It’s probably the most unexpected union in video games, but it makes some sense. The most famous (and serious) Italian-Japanese mustache in the world has made friends who are 100% French and completely idiotic. And everyone will be back to crack Nintendo Switch this October 20th.
A few days after the launch of Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, the Ubisoft Milan studio was in full swing and finalizing the last details. At each end of the great plateau that welcomes all the developers, artists, graphic designers, animators who are working on the final adjustments, we see a Peach Rabbit, a “cretinized” version of the famous Nintendo character, along with his double original.
A game for fans by a fan
Nothing suggested five years ago when the first game was released, Mario Kingdom Battle + Rabbids, that the unlikely pairing would be so successful on Switch. “We had the idea in 2013,” Davide Soliani, creative director of the game and the man in whose mind the absurd idea germinated, explains to Tech&Co. “We wanted something that didn’t exist in either the Ubisoft catalog or the Nintendo catalog.”
The jovial Italian does not hide his enthusiasm for a project he is carrying out, a great fan of Super Mario and the rest of the Japanese giant’s heroes since his earliest youth. “We wanted to create a laughing machine. And in particular around a turn-based combat game. It’s a type of game that people are often afraid to try,” he stresses. “So we tried a colorful, affordable, easy-to-learn version to play and have fun with.” With such a game in the form of fan serviceIt was obvious that the marriage would take with fans of both licenses.
The association of these two very different universes, between the colorful and pensive Mario and the absurdity of the Rabbids, however, had something sulphurous on paper. There was no indication that Nintendo would let anyone get their goose that lays the golden egg so easily. Especially to turn the most famous plumber into a gunslinger without having his hands on it. “Ubisoft and Nintendo have always had a great relationship and this was an opportunity to create humor and parody,” laughs Davide Soliani, who put all the gang-specific ingredients into the game.
But he also remembers his fear when presenting his idea to Shigeru Miyamoto, the father of Mario Y Zelda. “It was absolutely stressful, because I was really getting to know Miyamoto and I had to present my project to him. He is a legend for me. I was paralyzed,” says the game manager and gave us valuable advice, because he saw that we respected his universe and his characters. He was even amazed that we managed to remake them so faithfully without the models that Nintendo provides us when we told him that we showed a draft of the game, ”adds Xavier Manzanares, producer of Mario + Rabbids.
Bet on fun to discover a tactical combat game
Accustomed to platform games, Super Mario and Rabbids (who here wear the former’s costume) are united in a tactical game in which they must combine their talents to prevent the galaxy from being annihilated by a strange threat. As with the first game, in sparks of hope, you must once again defeat various enemies in team turn-based battles. But this time, Ubisoft, with only control of the game, wanted an even more public and streamlined approach.
The player can explore the different thematic planets created, much more capricious, that the always dumber rabbits populate in the background. But you will also find there elements from the universe of Mario, Luigi, Peach, etc. (the coins to collect with the recognizable noise among a thousand when collecting them, the superpowers to collect, the pipes). A sweet and crazy mix that places the game between a 3D journey and easier fights (but nonetheless require a bit of strategy).
It is also possible to do quests or just walk around towns, solve puzzles… No more simple team battle games (playable with multiple people), sparks of hope it is much more affordable and fun. Even the fights are more fluid, with assists between heroes (you can launch Mario to the other end of the arena by bouncing him off one of his allies to get closer to his enemies), sparks, strange creatures that add powers to each associated character. with that.
Edge, a superstar in the making
When we told Davide Soliani that, for this second game, he seems to have taken more freedom compared to the “very Nintendo” universe of the first to add a little more fantasy to the content and form, he defends it. “The first was very focused on the kingdom of fungi (one of the worlds of Super Mario, editor’s note). From the moment we wanted to go explore the galaxy, we had to go a little crazier”, sums up the Italian.
The result is a much more mixed game, according to him, with Mario’s enemies like those of the Rabbids. And a surprise guest: the evil Bowser turned ally.
But Ubisoft has managed to add its very personal touch this time with the arrival of a new character, Edge, a raving rock’n’roll rabbit who wipes out his enemies with a giant sword. “Edge is the character of the evolution into something else. He doesn’t have a Nintendo equivalent compared to the other characters. He’s a Rabbit created from scratch who has a real reason to exist in the game, but you’ll have to discover it by playing,” he said. slip into a smile. A superstar heralded to players on both sides as the best of both worlds. The rigor and grain of madness.
Source: BFM TV
