Skylanders Question

[ExtinctJenn]

Hey folks! Got a non-Disney specific question here I'm stumbling trying to find the answer to.

After playing Disney Infinity since August and buying every character etc. my son hit me with the fact that he now wants Skylanders. Not a shock and frankly we're having a hard time saying no because the disability he suffers from slowed his maturity and the fact that he wants to play a "big boy" game is kind of exciting to us (it's the little things y'know?)!

I spoke to the folks at GameStop who confirmed that all characters (Spyro's Adventure, Giants and Swap Force) are playable in the new Swap Force game. I've done some research and learned which base (Portal of Power?) can work on which platforms (i.e. they are fairly cross compatible).

What I haven't been able to get the answer to is... in order to play Swap Force, do you need a new base or would a base from one of the previous game versions work with it if I had the game? I may be able to get a copy of the game in stand alone form so I'd have to purchase a base separately and this is sort of a key part of knowing if I can even consider that option.

EDIT: Follow-up Question... If we had the Skylanders Giants Portal of Power (base), the Giants game and one character, that's all we'd need to play right? We don't HAVE to have the starter kit right?

Thanks in advance!

 

[dizneykev]

I am not 100% sure, but in past versions, the base had a lot of new features that allowed it to work with the new figures. If you are going to be buying figures anyway, usually the only way to get one of them is to buy the started pack. Generally you can find a pretty good price on the starters as they want you to get hooked on the game. Good luck. We did the first 2 skylanders and Disney Infinity but decided to skip the swap force this time around.

 

[ExtinctJenn]

I am not 100% sure, but in past versions, the base had a lot of new features that allowed it to work with the new figures. If you are going to be buying figures anyway, usually the only way to get one of them is to buy the started pack. Generally you can find a pretty good price on the starters as they want you to get hooked on the game. Good luck. We did the first 2 skylanders and Disney Infinity but decided to skip the swap force this time around.

Thanks. I'm seeing starter packs for $80. If I can get a copy of the game for free as I think I may be able to, and a base on eBay for $10 or less, I'd like to go that route. LOL

 

[ExtinctJenn]

Follow-up Question... If we had the Skylanders Giants Portal of Power (base), the Giants game and one character, that's all we'd need to play right? We don't HAVE to have the starter kit right?

 

[dizneykev]

Correct, that is all you need. However, there are some areas you can only get to with particular elemental characters, but you can still get running with just one character.

 

[ExtinctJenn]

Thanks! We've got what we need now. Thanks for answering! Done!

 

[Bparso87]

They do not sell stand alone games you have to get a starter pack. My son has played all three skylander and is a good game for kids.the portal will work on any of the games my son has three portals and they all work on what ever game. Not sure about ASAP force bc it is the first one we got for Xbox and not the wii. But I know that the giant portal and the regular one can be swap out no issues. If you think Disney Infiniti cost a lot of money there are 4 times the characters. At least you don't have to buy power packs

 

[erasure fan1]

I spoke to the folks at GameStop who confirmed that all characters (Spyro's Adventure, Giants and Swap Force) are playable in the new Swap Force game. I've done some research and learned which base (Portal of Power?) can work on which platforms (i.e. they are fairly cross compatible).

What I haven't been able to get the answer to is... in order to play Swap Force, do you need a new base or would a base from one of the previous game versions work with it if I had the game? I may be able to get a copy of the game in stand alone form so I'd have to purchase a base separately and this is sort of a key part of knowing if I can even consider that option.

EDIT: Follow-up Question... If we had the Skylanders Giants Portal of Power (base), the Giants game and one character, that's all we'd need to play right? We don't HAVE to have the starter kit right?

Thanks in advance!

According to Activisions site, the only base that works with swapforce is the swapforce base.

Here is some info on the figures and compatibility.

Toys with Green Base
Skylanders toys that have a green base originated in Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure. The green base Skylanders toys can be used in Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure, Skylanders Giants, and Skylanders SWAP Force.

Toys with Orange Base
Skylanders toys that have an orange base originated in Skylanders Giants. The toy line contains new figures specific to Skylanders Giants as well as second edition versions of Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure characters. All orange base characters can be used in Skylanders Giants and Skylanders SWAP Force. All second edition characters can be used in Spyro’s Adventure; however, the actual Giants characters cannot be used.

