thrill as a child and overlooked it. I remember getting thumpback and eyebrawl from the local Toys R Us and using them was like unlocking a new experience. I also think this idea was almost passively projected on accident when I mentioned how I loved the kaos mum boss fight. So I'll pin this comment as tribute to the wonders of the portal of power!
I think that this is exactly the reason why I'm a flex main in almost every game I play. I'm champ/diamond in ow in all 3 roles and can play almost every character equally well, of course there some I'm better at and some I'm worse at. I also play, a bunch of characters in the different mobas I've player over the time in every lane and idk that thrill of experiencing a new character and moveset always keeps me engaged until I've played all characts and mastered those with the coolest moveset.
@@MaskedCynicthe only thing I ever disliked from the series was how Superchargers is the only game in the series to actually require additional purchases to complete the game, you need to buy both an underwater vehicle and a flyer in order to beat it.
I’ve played all 6 games, got each of them on launch and had the joys of collecting all these characters… for games 1 & 3. I was going through family stuff at the time. Plus I was in Middle School. Not a fun time. Anyways! Here’s my rough opinions on the franchise. Spyro’s Adventure: A nice proof of concept, and I feel the most fleshed out story of the franchise. It has solid arcs within it, based around each element, with consistent characters and hazards to deal with in the levels. The OG 32 characters are still my favorite crew, even though I’m later games some of their abilities are less grandiose than they originally were planned to be. (Water becomes a much lesser hazard later on.) Giants: If you like Game 1, you’ll like #2 as well. More polished graphics and UI, more new characters to play as, updated versions of OLD characters to play as, and the shortest story of the series, Giants is pretty much an expansion pack for Spyro’s Adventure, but now there’s 8 really big dudes you can play as. Swap Force: I initially played through these games on the Nintendo versions, and *wow,* is Swap Force bad on the Wii port. It chugs the console, the render distance and graphical quality is bad, there is pop-in up the wazoo. Fortunately, playing it on the Wii U is substantially better than the other option. The story has some new life injected into it, with the new setting, new main villain, new cast of characters (apart from Flynn and Kaos, but I think they’re the only two to be in every game) and just everything feels like it’s trying for a new, cooler style. The PVP mode is much worse in Swap Force, but who cares! I cal play as a snake cowboy who has rocket feet! 32 new characters to play as, alongside 16 old characters, plus I had the game guide as a kid so I could 100% the game, and this game was just so wild. I’m not the biggest fan of the more saturated art style and textured designs, but the Skylanders I can play as in this game are too fun to care about stuff like that. Trap Team: Listen, I lose me a good redemption arc. But when I say that Trap Team takes the ideas and concepts taking from the previous games and refines them into a point so sharp it pierces a bulletproof ROOM… *TWICE,* I mean it. This is my favorite game in the series. It takes that “story separated into smaller stories” structure that Spyro’s Adventure had, but throws in a whole bad guy faction to take down, including old favorites like the Chompy Mage, or Spy Rise’s dad, new staples like Wolfgang and Golden Queen, and of course, the first opportunity to PLAY AS KAOS. You can play as a handful of major enemies in the game, and any boss you fight, you additionally trap and play as yourself. Areas locked behind elemental gates are now locked until specific characters are present, so now kids can either swipe Dad’s credit card or team up with friends who have those specific characters to unlock more. 32 new characters to play as once again, with 16 miniature remixes of old characters from Spyro’s Adventure and Giants. A soundtrack with individual themes for all 46 villains you can play as, and level themes that still feel good to listen to in 2023. Oh, and I forgot to mention *they added two new elements!!* Light and Dark, good and evil in its purest forms, now in the palm of your hands. Sure, it’s a little rocky here, some of the villains don’t really match the theme of the element they’re attached to, but it’s fine. I’m sure in the next game we can explore these themes more. Superchargers: …Oh. We’re, uh… we’re doing cars. I didn’t realize we’d be doing cars. I’ll be honest, the heavy vehicle focus kinda took the fun away from me on this one. I came here to fight bad guys with an army of little guys, not fly a plane through storm clouds to save a cat. Not to mention we’re back to the same development team from Swap Force, meaning everything is back to being really saturated again. It’s not a problem this time around, it’s just distracting. The story is fine. How did Kaos escape from his Crystal Prison from the last game, don’t question it. What I’m confused about is how they separated 13 levels into 51 chapters, instead of just giving us regular checkpoints like in Swap Force. Also the vehicle sections. I pretty much blazed through them each with one vehicle of each type (land, sea, sky) that I got in Wave 1. Despite 18 characters to play as, 8 of them being remixes of old characters, I didn’t really want to collect them and play them this time around. Primarily because I knew my fun would interrupted by the game wanting me to drive a car 15 minutes into my fun. I understand that the vehicle and racing bits of the game can be enjoyable for some, but I’m not one of those people. Imaginators: By this point, the writing was on the walls. Even if this wasn’t the final game in the franchise, I probably wasn’t going to play Skylanders 7, if it even happened. Sure, the game was fun. You can finally make your own Skylanders, just pick an element and a weapon, bing-bang-boom. The main cast of support characters this time around are OTHER Skylanders, while the rest of our main cast is off doing other things. You can play as villains again-thank god-with full figures and everything. We had level packs again, the story was goofy and comical, with Kaos going Super Saiyan in the final fight! But then you beat the game. And they don’t play the credits. The credits are off in some side portion of the menu. No, instead… they want to push the side content. The racing returns from Superchargers, the little arena fights, this random area that you can clear in 5 minutes you can go to, all that and a crossover with Crash Bandicoot, and yet, the only postgame material you have for us is “have fun getting 100%.” Oh and also there’s loot boxes. Cool. Thanks, Activision. I’ll be playing Trap Team now.
