Video Game / Skylanders: SuperChargers

Drive evil crazy.

Skylander Academy used to stand for training, exellence, and super ninja commando skills, but in these dark times, people need a symbol of hope, and that's just what we're gonna be. We need to stay on the move and keep the Core of Light safe from Kaos at all costs. Fire up them engines!

—Buzz

Skylanders: SuperChargers is the fifth game in the Skylanders series, developed by Vicarious Visions and published by Activision, and was released on Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, as well as on Apple's iOS and tvOS devices during September of 2015.

The game starts a little bit more interestingly compared to other games. Kaos has basically won. He has built a giant doomsday device called the Sky Eater that is being powered by the Darkness and as the name implies, eats the sky in Skylands to grow stronger, leaving behind giant holes. Kaos has also used his powers to disconnect the portals between Earth and Skylands, cutting the Portal Master and their Skylanders off from doing anything. Luckily, a new team of Skylanders called the SuperChargers, drivers of special vehicles powered by Rift Engines, which are used to keep the Portal's connection working. The Skylanders must now use these vehicles to traverse across land, sea and skies to stop Kaos in his most destructive plan yet.

Most of the build-up to the story is explained in the prequel comic "Rift into Overdrive".

This game features driving as a key feature. There are three different terrains, Land, Sea and Sky, though only the Land segments are mandatory. Every Skylander can drive any vehicle, but only the titular SuperChargers can customize them. And each one have their own assigned vehicle

This game also has the series' very first Guest Star Party Members with Turbo Charge Donkey Kong and Hammer Slam Bowser, though they are only playable in the Wii U version.

This game has a racing spin-off called Skylanders: SuperChargers Racing, released for Nintendo 3DS and Wii, which focuses exclusively on the racing aspect.

Six other Eon's Elite figures from the original game were also released during SuperChargers' lifespan. The previous game was patched up on all platforms (sans the Wii and 3DS) to add the Elite status for these characters but not their upgraded stats, instead using the same stats from the original games.

This game was followed by Skylanders: Imaginators released the following year.

This game provides examples of:

