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Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope gameplay revealed at Ubisoft Forward E3 2021

Some pre-alpha gameplay for Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope debuted during Saturday's Ubisoft Forward presentation.

June 12, 2021 1:10 PM

Nintendo fans saw an unexpected reunion during Saturday's Ubisoft Forward presentation. Mario and the Rabbids are back together again, this time to save the galaxy. Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope debuted near the end of the presentation and Ubisoft Milan showed off some early gameplay.

While the previous Mario and Rabbids collaboration, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, went into the turn-based tactical realm, this looks to offer a mixture of the previous game's turn-based RTS style with more freedom of 3D movement. The story takes the lovable cast of Mario characters and the wacky Rabbids into space, as they look to stop the evil Cursa from consuming all of the Sparks (a mutant blend of Lumas and Rabbids, naturally) and taking over the galaxy.

Even if this is more of the original, that's certainly not a bad thing. Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle was the Shacknews Biggest Surprise Game of 2017, delighting fans and the staff here at Shacknews with its simple-to-grasp entry into the turn-based RTS genre. We also loved that Nintendo essentially left Ubisoft to its own devices, trusting the third-party publisher to treat the face of the company with respect.

Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope won't be around for a while. Ubisoft Paris and Ubisoft Milan are aiming for a 2022 release. And, as one would expect out of anything with Mario in it, it's going to be exclusive to the Nintendo Switch.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?

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