Kaos escaping his trap was explained in a comic promoting Superchargers. According to Kaos, he simply bided his time, pretending to be good, until he found a spell that broke him free from his Trap.
The 1st 3 games were a good chunk of my childhood, as I fell out of the games after that. I remember being confused as to why my Halloween Giant figure didn't have the skin in game, and that back in 5th grade I stayed home sick for 2 days, and sped through the story mode of Swap Force (I couldn't 100% the game for obvious reasons) I still have my Golden Reaper on display next to... um the Magic Fans girl, and Flame Lash
I, for the life of me, could not beat Kaos in the first game That boss kicked my teeth in! It was the only challenging final boss in the entire series and I wish i could go back to heat it again He was difficult because he'd have Skylander clones and they'd have every upgrade possible, they would slap you around for fun Then the attack patterns after that were unreasonably hard
Imo the hardest was easily kaos from trap team. One time playing nightmare i lost all my skylanders (i have literally hundreds) and i had like 20 good ones left so i just spammed dr krancases attacks lol
Skylanders nostalgia slowly built up in me last year. Here I am a year after that, and 7 years after my last Skylanders game (I was 13/14 at the time of Imaginators), I've purchased a PS4 copy of Imaginators and it's arriving next week. Im so excited.
I cannot believe you referenced animal kaiser, that was my favourite childhood arcade game and ive never heard any other person know about it till now 😭❤ loved skylanders just as much too but that arcade game was godlike
Honestly bro if you have a older console qnd a spare 20-30 you can have a really good time on spyros adventure or giants! You can even find them much cheaper. I spent probably around £45 in total for all the games. Including a xbox 360 controller and the two additional characters (krypt king. Terrafin)
As a kid (and still as an adult) I love the monetization of skylanders and amiibo type games. Having a physical toy that I could keep playing with when mom told me it was time to shut off the game was the best thing ever.
I love that. I'm a massive decor guy myself. So even when I'm not reliving my childhood or nerding out I do love a good trophy to put on my shelf. Tree Red sits beautifully beside my kars and John wick statue
I know I am late but I do remember a 3ds game that actually had a different story than the ones in the video. That one was actually pretty difficult when I was a kid
You probably don’t remember but if you’re using a earth skylander you can just attack the blocks that normally need a pickaxe and it’s much easier and faster
@@MaskedCynicthere are a lot of problems with that game, but the new Skylanders were some of the best designed in the series. So, there’s at least that.
Sky landers Spyro’s adventure was my childhood Also damn Joey be making 500 million pounds a hour and doesn’t share selfish for real thank you for bringing this to light imma have to tell the tax man
I didn’t realize it back in the day but that one series of levels in spyros adventure was basically just world war 1 simulator and now I think back on it as like joke ptsd for my younger self lmao
Oh my god, Skylanders of all things started my descent turning into a musical theater kid. Drill X and the puppet lady from Swap Force were my favorite bosses and I finally see why.
Man, I loved the shit outta sky landers when I was younger. Definitely helped my parents decide gifts for birthdays/Christmas. Too bad our giants disk got scratched.
Well if ya ever wanted to revisit it the disk alone usually goes for cheaper than £3 usually cheaper. I picked up a ninjini (giant) for a new video and it was 69p 😅
For me, the order of favourite game is: 1) Swap-Force 2) Giants 1) Spyro's Adventure 4) Trap Team 5) Superchargers 6) Imaginators Skylanders (along with littlebigplanet and lego games) was part of my entire childhood, that's for sure
Dude I was stuck on that one level in Giants with the puppet and I could not get past it and I still am because I stop playing and I had like every giants characters
Not to be "that guy", but Skylanders swap force for the 3ds was a completely different game from the console version. This may have also been the case with the other handheld versions, but I only had swap force
To me the Skylanders games improved every year. Spyros adventure is just great. I love that you fight other skylanders in these shadowforms etc. the levels were great. And the game has much more going for it in my opinion. Giants improved the formula. It just improved what Spyros adventure gave it and is objectively a better game. Although I personally to this day don’t really like playing giants as much because they are so slow😂. Swap Force was just peak improvements. It improved everything by a lot. It’s definitely the biggest upgrade. And it’s just an incredibly well made game in my opinion. Then Trap Team came around and had 1 draw back: You need not just one new figurine for 100% the game. You need to buy a trap master for every element and 1 trap per element. This felt a bit odd but as I was and still am a big fan of the series I didn’t think too much of it and just played along bought some cool new skylanders just like I planned to anyways and 100%ed it. Especially the Kaos revenge mode or what it’s called is just lovely and made me play the game the most by far because I enjoy buying a character grinding him up and improving with the skylanders. So I did it with every single figurine I own in this game😂 Now… the first time the games didn’t improve. Superchargers. So trap team is objectively the best. And it’s really hard telling you my favourite game between the first four. But superchargers for the first time felt… pay to progress. I always started out on the highest difficulty and it was doable. But the fighting in vehicles… just felt so boring… I have one boss in mind that took me nearly an hour because I only had one car and that’s the point where I quit. It was just boring and didn’t make fun at all. The first time this series actually disappointed me and made me not wanna play the games I do love. And when Imaginators came out… I just didn’t play it. / didn’t buy it. I will buy it though and play through it so I can have a well grasp on if the formula improved again or Superchargers marked the downfall. But before that… I’m spending 180€ for a dark edition trap team… cause I lost my account which I bought it on the Wii u with (back then we had the Wii version and it had like a code I think? To download it on Wii u.)
Man I wish it was still a thing. This whole thing brought back the biggest amount of nostalgia. The games after giants was rushed and it was a bad idea. They were still good though until post Trap team.
