Skylanders SuperChargers Racing (3DS) Review

With Skylanders Imaginators noted as a launch title for the Nintendo Switch, I felt the need to look at the game's predecessor. However, SuperPhillip Central already covered the HD versions of Skylanders SuperChargers, so why not look at the Nintendo 3DS spin-off instead? That's exactly what we're going to do with Skylanders SuperChargers Racing!

The Skylanders race on land, across sea, and through sky.

Up until Skylanders SuperChargers, the Wii and Nintendo 3DS versions of the Skylanders games were at parity content-wise with the other versions of the game. Now, with SuperChargers, this parity is gone, turning the Wii and 3DS games into a spin-off series based off the HD versions of SuperChargers' racing part of the game. This spin-off series is Skylanders SuperChargers Racing, all arcade-style racing with none of the platforming, punching, or exploration the Skylanders series is generally known for. Although not equal in content to the HD versions, Skylanders SuperChargers Racing is a worthwhile entry in the series regardless.

The Adventure mode is the main meat of Skylanders SuperChargers Racing. It shares many similarities to the mode found in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, where you follow along a map of sorts to complete events. With each event completed, more of the map is available to you until you reach the far right side where the final event to complete that current cup is located. A difference here is that there is a story that loosely ties everything together. It stars Pandergast who hosts a Racelandia wrap-up show that ends every cup, promoting the idea that the winner of the Racelandia series of cups will earn an all-powerful MacGuffin that can be used for one wish. These story segments don't run too long and are just a neat bonus for completed cups.

You might be in 7th place, but this race has just begun!

There are a wide variety of events to be found in SuperChargers Racing, from the most basic three lap races against other opponents to more creative racing escapades like running over Chompy enemies to score points, events where bombs litter the track that you must avoid to drive far enough to reach the goal distance, events where your vehicle is poisoned which requires you to continuously collect food along the track, and one event where you're against three racers to see who can grab and deposit the most sheep before time runs out.

Every event has an easy, normal, and hard difficulty and up to three stars to obtain. Getting 1st in a race event or just completing the event's goal in any other kind of event awards three stars to the player in hard difficulty, while in easy and normal difficulties, the player can only earn up to one or two stars. Depending on the difficulty, during races the AI can be more of a pain and despite all your racing skill, they will usually stay close behind you whereas in other events the required score to complete them changes.

The Temple of Boom is a desert track with patches of chocolate to slow unsuspecting racers down.

An unfortunate part of the Adventure mode is that there is a lot of content locked behind having additional figures, mostly vehicle and vehicle and trophy ones. Many gates are locked, requiring you to have a certain element of vehicle to get passed. In addition to that, a third of the Adventure mode is locked behind having specific trophy figures, meaning that six races are inaccessible unless you have the three trophy figures required to access them.

Skylanders SuperChargers Racing's Starter Pack comes with two characters and one vehicle, an air one. While land and sea vehicles are required to play the game, Pandergast gives those lacking land sea vehicle figures to use what he calls "loaners", borrowed vehicles that don't have the greatest stats (they can't be leveled up either) but are serviceable for the various races in the game.

It may be a loaner from Pandergast, but it still gets the job done.

Unlike other versions of Skylanders SuperChargers, with the Nintendo 3DS version you only need to scan a given figure once to have it permanently saved to the game's memory. This means when you want to change your character, you don't need to have all of your figures by your side to scan and input them into the game over and over again. When starting a race or event, both your character and vehicle materialize via a loading screen, which can get grating after seeing it multiple times before each challenge.

Weave through canyons, caverns, cacti, and buildings in this Mexican-themed track.

As you complete races and events in SuperChargers Racing, both your character and vehicle figures gain experience points. Each time each earns a level, they gain a special boost in stats, whether with handling, acceleration, top speed, armor, and so forth. However, these stat boosts only apply to character figures from SuperChargers and not previous entries in the series. Characters from those entries will still gain experience and levels but no stat boosts will be given to those figures.

As stated, there are three types of vehicles in SuperChargers Racing, and each has five unique races specifically built for them. (And again, there are two extra races for each vehicle type gained from trophy figures that are contained in the more expensive racing packs.) The lack of tutorial, especially for a kids' game, is baffling, as each vehicle has its own series of button puts specially used for them.

