Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
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 When Mario + Rabbids was like Guardians of the Galaxy...
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Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope is an action-adventure/tactical role-playing game developed by Ubisoft Milan and Ubisoft Paris, and published by Ubisoft, for the Nintendo Switch. It is the sequel to Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, and just like its predecessor, it serves as a crossover between Nintendo's Mario and Ubisoft's Rayman: Raving Rabbids' franchises.
Three DLC expansions were released throughout 2023: the first, The Tower of Doooom, was released on March 2, 2023, and is a roguelike-style gauntlet; the second, The Last Spark Hunter, was released on June 21, 2023, and features a bonus chapter that takes place between the Barrendale Mesa and Cursa's Stronghold campaigns; the final one, Rayman in the Phantom Show, was released on August 30, 2023, and features an all-new story starring Rayman, the protagonist of the first three Rabbids' games.
Why It's a Spark of Hope
- The story is much deeper and has a darker tone than the previous game. In this one, a fragment of the MegaBug escaped destruction and transformed itself into Cursa, possessing Rosalina so it could destroy all Sparks in the galaxy, and Mario and friends must save them from the Darkmess Cursa has set upon them.
- Bright and colorful graphics that are a step up from the previous game, with the animation resembling that of a Disney or DreamWorks movie.
- The locations are also gorgeous, including Beacon Beach (a tropical-themed planet whose lighthouse and temple have sunshine as a theme, and is also where you meet Edge), Pristine Peaks (a snowy mountain planet with Midnite's Mansion resting atop it; here, the player joins Rabbid Rosalina), Palette Prime (an autumn forest planet whose colorful leaves are being ruined by the Darkmess; Bowser joins in this world), Terra Flora (a spring meadow planet with many cherry blossom trees and a train station), Barrendale Mesa (a desert/gulch planet which is powered by its wind turbines and is constantly storming), the Melodic Gardens (a jungle planet whose plants function like musical instruments; this is exclusive to The Last Spark Hunter) and of course, Cursa's Stronghold (the final area in the game with a creative yet creepy design).
- The combat system has many improvements over its predecessor, including, but not limited to:
- Your teams can consist of anyone you want, rather than always having Mario and at least one Rabbid at all times, thus allowing for more team customization.
- Each character gets their own individual weapons (such as Mario's Dualies, Rabbid Peach's Triple Troll, Peach's Brellas, Rabid Mario's Dukes, etc.) and special moves to make their fighting styles more unique.
- Movement is no longer grid-based, so you can actually move the character rather than using an aiming cursor.
- Team Jumps now include a Team Glide, in which the characters use Beep-0 to cross terrain and get closer to their targets.
- You can use Sparks in battle to gain Super Effects such as Burn, Splash, Shock, etc., or other special effects such as drawing enemies towards you, summoning enemies, etc.
- This game features more RPG elements than the previous game, such as leveling your characters up in battle and leveling your Sparks up from the Sparks Menu.
- The old characters are still their usual likeable selves, while the new ones are welcome additions to the cast:
- Edge is a spunky new ally who uses her Flying Blade to hit multiple enemies in a line and has her own Overwatch attack called the Stormblade. In a twist reveal, she is also revealed to be the former leader of the Spark Hunters before defecting.
- Rabbid Rosalina is a very pessimistic character that is able to freeze enemies in place using her Ennui power and rapidly fire at them using her Spark Plushies.
- Bowser is now a fully-playable character after being an unwilling final boss in Kingdom Battle. He is able to destroy enemy cover using his Bowzooka and sends out his Rabbid Mechkoopas to seek and destroy his foes.
- JEANIE is an AI prism who provides valuable information about the planets and their denizens.
- The Sparks themselves are adorable fusions of Lumas and Rabbids that grant special powers to their users. There are many to collect in the game, from both main quests and sidequests.
- Each of the planets' Wardens (Augie, Captain Orion, T.S. Woodrow, Bea, Momma and Allegra) are the protectors of their planets and assist the heroes with their journey, a well as providing ship upgrades for the WM ARC.
- Bedrock, Midnite, Daphne and Kanya, collectively known as the Spark Hunters, are all good secondary antagonists who were formerly Edge's allies and make for good boss fights.
- Rayman, the protagonist of the first three Rabbids games, makes a return to the series in the final DLC, Rayman in the Phantom Show. He is unique in that he can grab onto the flying Hooks, as well as being unable to use Sparks; to compensate for this, he can use the Vortex and Rocket suits to not only power up his Blaster and Plunger Guard attacks, but also activate special powers that draw enemies near him and ride around on a rocket to damage them.
- The Phantom also returns in the final DLC, seemingly turning over a new leaf, but is still a hilarious villain as ever. His boss fight (or rather, boss fights with a total of three phases) is also an improvement over his battle in the previous game.
- Great soundtrack composed by Grant Kirkhope, Gareth Coker and Yoko Shimamura.
- The hub worlds are much less linear than the previous game, and you can explore them in more creative ways than before using Beep-0's new powers.
- While Beep-0 doesn't have any of his powers from Kingdom Battle, he does gain two new powers that let him scan for hidden objects and emit a sonic shockwave to activate blocks and switches with purple swirls on them.
- Unlike the previous game there are numerous sidequests in each planet that often reward you with Star Bits, a new Weapon Skin, or even a new Spark.
- Compared to Kingdom Battle, the Rabbids and Beep-0 get actual voiced dialogue in this game, something only the Phantom had in the former.
- Fun DLC that adds new features to an already-rich game:
- The Tower of Doooom is a roguelike story where you must save Spawny from the Tower of Doooom, with the help of Madam Bwahstrella.
- The Last Spark Hunter is a bonus chapter of the main story where Beep-0 and JEANIE discover that the Melodic Gardens aren't making a sound, due to Kanya's interference. You'll take on new sidequests and fight new enemies here.
- Rayman in the Phantom Show is a new story taking place after the main one that features Rayman teaming up with Beep-0, Rabbid Peach, and Rabbid Mario to work on a TV program that the Phantom of the Bwahpera has set up.
Bad Qualities
- Unlike the previous game, where they granted stronger attacks and often Super Effects, Weapon Skins are just for decoration in this game. However, this might be due to the level system for the party members.
- Not as much content as the previous game, especially the jukebox and art galleries, instead the galleries are memories.
- This game doesn't feature Mario elements as much as its predecessor does, with a few exceptions.
- With the exception of the Spark Hunters, Wiggler, Cursa and the Phantom, most of the bosses are REALLY disappointing, since a lot of them are just larger, stronger versions and/or reskins of pre-existing enemies.
- This is the very first occasion in which Mario and Rayman share a game (not counting the latter's appearance as a Spirit in Smash Ultimate), and yet they never once interact or even meet each other, which can disappoint fans who were expecting them to team up or at least interact in some way.
Reception
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope received "generally favorable" reviews (scoring 86/100 on Metacritic), with many considering it an improvement over Kingdom Battle. The game sold 17, 647 physical copies within its first week of release in Japan, making it the third best-selling retail game of the week in that country. However, according to Ubisoft, the game underperformed in the final weeks of 2022 and early January 2023. As of January 2024, the game has sold nearly up to 3 million copies.
Trivia
- This is the last non-remake game to feature Charles Martinet as the voice of Mario and Luigi, as the actor retired from those roles almost a year after this game was released and was replaced by Kevin Afghani starting with Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
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