With so many pirates and assassins leaving a bloody wake around Saturday’s Ubisoft Forward game showcase, a plumber and some wacky rabbit-things provided a much more lighthearted change of pace as Ubisoft gave fans a look at Mario+Rabbids Sparks of Hope.
The Nintendo-exclusive (obviously) Mario+Rabbids Sparks of Hope, sequel to the original surprise hit Mario+Rabbids Kingdom Battle from 2017, got its moment early on during the Ubisoft Forward live stream with a lengthy gameplay video that begins with Mario and the crew landing on Terra Flora, exploring and chatting to the locals before facing off against the fearsome Wiggler and giving us a look at some of Mario’s new battle moves.
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The biggest surprise of the segment was when Davide Soliani, Creative Director at Ubisoft Milan, announced that Mario+Rabbids Sparks of Hope will be getting three DLC expansions over the course of a year, and that a very special new hero would be joining the roster as a playable character. That special hero? Non other than the Rabbids' familiar foe, Rayman.
Rayman will join Mario+Rabbids Sparks of Hope as a playable character in the third DLC when it releases next year, though this won’t be the first time that Rayman and the Rabbids have crossed paths; they previously shared screen time in Ubisoft’s 2006 Nintendo Wii party game, Rayman Raving Rabbids.
Nintendo has already confirmed the appearance of a number of characters in the series’ newest title, including returning favorites Peach and both Mario brothers, as well as their Rabbid counterparts. Sparks of Hope will also introduce new characters, such as Bowser, Rabbid Rosalina, and an original character created specifically for the game, Edge.
The first Mario+Rabbids game gave fans a surprisingly fun mix of elements, taking classic Mario characters, mixing them in with Rabbid doppelgangers, giving them all a gun, and setting them loose in turn-based, XCOM-style gameplay.
Despite its admittedly odd formula,Davide Soliani, creative director of Ubisoft Milan, reported in June last year that the eclectic game had already moved 7.5 million copies. Mario+Rabbids Sparks of Hope will be one of the first out the gate for Ubisoft following the showcase, with the game set to release on October 20th, 2022, exclusively for Nintendo Switch.