Toys with Blue Base
Skylanders toys that have a blue base originated in Skylanders SWAP Force. The toy line contains new figures specific to Skylanders SWAP Force as well as new versions of characters found in previous games.

Hope this helps.

 

[ExtinctJenn]

They do not sell stand alone games you have to get a starter pack.

I know "they" as in stores do not however there are many other ways to get either the game stand alone (i.e. from a friend, Ebay, etc.) as well as the base separately etc.

According to Activisions site, the only base that works with swapforce is the swapforce base.

Here is some info on the figures and compatibility.

Thanks so much! I had spoken to Activision re: characters and was told Swap Force allows any character from the previous games to be used however the old games are not "forward" compatible in the sense that I can't use Swap Force characters with Giants. What I couldn't figure out though was that if I was able to pick up the Swap Force game by itself (i.e. out of a starter pack) could I use the Giants base with it. The more I looked into it the more I was fairly sure I couldn't.

We ended up picking up Giants and figure after buying so much into Infinity, DS7 can deal with being a step behind for Skylanders. LOL!

Thanks all for the help!

 

[Cosmic Commando]

You can't use any of the old portals for the new Swap Force game. Because of the new swapping characters, the portal has different "guts" than the previous ones. The portals for the first two games are interchangeable, however.

With the first game (Spyro's Adventure), you would only theoretically need one character to beat the game. With Giants, you might need two: a regular-sized Skylander and one giant. The giants have special abilities that you occasionally need to advance in the story. You might be able to beat it with only a giant, but I'm not positive.

I don't know how Infinity works, but I think you'll find it useful to have 3-4 Skylanders at least. When your Skylanders "need to rest" (a.k.a. run out of health), you can swap to another Skylander and not lose your progress in the level you're on. If all of your Skylanders "need to rest", then you'll have to start the level over... there are no save points inside levels. Buying a new character is essentially like buying an extra life. I didn't normally have an issue during the normal levels, but the boss battles can be tough.

The best places to look are probably ebay, or Toys R Us will frequently have buy one, get one 40% off sales.

 

[ExtinctJenn]

You can't use any of the old portals for the new Swap Force game. Because of the new swapping characters, the portal has different "guts" than the previous ones. The portals for the first two games are interchangeable, however.

With the first game (Spyro's Adventure), you would only theoretically need one character to beat the game. With Giants, you might need two: a regular-sized Skylander and one giant. The giants have special abilities that you occasionally need to advance in the story. You might be able to beat it with only a giant, but I'm not positive.

I don't know how Infinity works, but I think you'll find it useful to have 3-4 Skylanders at least. When your Skylanders "need to rest" (a.k.a. run out of health), you can swap to another Skylander and not lose your progress in the level you're on. If all of your Skylanders "need to rest", then you'll have to start the level over... there are no save points inside levels. Buying a new character is essentially like buying an extra life. I didn't normally have an issue during the normal levels, but the boss battles can be tough.

The best places to look are probably ebay, or Toys R Us will frequently have buy one, get one 40% off sales.

Thanks for the detailed response. We ended up picking up Giants used via Ebay but in like new condition. It's the starter pack so he has the 3 characters that came with it. There are some parts of the game though where it'll say something to the effect of a different type of character being more effective there (i.e. use a magic character vs. a life). I think we'll end up picking up a few more characters but I'm going to wait to see how much of a "need" there is or how much he'd really play it if we did.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

Thanks for the detailed response. We ended up picking up Giants used via Ebay but in like new condition. It's the starter pack so he has the 3 characters that came with it. There are some parts of the game though where it'll say something to the effect of a different type of character being more effective there (i.e. use a magic character vs. a life). I think we'll end up picking up a few more characters but I'm going to wait to see how much of a "need" there is or how much he'd really play it if we did.

If you have the characters from the starter pack, you're good for the whole story of the game. The "characters of the _____ element are stronger in this area" never made much of a difference to me... it's just a small boost in their stats. Maybe you can beat that big enemy with five hits instead of six. The stuff that you actually need the different elements for are the elemental gates, which only get you different hats for the characters to wear (the hats themselves give a small stat boost) and some extra money, but you can get more money by just playing more.

Keep an eye on the Toys R Us ad. Last year, sometime between nowish and Christmasish, they had a "buy one starter pack, get one free" sale. If you like Giants and think you want to try the others, you're not going to get a better deal than that, probably not even used on eBay.