• 2½D: The book levels in Spell Punk Library are this, as they are all 2D levels (except for the books where you're using Sky and Land vehicles) while keeping the 3D models of the Skylanders and enemies.
• Absurdly Short Level: This game has some of the shortest levels in the entire series, as indicated in that they are only one chapter in a game where the levels that are split into multiple chapters and said chapters being short. Two of them does have side content for you to do. But the Bandit Train, the penultimate level, has none of that, as the unique thing about it is that it changes layout for every time you play it, so it is a lot more linear.
• Absurdly Spacious Sewer: The sea mission in the Land of the Undead involves you going through sewers that are large enough to fit the vehicle in so you can destroy a rock that's blocking the way and some of the imprisoned Mabus can take that way out.
• All for Nothing: More than half of the game consists of the Skylanders and their allies regrouping their forces, then gathering various components and ways to use them in re-configuring the Core of Light into a weapon that can take down the Darkness. And then Kaos shows up right at the front doors of the academy with the Sky Eater just as everything has been completed. The Sky Eater then obliterates the core and nearly gets everyone else, rendering every previous action moot. Though they all escape, the heroes are left needing to spend the remaining third of the game trying to come up with one last shot at victory.
• Antepiece:
  • Traptanium, the most powerful material that's used to keep villains locked up, is used in the same way with Master Eon as the prisoner.
  • Glumshanks' vehicle is based on the tank he used in his boss fight as Evil Glumshanks in Swap Force. And on a side note, his villain pursuit race is in the Temple of Arkus, similarly to how Evil Glumshanks was fought at an Arkeyan Graveyard.
• Anti-Frustration Features:
  • If a Skylander is defeated while driving a vehicle, the vehicle you drive will regain some of its health when you tag another Skylander in so it will get a little more protection.
  • There is no dedicated place in an early chapter where you learns the ins and outs of Skystones Overdrive like in Giants and Trap Team. You can challenge anyone right away and you learn the game the first time you play it.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Cluck has used the Colossal Kernel to turn a rooster into a giant, which he plans to make a whole army off, so the Sky mission in the level at his headquarters is against that thing.
• Breaking Old Trends:
  • No Core Skylanders or Wow Pow versions of previous Skylanders exist in the toy lineup. While some of the new figures are Skylanders who debuted in previous games, they are reworked with new movesets and upgrades and are counted among the new gimmick Skylanders.
  • Nightmare Mode is unlocked right out of the gate. Though Imaginators goes back to unlocking it after beating the game one time.
  • There are no longer any Elemental Gates in the levels. Instead, the closest thing to it is a gate at the academy for the vehicles that leads to a quick driving level, one for each element, which changes daily.
  • Kaos is not the Final Boss, instead being the Pre-Final Boss to The Darkness, who is the actual final boss.
• Brutal Honesty: Right before Flynn, Cali and Glumshanks are gonna head to the Sky Eater to stop Kaos, Glumshanks asks Flynn if he thinks Kaos will forgive him for going against him, to which Flynn says that it’s not gonna happen.
• The Bus Came Back:
  • Hugo returns to having a prominent role after only having cameos in the last three games.
  • Villains from previous iterations aside from Trap Team come back in the racing mode. Two of them, Count Moneybone and Cluck, also have roles as antagonists at different points in the main story.
• The Cameo: With this game bringing back NPCs from previous games, some of them (or even Skylanders) make their reappearances in the background.
  • In the Cloud Kingdom, statues of Lightning Rod are placed throughout, which makes sense considering how loved Lightning Rod was among the Storm Giants before becoming a Skylander.
  • The Hydra from Spyro's Adventure is the focus point of the sea mission at Spell Punk Library.
  • After Kaos moves in at Skylander Academy at the end of the game, one of the decorations he puts up is a picture frame of his mother.
• Collector of the Strange: To find Pomfrey Lefuzzbottom, the Skylanders travel to Gadfly Glades, where they meet an elf who is this. And as such, she’s not too willing to just hand over Pomfrey.
• Credits Gag: One that appears right after the Final Boss is defeated. Once Kaos has been bested and the ending plays out, some credits begin to scroll up the screen as the ending credits song plays. All seems well... until the portal caused by the Sky Eater exploding begins to suck the letters of the credits into it, followed by the song suddenly cutting off. An Evil Laugh is then heard, as the Darkness appears from the portal, having merged with the remains of the Sky Eater, to engage the Skylanders for the real final battle.
• Darker and Edgier: The plot in this game has way bigger stakes than any previous game. It starts with Kaos having basically already won and many parts of Skylands destroyed, and he doesn’t plan on stopping until his new Doomstation is all-powerful. A new major antagonist in the form of The Darkness takes the role of Knight of Cerebus.
