How to Understand Skylanders Figure and Portal Compatibility

Last Updated: June 25, 2020

It can be difficult to keep track of what games your Skylanders figures and portals will work with. If you're just starting out playing Skylanders games, or you need some help understanding the particulars of compatibility across the various games and consoles, or you want to know whether or not a toy is a Skylander to begin with, this guide will help clarify how it all works.

Method 1

Method 1 of 19:

Demystifying Portal of Power Compatibility

1
Determine which Skylanders game(s) and Portal(s) of Power you have. With the exception of Skylanders Imaginators, each game has its own unique Portal of Power accessory.
- There are six main games in the Skylanders franchise. They are in order of release from oldest to newest:
  - Skylanders Spyro's Adventure
  - Skylanders Giants
  - Skylanders Swap Force
  - Skylanders Trap Team
  - Skylanders SuperChargers
  - Skylanders Imaginators

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Method 2

Method 2 of 19:

Identifying a Spyro's Adventure Portal

1
Compare a picture to your portal if possible for visual confirmation. Otherwise, the following additional details may help you identify your portal.
- Skylanders Spyro's Adventure was the only console game entry to include a wireless portal.
- It uses 4 AA batteries for power, and requires a special USB attachment to be plugged into the console in order for it to function wirelessly. There is a space inside the portal's battery compartment for storing the USB attachment.
- The Spyro's Adventure portal also has a small ring of green colored plastic near the bottom of the portal that matches the green base color of Spyro's Adventure figures.

Method 3

Method 3 of 19:

Identifying a Giants Portal

1
Compare a picture to your portal if possible for visual confirmation. Otherwise, the following additional details may help you identify your portal.
- Skylanders Giants' portal looks very similar to the Spyro's Adventure portal, except it uses a wired USB connection rather than wireless.
- Since the Giants portal of power is a wired USB device, there is no need for batteries, so it doesn't have a battery compartment underneath.
- The ring near the bottom of the Giants portal is clear/gray rather than the green color of the Spyro's Adventure portal.
- The glyphs on the side of the portal of power are a darker color on the Giants portal than they were on the Spyro's Adventure portal.

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Method 4

Method 4 of 19:

Identifying a Swap Force Portal

1
Compare a picture to your portal if possible for visual confirmation. Otherwise, the following additional details may help you identify your portal.
- The Portal of Power included with Skylanders Swap Force is about half the height of the portal from the first two games.
- The design on the sides of the portal now feature the game's element symbols, and a stone archway motif that sets it apart visually from the other portals.

Method 5

Method 5 of 19:

Identifying a Trap Team Portal

1
Compare a picture to your portal if possible for visual confirmation. Otherwise, the following additional details may help you identify your portal.
- Skylanders Trap Team has a radical design departure for its portal of power compared to those of the first three games.
- The surface area is clear plastic with a visual aesthetic resembling cracked glass, rather than the white opaque surface of previous games' portals.
- It is encircled by a white plastic barrier, with 3 gray stone-look pedestals that support the portal and allow it to lie flat.
- Most notably, it features a gold colored jail-cell door atop the front protrusion, and a hexagonal slot which supports the game's new Traptanium Trap figures.

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Method 6

Method 6 of 19:

Identifying a SuperChargers Portal

1
Compare a picture to your portal if possible for visual confirmation. Otherwise, the following additional details may help you identify your portal.
- Skylanders SuperChargers, like with Trap Team, also has a visibly distinct portal of power.
- This is the only portal that had significant color change to its appearance, and is primarily a black surface with blue edges and bottom, and a silver engine accent piece.
- It is the flattest of all the portals, and has the largest surface area for placing figures.
- It is also less circular in its design, with a shape that instead resembles more of a rounded rectangle, or perhaps octagonal.
- The silver colored engine motif coincides with the look of the game's new SuperCharger figures, and also features a Traptanium Trap slot like the previous game's portal had, for backwards compatibility with those figures.

Method 7

Method 7 of 19:

Identifying an Imaginators Portal

1
Compare a picture to your portal if possible for visual confirmation. Otherwise, the following additional details may help you identify your portal.
- Skylanders Imaginators included the same portal of power as the third game, Skylanders Swap Force, so please reference the section of the guide for identifying a Swap Force portal if you need further details.
- If you happen to be playing Skylanders Imaginators on the Nintendo Switch console, you use the NFC chip reader inside of the Joycon controllers to scan in Skylanders figures, rather than needing a portal of power accessory.

