Developed by Ubisoft Milan, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle is a turn-based tactics RPG crossover between the Mario franchise and the Rabbid franchise, with the latter belonging to Ubisoft and the former belonging to Nintendo. It was released in western regions in August 2017 and later to Asian regions in January 2018.
The story starts out with the first-person perspective of a young person with their mechanical friend Beep-O. They were recently put on the cover of “TECH” magazine for their invention ‘SupaMerge’. They are not as happy as you would think for being in a magazine as the magazine failed to cover the important topics they wanted to discuss their invention. Then suddenly it seems the SupaMerge has an overheating problem, which is not a new problem apparently. Then suddenly Rabbids appear.
Doc, you’re telling me you made a teleporter out of goggles!?
Meanwhile, in the temporarily peaceful Mushroom Kingdom…
The Mushroom Kingdom is unfortunately infamous for something not going all that well.
Long story short, a portal appears in the sky in the Mushroom Kingdom accompanied by Beep-O and all the other Rabbids. Beep-O now has ears, Rabbids are kind of sort of cosplaying as the Mushroom Kingdom heroes, chaos ensues, and suddenly you are met with this scenario which starts your adventure….
Who knew they made honey in a tube?
How about the lining Mr. Mario?
Before each battle, there will be an optional screen depicting either team selection and weapon selection. Team selection is pretty self-explanatory as you get to choose three members to battle with. Let’s take a look at the weapon selection screen…
Everyone in Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle has a primary weapon and a secondary weapon. Secondary weapons are more unique to the user and usually have a cooldown time of at least one turn before they can be used again. Primary weapons are usually just regular guns that have certain “super effects” added to them like bounce, push, honey, vampire, etc. that can inflict extra damage or a status effect at a certain rate. The occurrence rate is listed on the weapon.
Purple power obs are the currency used to activate skills in the skill tree. You can get these from chests but they are gotten mostly from stages. You can look at the whole tree after you have activated the first three ones. Having Peach/Rabbid Peach up their healing skills should be a priority for them. The other characters can be left up to the player but the Vampire skill Rabbid Luigi/Rabbid Mario has can be a big help for you through the whole game.
Mario Bros. Tactical Espionage Action
These are just the very basics of attacking. Being behind something that shields your entire character and will be full guarded against front direct-line attacks that do not have blast effects. Partial cover is 50% shielding, and out in the open is zero shielding. The goal for each round may seem like you have to defeat every enemy for each stage but that is not the case. Sometimes you just have to reach a certain area or escort Toad without him being defeated.
Go for the gold
Completing a stage within a certain amount of turns as well as keeping everyone alive will nab you a gold trophy. Doing this will get you better rewards bonuses. Don’t worry if you don’t get a perfect score on each one right away. When you get access to the washing machine, you can re-do the stages and get better rewards.
A Mario adventure game at heart
Exploring is a big part of Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battles. You can find treasure chests all over the place. You can get artwork, music tracks, 3D models, access to weapons, and tarot cards. All that you have gotten can be viewed in the museum. Add in plenty of puzzles and varied scenery, it feels like a Mario game, albeit more of a strategic one.
Bonus time
Actual toilet humor
New DLC, new game
Although not free, but not too expensive either, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle features a new adventure that requires a new save to be made and is separate from your main game save. You can play this anytime after world one, but I suggest waiting until you beat the game to do this.
