darkSpyro

So I dug through the files and decided to see just which repaint Skylanders counted as unique, and which ones we could expect to see that may have not have been announced yet. Keep in mind these are the ones unique for the game purposes itself. As far as gameplay...doubtful anything changed here. Figured at the very least with things like 'Flocked Stump Smash' and other rarities floating around, parents and other folks would rather know just what'll look different when they plop them on the game, so here goes:

All the legendaries:
Legendary Bash
Legendary Chop Chop
Legendary Spyro
Legendary Trigger Happy (called "Golden Cheat Alt" in the files, go figure)
Legendary Jet-Vac
Legendary Ignitor
Legendary Slam-Bam
Legendary Stealth Elf
Legendary Chill
Legendary Bouncer

These recolors:
Polar Whirlwind
Dark Spyro
Royal Double Trouble
Jade Flashwing
Molten Hot Dog
Punch Pop Fizz
Scarlet Ninjini
Granite Crusher
Gnarly Tree Rex

Items:
Golden Dragonfire Cannon

Beyond that here's a few things for things you can tell from the files too:
*Alongside the original 4 sidekicks from the Frito-Lay promotion, only 4 more are coming out based off the giants. Sadly no surprises there as these are known already.
*No new adventure areas from what I can tell either: only the original 4 are there. There's a file called "bonus_pvp" etc in the items folder, but I'm presuming that's the Volcanic Vault given nothing else is pointing there.
*What is a surprise is there's another arena item listed: a catapult. If you force the game to load it it follows you like the cannon, and unlocks a pvp arena to fight in. Judging from the fact Hot Dog is the only Skylander we haven't seen released yet, I wouldn't be surprised if he's intended for it?
*There aren't any hidden Skylanders either, save for one blatantly unfinished 'Sniper' enemy. Info I put together on him can be found here, but unless the figure comes with the rest of his data I doubt we'll see a toy of him.

Hope this helps.

i believe the caterpult is called the Scorpion Striker.

also, did you see anything about that Platinum Tresure Chest that comes with the IOS starter pack?

Sadly didn't see any indication of that chest, only the original is in the files.

i wonder if its actully going to do anything in the apple game then...

wait, there is a legendary Chill? or rather, there will be one?

Yep: http://skylanders.wikia.com/wiki/Legendary_Chill

Have you seen any sign of WowPows for the missing 8 in the game? I am starting to suspect these 8 really will not be getting the S2 upgrade in this generation of the series.

TC: what version of the game are you poking around in, and how did you get it to load the catapult? Be as technical as you want, I'm nerdy like that

Quote: ItsJustMe

Have you seen any sign of WowPows for the missing 8 in the game? I am starting to suspect these 8 really will not be getting the S2 upgrade in this generation of the series.

It's uncertain, as the Lightcore and S2 Skylanders still use the same files as their S1 counterparts, with the exception of the ones listed above for obvious reasons. I'll need to dig into the files themselves to see if any text strings indicate attacks.

Quote: AchillesPDX

TC: what version of the game are you poking around in, and how did you get it to load the catapult? Be as technical as you want, I'm nerdy like that

Xbox 360 on a JTAG console using a store-bought version of the game. The files are easy enough to swap: just replace those of a character or item you already have before loading the game, run it from that data and put the appropriate figure on the portal. Skylanders will not unlock new ones doing this, and while all the data and upgrades appear properly the names do not. Also it doesn't count it as unlocked towards your total number of Skylanders. Items are a bit easier: it'll still show the original item's name on the loading screen but it'll otherwise behave like the swapped item, complete with related unlocks.

Anything in those files about this 'platinum chest' or something of the like that's supposedly exclusive to the iOS starter?

No, no separate item exists for the Platinum Chest.

Quote: ItsJustMe

Have you seen any sign of WowPows for the missing 8 in the game? I am starting to suspect these 8 really will not be getting the S2 upgrade in this generation of the series.

Here's the character list from the official game guide. I think the missing 8 are going to stay missing:

http://i.imgur.com/sjBmn.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/60NFy.jpg

do the varients like Polor Jade Scarlet have there own little gameplay videos? would love to see them if you could post them

Unfortunately swapping their files in doesn't unlock their videos or count them toward your tally, but judging from Punch Pop Fizz and the Legendaries the videos are the same as the originals.

Would it be possible to get a screengrab of the Sniper? I'd like to see him in game and the red Spyro if that's not too much trouble.

That's pretty neat though. Do you think it'd be possible for them to have some figure or something that isn't in the game files? It seems weird that they'd just have 2 battle packs and that's it.

Doubtable...I'll dig further but I dunno if it'll do any good. I've figured out what all the files in the characters folder do by any stretch and there's just Debug Minion and Sniper unclaimed.

Btw, updated the Cutting Room Floor article with screenshots of the unavailable characters:
http://tcrf.net/Skylanders_Giants

Oh neat. Red Spyro is pretty cool, makes me wish they would have done some sort of selectable skin for characters.

That's a shame they didn't use Sniper, even a redesign would have been cool. Although, something other than a Troll would be good.

My guess is that the troll is a placeholder since its character model clips through the rifle, used simply because it has a lot of the same animations they'd have used for him. It's actually kind of a bummer because you'd think there'd be more characters in the game overall that just aren't unlocked...I'm curious now though what might be lurking in Spyro's Adventure after doing this.

Sniper was replaced by Sprocket in the development stage.

Doesn't seem to be the case there: she plays entirely differently than he does with the weapons. Not to mention her file is actually before his and called "Turret Master". More likely they just ran out of time and didn't need to create another Skylander.

...or he's incomplete on-disk DLC that'll be unlocked by another figure, but that's wishful thinking on my part.

Out of curiosity, does the game specifically classify the Legendary Chill as being LightCore? I only ask because it seems more likely that the L-Chill will be a LightCore version (not only because the color is specifically on LC Chill's page on the Giants website, but because the LC Chill will be coming out at a later date)

Lightcore's use the same data files as the originals so sadly there's no surefire way to tell by looking at them or even swapping them.

EDIT: Wait forgot one bit that is different: she does indeed use the artwork for her Lightcore version on the website with the angry face.