Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure Blind Draw Battle Mode Tournamentfeaturing The Original 32

Playlist Link: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWU7DXRZFRMu7sbfU3Try7spQyZNNB-Sg

One of the most popular requests I continually get on my Channel is to do any sort of Skylanders Battle Mode.  As most of you know, I tend to record late at night and solo...It is just a product of when I have free time...I work during the day, run errands after work, make supper, take care of what has to be done, and then when I do have free time, I enjoy playing games.

Not too many folks are around at 2-3 AM during the week to join me in Battle Mode.  To make up for it, I started the Skylanders Poll Battle Series.  While it isn't quite as action oriented, it is fun, and adds a unique element to the blog and the channel.

That said, sometimes I do get an opportunity to have someone over and record with...That is usually my Nephew (aka thewalkthruking) and that was the case this past weekend.

He stayed the night Friday (school here started up today, August 26th, 2013) and we put in some time playing Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure.  This was all his idea, but he decided that he wanted to do a "Blind Draw" (Pokemon Style, drawn from a cup) SSA Matchup.  He initially wanted to do ALL the Skylanders, but we need some workable number for a tournament...so we went with 32 and since he wanted the Castaways involved, we elected to go "old school" and utilize the Original 32 from SSA.

We recorded the 1st Round of 16 matches that night, and Saturday we finished up the bracket.  We both had a lot of fun.  That said, I'm use to box-stock Skylanders and many of these guys had been sitting dormant for a long time..Plus, we never really get to play Battle Mode much...needless to say there was a re-learning curve...The best path for Story Mode isn't always the best path for Battle Mode...that said, all the Skylanders were fully maxed out and we enjoyed going head-to-head.

We set the battles up as follows: No Items, No Arena Hazards, No Powerups....We wanted a true Player vs Player experience not skewed by add-ons.  Similarly, to keep it fair, each battle was randomly assigned a course by way of my Nephew closing his eyes and tilting the Nunchuck's Analog Stick left and right.

The only real disadvantage for me is that I let him select his character first...every time.  In the future we might set up teams, rotate, or let me pick the characters first, bahahahaha!

Anyway, to try and keep dropped frames a non-issue we recorded each match individually...Ironically only one match had any drops even worth noting.  Go figure.  That said, my issue is that they take a LONG time to edit...I combined Round 1 of Brackets 1 & 2 and the rendering took several hours...as such, I kind of modified the plan and broke it down into groups of 4 Battles...which is interestingly, what we had planned to do early on...then we changed course.  Again, go figure.

Without further ado, here is our Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure Original 32 Blind Draw Tournament!
*Please note, due to editing and other issues, the "Parts" I speak of may not match up to what you see below...When in doubt, go with the blog.  That said, the video titles and upload order (as well as the playlist) will set you in the right direction.

Skylanders Arena Rumble Battle Tournament, Blind Draw Part 1: Round 1, Brackets 1-2

Bracket 1-Round 1

Chop Chop (Wiisdom) vs Drobot (WTK)
Zook (Wiisdom) vs Slam Bam (WTK)
Double Trouble (Wiisdom) vs Cynder (WTK)
Gill Grunt (Wiisdom) vs Eruptor

Bracket 2-Round 1

Voodood (Wiisdom) vs Hex (WTK)
Camo (Wiisdom) vs Ghost Roaster (WTK)
Trigger Happy ( vs Stump Smash ()
Zap (WTK) vs Wrecking Ball (Wiisdom)

Skylanders Arena Rumble Battle Tournament, Blind Draw Part 2: Round 1, Bracket 3

Bracket 3-Round 1

Stealth Elf (WTK) vs Prism Break (Wiisdom)
Bash (WTK) vs Drill Sergeant (Wiisdom)
Sunburn (Wiisdom) vs Sonic Boom (WTK)
Warnado (WTK) vs Flameslinger (Wiisdom)

Skylanders Arena Rumble Battle Tournament, Blind Draw Part 3: Round 1, Bracket 4

Bracket 4-Round 1

Ignitor (WTK) vs Dino-Rang (Wiisdom)
Spyro (WTK) vs Whirlwind (Wiisdom)
Wham-Shell (Wiisdom) vs Lightning Rod (WTK)
Terrafin (WTK) vs Boomer (Wiisdom)

Skylanders Arena Rumble Battle Tournament, Blind Draw Part 4: Round 2, Brackets 1-2

Round 2 Matches, Brackets 1-2

Chop Chop (Wiisdom) vs Slam Bam (WTK)
Double Trouble (WTK) vs Gill Grunt (Wiisdom)
Voodood (Wiisdom) vs Ghost Roaster (WTK)
Stum Smash (Wiisdom) vs Zap (WTK)

Skylanders Arena Rumble Battle Tournament, Blind Draw Part 5: Round 2, Brackets 3-4

Round 2 Matches, Brackets 3-4

Stealth Elf (WTK) vs Bash (Wiisdom)

Sunburn (Wiisdom) vs Flameslinger (WTK)

Dino-Rang (Wiisdom) vs Spyro (WTK)

Wham-Shell (Wiisdom) vs Boomer (WTK)

Skylanders Arena Rumble Battle Tournament, Blind Draw Part 6: Quarterfinals

Quarterfinals

Slam Bam (WTK) vs Double Trouble (Wiisdom)