I have one of the largest collections in the uk, and im going to keep my skylanders for my future kids one day, so they can experience a piece of my childhood. I’m only 21 so no kids for a few years lol
There was one teased not too long ago. But I think it fell through- which kinda sucks but if a title comes out. I can't imagine it being a toys to life title. I reckon it would be much more modernised. Maybe a item shop lmao
@@MaskedCynic i always liked the idea of unlocking skylanders through their soul gems. and if anyone still had them they could plug their portal into the console
Hello hi 👋, above average skylanders enjoyer here. I really enjoyed this vid and it’s way to good and costed you way to much effort for the amount of views, this vid definitely deserves more love. And I have some comments that am just gonna write in one comment. Is it just me or are the skylanders soundtracks absolute bangers? 19:21 you haven’t played nightmare mode trap team. Then without traps you would commit genocide on your skylanders. The water and air vehicle sections are very unique and different from any other cart game, but I didn’t see you play any of them. 23:21 you have to drift in the fighting areas, that is the way. It makes it way setter and more fun. I didn’t see you drift at all.
I routinely visit my local CEX, buy ones I want, to back and play Swap Force, Trap Team and Imaginators in a chain. My most recent find, was FINALLY finding Zap and Flamslinger. I'm rebuilding my Skylanders collection. My limit was 63. I'm aiming for 100. I'll actually keep them all this time >.>
When you hear the magical tune of Skylanders spyro’s adventure, then I immediately want to go back in time, the butterflies in my stomach and my heart filling with joy.
What do you mean Kaos isn't the main villain of Trap Team? Did you turn the game off during the cut-seen after the Golden Queen bossfight or something? There's a plot twist during the end of that cut-seen where Kaos betrays you. Kaos IS the final boss of Trap Team.
This is true. But I don't consider him to be the MAIN antagonist in the game as throughout the entire game its leading up to the golden queen. Yes you are correct that chaos has a boss fight at the end but for the sake of the overall majority of the game the queen is way more prominent as a villain. Not knocking kaos tho.
Honestly remake/s or a new game on next gen consoles would be pretty cool imo. With the scarcity of portals nowadays and the physical skylanders starting to die now we’re not far from simply not being able to play them anymore which is gonna be crushing for a lot of people. However as someone who played the first 3 games and superchargers on the Wii exclusively I hated superchargers so much, they made it an exclusively racing game and didn’t put any effort into making it look good on the Wii which really made me sad because of how long I’d waited for a new game (I was like 10 and my parents wouldn’t buy me and my brother trapteam for some reason).
I agree. However I don't reckon we will see Toys2life come back for anytime soon. If they did do a remake/reboot. (I feel like the latter is more likely) it would all be digital. In a sense where the figures would just act as playable or unlockable characters. (Similar to how lego handles character selection) Which will be kinda sucky as Toys2Life is the gimmick that makes it standout! HOWEVER. If this where to happen they would be able to focus on more unique gameplay mechanics modernising it etc. But unfortunately I don't see this franchise making a revival. The community will and has but in terms of new releases I think it's dried up...
The way you remember it is like 10x better lmao. Thought the exact same thing when revisiting Assassins creed Black flag. The thing looked so grainy! But I love the idea of playing them in order- it really makes you appreciate the effort and graphics the developers dealt with along the way.
Trap Team is my favourite out of the entire franchise, simply because it didn’t really try to reinvent the wheel like most of the other games. Like, the others have their gimmicks which definitely got worse as it went on, but Trap Team feels like what Skylanders should've been from the start. Plus, Trap Team has in my opinion the BEST designs for Skylanders from any of the games.
I actually still have the skylanders creator mobile app on my phone! I don’t have the actual game itself, but the character creation part is pretty fun
11:00 man really referenced my 2nd favorite game in the section of the video where he’s talking about my 1st favorite game. Edit: My SuperChargers disc had the same exact fate lmaoooo
Titanfall as a franchise holds a special place in my heart too! A blast for real! I miss BT so much 😔 And giants is for sure the nest skylanders title out there!
@@MaskedCynic I still play the tf2 multiplayer to this day (If the servers show me any mercy). I wish Skylanders had an online multiplayer for the battle mode honestly that would have been the coolest thing for the series to offer and would have convinced me to buy Xbox Gold.
hey man my new years resolution was to off myself october 15th if i was still alone but to each their own i suppose, can't wait for the 2024 version of this video man!
Hey man, I apologise if your feeling rough and I can assure you 'offing yourself' is never the answer. If needed talk to people and if things get really bad my socials are always open if you need to just get something out there. Stay safe man! And thank you for your kind words 🙏
Destiny was amazing! I was very stuck into it through the beginning to the last Destiny 1 DLC. I did join some Destiny 2 bits but I believe the original was much better!
Spyro's Adventure was great and Giants improved everything about it, too bad that all of the character and charm was drained out of the world and gameplay after that. The skylanders themselves never stopped being well designed though. I just wish I could enjoy the games after that.
i've been planning on playing all of skylanders with my mum, its just that on my nostalgia trip of games to play with my mum, i started with the LEGO games we have and that's taking a while, maybe next year but when i do i'm gonna have a blast.
Bro corrected his mistake by putting text saying “Superchargers*” on the screen when he said “Swap Force,” but didn’t do the same when he said “4th” when it’s the 5th game,
Imaginators is covered in the 2nd video! ua-cam.com/video/FkfCQd1gjrk/v-deo.htmlsi=R05aIaSGsGKlkqVv
Since you can't play Superchargers anymore, can I have the vehicles? My address is 24388 Monarch Trail, Bloomfield, Iowa.
@@HeavenPrinceofChaosI know where you live
@@zordonelite Ooookay. Why do you say that like I know who you are?
