There are 32 standard characters in Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure. They are the original Skylanders roster designed for the game's toys-to-life system, including Spyro, Trigger Happy, Gill Grunt, and Stealth Elf.
The game divides its characters among eight elements: Air, Earth, Fire, Life, Magic, Tech, Undead, and Water. With four standard characters per element, the base roster totals 32. Players place physical character figures on the Portal of Power to bring them into the game.
The number can be confusing because the release also included special versions and variants. Dark Spyro and Legendary figures are cosmetic or limited variants rather than additional standard roster characters. Later Skylanders games expanded the overall franchise lineup, but those later figures should not be added to Spyro's Adventure's original count.