Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle: Everything you need to know!

Half-Mario, half-Rabbids, all fun!

Unlike any Mario game I've ever seen, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle is a fresh new journey into the familiar Mushroom Kingdom. Developed by Ubisoft for the Nintendo Switch, the game merges Nintendo's popular Mario franchise with Ubisoft's party game franchise Raving Rabbids and was a surprise announcement at E3 2017.

Now that the game has launched, I know you must have burning questions about just how this odd mash-up of video game worlds works. Here's everything you need to know about Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle!

The premise

It's clear right from the first time you load up Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle that Ubisoft knows this is a ridiculous concept and intends to keep it that way.

An invention called the SupaMerge, created by an unknown but intelligent young girl, has the ability to merge any two things together; however, it's not working quite right. When the girl leaves her desk to take a break, the Rabbids show up in what appears to be a dimension-hopping washing machine and almost instantly begin to merge things. Of course, this goes horribly wrong, and soon the SupaMerge is merging everything in sight, and the dimension-traveling washing machine ends up in the Mushroom Kingdom.

From here, the sentient robot known as BEEP-0 finds Mario and asks him if he will help put the Mushroom Kingdom back together and stop the Rabbid that has the SupaMerge from destroying more worlds.

Gameplay

There are two main types of gameplay in Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle: one that seems a little familiar to Mario fans and one that doesn't. A huge part of the game is tactical combat, which requires skill, patience, and has a bit of a learning curve, while the other part is World movement which should be pretty familiar to fans of the Mario franchise.

Tactical combat

The main narrative of the story progresses through a series of battles in which you lead a team of three heroes — both from the Mushroom Kingdom and Rabbid world — across a battlefield to defeat enemies and reach objectives.

The battle system is heavily tactics-based, meaning you need to use all the skills you acquire over time to traverse across the enemy-infested terrain. Utilizing cover, combo attacks, movement skills, and other special techniques will all be critical in getting through battles.

World movement

The game is broken up into world's that have chapters, much like many Mario game that have come before.

Between each battle, you'll be able to lead BEEP-0 and your squad through what's left of the wacky Mushroom Kingdom and collect coins, travel through pipes, use cannons to reach new platforms, find chests, and more.

While moving about the world is a much smaller part of the gameplay, it's integral to finding everything you possibly can in the game; make sure you explore everything!

Battle Objectives

There are a couple of different types of missions in Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, and each one has a specific way to win.

• Defeat All: This is the most common type of mission, and it means you have to defeat all the enemies on the field to advance.

• Reach Area: Typically these missions have an endless stream of enemy Rabbids that will keep attacking you until you reach a highlighted area of the map. Only one of your team members has to make it to the designated area to win the battle.

• Defeat Boss or Midboss: As you progress throughout the story, you will encounter difficult enemies known as midbosses or bosses. These enemies will often be accompanied by other Rabbids; however, you'll only need to defeat the boss or midboss to clear the map.

Battle HQ

After you have played through most of the tutorial levels, between battles (or right before you enter them), you'll be given the opportunity to go to the Battle HQ. This is where you can switch your team members, buy and equip different weapons, and spend power orbs to upgrade your character's skills.

Buddydome

Here's the building where you can go to play co-op missions with a friend locally. Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle doesn't have an online multiplayer mode, for those of you wondering.

You and a friend can enter the Buddydome and play co-op battles that are separate from the main campaign. Controlling two characters each, you must make you're way across the maps and complete the objectives set before you. The more you play single-player mode, the more levels will be unlocked in the Buddydome.

The Buddydome is accessible at Peach's castle through the main menu of the game, and you'll unlock the buddydome after you have played for roughly an hour when you have defeated the first midboss.

Museum

As you explore the Mushroom Kingdom, you'll find a variety of collectible items, including 3D models of characters in the game, tunes from the soundtrack, art pieces, and tarot cards. If you want to view what you have collected so far, you'll need to head to the museum outside of Peach's castle to see the treasure you've found!

Unlocking Characters

As you progress throughout the game, you'll find yourself running into plenty of interesting characters and some of them will join you throughout your journey.

When someone new joins our team, the game will let you know that you can now select that character for your team in the Battle HQ. While you start off with Mario, Rabbid Peach, and Rabbid Luigi, you'll eventually pick up, Luigi, Rabbid Mario, Rabbid Yoshi, Peach, and Yoshi.

Each character has a different skill, damage output, weapon availability, and other stats, so don't be afraid to see what combo of three characters makes the best team!

What else would you like to know?

Have more questions about Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle? Let us know in the comments below!