darkSpyro

Someone know if the reposed superchargers (Stealth Elf, Gill Grunt, Pop Fizz, etc.) will be compatible with past games, working as its previous versions? Or will they be considered completely new characters, and as such, not compatible with previous games? I think that as they will have new movesets they will not work on previous games, but did they talk about it? What do you guys think?

I'm 99 percent sure they won't work in old games
But the EE will

They might appear as Series 2/3 Specials and they have their original powers, then again they might not even work at all.

They keep saying they are "new never seen before characters" so I doubt they will work in older games.

Which would be nonsensical but... Ok, I guess.

I bet ya they don't. Technically, these aren't returning characters, they characters that LOOK like the older versions, but have all new powers. So chances are, they won't work.

Quote: Drek95

They keep saying they are "new never seen before characters" so I doubt they will work in older games.

Which would be nonsensical but... Ok, I guess.

They've never said that. They say never seen before move-sets.

It'd be neat if they worked, just to add a bit of continuity to the character. Would it take all that much much effort to make them unlock their respective Series 1/2/3 self in previous games?

Definitely don't expect them to, though.

There's a huge engine under their feet; more than enough space to hide something that can register "two" characters at once. But chances are they won't work.

I had assumed they would show up as previous versions, but I didn't think about the move sets. Wouldn't the figure have to be programmed to know which moves you have unlocked? If they aren't programmed with those moves, then would it even work? It is possible, I guess, that they were able to program the chip to recognize both move sets depending on the game you play.

Quote: HeyitsHotDog

Quote: Drek95

They keep saying they are "new never seen before characters" so I doubt they will work in older games.

Which would be nonsensical but... Ok, I guess.

They've never said that. They say never seen before move-sets.

They might have never said those exact words you are right but the really want you to think they are new Skylanders.
They do say they aren't the old characters and that they are innovative and never seen before in some way.

Whatever, still Terrafin, Jet-Vac, Trigger Happy, Gill Grunt and so on.

I'm still saying is a new way of starting to rid of the backwards compatibility. As going forward if more characters are reimagined as such they wont be usable in previous games. They don't have to use series numbers anymore just a different title per game with that character which they started to use. There will be a point where they will only look forward character wise and may just only allow characters from that game to play on it and not on previous and not allow other characters. It could happen.

I know backwards compatibility will eventually be dropped one day but I sincerely hope that isn't the way they want to take.

I do not want to buy again a character I already own to play as him again.
Give him a different outfit, new weapons and new armors... Doesn't matter.
If you put that much effort then do it properly and create a brand new character.

Want to keep compatibility with certain "fan favorites"?
Ok but let everyone who owns any form of those Skylanders play with them.

Do not make revamps this important.
It is not a good idea; just keep them nice extras.

If they ever drop backwards compatibility then that would be the end of the series for me. I've said the same about Disney Infinity too. The concept of backwards compatibility is one of the biggest things that make the toys-to-life concept appealing. It adds lasting value to the investment and it makes the characters feel more "real" since they can cross over from game to game.


Not only that but the idea of having a collection of Skylanders that can't all be played using the same game is incredibly unappealing to me. There would be this invisible divide between old and new characters that would just drive my OCD crazy. No thanks.

I'm actually changing my mind about it.

If they play it right (and sincerely I don't see how they could) I might accept it.
Not saying I would be happy but I could learn to live with it.

At first I was like "if they drop one single Skylander I'm out of this series"... But now... I'm still pondering over it.
What I can say is that I will leave the series if they force me to buy a new figure to play as a character I previously owned and if they start to release console-exclusive brand new Skylanders.

Coincidentally they went dangerously close to those two possibilities with this entry.

I'm still in the "the instant I can't use S1 Spyro in the new game is the instant I leave the series" mindset. This applies to all characters I own, but that's how the phrase has always gone for me since Giants.

If they really need to save space on the disc, they can do what they're already doing with the iOS versions, which download the character files as you use them. I can see a new game coming out that potentially only has its characters and their movesets pre-installed. If you put an older character on the portal, it downloads all relevant files from Activision's servers and puts them in a "Skylanders" file on your system. Ideally, this file would be able to be accessed by any future games as well, eliminating the need to re-download. Additionally, this may allow characters from later games to be used in earlier games. Of course, it comes with the downside of you needing internet and hard-drive/SD card space, but it's better than not having access to the older characters at all.

Although, I don't know how the consoles are programmed, so I don't know if this really is possible. But by the sounds of it, that's how Disney Infinity is doing it, so I don't see why Skylanders can't do it, too.

Backwards compatibility is not a huge issue for, I already have 5 other Gill Grunts I can use if i want to play one of the older games. Forward compatibility is something they can not afford to drop otherwise people will not continue to buy the games...they need to allow people to use their entire collection otherwise it's basically useless. 99% of the time I am using one of the new skylanders for the current game. For trap team, I leveled up the old skylanders(Gill Grunt, shroom boom, jet vac, pop fizz). Went back did all the heroics and quests then put then away. I don't really want to have to go back and do 50 heroics with all these reposed superchargers. (the completionist in me will force me to do it if it's an option)

Keep in mind that dropping a series character doesn't help them. They use the same model regardless of the series, unless they've changed them as is the case with Superchargers and/or wow pows. I've noticed that I only play the latest game more or less with the characters introduced in that game, but I do dabble with other characters if the content justifies it. It didn't in Trap Team, so I didn't bother. This all changes in Superchargers as now I'm going to RELY on my current army to play the game.

In my opinion, these gimmicks are a way for them to "develop and drop" content in a game to "manage forward compat" issues. Traps and now vehicles. My problem is Traps were cheaper, now they want Giant size money for a figure that will basically last one game, and that's not sitting well with me. The purist in me tells me they've already breached forward compatibility when they changed the function of traps (although I understand why it makes sense not to do it).

Quote: TakeYourLemons

The purist in me tells me they've already breached forward compatibility when they changed the function of traps.

If changing function was enough, then they breached it back in Swap Force, when the Location Pieces from SSA stopped unlocking levels. Naive me during SSA assumed that they would unlock new levels in each installment, and I was sorely disappointed that was not the case.

On the subject of vehicles, I agree. The vehicles should not have gimmicklander prices, when in all likelihood, they aren't going to have nearly the same functionality in the next game. I bought into the traps assuming they were going to be useless this game, since about four characters (or Kaos) for the price of half a character seemed worth it, even if it was only for one game.

But compare that to one "character," who can only be used 1/6 of the time (assuming half-Skylander, half-vehicle, and the vehicle segments have equal proportions) in one game, for 1.5X the price of a standard Skylander? Not worth it. I'm only getting them on sale or used, myself.

I'd go with yes, but since we don't know for sure we'll have to wait and see.