Skylanders Giants was released by Activision on October 21, 2012 (in the US) for the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and 3DS. The Wii U version was released on November 18, 2012. Giants was the second Skylander game developed by Toys For Bob. However, the Wii U version was actually ported to the Wii U by Vicarious Visions. The 3DS version which is always a completely different version of the console game was developed by n-Space.
Skylanders Giants introduced new larger characters called "Giants". These giants are able to perform actions that the smaller Skylanders that cannot. Actions like picking up boulders, performing feats of strength and dropping through weak floors are some of the unique abilities of the giants. There were 8 new Giant figures, one of each element type. Besides 8 new giant figures, there were also 8 new small figures, and 24 figures returning from the Spyro's Adventure in new poses called "Series 2" Skylanders. Giants also introduced for the first time "Lightcore" characters which were characters that had an extra LED light inside them that the portal could activate and turn on. There were 8 additional lightcore characters one for each element and all a duplicate of one of the other non lightcore versions released with Giants. For example there was a Prism Break Series 2 and a Lightcore Prism Break released for the Earth element.
Skylanders Giants does not require a new portal over the portal that came with Spyro's Adventure. Because of this, Giants was released in two different packs. First was the typical Starter Pack which came with the portal, a giant Skylander called Tree Rex, and two smaller characters, Jet-Vac, and Cynder Series 2. The 3DS version came with Tree Rex, special variant Punch Pop Fizz and Cynder Series 2. The other version was called the Portal Owners Pack and came without a portal and only included the new giant Tree Rex.