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Method 8

Method 8 of 19:

Confirming a Portal of Power's Console Compatibility

1
Turn your Portal of Power over, and look at the stickers on the bottom to see which console it is for. Some portals only work on specific consoles.
- Portals may go by slightly different names, and some will specifically list a console that the portal was designed for. The "Traptanium Portal" from Skylanders Trap Team, or the "Wireless Portal of Power for Playstation 3" from Spyro's Adventure, are some examples of different names you might see.
- Most portals are interchangeable between consoles, except for Microsoft's Xbox consoles. The Xbox 360 portals of power can only be used on an Xbox 360 console. Xbox One portals of power are likewise only compatible with Xbox One consoles. If you want to play on Xbox 360 or Xbox One consoles, make sure you have a portal of power specifically made to work for your console.
- If your portal of power says it is for Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Nintendo Wii, or Nintendo Wii U, or if it just says "Portal of Power" and it doesn't show a specific console name anywhere on the bottom stickers, then that means your portal will work interchangeably across any of these four consoles.
- Handheld versions of the Skylanders games have their own specific wireless portals of power that are smaller in size, and are not compatible with the console versions of the games. Neither are the console portals compatible with the handheld games.

Method 9

Method 9 of 19:

Determining which Skylanders Games Support Your Portal

1
Find which games in the franchise your portal is compatible with using this reference list.
- Spyro's Adventure portals are compatible with Spyro's Adventure and Giants.
- Giants portals are compatible with Spyro's Adventure and Giants.
- Swap Force portals are compatible with Spyro's Adventure, Giants, Swap Force, SuperChargers, and Imaginators.
- Trap Team portals are compatible with all 6 games in the franchise, and they are the only portals that are compatible with Trap Team.
- SuperChargers portals are compatible with Spyro's Adventure, Giants, Swap Force, SuperChargers, and Imaginators.
- Imaginators portals are compatible with Spyro's Adventure, Giants, Swap Force, SuperChargers, and Imaginators.

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Method 10

Method 10 of 19:

Demystifying Toys & Figures Compatibility

1
Understand that all figures from older games work in newer games. Or to put it another way, newer games in the franchise are backwards compatible with figures from previous games.
- For example, all figures that were released for the Spyro's Adventure game will work in every game in the franchise, because that was the first game to be released.
- Figures that were released for the Swap Force game will work in Swap Force and later games, but not necessarily in Spyro's Adventure or Giants, which both came before Swap Force.
- There are only a few caveats to this rule of thumb. It particularly applies to Magic Item and Expansion / Adventure Pack figures from earlier games. They do still work in later games, but their functionality often changes or diminishes over time compared to what they did in their debut games.
  - For example, the four Adventure Pack figures from Spyro's Adventure (Dragon's Peak, Darklight Crypt, Ice Cave, and Pirate Ship) each unlock a new stage to play in both Spyro's Adventure and Giants games. From Swap Force on however, they no longer do this, and instead function as a magic item that damages enemies on the screen at the time of placing them on the portal.
  - Another example is Traptanium Traps from Skylanders Trap Team. When you use them in Trap Team, they can capture specific villain characters and allow you to play as them in the game. In SuperChargers and Imaginators however, Traps merely augment your racing stats and abilities, or give your character some gold when scanned in during play, rather than performing their original functionality.
2
Understand that unlike portals, Skylanders figures are not console-specific. This means you can use them with any Skylanders game they are compatible with, regardless of the console you are playing on.
- There are also no region locks or restrictions on figures, so you may import them from other countries online without having to worry about compatibility issues in your region.

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Method 11

Method 11 of 19:

Identifying a Spyro's Adventure Figure

1
Look at the very bottom of your figure. If there is a thin, bright green, semi-transparent plastic base layer on the underside, then it is a figure from the Spyro's Adventure game.
- This can be confused with characters of the Life element standing on a green colored "ground" or "platform" or some might also call it the "base" of the figure, but it is even underneath that, visible on the very underside of the figure as a thin flat layer at the very bottom.

Method 12

Method 12 of 19:

Identifying a Giants Figure

1
Look at the very bottom of your figure. If there is a thin, bright orange, semi-transparent plastic base layer on the underside, then it is a figure from the Giants game.
- This can be confused with characters of the Fire element standing on a red/orange colored "ground" or "platform" or some might also call it the "base" of the figure, but it is even underneath that, visible on the very underside of the figure as a thin flat layer at the very bottom.