I don't think I've ever suffered as much nostalgic whiplash as hearing that rapping robot from Giants in my entire life, I replayed that mission so many times as a kid good lord
It lives in my head rent free!
literally me bro. I played the every loving SHIT out of the big rig level
@@Zagrilla01 this makes 3 of us!
SAME XD, I MADE MY NEIGHBOR DO SO WITH ME AS WELL
As a kid i only heard the version in my native language both that one and the English are bangers
The first two games just felt... different. Special. Magical.
Because they was more restrained and had way more room for imagination and changes! Completely agree! Giants will forever be my favourite
first 2 games are definently the worst but not bad, the games just got sooo much better once swap for ce hit, although rip pvp after swap force
The worst!? Not at all IMO
Giants was the best game fr.
But all the games are goated. Except Mid Team
Giants was a masterpeice
Swap and trap are literally peak
The fact Kaos and Moxxie have the same voice actor was such whiplash, I do not know how to describe this bridge between my childhood and modern life but i am glad to know it exists.
It’s also Invader Zim! He’s been everywhere.
@@Mushboom37he sure has a thing for dramatic and flamboyant characters!
A portal master called me a opossum. I am not a opossum
I genuinely think that giants locked me into playing tanks in games because my brother and I played it and loved it so much. Giants was the best game in my opinion but I do feel like no matter what, each game had at least some good Skylanders, but Giants was just so much farther ahead than the rest.
I LEGIT HAD THIS THOUGHT YESTERDAY!
tree rex made me a rammatra main fr
Another fun challenge would be to nuzlock every game in order with the deaths continuing from game to game on nightmare difficulty after resetting your skylanders. And if you want even more of a challenge, you can limit the amount of skylanders to 3 or 5, or only using gen 1 skylanders.
I do wanna do a nuzlocke! That's been on the list for a little bit! So I'll keep that in mind!
I never had a chance to play this as a kid. Played Disney infinity but this looks way better
Respectfully. Disney infinity is awful.
You never had a childhood, I'm so sorry
@@MaskedCynic i played it as a kid and have alot of nostalgia around it but thinking back id agree the game itself is a garbage piece of game
@@ram1420 I don't wanna say people can't enjoy different things! But I really did not like Disney infinity. The only thing it had over skylanders was custom level creators. Skylanders imaginators should of had that!
Man i still play every skylanders today and collecting them.
If you where hear and wanted to try it out
Man i wouldve shown you the beauty of this game
I remember playing giants and swap force as a kid, and my god the nostalgia hit hard
Giants is by far one of my all time favourite games. Areas music and character feel so unique. The feel of skylanders in giants felt like its prime.
I was stupid enough to not write it into the script but the kaos boss fight in that title alone is the best one in the entire franchise.
I REMEMBER YOU TELLING ME ABOUT THIS IDEA MONTHS AGO HERE WE ARE!! THANKS SO MUCH FOR INCLUDING ME
I delivered 😎
Honestly, I agree with you for trap team. Trap team as a game felt really good (mainly cause I spent like 100+ hours playing it) but the mechanic it introduced was underwhelming. Unless you have the Kaos trap crystal (no seriously he has a full heal that you can just spam and it was really useful for playing on nightmare difficulty) or you wanted to play the mini games, there was little reason to pick the villains over the skylanders.
It's one of the earliest forms of pay to win. I think it was slightly overlooked especially because the product was psyical. People feel more robbed now days because you rarely get keep sakes for purchasing digital content. Which is why I'm so fond of skylanders. Amibos are also a good example 👍
Yea i’ve spent like probably 50 hours just at the academy. I’ve probably almost spent 200 hours playing skylanders trap team 😭 because as a kid i liked trapping villains and i had knight light and i liked him 😭
@@MaskedCynicBlackout was also kind of P2W, he had a glitch that made him invincible in Trap Team 👀
13:16 This was because some characters had moves that could only be used if two buttons were pressed at the same time (Like chop chop) and sometimes those button combos were uncomfortable, so they mapped the attack buttons to the bumpers to allow players to pick which buttons they used. Really wish they didn't remove it in future titles.
bro started the chill bill trend
Before you comment!. Yes i know i didn’t cover Imaginators. That will be a separate video 👍
oh cool
Oh ok
😁
This is a great retrospective on the Skylander series which gives the franchise a more honest appraisal than most people give it credit for. Skylanders was more than just Toys to Life, it was a fully fleshed out game and world with a lot of care put behind it. It would not have sold as well if it were just a gimmick, it's a real and well polished game series packed with creativity!
But for as good as this video was, you missed the best part! That feeling of exhilaration when you put a new character onto the Portal and get to experience a whole new moveset! That's a huge competent of what make Skylanders so much fun, all the unique characters with unique movesets! I think you partially experienced that joy when you got Crypt King and played him in Trap Team but it really is a huge competent of the game to play with as many Skylanders as possible to keep the combat new and fresh!
I'm not saying break your wallet collect all the Skylanders but anyone who wants to give this series a show should at least get 5-ish Skylanders from that game to have a core team to play around with and keep things fresh! Just pick the Skylanders who you think look the coolest and I'm sure you'll have a blast, most of them are dirt cheap used on the aftermarket!
Honestly I completely agree with you!
The portal summons are so unique to the franchise and till this day no game or TTL games have done it better.
I think I missed this feature out because I had experienced the thrill as a child and overlooked it. I remember getting thumpback and eyebrawl from the local Toys R Us and using them was like unlocking a new experience.
I also think this idea was almost passively projected on accident when I mentioned how I loved the kaos mum boss fight.
So I'll pin this comment as tribute to the wonders of the portal of power!
"General kenobi!You are a bold one."
I think that this is exactly the reason why I'm a flex main in almost every game I play. I'm champ/diamond in ow in all 3 roles and can play almost every character equally well, of course there some I'm better at and some I'm worse at. I also play, a bunch of characters in the different mobas I've player over the time in every lane and idk that thrill of experiencing a new character and moveset always keeps me engaged until I've played all characts and mastered those with the coolest moveset.