  • Some NPCs have a bit more darker aspects to them such as Buzz who Took a Level in Jerkass when it comes to safety around the academy or Flynn being more of a cynic than usual, even if he tries to stay as his usual jokey self. And Kaos himself gets hit with a character arc that gives a lot more depth to his character compared to previous games (since there wasn’t so much in them).
• Disproportionate Retribution: One Mabu in Moneybone's prison says she was thrown in there because she won over Kaos in a game of Skystones Overdrive.
• Eldritch Abomination: The Darkness takes this form as it is trying to escape from the rift it was sucked into. It looks humanoid, but is made out of the magic it has devoured. And it also dons the remains of the Sky Eater as armor.
• Gimmick Level: The levels in this game are the most varied in terms of gameplay of any Skylanders game.
  • The Cloud Kingdom: Fog of War.
  • Land of the Undead: Gravity Screw portals and avoiding searchlights.
  • Spell Punk Library: Jumping into books and playing 2½D levels.
  • Gadfly Glades: Macro Zone.
  • Cap’n Cluck’s Chicken HQ: Shrinking and growing objects and enemies.
  • Monstrous Isles: Playing as the size of a Titan.
  • Vault of the Ancients: Having magnetic powers to pull stuff to and away from you.
  • The Sky Eater: Getting past security (although not in a stealth-like way).
  • Battlebrawl Island, Ridepocalypse Demo Derby, and Bandit Train: Battle arena level, vehicle-exclusive level, and Randomly Generated Levels respectively.
  • Averted with The Rift into Skylands and Cloudbreather’s Crag, which doesn’t have any unique gimmicks to them.
• Go-Karting with Bowser: In the racing side-mode, villains from throughout the series can partake as well, which even includes Kaos, who is currently destroying Skylands.
• Great Escape: The fourth level, The Land of the Undead, takes place inside a giant prison that keeps Mabus as well as Master Eon locked up. While the main goal here is to rescue Eon, the optional Sea and Sky missions both involve assisting Mabus who are also trying to escape.
• Hailfire Peaks: Cloudbreather's Crag is a combination between Death Mountain and Wutai. It is up the the sky at the top of mountain while the houses surronding it is designed like the latter.
• The Heavy: Kaos becomes this to the Darkness. He started out doing what he did out of his own volition, but after the Darkness gained the ability to talk, it manipulated Kaos into helping it grow more and more powerful so it could conquer the entire universe for himself while getting rid of any road bumps, such as Glumshanks. But Kaos catches on, and at first tries to stall it because he’s uncertain about going against his supposed destiny of ruling Skylands, then he finally gets fed up with having to obey the Darkness and takes the chance of eradicating it himself by activating the Dark Rift Engine.
• Kick the Morality Pet: To show that Kaos really has fallen into the Darkness' manipulation, he goes along with its points about how Glumshanks has held him back and fires him on the spot.
• Land, Sea, Sky: These are what makes up the three different terrains, and all elements are assigned to one of them.
  • Land: Fire, Earth, Undead and Tech.
  • Sea: Water, Magic and Dark.
  • Sky: Air, Life and Light.
  • The only exception to this are the vehicles of the villains, which can be any terrain of any element, like Golden Queen having a Earth-based Sea vehicle or Cluck having a Tech-based Sky vehicle.
• Macro Zone: Gadfly Glades has you be grown to mini size by the collector elf and traverse through her garden.
• Mechanical Monster: The final round of Ridepocalypse Demo Derby is against a dinosaur-shaped vehicle called Wreck O’ Saurus.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Later on in the game, Kaos starts having doubts about destroying Skylands out of not being willing to destroy his supposed destiny of ruling it, so to get him to agree to it, the Darkness threatens to remove his dark powers from him, which works. But after Kaos’ boss fight, the Darkness orders him to destroy the Dark Rift Engine. Just when it looks like Kaos is about to do it, he instead activates it, citing that nobody tells him what to do.
• Old Save Bonus: If you put a trap with a villain from Trap Team in the portal while playing this game, you will get a brand new Skystone of that villain.
• Optional Stealth: Since the fourth level is a prison, there are spotlights everywhere to spy for intruders. But you won't face any big punishment if you're spotted. There will be some form of security thrown your way, but once it's dealt with, you can proceed with no issues unlike stealth segments in previous games that had them.
• Palmtree Panic: Monstrous Isles is a beach populated by titans and trolls. But it’s only a normal beach level at the start, as after defeating the enemies in the first area, the Skylanders infect themselves with the colossal kernel, which makes them grow to titan size, which they stay as for the entire level.
• Piñata Enemy: The Food Thief from Swap Force's Arena Battles returns in Battlebrawl Island to give you food between the rounds.
• Planet Eater: Well, Skylands isn’t exactly a planet, but the Sky Eater’ function is to do just that, eat the sky in Skylands to feed its power source, the Darkness.
