Skylanders – Spyro’s Adventure

Skylanders – Spyro’s Adventure is a 3D action-adventure platform game and the first video game in the Skylanders series. It is played using with toy figures that interact with it through a “Portal of Power” that reads their tag through NFC. It was released in October 2011 for North America, Europe, and Australia for Microsoft Windows and OS X, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360. In Japan, it was published by Square Enix and released on July 12, 2013 for the Wii, PlayStation 3, Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.

Activision announced that as of June 3, 2012, the game had been the top-selling console and handheld video game worldwide for 2012. A direct sequel, Skylanders: Giants, was released in 2012 for the Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii and Wii U. The game begins with a village in Skylands being ravaged by a massive tornado and the player sending down a Skylander to save the villagers as Hugo mentions the destruction of the Core of Light and an individual named Master Eon.

The player is then introduced to the Ruins, and it is explained that the Portal Masters and the Skylanders have worked to protect Skylands from The Darkness, with Master Eon and his Skylanders guarding the Core of Light, which repelled The Darkness. However, Kaos, a Dark Portal Master who previously attempted to destroy the Core of Light, returned from his banishment in the Outlands to destroy the Core and rule over Skylands. The Skylanders fought to protect the Core of Light, but Kaos unleashed a mysterious creature that destroyed the Core.

In the aftermath, Eon became a spirit and the Skylanders, including Spyro, were banished from their world to Earth, where they were turned into a toy-like state as a result of it lacking magic. Though Master Eon survived the Core’s destruction, he was unable to fight Kaos and the Darkness as a spirit. He and the Skylanders then awaited the arrival of a new Portal Master until the player arrived. The 3DS version of Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure, developed by Vicarious Visions includes a smaller portal with an infrared reader powered by AAA batteries that connects to a 3DS system, and equipped with a USB port that can be used for the console versions of the game.

Instead of having to keep the Skylanders on the portal at all times, two Skylanders are “loaded” into the game, and the player can alternate between them until a new Skylander is loaded to replace them. The storyline in this version is different, and the set of non-playable characters is altered, with the exception of Eon. Additionally, the three Skylanders included in the starter pack are ‘Ignitor’, ‘Stealth Elf’, and ‘Dark Spyro’, a cosmetic variant of Spyro.