Skylanders was the first Toys-to-Life game that hit the market, starting a ridiculously expensive fad we thought would never end. Activision’s family-friendly series spawned rivals like Disney Infinity and LEGO Dimensions, leading to more expensive toys to buy in order to play with more characters in a simple beat-em-up.
Fast-forward to today and the series is essentially dead. The devs at Activision Blizzard are tinkering with classics like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4, but are mostly focused on Call of Duty. Rumors claim they were working on Crash Bandicoot 5 but that was unfortunately canned.
With the company not working on a lot of family-friendly games these days, a re-release of Skylanders would hit the spot for many. Gamers who were young when this series came out are old enough to be nostalgic for it, though Activision should just release a version without needing the toys.
Even gamers nostalgic for these titles realize that buying toys for additional characters is highway robbery. The fact these games were able to have a stranglehold on parents’ wallets for that period of time is crazy to think about. Granted, some parents also have to buy their kids Fortnite Battle Passes, so things don’t really change in the gaming industry.
There is an argument to be made that Skylanders wouldn’t be special without the toys, since seeing them pop up onscreen has a certain feel of magic to it. However, that’s just too much money and gamers should be able to use characters in-game without spending for them. Making a re-release with all these characters available would be best for everyone.
Why would we want a simplistic family brawler re-released in this modern age? Gaming preservation for one thing. There is a lot to criticize about the Toys-to-Life craze that faded from obscurity, but Skylanders did start that trend and revisiting it would be interesting. Having all of the characters gives players more choices and fans can see if the gameplay holds up.
click to enlargeOne other reason this franchise should be re-released with all of the characters is fairly simple; Disney Infinity already did it. Fans can purchase “Gold Editions” of all three Disney Infinity games, letting them switch between characters whenever they want. Granted, characters are limited to their playsets and the third game is missing one mode, but these games are readily available on PC, preserved for all to play.
Simply put, the fact that Disney beat Activision to this is pretty embarrassing, given how Skylanders started this craze. Even more embarrassing is that Starlink: Battle for Atlas also has digital versions you can buy without needing their toys, and Starfox is on the Switch version. If LEGO Dimensions gets a re-release without the toys before Skylanders, that would be the ultimate embarrassment.
Yes, this isn’t the best game ever and other action RPGs play better than Skylanders. But it was gaming history and that should warrant a re-release in our eyes.
For more articles like this, take a look at our Features and Spyro The Dragon page.