Skylanders: Giants (Wii, Wii U, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes.

To do: This page needs an incredible amount of work. Six prototypes that have been found on dev units and elsewhere, which need documenting. The earliest is dated April 10th, 2012.

Skylanders: Giants
Developers: Toys for Bob (Wii, 360, PS3), Vicarious Visions (Wii U) Publisher: Activision Platforms: Wii, Wii U, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 Released in US: October 21, 2012 (Wii, Xbox 360, PS3), November 18, 2012 (Wii U) Released in EU: October 19, 2012 (Wii, Xbox 360, PS3), November 30, 2012 (Wii U) Released in AU: October 17, 2012 (Wii, Xbox 360, PS3), November 30, 2012 (Wii U) This game has unused playable characters. This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused abilities. This game has debugging material.

Despite very rudely dumping Spyro from the game's subtitle, Skylanders: Giants is a considerable improvement over the last game, featuring the titular Giants; much larger characters inside of appropriately larger-than-average figures said to be the “first” Skylanders. Aside from that, it also has better voice acting, Wow-Pows and figures that light up.

Notably, the first Skylanders game to be released on an eight-generation console, this time being the Wii U, which was out by the time Microsoft and Sony didn't reveal that console's competitors.

Early Character Names

Several of the game's characters (most of them coming from the original game) feature very different early development names, as indicated by their filenames in the game's characters folder. While several are merely generic titles, a few are very different.

Final	Early
Bash	Rock Dragon
Boomer	Bomb Troll
Bouncer	Robot Giant
Camo	Life Dragon
Chill	Ice Sorc[eress]
Chop Chop	Pandoran Elite
Crusher	Titan Earth
Double Trouble	Wizard
Drill Sergeant	Drill Bot
Drobot	Metal Dragon
Eye-Brawl	Mummy
Flameslinger	Fire Elf
Flashwing	Earth Dragon
Fright Rider	Ostrich
Ghost Roaster	Ghost Eater
Hex	Shadow Maid
Hot Dog	Fire Feet
Hot Head	Oil Blazer
Ignitor	Flame Knight
Jet-Vac	Eagle
Lightning Rod	Storm Giant
Nijini	Djini
Pop Fizz	Alchemist
Prism Break	Gem Golem
Shroom Boom	Myconman
Slam-Bam	Yeti
Sonic Boom	Gryphon
Sprocket	Turret Master
Stump Smash	Ent
Sunburn	Fire Dragon
Swarm	Bugman Giant
Terrabite	Land Shark
Thumpback	Whale
Tree Rex	Titan Life
Trigger Happy	Golden Cheat
Warnado	Sky Turtle
Wrecking Ball	Force Field Grub
Wham Shell	Crab
Whirlwind	Air Dragon
Voodood	Skull Orc
Zap	Sea Dragon
Zook	Bam Bazooker

In addition, the Winged Boots' filename refers to it as a Potion, suggesting that early versions of this item were different.

Unused Characters

In the characters folder are two unused files that can be swapped for existing ones to use as playable characters: 099_Debug_Minion and 112_Sniper.

• Debug Minion uses Whirlwind's character model for gameplay, and a small coin icon for the stats screen. The Debug Minion is completely invincible, unable to die or take damage, and will do 100 damage with any hit it lands...however it also is completely unable to gain experience. It will shoot homing long-range rainbow attacks at enemies or breakable objects if X (Xbox), Square (PlayStation 3), or Y (Wii U) is pressed, or hearts if no target is available. Pressing A (Xbox) or X (PlayStation 3) will change the character's element, however this has no effect on elemental barriers. Lastly, pressing B (Xbox) or Circle (PlayStation 3) will move the character forward in relation to whatever direction they're facing, which can result in it getting stuck in walls. In addition, no upgrade screen exists, and hats worn on the character will appear massive, engulfing it. It does have a unique set of placeholder sounds, such as "Selected" when appearing on the loading screen or "Stats" on the statistics screen.

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  Rainbow beam attack (target)

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  Rainbow beam attack (no target)

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  Element change

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  Stats screen

• Sniper is the more developed of the two, appearing as a pistol-carrying troll and wearing a large sniper-rifle on his back. Pressing X (Xbox) or Square (PlayStation 3) will cause him to become stationary and allow you to angle a shot displayed by the rifle's laser sight and foliage to appear around him in this state. A (Xbox) or X (PlayStation 3) will shoot his gun in a three-shot spread, and B (Xbox) or Circle (PlayStation 3) will have him drop a claymore weapon into the ground that detonates when an enemy goes in front of it. However, Sniper has several issues in-game: the gun does not work at close range, the rifle and claymores are untextured, the rifle itself clips through Sniper's body, and moving in a direction while shooting will result in Sniper sliding. Other bugs include the laser sight appearing randomly on the ship and clipping through objects, getting frozen in the claymore animation if interrupted by the aiming attack, and the foliage remaining onscreen if Sniper is killed while using the aiming attack. Worn hats will also appear improperly on the gun arm rather than his head. Interestingly enough, when using the sniping attack if you shoot, Sniper can move around while the gun will remain in place, angling depending on your direction, allowing you to lure enemies into the line of fire.
  • Sniper's portrait and upgrade screen are borrowed from Spyro, and he appears when summoned as a red-colored Spyro with placeholder titles for his available upgrades. No voice samples exist for the character.
  • Both Sniper and the red Spyro appear in the original prototype for Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure using the names "Bomb Troll" and "Red Dragon" respectively.

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  Front view

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  Back view

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  Aiming attack

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  Spread shot

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  Claymore planting

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  Stats screen with Red Spyro

Unused Wow Pow Upgrades

The game features "wow pow" attack upgrades for characters that appeared in the first game if their Series 2 figure is placed on the portal. However, several variant characters that don't feature Series 2 figures also have this upgrade and cannot access them: Dark Spyro, Legendary Spyro, and Legendary Trigger Happy.