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Method 13

Method 13 of 19:

Identifying a Swap Force Figure

1
Look at the very bottom of your figure. If there is a thin, blue, semi-transparent plastic base layer on the underside, then it is a figure from the Swap Force game.
- This can be confused with characters of the Water element standing on a blue colored "ground" or "platform" or some might also call it the "base" of the figure, but it is even underneath that, visible on the very underside of the figure as a thin flat layer at the very bottom.

Method 14

Method 14 of 19:

Identifying a Trap Team Figure

1
Look at the very bottom of your figure. If there is a thin, red, semi-transparent plastic base layer on the underside, then it is a figure from the Trap Team game.
- The only exception here are the Traptanium Traps, which do not have bases of any sort. They are much smaller than a typical character figure, and all feature a hexagonal shaped "peg" or "protrusion" on one end, and are placed inside the designated slot of the Traptanium Portal during play rather than on the portal's main surface.
- Since the base colors are similar, and both games feature comparatively larger sized character figures as their highlight, it is easy to mistake a Trap Master Skylander figure from Trap Team with a Giant Skylander figure from Giants at a glance.

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Method 15

Method 15 of 19:

Identifying a SuperChargers Character Figure

1
Look at the part of your figure that a character is standing on. If it has the same engine motif found on the SuperChargers portal of power, regardless of its color, then it is a character figure from the SuperChargers game.
- Not counting vehicle figures, the only other figures that were made for SuperChargers that do not have engine platforms they are standing on are the 4 trophy figures that unlock extra race tracks. They are visually distinct, featuring faces of some of the villain characters in the franchise, while also having shapes that resemble trophy cups.

Method 16

Method 16 of 19:

Identifying a SuperChargers Vehicle Figure

1
Search closely on the underside of a figure that you believe is a SuperChargers vehicle, and you will find telltale signs. The Activision logo will be present, and the vehicle's in-game element symbol is also etched into the plastic of the figures.
- Searching for the Activision logo etched into the underside of a figure is the most reliable way of confirming that you are looking at a Skylanders figure when in doubt, and applies to every figure in the franchise, not strictly SuperChargers vehicles. Most figures, but not all, will have their in-game element symbol etched there as well.
- It is sometimes difficult to find at first glance what part of a vehicle figure is the bottom, but search for the words and symbols etched into the plastic on the figure somewhere, and that will help assist you in determining this.
- Out of all of the Skylanders figures, vehicles from SuperChargers are perhaps the most easily mistaken for regular toys. Because they lack most of the usual continuity of distinguishing features found across other Skylanders figures, and many of them feature moving parts, they could easily look like any other fantasy-themed car, boat, or plane toy at first glance.

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Method 17

Method 17 of 19:

Identifying an Imaginators Figure

1
Look at the part of your figure that a character is standing on. If it is an elongated, octagonal platform, then it is a figure from the Imaginators game.
- The shape of the platform may be easiest to discern by looking at the figure from underneath. They are larger platforms than the average Skylanders figure has from earlier entries in the franchise.
- An important type of Imaginators figure that does not have these platforms is the Creation Crystal, a new figure type introduced with Imaginators, that allows you to create your own Imaginator characters in the game.
  - Creation Crystals are mostly cylindrical in shape, with a clear plastic tube that houses a colored plastic gem in the center, which lights up when placed onto the portal. They come in a variety of aesthetic styles and colors to match different elements, similar to Traptanium Trap figures from Skylanders Trap Team.
- There are 3 additional figures from Skylanders Imaginators that do not have these octagonal platforms.
  - One of them is the Imaginite Mystery Chest, which looks distinctly like a treasure chest, and comes in any of 4 different color varieties: bronze, silver, gold, or blue.
  - The other 2 figures are the Expansion Pack figures that unlock playable stages in Imaginators: Gryphon Park Observatory, and Enchanted Elven Forest.
  - The method used in identifying Skylanders SuperChargers Vehicles should also assist you here for identifying these figures, although the mystery chests and the expansion pack figures will not feature element symbols.

Method 18

Method 18 of 19:

Identifying and Understanding an "Eon's Elite" Figure

1
Look at the bottom of your figure. If there is a thin, clear, transparent plastic base layer on the underside, and if the part that your figure is standing on is gold colored rather than the usual colors for the variety of elements, then it is a figure from the special line known as "Eon's Elites" and it does not belong to any one particular Skylanders game.
- There are 14 total Eon's Elites figures that were made. 8 of them were released with Skylanders Trap Team, and an additional 6 were made available alongside Skylanders SuperChargers.
- The figures often have a metallic look, or a sparkling glitter-like aesthetic added to some portion of them. Some also feature unique appearances, such as Eon's Elite Slam Bam, whose figure is wearing ski goggles and carries a sled in one of his four arms.
- Eon's Elite figures are compatible with every game in the franchise.
- Unlike most figures that start out at Level 1 and offer a level progression system in the game, Eon's Elite figures are at maximum level from the start, even if you reset them. In Skylanders Trap Team and later games, they have access to elite abilities, further augmenting their strength in those games.