• Portal Book: What makes the books at Spell Punk Library magical is that you can jump (or be dragged) into them to play through parts based on the stories, which is useful to find out more about the Darkness’ origins. The three vehicle missions also have their own dedicated stories, though the Sky and Sea missions are optional, as always.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Kaos feels uneasy about going along with the Darkness' plan to destroy Skylands so the two can rule the entire universe, mostly because he actually doesn't want Skylands destroyed. But this isn't a real case of Even Evil Has Standards, because the reason for why this is is because he believes ruling Skylands is his destiny. When he tries to convince the Darkness to put destroying Skylands on hold for a couple hundred years, he also mentions that they use the time to rule over it all. And after assisting the Skylanders in destroying the Darkness, Kaos stays at Skylander Academy until he gets his powers back so he can go right back to trying to conquer Skylands.
• Rake Take: One of the Legendary Treasures you can place around the Academy is a rake, and the classic gag happens if you walk on it.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: The Cloud Kingdom is a highly civilized society that doesn't fully allow mere mortals to visit willy-nilly, but the current ruler, Queen Cumulus is very happy about helping the underprivileged and is fully on board with lending over the Thunderous Bolt to the Skylanders even if Kaos wasn't controlling a giant doomsday device. So it then becomes a problem when Lord Stratosfear joins Kaos and is granted control over the Cloud Kingdom, as Cumulus describes him as not being as open minded as she is.
• Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: Glumshanks unchains an island of the academy with himself on so the building loses enough load so everyone else can escape from the Sky Eater. Everyone there is saddened by this sacrifice, but realize they need to carry on instead of wallow over it. A few minutes later, it’s revealed that Glumshanks is okay and has been kidnapped by Pandergast to use as the top award for the winner of the Ridepocalypse Demo Derby. And in the announcement of it, Pandergast says that Glumshanks landed near his labs, meaning it’s unclear if Glumshanks even died to begin with.
• Sequential Boss: Immediately right after the battle with Kaos, the player must face the Darkness.
• Serial Escalation: Mostly with Kaos’ overall goal. In the first three games, they were all simple "spread darkness across Skylands" or "raise an army to take over Skylands", and then in Trap Team, while it was the same as before, there he goes even further by being able to see the Portal Master and plans to end them. In SuperChargers, his goal has changed from taking over Skylands to destroying parts of it so he will get enough power to rule whatever's left of it with no one being able to rise up to him.
• Simple-Minded Wisdom: In the Cloud Kingdom, Flynn warns the Skylander to be careful while walking through the fog as it makes for perfect ambushes by enemies. Cali says that that's some very good advice coming from Flynn.
• Solemn Ending Theme: The final few minutes of credits plays a slow song called "SuperCharged with Love".
• Unwinnable by Design: Since you already get a Land vehicle in the Starter Pack, the game is designed with every part of the game that requires a Land vehicle as mandatory unlike the Sea and Sky missions. So if you buy a used copy of the game outside of a Starter Pack, you won't even get past the start of the game until you have a Land Vehicle.
• Upper-Class Twit: Some of the Storm Giants in the Cloud Kingdom act this way. They talk very snobbishly and view those of status under them as disgusting, as seen with the guy who tasks you with stopping Kaos’ transport ships with trolls. And when you've finished that, he calls the Skylander "a credit to its people". The biggest one of them all is the villain of the level, Lord Stratosfear, who is said to be more conservative and not as open-minded as the current ruler Queen Cumulus.
• The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: What better place to use as a final level than the Sky Eater, the same thing that has terrorized Skylands the entire game?
• Victory Fakeout: Like the previous four games, Kaos seems to be the Final Boss and is defeated in a fight that has a few phases to it. After the ensuing cutscene where the Darkness is defeated and the group escapes the exploding Sky Eater, the credits seem to roll as the song "SuperCharged With Love" plays... and then the Darkness is revealed to be Not Quite Dead After All and engages the Skylanders in one final showdown before the day is saved.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: Lord Stratosfear is pretty manageable, as expected from the first boss. The reason is because the fight is a simple "Get Back Here!" Boss, so that makes the fight against Count Moneybone all the more surprising in difficulty because of how unlike the previous boss it was. Unlike Stratosfear, you aren't chasing Moneybone down a long corridor, the fight takes place in an arena, meaning you're playing with the more complicated 3D controls, which you have to deal with when you have to go through the gravity shifting portals and play from new perspectives.
• Warp Whistle: Every chapter is divided into three or four smaller chapters, and from the chapter select screen, you can select any of these chapters and start the level from there.

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