Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle art leaks ahead of E3 2017

Come with me, because this news is a cute surprise: a little while ago, an image of Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle leaked on Twitter, on May 23, 2017. The art shows a Rabbid dressed as Princess Peach taking a selfie with a shiny cell phone. Look how adorable, and what a fun mess is coming.

Months before the launch of the Switch itself, there were already rumors of a Nintendo project in partnership with Ubisoft, joining the plumber and the crazy Rabbids bunnies. The original tweet was deleted, but other users had already saved and reposted the image. Shortly afterward, Ubisoft sources confirmed that the project was real, and more images appeared. Our bet for the official announcement was E3 2017.

What came next

And it worked: the game was presented at Ubisoft’s E3 2017 conference, with Shigeru Miyamoto on stage. The idea was born in 2014, with creative director Davide Soliani and producer Xavier Manzanares, from Ubisoft’s Milan and Paris studios. Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle came out on August 29, 2017, exclusive to the Nintendo Switch.

It is a turn-based strategy game: you pick three of eight characters, always including Mario and at least one Rabbid, and use cover, movement and special abilities to win battles, across four worlds with puzzles between fights. Critics loved it: an 85 average on Metacritic, and the game was voted best strategy game at The Game Awards 2017, at Gamescom and at the D.I.C.E. Awards. By September 2017, it was already the best-selling third-party game on Switch. And Rabbid Peach, who split opinions in the leak, became a fan favorite. My little gamer heart understands.

The Donkey Kong Adventure expansion arrived in June 2018 and brought about 10 hours of content, roughly half the size of the base game. The sequel, Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, came out on October 20, 2022.

Source: Ubisoft.