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Method 19

Method 19 of 19:

Understanding a Figure's "Series" and Forwards Compatibility

1
Check the original packaging that a Skylanders figure came in when you purchased one new, if you have access to packaging for one at this point. You may notice a few mentions on the box, of Skylanders games that the figure is or is not compatible with. These are not always accurate indicators of a particular figure's compatibility, and were sometimes incorrect.
2
Keep in mind that if a character had their "Series 1" or debut figure in a given Skylanders game, then you can use newer versions of that character's figure in their "Series 1" game, and any game after it.
- For example, say you have Tidal Wave Gill Grunt, a Trap Team figure designated on the packaging and in the game as "Series 4", and you want to know if it will work with any earlier Skylanders games. All you need to do is determine the earliest game in the Skylanders franchise that had a Gill Grunt figure in it, which will be his "Series 1" debut figure. Gill Grunt was one of the original Skylanders figures from Spyro's Adventure, so even though your Tidal Wave Gill Grunt is a Trap Team figure from a newer game, it will work in any games in the franchise from the first Skylanders Spyro's Adventure game onward.
- All that the "Series #" designation means, is that the character has had its own figure released in that number of games up until that point. It doesn't necessarily mean that they were sequentially released with every new game however.
  - For example, the character Shroomboom had his "Series 1" debut figure in the second Skylanders game, Skylanders Giants. However, he did not have a figure in the third game, Swap Force, at all. Instead, his "Series 2" figure came in the fourth game, Trap Team, as Sure Shot Shroomboom. So for this character, if you have the "Series 2" version of his figure from Trap Team, using the rule of thumb, since his "Series 1" debut was in Giants, his "Series 2" Trap Team figure is compatible with Giants, Swap Force, Trap Team, and later games.
- It is important to note that this rule of thumb only applies to the first 4 games in the franchise: Spyro's Adventure, Giants, Swap Force, and Trap Team.
  - SuperChargers was the first to break this rule, with its figures only being compatible with SuperChargers (and the later game Imaginators) despite having figures of some of the same characters from earlier games. This is because even though the characters themselves were familiar faces from previous games, their SuperChargers figures actually had redesigned skill trees, and in some cases completely different play styles than their earlier games' versions.
  - Imaginators features only all-new character figures, with no figures of returning playable characters at all. You could technically play as the villains in Trap Team if you captured them using Traptanium Traps, but they weren't fully fleshed out as playable characters with their own skill trees and progression systems in Trap Team like their Imaginators figure versions are.

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Community Q&A

Question

Where are my game stats saved when I play?

Jonathan Hawkins

Community Answer

For Skylanders games you could say there are two locations. Your game progress is saved on the console you are playing on. So things like your progression through the game's levels or story, any achievements you have completed, and access to any in-game content you've unlocked, are all stored in your console's save file. However, individual Skylander figure progression is stored on the figure itself, using its built-in NFC chip. This allows you to transfer it between games and keep its progress intact. So things like the level of your character, how much gold they have, the hat they are wearing, and the skills they have unlocked, are all stored on the figure itself.
Question

When I was little, I had a bunch of figures, but no portal or game (I just wanted to collect them) and I colored the bottom the base with a sharpie. Will they be able to be used still? Can I clean it?

Jonathan Hawkins

Community Answer

Coloring them with a Sharpie pen won't hurt their functionality on the game portal, so they should still work with the games just fine. As for cleaning off Sharpie, try using a dry erase marker, repeatedly marking over the sharpie area, and wiping off with a towel or similar cloth. However, after a few times of trying this method, it will wreck the dry erase marker, so be ready for that.
Question

Can I use Skylanders Imaginators figures with a trap team?

Jonathan Hawkins

Community Answer

No, sadly. Skylanders Imaginators figures only work in Imaginators. They are not compatible with the earlier games in the series.

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About This Article

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, volunteer authors worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has been viewed 55,862 times.

33 votes - 85%

Co-authors: 3

Updated: June 25, 2020

Views: 55,862

Categories: Multi Platform Games

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