@@MaskedCynicthe only thing I ever disliked from the series was how Superchargers is the only game in the series to actually require additional purchases to complete the game, you need to buy both an underwater vehicle and a flyer in order to beat it.
Low key wanna play Skylanders now....
Do it!
You must save skylands!
I’ve played all 6 games, got each of them on launch and had the joys of collecting all these characters… for games 1 & 3. I was going through family stuff at the time. Plus I was in Middle School. Not a fun time.
Anyways! Here’s my rough opinions on the franchise.
Spyro’s Adventure: A nice proof of concept, and I feel the most fleshed out story of the franchise. It has solid arcs within it, based around each element, with consistent characters and hazards to deal with in the levels. The OG 32 characters are still my favorite crew, even though I’m later games some of their abilities are less grandiose than they originally were planned to be. (Water becomes a much lesser hazard later on.)
Giants: If you like Game 1, you’ll like #2 as well. More polished graphics and UI, more new characters to play as, updated versions of OLD characters to play as, and the shortest story of the series, Giants is pretty much an expansion pack for Spyro’s Adventure, but now there’s 8 really big dudes you can play as.
Swap Force: I initially played through these games on the Nintendo versions, and *wow,* is Swap Force bad on the Wii port. It chugs the console, the render distance and graphical quality is bad, there is pop-in up the wazoo. Fortunately, playing it on the Wii U is substantially better than the other option. The story has some new life injected into it, with the new setting, new main villain, new cast of characters (apart from Flynn and Kaos, but I think they’re the only two to be in every game) and just everything feels like it’s trying for a new, cooler style. The PVP mode is much worse in Swap Force, but who cares! I cal play as a snake cowboy who has rocket feet! 32 new characters to play as, alongside 16 old characters, plus I had the game guide as a kid so I could 100% the game, and this game was just so wild. I’m not the biggest fan of the more saturated art style and textured designs, but the Skylanders I can play as in this game are too fun to care about stuff like that.
Trap Team: Listen, I lose me a good redemption arc. But when I say that Trap Team takes the ideas and concepts taking from the previous games and refines them into a point so sharp it pierces a bulletproof ROOM… *TWICE,* I mean it. This is my favorite game in the series. It takes that “story separated into smaller stories” structure that Spyro’s Adventure had, but throws in a whole bad guy faction to take down, including old favorites like the Chompy Mage, or Spy Rise’s dad, new staples like Wolfgang and Golden Queen, and of course, the first opportunity to PLAY AS KAOS. You can play as a handful of major enemies in the game, and any boss you fight, you additionally trap and play as yourself. Areas locked behind elemental gates are now locked until specific characters are present, so now kids can either swipe Dad’s credit card or team up with friends who have those specific characters to unlock more. 32 new characters to play as once again, with 16 miniature remixes of old characters from Spyro’s Adventure and Giants. A soundtrack with individual themes for all 46 villains you can play as, and level themes that still feel good to listen to in 2023. Oh, and I forgot to mention *they added two new elements!!* Light and Dark, good and evil in its purest forms, now in the palm of your hands. Sure, it’s a little rocky here, some of the villains don’t really match the theme of the element they’re attached to, but it’s fine. I’m sure in the next game we can explore these themes more.
Superchargers: …Oh. We’re, uh… we’re doing cars. I didn’t realize we’d be doing cars. I’ll be honest, the heavy vehicle focus kinda took the fun away from me on this one. I came here to fight bad guys with an army of little guys, not fly a plane through storm clouds to save a cat. Not to mention we’re back to the same development team from Swap Force, meaning everything is back to being really saturated again. It’s not a problem this time around, it’s just distracting. The story is fine. How did Kaos escape from his Crystal Prison from the last game, don’t question it. What I’m confused about is how they separated 13 levels into 51 chapters, instead of just giving us regular checkpoints like in Swap Force. Also the vehicle sections. I pretty much blazed through them each with one vehicle of each type (land, sea, sky) that I got in Wave 1. Despite 18 characters to play as, 8 of them being remixes of old characters, I didn’t really want to collect them and play them this time around. Primarily because I knew my fun would interrupted by the game wanting me to drive a car 15 minutes into my fun. I understand that the vehicle and racing bits of the game can be enjoyable for some, but I’m not one of those people.
Imaginators: By this point, the writing was on the walls. Even if this wasn’t the final game in the franchise, I probably wasn’t going to play Skylanders 7, if it even happened. Sure, the game was fun. You can finally make your own Skylanders, just pick an element and a weapon, bing-bang-boom. The main cast of support characters this time around are OTHER Skylanders, while the rest of our main cast is off doing other things. You can play as villains again-thank god-with full figures and everything. We had level packs again, the story was goofy and comical, with Kaos going Super Saiyan in the final fight! But then you beat the game. And they don’t play the credits. The credits are off in some side portion of the menu. No, instead… they want to push the side content. The racing returns from Superchargers, the little arena fights, this random area that you can clear in 5 minutes you can go to, all that and a crossover with Crash Bandicoot, and yet, the only postgame material you have for us is “have fun getting 100%.” Oh and also there’s loot boxes. Cool. Thanks, Activision. I’ll be playing Trap Team now.
For the effort put into this comment alone. Pinned.
Kaos escaping his trap was explained in a comic promoting Superchargers.
According to Kaos, he simply bided his time, pretending to be good, until he found a spell that broke him free from his Trap.
