Dark Edition Skylanders starter packs and their exclusive toy variants have always vexed collectors, but the upcoming SuperChargers Dark Editions add a deeper level of frustration in the form of two different Nintendo sets, each with their own exclusive Skylander/Amiibo toys.


The standard Skylanders SuperChargers Dark Edition for PlayStations and Xboxes come with four toys instead of the basic three, each sporting a black and silver paint scheme. Dark Spitfire, Dark Hot Streak and Dark Super Shot Stealth Elf are joined by the Dark Sea Shadow. The extra character and the Kaos Trophy (which unlocks special in-game content) justifies the $99 price tag, $15 more than the regular starter pack.


Pretty standard here. Collector’s wanting to catch all the variant toys for PlayStation or Xbox One alone will have to snag a Dark Edition starter. It’s a mechanic that generally works out nicely for folks that want to play on multiple platforms.

But this year they’ve got special Dark Edition sets for the Wii and Wii U, each featuring a unique coloration of the Bowser and Donkey Kong Skylanders that double as Amiibo.

And so we have the Dark Edition Wii U starter pack, the only place to get Dark Turbo Charge Donkey Kong and his Dark Barrel Blaster.


As well as the Dark Edition for the original Wii, the only place to get Dark Hammer Slam Bowser and his Dark Clown Cruiser sky vehicle.


So, in order for a Skylanders toy collector to acquire all of the Dark Edition SuperChargers figures and vehicles, they’ll need to purchase the $99 Wii Dark Edition, the $99 Wii U Dark Edition and one additional $99 Dark Edition version in order to grab the toys replaced by Bowser and Donkey Kong in the Nintendo versions.

For Amiibo completionists it’s pricier still. They’ll need the two Dark Editions plus the normal versions of the toys, which as of right now are exclusive to the Wii U (Donkey Kong), Wii and 3DS (Bowser) starter packs respectively. I’d opt for the $75 Wii U pack and the 3DS pack, which only runs $64 and contains a completely different game (as does the original Wii, but shouldn’t that be mulch by now?).


This is exactly which I decided two games back not to count repaints in my collection—as long as I can activate the character in-game, I don’t care what color it is outside.

Skylanders SuperChargers arrives for PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii, Wii U, 3DS and iOS on September 20.