Skylanders: Swap Force

The gameplay of Swap Force is based on the two previous games, Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure and Skylanders: Giants, with the Skylanders gaining the new ability to jump without needing a bounce pad. Players use a portal to bring real-life figures into the game; Swap Force introduces a Portal of Power that can handle up to 16 figures on the portal at once, as opposed to the previous portals that can only handle 4 figures at once. This change to the Portal of Power comes as a result of the new characters: The Swap Force, who have unique top and bottom halves that can be separated from each other and recombined with halves from other characters. In total, there are 256 combinations between the top and bottom halves.

The Swap Force characters also have eight distinct ways of moving tied to their bottom halves, which are necessary to enter side areas called "Swap Zone Challenges". These are Rocket, Spin, Dig, Stealth, Teleportation, Bounce, Speed and Climb.

For years, the Swap Force protected the volcano that replenishes Skylands' magic every hundred years. However, following a battle, they were caught in the eruption, which blasted them apart, sent them to Earth, and gave them the ability to swap powers. The Skylanders must prevent the Elementals from being evilized, stop Kaos, and save the Skylands.

SWAP Force features sixteen new core characters and sixteen new swappable characters, in addition to sixteen reposed Skylanders from previous games. The sixteen new swappable characters are Wash Buckler, Blast Zone, Free Ranger, Freeze Blade, Night Shift, Magna Charge, Stink Bomb, Rattle Shake, Hoot Loop, Trap Shadow, Grilla Drilla, Spy Rise, Rubble Rouser, Doom Stone, Boom Jet and Fire Kraken. The sixteen new core characters are Bumble Blast, Countdown, Dune Bug, Fryno, Grim Creeper, Pop Thorn, Punk Shock, Rip Tide, Roller Brawl, Scorp, Scratch, Slobber Tooth, Smolderdash, Star Strike, Wind Up, and Zoo Lou.

Swap Force was the first game in the series for which Vicarious Visions led home console development, a role previously held by Toys for Bob. Visual development director Brent Gibson said work began while Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure was still being completed, and that the studio drew on its earlier version of Nintendo 3DS version of that game, the Wii U version of Skylanders: Giants and the mobile titles Cloud Patrol, Battlegrounds and Lost Islands.

The concept originated after the cancellation of the studio's Guitar Hero project in early 2011. The team was split in two, with engineers working out how interchangeable figure halves could function while designers explored what the mechanic would mean in play; an early prototype was a mound of clay joined by an audio jack. The idea was proven when Gibson assembled a magnet-jointed figure from the head of Spyro, the torso of Prism Break and the legs of Voodood. The team settled on two-part characters roughly a quarter of the way through development.

Skylanders: Swap Force received "generally favorable" reviews for most platforms according to review aggregator website Metacritic; the Nintendo 3DS version received "mixed or average" reviews. The Metacritic scores for the game were the highest and most positive of the series on most platforms. Gaming website Quarter to Three gave both the Wii U and Xbox 360 a perfect score of 5/5. Video game website Gaming Age gave the PlayStation 3 version the highest grade of an "A" and further commented that "whether you're a Skylanders fan or a gamer who's looking for a charming and unique family-friendly game series to get into, Skylanders Swap Force comes highly recommended."

During the 17th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Skylanders: Swap Force for "Family Game of the Year".