1 this is so fuking nostalgic
2 NO WAY KAOS AND MOXIE HAVE THE SAME VOICE ACTOR
3 - Skylanders us just perfect
The 1st 3 games were a good chunk of my childhood, as I fell out of the games after that. I remember being confused as to why my Halloween Giant figure didn't have the skin in game, and that back in 5th grade I stayed home sick for 2 days, and sped through the story mode of Swap Force (I couldn't 100% the game for obvious reasons)
I still have my Golden Reaper on display next to... um the Magic Fans girl, and Flame Lash
The chill Bill theme is called golden swagger
Man, I love this series. I need a Skylanders 7 ASAP
The imaginators video goes up in 30 minutes if that helps 😉
I, for the life of me, could not beat Kaos in the first game
That boss kicked my teeth in! It was the only challenging final boss in the entire series and I wish i could go back to heat it again
He was difficult because he'd have Skylander clones and they'd have every upgrade possible, they would slap you around for fun
Then the attack patterns after that were unreasonably hard
It was certainly a challenge for its intended demographic lol!
Imo the hardest was easily kaos from trap team. One time playing nightmare i lost all my skylanders (i have literally hundreds) and i had like 20 good ones left so i just spammed dr krancases attacks lol
Imaginators bad-
Thats why :))))
Late fish;)
Skylanders nostalgia slowly built up in me last year. Here I am a year after that, and 7 years after my last Skylanders game (I was 13/14 at the time of Imaginators), I've purchased a PS4 copy of Imaginators and it's arriving next week. Im so excited.
Hell yeah! I'll definitely get round to imaginators at some point too.
The games are a blast!
*here not hear lol
@@zombieboss5178 Edited it now, thanks for the notice mate haha
@@FunkyFreshYT 😅
Bro this is such a good video, happy to see my cameo made it in lol
Makes me want to get back into skylanders hunting and finish my collection
Honestly do it!
Even just one of the games (giants) would be a great nostalgia trip
22:20 no way there was a reference to both of my favorite fandoms in the span of a minute
I cannot believe you referenced animal kaiser, that was my favourite childhood arcade game and ive never heard any other person know about it till now 😭❤ loved skylanders just as much too but that arcade game was godlike
Trust me when I find a machine. It will be a class video 👍 👌
You made me wanna try skylanders now geez!
Also the video is very tp notch work cynic keep it up!
Honestly bro if you have a older console qnd a spare 20-30 you can have a really good time on spyros adventure or giants! You can even find them much cheaper.
I spent probably around £45 in total for all the games. Including a xbox 360 controller and the two additional characters (krypt king. Terrafin)
As a kid (and still as an adult) I love the monetization of skylanders and amiibo type games.
Having a physical toy that I could keep playing with when mom told me it was time to shut off the game was the best thing ever.
I love that.
I'm a massive decor guy myself.
So even when I'm not reliving my childhood or nerding out I do love a good trophy to put on my shelf.
Tree Red sits beautifully beside my kars and John wick statue
I know I am late but I do remember a 3ds game that actually had a different story than the ones in the video. That one was actually pretty difficult when I was a kid
Never knew chill bill theme has that banger theme i keep on hearing everywhere
Your editing adds so much to the video
Skylanders truly was something!
King shit my guy saw the title and said yes please 😂
Who wouldn't wanna watch 30 minutes of skylanders!
You probably don’t remember but if you’re using a earth skylander you can just attack the blocks that normally need a pickaxe and it’s much easier and faster
You did miss imaginators though to be honest you aren’t missing much
I did say that in the end aha!
I wasn't gonna play imaginators as I thought due to its "reputation" it may need it's own video 😌
@@MaskedCynic oh sorry I missed that part
💫💫💫
Bruh dont down play imaginators that game was sick
@@MaskedCynicthere are a lot of problems with that game, but the new Skylanders were some of the best designed in the series. So, there’s at least that.
Sky landers Spyro’s adventure was my childhood Also damn Joey be making 500 million pounds a hour and doesn’t share selfish for real thank you for bringing this to light imma have to tell the tax man
Same here! But more giants for me!
I like to think art teams changed periodically each game because how else do you explain the heavy changes between Swap Force and Giants.
This video is so well made, Great job dude.
(Giants is my most nostalgic as well)
I didn’t realize it back in the day but that one series of levels in spyros adventure was basically just world war 1 simulator and now I think back on it as like joke ptsd for my younger self lmao
Oh my god, Skylanders of all things started my descent turning into a musical theater kid. Drill X and the puppet lady from Swap Force were my favorite bosses and I finally see why.
I like how the first level in giants is kind of like the Moses story, you see a mabu get hurt so you kill the chompys hurting it.
Man, I loved the shit outta sky landers when I was younger. Definitely helped my parents decide gifts for birthdays/Christmas.
Too bad our giants disk got scratched.
Well if ya ever wanted to revisit it the disk alone usually goes for cheaper than £3 usually cheaper.
I picked up a ninjini (giant) for a new video and it was 69p 😅
Now I can't listen to Kaos's voice anymore without instantly thinking of Moxxie from Helluva Boss.
That rapping robot boss was soo fire i was vibing like on day one BARS 🔥🔥
For me, the order of favourite game is:
1) Swap-Force
2) Giants
1) Spyro's Adventure
4) Trap Team
5) Superchargers
6) Imaginators
Skylanders (along with littlebigplanet and lego games) was part of my entire childhood, that's for sure
I loved trap force. It allowed you to play so many cool new characters without having to buy a ton.
“That will rap at you while trying to kill you” Killer Bee in a nutshell lmao
Dude giants-imaginators I've played em all except the very first, skylands was my childhood and still is
Peak!
I was not expecting to see an animal kaiser reference here, but I'm definitely happy to be reminded I didn't just make the whole arcade game up
This game was my childhood😢 I loved Trigger Happy and Pop Fizz but man nostalgia really made me forget how bad the graphics were😂
We all remember video games looking 10x better than they where! It's probably because the drastic graphical upgrades we've had since then!
