When I played Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, I realized that playing the game with a friend in the same room was much more fun than playing online multiplayer. When you win. you can celebrate and when you lose you can easily blame the controller, or complain about how the game is broken, and have a good laugh while you lament. That’s why I always tell everyone to buy Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and an extra controller, along with the Nintendo Switch, because the Joy-Con controller is unwieldy and has tiny buttons).
Sitting in the same room and enjoying the same game is by no means a new concept, but it’s what makes the game a lot of fun. With Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, it looks like Nintendo and Ubisoft have just created a fun co-op game that everyone can enjoy. To top it off, this game will be officially available in India – a rarity for most things Nintendo.
From what we know of Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle so far, it’s clear that the game’s battle mechanics rely heavily on multiple characters working together to clear levels. This is a turn-based tactical RPG, which means you’ll have to think through every move you make. The game also has a co-op mode that supports all Nintendo Switch controllers, which is nice to see.
How Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle Was Made For Nintendo Switch
A video from Ubisoft gave us an in-depth look at the co-op mode and it looks fantastic. Here the two developers show a mission where you are supposed to escort Toad and Toadette to certain points on the map. Several waves of enemies are on their way and you have to face them to reach the goal.
It’s easy to see that co-op mode will require a lot of planning and talking with the person sitting next to you. It starts with choosing characters – Princess Peach’s team jump move has a healing power that helps other characters gain health and even lets her unleash an attack after it. You can’t just pick your favorite tank of a character and expect to win the game – you’ll need good healing and support characters to get the job done while working together.
Another important element of the game is the choice of primary and secondary weapons. For a rescue mission, you’re going to need weapons that don’t cause friendly fire because you don’t want to hurt the characters you’re escorting.
This all looks great because not only will it force each person to plan their moves during the game, but it will also ensure that the co-op begins before the game even begins. Ideally, you’ll want to choose the right combination of weapons and see if you can choose characters that complement each other. Some characters have sentries, which can attack enemies while you’re in cover. You also need to consider these factors while playing.
This means that the game rewards you for playing other modes with all available characters, each with their own skill tree. If you unlock a lot of skills for more characters, it might end up having a positive impact on your co-op experience. Not only will you be able to better guide new players, but you’ll also rely more on their tactical skills to help you through levels. Ubisoft has already confirmed that the AI will not be child’s play and any good turn-based strategy game should give you pause before you jump in.
Even after completing your move, you have to watch out for your enemies’ special moves. Some enemies will charge at you as you attack them and you need to choose characters who can counter this or sentries who can spray them with honey to stop them in their tracks.
However, Nintendo and Ubisoft face several challenges. Balance is vital to any strategy game and while the developers insist they’ve balanced all characters, we’re bound to see players find exploits. Even the best strategy games of this genre have had characters nerfed – where certain stats are reduced to prevent people from exploiting loopholes. Ubisoft will have to actively patch the game to ensure that no one character takes over the others. If they are successful with this game, it might inspire other great strategy games to create a co-op mode.
A robust co-op mode in series such as XCOM and Shadowrun could have enticed more people to play these games and one can only hope that co-op games will grow in popularity. We already know of a big co-op game planned for next year – A Way Out – and hopefully more developers will bring their games to Switch with a co-op mode. It could also lead to more ports for the Nintendo Switch, with Rocket League already being a good example.
A lot of thought has gone into creating Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle and the co-op mode in particular may end up enticing people to buy it. If Mario’s presence alone isn’t enough to entice people to buy it, then the presence of a solid co-op mode that brings the whole family or a group of friends together surely will.
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle will be released on August 29 for Nintendo Switch and will cost Rs. 3,499 in India and $60 in the US.
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