For instance, a land vehicle can not only drift, gaining a boost once the shoulder button is released, but it can also jump over certain hazards and chasms. Meanwhile, a sea vehicle can temporarily dive underwater, which slows down the vehicle, but also allows access to hidden shortcuts. It can additionally perform flips in the air with the press of the R button to gain a boost upon each successful flip. Finally, air vehicles can have the player press the B button to perform a spin, allowing them to break through cobwebs without slowing down. Holding the R button will cause an air vehicle to unleash its afterburner, giving a continuous boost of speed in expense for control.

Sea vehicles can perform tricks while in midair to gain a boost upon landing.

All vehicles can shoot out ammo with the L button, having the game automatically target opponents in front of you. Each vehicle has a health bar that goes down when attacked by another racer or from a specific item. When it is fully depleted, the vehicle spins out before starting up again, refilling the health bar in the process. Food placed on the track can help restore lost health, as well as special items found from item boxes strewn along each race. Items are automatically used when a vehicle smashes through an item box. These range from offensive items like a Tiki mask that blasts all vehicles ahead of the user with three damaging lightning bolts to defensive items like a potion that slowly regenerates the user's health as well as a shield that blocks all enemy attacks.

Apart from the Adventure mode, there is a Cup mode that sees you taking on each of the five races for each vehicle type against seven AI opponents. Placement in these races award points with the racer with the most points at the end of the five races being the overall winner. There are three difficulties for each, though winning all of these don't appear to have any effects such as new unlockables. There isn't even an awards ceremony to congratulate you on your victory, so the mode overall seems rather undeveloped.

Does a Skylander want to wear shorts or pants in such a hot and cold setting?

Multiplayer is also available in SuperChargers Racing, offering local multiplayer where all parties need a 3DS and a copy of the game, as well as a completely barren online multiplayer option. However, if you have distant friends with the game, you might have better success finding someone to play with over the Internet.

Skylanders SuperChargers Racing is a bit more than a Mario Kart clone. It offers some new ideas to the familiar formula while also delivering solid racing action. That notwithstanding, there is still the same cost barrier of entry to get everything out of the game in the form of purchasing every element of vehicle as well as racing pack to get the full SuperChargers Racing experience. Still, I enjoyed my 10 hours with the game from the limited amount of figures I had, so if you're yearning for a new arcade racer for the Nintendo 3DS and have exhausted your fun from Mario Kart 7, then Skylanders SuperChargers Racing is a nice alternative.

[SPC Says: B-]

SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs - I Know What You Missed Last Week Edition

...And longtime readers and frequenters of SuperPhillip Central will know as well! Last week, I didn't have an edition of SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs! A busy week of Tokyo Game Show goodness and other obligations was the cause of that. However, the VGMs are back this week, and SuperPhillip Central has five more fantastic video game themes for your ears to enjoy. Just click on the VGM volume name to be taken to the YouTube video containing the mentioned song.

This week, Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam leads the charge with a non-spoiler final battle theme of epic proportions. Speaking of charges, Skylanders SuperChargers then drives onto the scene with its main theme. Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg hatches a jaunty theme, followed by Pokemon Snap. Lastly, Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance rounds out this delayed edition of SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs.

If you'd like to listen to past songs and featured games included in this weekly segment, look no further than the VGM Database. Now, let's get on to the music!

v1226. Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam (3DS) - Final Battle

Don't worry-- this is a spoiler-free volume of the final battle in Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam. This latest installment of the Mario & Luigi RPG series released at the beginning of this year in North America, so let's not spoil the final boss. The character you fight if you've followed the game at all might not be too surprising, but the form he or she takes is. Yoko Shimomura delivers a fantastic and memorable theme to this sensationally challenging final fight, making for a climactic end to Paper Jam.

v1227. Skylanders SuperChargers (Multi) - Main Theme (Main Menu)

