Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle

MARIO + RABBIDS: KINGDOM BATTLE

Today, let's cover one of the surprise hits of the Switch's library, an unlikely crossover between the Mario series and Ubisoft's Rabbids that surprisingly worked really well. I find myself in a bit of a tricky spot with this one, as, unlike other crossovers where the playstyle either didn't matter to any character involved, or was basically just that other series's playstyle, this game has its own playstyle and mechanics completely unique to both parties, one that I'd very much like to see represented. Let's see what we can do.

We have eight playable characters here: Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Yoshi, alongside Rabbids that got merged with a Mario fan's posters of the characters to become Rabbid Mario, Rabbid Luigi, Rabbid Peach, and Rabbid Yoshi (basically they're just dressed up in costumes of the characters). We also have Beep-O, a small Roomba-like device that acts as the controller during non-action parts of the game. During action segments, these characters work as a team, with more or less the same moveset (just kinda personalized to each). Mario has a projectile gun and a hammer, Peach has a projectile and grenade, Luigi has a projectile (the Poltergust) and a sentry he can send out, Yoshi has a projectile and an area attack, Rabbid Mario has a projectile and hammer like Mario, Rabbid Peach has a projectile and shield and also acts as the healer, Rabbid Luigi has a projectile that causes random side effects and an area attack, and Rabbid Yoshi also has a projectile and a grenade. All of these characters can also perform the team jump to bounce off of each other and get to higher places, and can use warp points to move around as well.

Outside of that, Toad and Toadette play supporting roles, and Spawny, a rabbid combined with the device that did all the combining in the first place, plays the role of damsel in distress. A talking sunflower spits up treasure chests, and random rabbids play around in the background. Finally, we have an unnamed inventor appearing at the beginning of the story, whose room gets wrecked and her life's work shot off to another dimension (and we never see it fixed, by the way).

On the enemy side, we mostly see a number of enemies made up of corrupted rabbids. There are different types, but mainly sorted in specific groups that then just have variation across the different levels. These include: Ziggies, the basic gunner enemies; Hoppers with springs on their legs; Smashers that carry around big blocks to smash you with; Supporters that heal and throw bombs; Bucklers that carry shields; Peek-a-Boos that can teleport; and Valkyries that can fire multiple rounds and ground pound.

Each level also has a boss and a midboss. The midbosses include a Piranha Plant-rabbid hybrid, a pair of sand and ice-themed rabbids, a Day of the Dead-themed rabbid named Calavera, a Wario and Waluigi rabbid, and Bowser Jr. piloting a hammer-swinging mech. The full bosses included Rabbid Kong, a temperamental monkey that doesn't do much in this boss fight, but who we'll come back to; an Icicle Golem that freezes you and wields a shield; a glorious opera-singing Phantom that throws energy balls and becomes invincible for a short time; a Lava Queen that mostly attacks with lava; and then a fusion between a lava dragon and Bowser that flies, breathes fire, butt bashes, spits meteors, and uses a shield.

We only have four main stages here, those being: Ancient Gardens, a standard Mario level that steadily changes into a towering precipice of junk; Sherbet Desert, a fusion between a desert and a snow level; Spooky Trails, a haunted level; and Lava Pit, your standard Bowser level.

Now, we have one more thing to talk about. The game received an expanded story DLC, entirely revolving around Rabbid Kong causing trouble out of jealousy and transporting himself, Rabbid Peach, and Beep-O to Donkey Kong's world, where Rabbid Peach then teams up with Donkey Kong and a Rabbid form of Cranky. Donkey and Rabbid Cranky take up the other party members' roles, and we get a new level called Tropical Island. Rabbid Kong gets an expanded boss role, making shockwaves, punching, using a banana axe by spinning it, throwing the banana as a boomerang, and spinning it like a helicopter.