Dude I was stuck on that one level in Giants with the puppet and I could not get past it and I still am because I stop playing and I had like every giants characters
You got softlocked in giants. Tbh if you stopped playing the franchise at giants you've already seen the peak IMO
I remember going to the arcade to play Animal Kaiser all of the time!! So many good memories!
FOR REAL!? ME TOO! I wanna do a video on it when I can find a machine
Seeing Flynn just unlocked a deep seated memory for me wtf
Not to be "that guy", but Skylanders swap force for the 3ds was a completely different game from the console version. This may have also been the case with the other handheld versions, but I only had swap force
Theres been many "that guys" lol! And don't worry! I covered imaginators in the latest video and if I get around to it I may cover these too
To me the Skylanders games improved every year.
Spyros adventure is just great. I love that you fight other skylanders in these shadowforms etc. the levels were great. And the game has much more going for it in my opinion.
Giants improved the formula. It just improved what Spyros adventure gave it and is objectively a better game. Although I personally to this day don’t really like playing giants as much because they are so slow😂.
Swap Force was just peak improvements. It improved everything by a lot. It’s definitely the biggest upgrade. And it’s just an incredibly well made game in my opinion.
Then Trap Team came around and had 1 draw back: You need not just one new figurine for 100% the game. You need to buy a trap master for every element and 1 trap per element. This felt a bit odd but as I was and still am a big fan of the series I didn’t think too much of it and just played along bought some cool new skylanders just like I planned to anyways and 100%ed it. Especially the Kaos revenge mode or what it’s called is just lovely and made me play the game the most by far because I enjoy buying a character grinding him up and improving with the skylanders. So I did it with every single figurine I own in this game😂
Now… the first time the games didn’t improve. Superchargers.
So trap team is objectively the best. And it’s really hard telling you my favourite game between the first four.
But superchargers for the first time felt… pay to progress. I always started out on the highest difficulty and it was doable. But the fighting in vehicles… just felt so boring… I have one boss in mind that took me nearly an hour because I only had one car and that’s the point where I quit. It was just boring and didn’t make fun at all. The first time this series actually disappointed me and made me not wanna play the games I do love.
And when Imaginators came out… I just didn’t play it. / didn’t buy it. I will buy it though and play through it so I can have a well grasp on if the formula improved again or Superchargers marked the downfall.
But before that… I’m spending 180€ for a dark edition trap team… cause I lost my account which I bought it on the Wii u with (back then we had the Wii version and it had like a code I think? To download it on Wii u.)
Man I wish it was still a thing. This whole thing brought back the biggest amount of nostalgia. The games after giants was rushed and it was a bad idea. They were still good though until post Trap team.
I have one of the largest collections in the uk, and im going to keep my skylanders for my future kids one day, so they can experience a piece of my childhood. I’m only 21 so no kids for a few years lol
every day i pray for a new skylanders game to be announced, but i know that this will never happen
There was one teased not too long ago. But I think it fell through- which kinda sucks but if a title comes out. I can't imagine it being a toys to life title. I reckon it would be much more modernised.
Maybe a item shop lmao
@@MaskedCynic i always liked the idea of unlocking skylanders through their soul gems. and if anyone still had them they could plug their portal into the console
Maskedcynic: I played every skylanders game in 2023
Imaginators:
I litrally said this in the video lol
@@MaskedCynic sorry didn’t watch the whole video looked at The timeline instead my mistake
I've been thinking of buying the "Giants" Skylanders game for a nostalgia trip, I'm probably going to do it now.
Do it! (Or emulate it)
I forgot to comment on this a while back, but did you just figure out that moxxie and kaos had the same voice actor
No?
Hello hi 👋, above average skylanders enjoyer here. I really enjoyed this vid and it’s way to good and costed you way to much effort for the amount of views, this vid definitely deserves more love. And I have some comments that am just gonna write in one comment.
Is it just me or are the skylanders soundtracks absolute bangers?
19:21 you haven’t played nightmare mode trap team. Then without traps you would commit genocide on your skylanders.
The water and air vehicle sections are very unique and different from any other cart game, but I didn’t see you play any of them.
23:21 you have to drift in the fighting areas, that is the way. It makes it way setter and more fun. I didn’t see you drift at all.
Thank you!
I routinely visit my local CEX, buy ones I want, to back and play Swap Force, Trap Team and Imaginators in a chain. My most recent find, was FINALLY finding Zap and Flamslinger. I'm rebuilding my Skylanders collection. My limit was 63. I'm aiming for 100. I'll actually keep them all this time >.>
CEX is my Go-To for these videos!
I remember going back to play sky landers like last year and hearing Joe from family guy and moxxie from helluva
OMG i STILL got all mine skyelanders , it was my'' collection'' while i was a kid , is my favorite retro game by now
I remember I had like a super rare legendary version of one of the trap masters, and I could just blow through the whole game with my eyes closed
Razputin from Psychonauts: Am I a joke to you?
I love how this video is a year old and it says it was played in 2024 😂
Lmao
now that i know flynn is joe swanson im expecting him to just go "hey peter chaos is using a book to assasinate people from hell"
Hey Peter 👋
When you hear the magical tune of Skylanders spyro’s adventure, then I immediately want to go back in time, the butterflies in my stomach and my heart filling with joy.
What do you mean Kaos isn't the main villain of Trap Team? Did you turn the game off during the cut-seen after the Golden Queen bossfight or something? There's a plot twist during the end of that cut-seen where Kaos betrays you. Kaos IS the final boss of Trap Team.
This is true. But I don't consider him to be the MAIN antagonist in the game as throughout the entire game its leading up to the golden queen. Yes you are correct that chaos has a boss fight at the end but for the sake of the overall majority of the game the queen is way more prominent as a villain.