The fifth installment of the Skylanders series kept the series's penchant for moving things forward and adding new tricks to the franchise with Skylanders SuperChargers. The central gameplay element this time was the addition of vehicles, used in all levels, but not necessarily all facets of a given level. I ended up really enjoying the game, as seen in the SuperPhillip Central review, and it makes the October release of Skylanders Imaginators an exciting one, at least for me (and a few million Crash Bandicoot fans, most likely as well).

v1228. Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg (GCN) - Let's Go Easy

While not a perfect 3D platformer, Sonic Team's Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg was a notable third-party exclusive in the Nintendo GameCube's lineup. I think that the system gets more favorably thought of compared to other Nintendo platforms than it should, say, compared to the Wii, but what can you do? Billy Hatcher's soundtrack was composed by Tomoya Ohtani (who would go on to be lead composer to the main 3D Sonic the Hedgehog games) as well as Mariko Nanba, who was with Sega until 2010. Her last contribution to the company was Sonic Colors.

v1229. Pokemon Snap (N64) - Valley

Take a river rapids ride down an old Western valley, taking pictures of various Pokemon in this sixth and penultimate level in Pokemon Snap. One of the games that I thought for sure would get a Wii U adaptation was Pokemon Snap. It seemed so obvious-- a bit TOO obvious, yet it never manifested! That reminds me-- what a good idea for an article, a look at franchises that had potential on the Wii U but never showed up... Regardless, this tune is perfect for a slow swim through a canyon. Just watch out that your camera doesn't get wet!

v1230. Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance (3DS) - Prankster's Party

Last week at the Tokyo Game Show, a new trailer for the PlayStation 4 exclusive Kingdom Hearts 2.8 was shown. That title with have an HD remaster of the Nintendo 3DS's Dream Drop Distance, the final game leading up to the events of Kingdom Hearts III. With the amount of games leading up to Kingdom Hearts III finally ending, maybe we'll see KH3 sometime soon-- like 2019! ...The sad thing is that I don't even know if I'm kidding.

Skylanders SuperChargers (PS4, XB1, Wii U, PS3, 360) Review

SuperPhillip Central keeps on rolling review-wise this month, as does the Summer of 700. While we won't quite reach that milestone THIS month, NEXT month will be something even more special! For now, let's turn our attention to last year's Skylanders SuperChargers. With Imaginators coming out this year and all the hype around Crash Bandicoot being in it, it seemed like a smart time to try out the game's predecessor. Here's SuperPhillip Central's review of Skylanders SuperChargers.

Five years in and still all charged up

Update: @SP_Central Twitter follower @Trev_G1 (Trevor Gould) let me know that you don't need the air or sea figurines to beat the game. You can actually skip the segment I was talking about in the last level. I apologize for the error! The grade remains the same, however, as the figurine "problem" didn't heavily weight on the overall grade.

This year, the first competitor saw its exit from the toys-to-life arena with Disney Infinity calling it quits. This made gamers and fans wondering what the future was for other games that revolve around figurines for their gameplay and thus, their success. Well, if Activision's Skylanders series, now at its fifth game with Skylanders SuperChargers, can continue to be as well rounded and engaging as the latest game in the series, then fans have nothing to worry about.

Skylanders SuperChargers, of course, brings back the toys-to-life concept that Activision's series helped spearhead, thus bringing us competitors from LEGO to Nintendo. However, I still maintain that Skylanders has the best use of toys-to-life concept to date. For those unaware of what toys-to-life entails in regards to Skylanders SuperChargers, the game comes with a portal known as the Portal of Power. Here, you place figurines on them to bring the characters into the game. With SuperChargers, you need to place two figures on the Portal of Power at once: one Skylander and one vehicle. Depending on your vehicle, whether land, sea, or air, you can access different challenges within levels. While I had thought this was optional to play the game as sea and air missions aren't required throughout most of SuperChargers, I ended up being required to have a sea and an air vehicle for the last level. So, yeah, that's a bit of a bummer-- playing through the entirety of Skyalnders SuperChargers just to end up having to buy two extra vehicles to beat the game.

No mere minion is a match for Spitfire!