Voodood (WTK) vs Stump Smash (Wiisdom)

Stealth Elf (WTK) vs Sunburn (Wiisdom)

Spyro (WTK) vs Boomer (Wiisdom)

Skylanders Arena Rumble Battle Tournament, Blind Draw Part 7: 

Semifinals and Championship

Semifinal Matchups

Slam Bam (WTK) vs Stump Smash (Wiisdom)
Sunburn (Wiisdom) vs Spyro (WTK)

Championship Matchup

Stump Smash (Wiisdom) vs Spyro (WTK)

Bonus Matches

Dark Spyro (Wiisdom) vs Spyro (WTK)
Dark Spyro (WTK) vs Spyro (Wiisdom)

That wraps it up!  We hope that you enjoyed our SSA Throwback Tournament!  If time allows, we will continue to record Skylanders Battle Tournaments!

Blog Poll #44: Do You Want to See Beyblade Content

Blog Poll #44 asked, "Do You Want to see Beyblade Content?"

The choices were:

Unboxings

Battles

Both (Unboxings and Battles)

No

The poll originally closed on March 17th, 2013, but I don't think I let it run long enough...I am re-opening the poll until the end of the month.

I know I had TONS of requests to do Beyblade stuff all through the SSA Playthrough....I just want to see if those same people are still around.

Thanks to those who voted...please spread the word!

Skylanders Battle Tournament

Well, here it is, the little "project" I have long teased about...A Skylanders Battle Tournament!!

Don't get too excited, I'm not sure how people will take this one...It could either bomb or turn out to be very popular.  I am obviously hoping for the later, but even if it isn't a smash hit, I think a few of you will enjoy it and I figure we will make the most of it and see it out to the very end.

Here is the video to explain things in more detail:

Skylanders Battle Tournament!

As you very well know, I can't record Single Player Battle Mode footage simply because there is no single player option...I'm not quite sure what the logic was in that...maybe it is too daunting, idk...I really hope that we see that addition for Giants.  Even if it isn't spot on, or at the level of say Super Smash Bros. Brawl, I would think as widely popular as it has been they might dial it in...As things currently sit, I and many others, seldom even get the chance to enjoy Battle Mode.

So with that in mind, this is the next best thing I could come up with, lol.  I really think if it is given a chance it could be pretty enjoyable, and possibly even become a regular series with different scenarios or weights (ie dragons, elemental grudge matches, home field for Earth etc).

The way these "battles" will work rely entirely on you!

If you recall the big poll I did for "Who is Your Favorite Skylander?" you might think this order looks familiar...it should, because I set up this 1-32 Bracket based entirely off of who you voted your favorites.

The bracket itself basically consists of 4 Tiers of 8 Skylanders that comprise the 32 player field.  They are broken down 1-Warnado, 2-Camo, 3-Wham-Shell, and 4-Sunburn.  Warnado will have the easiest time getting to the finals since the lowest seed after him is #8 Spyro.  Juxtaposed to that we have #4 Sunburn facing the biggest challenge to reach the finals since he has the #5 Ignitor lurking in the bracket below.

I will try to get a pic of the bracket up soon, but you can see it pretty well in the video.

Right now, I am thinking of running the polls for 2 Week Intervals.  If we decide to run longer, we will adjust on the fly.  You can find the 16 1st Round Polls on the Right Hand side of the Blog, just below the Twitter Feed.

I have the ordered 1-1, 1-4, 1-2, and then 1-3, to basically replicate the "bracket" layout.

All you need to do is vote for you favorite, or who you think would win...tell your friends...and monitor the results.  There are already some pretty interesting matchups between pretty even characters.

Things may have changed since the "Who is Your Favorite" poll, or certain people might feel #32 Boomer would decimate #1 Warnado and thus shake the bracket up with a big upset.

I wish I could record Battle Mode footage, but this is honestly the best concept I could come up with...I have had the idea for a LONG TIME, but wanted to get all the main video installments up before side tracking into this one...

Feel free to let me know what you think...whether you like it, or hate it...Also feel free, assuming you like it, to throw out ideas you'd like to see for "future tournaments" etc.  I will probably video the "results" and then announce the "next round matchups" etc.

Like I've said, this could be well received or not really taken seriously.  I can certainly see a lot of potential in it and hope you will enjoy it, vote, and spread the word...The more votes, the tighter the matchups...and that makes for much more interesting outcomes!

Will Warnado battle Camo for the Championship, or will upsets happen and we see Double Trouble vs Trigger Happy?  The only way to find out is to vote, spread the word, and follow along.  I am looking forward to the outcomes and will offer up my synopsis after each battle's results are announced.

So what are you waiting for?  Vote now, tell your friends, have some fun, and pull for your favorite Skylander to emerge victorious!

1ofWiisdom

Round 1 Results Video

Round 2 Matchup Video

Round 2 Poll Results

Round 2 Results Video

Round 3 Matchup Video

Round 3 Results

Round 4 Matchup Video

Round 4 Results

Championship Matchup

Championship Results

And there you have it!  #5 Ignitor led a fiery charge throughout the bracket and absolutely wreaked havoc on the Life Element Skylanders.  Stay tuned for more updates!