Bowser and Donkey Kong Changed My Mind on Skylanders Superchargers

At E3, there's usually at least one moment where I see something at the corner of the eye and skip it due to time constraints, but deep in the back of my mind, I know it eventually will come raging back to the surface with a vengeance. And this year, that was Bowser and Donkey Kong for Skylanders Superchargers. I'm as surprised by this as you are.

 

With all the true-to-life franchises on the market, Skylanders had drifted somewhere to the back of the pack and Superchargers' introduction of vehicles was interesting but not as enticing as Disney Infinity, Lego Dimensions, and Nintendo's popular amiibos. Then came the announcement of Dark Bowser and Dark Donkey Kong at Comic-Con, and the news that both Bowser and Donkey Kong will actually make a crossover and function both as an amiibo and as a Skylander. Oh no, it's happening.

So at a recent visit with Nintendo, to catch up with anything that we may have missed at E3, I had the chance to experience both Bowser and Donkey Kong as Skylanders and it works shockingly well. First off, both of them feel the most like Skylanders as far as the Mario universe is concerned, and while they could have easily been a gimmick here, both Activision and Nintendo made sure they fit within the Skylanders world.

Donkey Kong can play his signature Konga drum for light AoE damage that will continue playing a short while after DK stops to attack using any one of his strength skills. DK can roll inside a barrel for a limited time, blast himself into a barrel in the air for a quick downward strike, or affix two barrels on his hands like a pair of gauntlets and just start wrecking. Bowser, on the other hand, can summon up to three Koopa Troopas as minions and whack foes with his giant hammer. Against larger crowds, he can transform into a mega-sized version of himself that can maul enemies as a giant or breathe fire across the field.

As for vehicles, Bowser comes with a Crown Cruiser, and Donkey Kong comes with his Barrel Blaster. Of course, you can mix and match as you like, but if you pair the characters with their appropriate vehicles, they will receive enhanced life, and for DK and his Barrel Blaster, good-ol' buddy Diddy Kong will come along for the ride.

Nabbing all of the Bowser and Donkey Kong figurines here will likely be a hassle difficult. The regular Bowser and Donkey Kong figurines, plus the regular vehicles, will only come in starter packs. The same goes for the Dark Edition of these figurines, with the Dark Turbo Charge Donkey Kong and Barrel Blaster packaged in the Wii U starter pack ($74.99) and the Dark Hammer Slam Bowser and Dark Clown Cruiser coming in the Wii ($74.99) and 3DS ($64.99) starter packs. That's a lot of packs if you want all of the figurines. The only real good news here is that switching these figurines from being amiibos to Skylanders (and vice versa) is as easy as twisting the base.

Skylanders Superchargers arrives September 20 in North America for PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii, Wii U, and 3DS.