The Skylanders you place on the Portal of Power are what you control through the game's 13 levels. Through defeating enemies as a given Skylander, your character earns experience points. Earn enough points and your Skylander levels up, giving them more health and strength. If your controlled Skylander loses all of his or her health, you need to replace them with a different Skylander until you either finish the current level or start it from the beginning. You'll have to do the latter if you run out of Skylanders with health.

Some Skylanders have long range attacks, because why get all up close and personal?

Each Skylander can pick up coins, giving them their own separate total instead of every Skylander pooling their collecting coins into one pot, if you will. These coins at certain spots of the game allow you, the player, to purchase new moves for them, helping you contend with enemies more easily in battle. As the moves become more complicated and worthwhile, the prices go up. There's also branches that make you choose between moves of one style over another.

Skylanders SuperChargers is part action-adventure platformer and part vehicular combat and racing. The action-adventure parts sport a modest amount of platforming as well as a camera that follows your Skylander around without relinquishing control to the player. This mostly works well, as the camera is far enough away that you can go backwards in levels, towards the camera, without the fear of getting hit by an off-camera enemy or falling into a pit.

Meanwhile, the vehicle segments either put the camera behind your vehicle racing-style as you speed along a road, usually needing to avoid some kind of series of hazards in the process, or they put your vehicle in an arena-like setting. The arena segments are a little harder to control, as the camera is at an isometric view with the vehicle controls taking some getting used to. Meanwhile, the flight segments are brilliant, offering either normal or inverted controls depending on players' preference.

The 13 levels within Skylanders SuperChargers are well executed and constantly bring new variety into the fold. One level had my Skylander growing to the size of a titan to level buildings and tower around a tropical series of isles with ease, while another had segments where it turned this normally 3D game into a 2D side-scroller.

Dive-Clops only needs one eye to take out enemy minions.

In-game collectibles are an important part of Skylanders SuperChargers to add even more longevity to the game. There are things like hats that a Skylander can wear for increased stats, vehicle modifications that add both aesthetic and statistical changes to your rides, and legendary treasures that can be placed around the hub world of SuperChargers, Skylanders Academy.

Outside of the main campaign, there is plenty more to do in Skylanders SuperChargers. The main extra mode is a Mario Kart-style racing mode, complete with six initial, well-designed, tracks (six more needing to be unlocked by figures). Starting off, both race mode with up to seven other AI players or three other human players online or locally as well as a time trial mode are available. With different figures in the form of trophies, extra content like boss battles and grand prix events are unlocked. Regardless, the racing is absolutely aces, offering item-based combat where you try to whittle down the health of an opponent's vehicle to slow them down while trying to avoid enemy fire as you race through an elaborate set of courses.

The racing could be its own game-- that's how good it is. ...Wait a minute.

The other extra in Skylanders SuperChargers is the return of Skystones, a collectible card game that is a cross between Magic the Gathering and Hearthstone. This uses cards gathered throughout the game from treasure chests or through won games, and using them to attack your opponent's cards and overall health until it is emptied to nothingness.

Skylanders SuperChargers is a very pretty game with a tremendous art style and design to it. Characters exude personality and charm, environments are well detailed and original, and everything runs smoothly. The PS3, 360, and Wii U versions sport longer loading times when compared to the PS4 and Xbox One versions, but other than that, all versions of Skylanders SuperChargers play well. The voice acting is pure Saturday morning cartoon goodness, played off well and presenting lots of humor for both kids and adults like me. The music is joyous to listen to, relaxing to explore levels in at some times while dramatic when it needs to be at others.

Smash Hit's next record is how many of these insects he can exterminate at once.

Overall, Skylanders SuperChargers makes the case for the series' longevity. After now five installments, the series successfully keeps adding to itself and changing things up just enough to stay both rewarding and satisfying. Being able to use all of the figures from past Skylanders games means you don't have to pick up new ones just for this game (apart from vehicles), unless you're like me and are just a collecting freak who can't help himself! You can even use a Portal of Power from past Skylanders games as well. While being locked out of air and sea content is annoying, and the occasional troublesome camera angle can mean some annoyances here and there, ultimately, Skylanders SuperChargers is a really fun game that both kids and adults can love and cherish.

[SPC Says: B+]