I think that's about it! Here's what we've got:

Characters:

Mario: hammer, bombs, drop drum, golden hammer, pink (enemy), blue (block), yellow (metal plate), green (brick), Kanbank, throw Koopa shells, chisel, pinball, dance

Builder Mario: item blocks, arrow signs, brick blocks, rotating blocks, bridges, burners, cannons, cloud blocks, coins, conveyor belts, donut blocks, fire bars, grinders, hidden blocks, ice blocks, lifts, mushroom platforms, note blocks, one-way walls, P switches, pipes, POW blocks, spike traps, tracks, trampolines, vines, warp doors, 1-Up Mushrooms, Fire Flowers, Super Leaves, Cape Feathers, Propeller Mushrooms, Super Mushrooms, Weird Mushrooms, Super Stars, Clown Car, Buzzy Beetle and Spiny Shells, Big Mushrooms, Mystery Mushrooms, Master Sword, Superball Flowers, Super Bell, Super Hammer, SMB2 Mushroom, Frog Suit, Super Acorn, Boomerang Flower, Rotten Mushroom, Cannon Box, Propeller Box, Goomba Mask, Bullet Bill Mask, reset rocket, companion characters

Luigi: same, dance

Princess Peach

Bowser, dance

Beep-O/Rabbid Mario/Luigi/Peach/Yoshi: team jump, projectile, melee, grenaduck, area attack, sentry, heal, shield

Foreman Spike: push, best option for a gimmick character, see all above

Wario: chisel, dance

Toad

Yoshi

Donkey Kong

Daisy

Waluigi: dance, steal music keys

Birdo

Diddy Kong

Toadette

Toadsworth

Bowser Jr.

Petey Piranha

Rabbid Kong: shockwave, punch, spin Banana club, throw banana boomerang, helicopter spin

Koopa Troopa

Goomba

Shy Guy

Boo

Cheep Cheep

Bob-Omb

Lakitu

Pokey

Chain Chomp

Monty Mole

Ukiki

Ziggy/Rabbid Enemies: gun, springs, machine gun, block, shield, teleport, heal, bombs, ground pound

Eggplant Man: run around

Gotchawrench: run around

Slime

Platypunk

Bianca

Angelo

Jessica

Alena

Kiryl

Carver

Pudding/Princessa

Yangus

Dragonlord

Stella

Patty

Onigiri

Onnanoko

Oyazi

Dogu

Tutankoopa: float, spell

Stages:

Wrecking Crew

High Rise Building

Mario Paint

Clash House Tower

Fun Fair

Frosty Frontier

Grassy Greens

Shifting Sands

Fiery Stage

Truffle Towers

SS Brass

Corkscrew Hotel

Wario Carnival

Snowy Peak

Bowser's Castle

Yoshi's Island

Bowser's Castle

Mario Stadium

Mario Circuit

Peach's Castle

Delfino Plaza

Mushroom Kingdom

Castle Trodain

Mt. Magmageddon

Colossus

Ghost Ship

Slimenia

Alefgard

Robbin' Hood Ruins

Starship Mario

Good Egg Galaxy

Observatory

Alltrades Abbey

Mario Maker (I like the way Smash did it)

Mario Maker 2

Puzzles & Dragons

Super Mario Run

Ancient Gardens

Sherbet Desert

Spooky Trails

Lava Pit

Tropical Island

Items:

Hammers

Bombs

Drums

Blocks

Shells

Mahjong Tiles

Pinball Machine

Music Keys

1-Up Mushrooms

Fire Flowers

Super Leaves

Cape Feathers

Propeller Mushrooms

Super Mushrooms

Weird Mushrooms

Super Stars

Clown Car

Buzzy Beetle and Spiny Shells

Big Mushrooms

Mystery Mushrooms

Master Sword

Superball Flowers

Super Bell

Super Hammer

SMB2 Mushroom

Frog Suit

Super Acorn

Boomerang Flower

Rotten Mushroom

Cannon Box

Propeller Box

Goomba Mask

Bullet Bill Mask

Thanks for reading! Next up, let's finish this hodge-podge with Super Mario Bros. 35!