Look away. This is not the game for you. The Verdict Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure is not the best Skylanders game (that honor usually goes to Swap Force or Giants ). But it is the most important one. It launched a cultural phenomenon that predated Amiibo and Lego Dimensions . It taught a generation that their toys could sleep over at a friend's house via a memory chip.

If you go into this expecting a traditional Spyro the Dragon platformer, you will be disappointed. Spyro is merely the brand ambassador. The story—involving a giant space kaiju named "The Darkness" and a mad arsonist named Kaos—is pure Saturday morning cartoon energy. It doesn’t take itself seriously, and that’s its greatest strength. Mechanically, Spyro’s Adventure is a kid-friendly action-adventure game. You run through linear levels, smash crates for gold, defeat goombas—er, "Chompies"—and solve simple block-pushing puzzles.

Be warned. The "Toys to Life" secondary market is volatile. You can find used figures for $1 at garage sales, but rare ones (like "Wham-Shell") cost a fortune. To 100% the game, you need one of each element (8 figures total). That is doable for under $30 today.