Not knocking kaos tho.
Honestly remake/s or a new game on next gen consoles would be pretty cool imo. With the scarcity of portals nowadays and the physical skylanders starting to die now we’re not far from simply not being able to play them anymore which is gonna be crushing for a lot of people. However as someone who played the first 3 games and superchargers on the Wii exclusively I hated superchargers so much, they made it an exclusively racing game and didn’t put any effort into making it look good on the Wii which really made me sad because of how long I’d waited for a new game (I was like 10 and my parents wouldn’t buy me and my brother trapteam for some reason).
I agree. However I don't reckon we will see Toys2life come back for anytime soon. If they did do a remake/reboot. (I feel like the latter is more likely) it would all be digital. In a sense where the figures would just act as playable or unlockable characters. (Similar to how lego handles character selection)
Which will be kinda sucky as Toys2Life is the gimmick that makes it standout! HOWEVER. If this where to happen they would be able to focus on more unique gameplay mechanics modernising it etc.
But unfortunately I don't see this franchise making a revival.
The community will and has but in terms of new releases I think it's dried up...
I swear the game looked a lot better when I was younger XD
The way you remember it is like 10x better lmao. Thought the exact same thing when revisiting Assassins creed Black flag. The thing looked so grainy!
But I love the idea of playing them in order- it really makes you appreciate the effort and graphics the developers dealt with along the way.
18:39 The exact version of traps i want in my life.
Amen
Trap Team is my favourite out of the entire franchise, simply because it didn’t really try to reinvent the wheel like most of the other games. Like, the others have their gimmicks which definitely got worse as it went on, but Trap Team feels like what Skylanders should've been from the start. Plus, Trap Team has in my opinion the BEST designs for Skylanders from any of the games.
I had trigger happy with the minigun, I went crazy with him bro
The wife is a trigger happy fanatic and its scary!
Me without skylanders is like a young white woman without their phone
I actually still have the skylanders creator mobile app on my phone! I don’t have the actual game itself, but the character creation part is pretty fun
11:00 man really referenced my 2nd favorite game in the section of the video where he’s talking about my 1st favorite game.
Edit: My SuperChargers disc had the same exact fate lmaoooo
Titanfall as a franchise holds a special place in my heart too! A blast for real!
I miss BT so much 😔
And giants is for sure the nest skylanders title out there!
@@MaskedCynic I still play the tf2 multiplayer to this day (If the servers show me any mercy). I wish Skylanders had an online multiplayer for the battle mode honestly that would have been the coolest thing for the series to offer and would have convinced me to buy Xbox Gold.
@@TabbyPro I hop on every now and again myself. Used to run private lobbies with krabers only. Great mechanics 👍 👌 🙆♂️
Giants and Trap Team will always be the best games for me. Its pretty sad TT was rushed.
bro this is kinda nostalgic, if you were playing on the wii than it would be better
Another fun fact about voice acting not only does kaos' voice actor voice moxie he also voices zim
I knew this! It's crazy. I however have never seen commander zim 😔
You predicted the chill bill meme
hey man my new years resolution was to off myself october 15th if i was still alone but to each their own i suppose, can't wait for the 2024 version of this video man!
Hey man, I apologise if your feeling rough and I can assure you 'offing yourself' is never the answer.
If needed talk to people and if things get really bad my socials are always open if you need to just get something out there. Stay safe man! And thank you for your kind words 🙏
22:35 i love supersonic racing
i Honestly don’t blame you for skipping imaginators. As a big skylander fan, I don’t find it good or find it canon.
Unfortunately it has its own video lol
I thought i was so cool having every series 1 skylander, man i miss this game
Never too late for a revisit!
My evolution as a gamer went Skylanders then straight to destiny where I am still today
Destiny was amazing! I was very stuck into it through the beginning to the last Destiny 1 DLC. I did join some Destiny 2 bits but I believe the original was much better!
giants was the best man, swap and trap were good too but giants was the best one for sure i loved so many areas in it
Spyro's Adventure was great and Giants improved everything about it, too bad that all of the character and charm was drained out of the world and gameplay after that. The skylanders themselves never stopped being well designed though. I just wish I could enjoy the games after that.
these videos get better and better one after another
Your too kind 💜🪓
@@MaskedCynic what about imaginators
I explained why I didn't play imaginators in the video. :))
bro that robot is peak nostalgia he had bars man was the one kid who had 3 characters untill the game died😂
Drill X was iconic! And I'm currently in the midst of packing my room to move house. I keep finding skylanders everywhere lmao!
I played the first one, giants, and swap force. I miss these games so much. I still have a bunch of the figurines
They are so worth a revisit!
In trap team you can turn of the audio of the villans
i've been planning on playing all of skylanders with my mum, its just that on my nostalgia trip of games to play with my mum, i started with the LEGO games we have and that's taking a while, maybe next year but when i do i'm gonna have a blast.
the intro for chompy made brings back an unbridled wave of ptsd
"But you are not a chompy! So I don't like you!"
Bro corrected his mistake by putting text saying “Superchargers*” on the screen when he said “Swap Force,” but didn’t do the same when he said “4th” when it’s the 5th game,
Bro gets tired after 60 hours of gameplay and a long editing session lmao
@@MaskedCynic Yeah, okay fair.
@@MaskedCynicIs that also why you called the Arkeyans “Arcanians?”
@@SorielHDTBers probably lmao
Ah my two favourite things, Skylanders and dark commentary
The perfect combination
Man skylanders is such a joyride, I need to go back and play them again…after I check to see if my skylanders aren’t dead that is.
for me, giants was the best game, but trap team definitly have the best kaos fight of all
I wanna sync the audio of moxie ordering his coffee over a kaos clip