{"id":104647,"date":"2022-10-22T10:18:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-22T10:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/the-mario-rabbids-sequel-isnt-quite-zany-enough\/"},"modified":"2022-10-22T10:18:00","modified_gmt":"2022-10-22T10:18:00","slug":"the-mario-rabbids-sequel-isnt-quite-zany-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/the-mario-rabbids-sequel-isnt-quite-zany-enough\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mario + Rabbids sequel isn&#8217;t quite zany enough"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<figure class=\"sc-1eow4w5-1 eLNveM align--bleed js_lazy-image js_marquee-assetfigure\" data-id=\"288e3600fa438bbf72a50aae03eb839e\" data-recommend-id=\"image:\/\/288e3600fa438bbf72a50aae03eb839e\" data-format=\"png\" data-width=\"1919\" data-height=\"1080\" data-lightbox=\"true\" data-alt=\"Mario + Rabbids Sparks Of Hope\" data-recommended=\"false\" data-hide=\"false\" contenteditable=\"false\" draggable=\"false\">\n<div class=\"sc-1eow4w5-2 loxZOX has-data img-wrapper\" contenteditable=\"false\" style=\"max-width:1919px\" data-alt=\"Mario + Rabbids Sparks Of Hope\" data-link-reference=\"\" data-link-target=\"\" data-syndicationrights=\"true\" data-imagerights=\"other-license\" data-hide=\"false\" data-hidecredit=\"false\"><span class=\"sc-1eow4w5-0 dnhHtZ js_lightbox-wrapper\"><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:56.3%\" class=\"sc-1eow4w5-3 lktKQM image-hydration-wrapper\">\n<div><img alt=\"Mario + Rabbids Sparks Of Hope\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.kinja-img.com\/gawker-media\/image\/upload\/c_fill,f_auto,fl_progressive,g_center,h_80,pg_1,q_80,w_80\/288e3600fa438bbf72a50aae03eb839e.png 80w, https:\/\/i.kinja-img.com\/gawker-media\/image\/upload\/c_fit,f_auto,g_center,pg_1,q_60,w_140\/288e3600fa438bbf72a50aae03eb839e.png 140w, https:\/\/i.kinja-img.com\/gawker-media\/image\/upload\/c_fit,f_auto,g_center,pg_1,q_60,w_265\/288e3600fa438bbf72a50aae03eb839e.png 265w, https:\/\/i.kinja-img.com\/gawker-media\/image\/upload\/c_fit,f_auto,g_center,pg_1,q_60,w_340\/288e3600fa438bbf72a50aae03eb839e.png 340w, https:\/\/i.kinja-img.com\/gawker-media\/image\/upload\/c_fit,f_auto,g_center,pg_1,q_60,w_490\/288e3600fa438bbf72a50aae03eb839e.png 490w, https:\/\/i.kinja-img.com\/gawker-media\/image\/upload\/c_fit,f_auto,g_center,pg_1,q_60,w_645\/288e3600fa438bbf72a50aae03eb839e.png 645w, https:\/\/i.kinja-img.com\/gawker-media\/image\/upload\/c_fit,f_auto,g_center,pg_1,q_60,w_740\/288e3600fa438bbf72a50aae03eb839e.png 740w, https:\/\/i.kinja-img.com\/gawker-media\/image\/upload\/c_fit,f_auto,g_center,pg_1,q_60,w_965\/288e3600fa438bbf72a50aae03eb839e.png 965w, https:\/\/i.kinja-img.com\/gawker-media\/image\/upload\/c_fit,f_auto,g_center,pg_1,q_60,w_1165\/288e3600fa438bbf72a50aae03eb839e.png 1165w, https:\/\/i.kinja-img.com\/gawker-media\/image\/upload\/c_fit,f_auto,g_center,pg_1,q_60,w_1315\/288e3600fa438bbf72a50aae03eb839e.png 1315w, https:\/\/i.kinja-img.com\/gawker-media\/image\/upload\/c_fit,f_auto,g_center,pg_1,q_60,w_1465\/288e3600fa438bbf72a50aae03eb839e.png 1465w, https:\/\/i.kinja-img.com\/gawker-media\/image\/upload\/c_fit,f_auto,g_center,pg_1,q_60,w_1600\/288e3600fa438bbf72a50aae03eb839e.png 1600w\" sizes=\"&#10;&#9;&#9;&#9;&#9;(max-width: 25em) calc(100vw - 32px),&#10;&#9;&#9;&#9;&#9;(max-width: 37.31em) calc(100vw - 32px),&#10;&#9;&#9;&#9;&#9;(min-width: 37.37em) and (max-width: 49.94em) calc(100vw - 32px),&#10;&#9;&#9;&#9;&#9;(min-width: 50em) and (max-width: 63.69em) 800px,&#10;&#9;&#9;&#9;&#9;(min-width: 63.75em) and (max-width: 85.19em) calc(66.5vw - 32px),&#10;&#9;&#9;&#9;&#9;800px&#10;&#9;&#9;&#9;\" draggable=\"auto\" data-chomp-id=\"288e3600fa438bbf72a50aae03eb839e\" data-format=\"png\" data-alt=\"Mario + Rabbids Sparks Of Hope\" data-anim-src=\"\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<p><figcaption class=\"sc-1ptbguh-0 hxeMec caption\">Mario + Rabbids Sparks Of Hope<\/figcaption><figcaption class=\"sc-7s1ndr-0 ikKPtM has-caption\">Image<!-- -->: <!-- -->Ubisoft<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span data-id=\"288e3600fa438bbf72a50aae03eb839e\" data-recommend-id=\"image:\/\/288e3600fa438bbf72a50aae03eb839e\" data-format=\"png\" data-width=\"1919\" data-height=\"1080\" data-lightbox=\"true\" data-alt=\"Mario + Rabbids Sparks Of Hope\" data-recommended=\"false\" data-hide=\"false\" class=\"js_recommend\"\/><\/figure>\n<p class=\"sc-77igqf-0 bOfvBY\"><em>every Friday, <\/em>AV Club <em>staffers kick off our weekly open thread for the discussion of gaming plans and recent gaming glories, but of course, the real action is down in the comments, where we invite you to answer our eternal question: <\/em><span><strong><em>What Are You Playing This Weekend?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<hr class=\"gcp5ez-1 gcuCXy\"\/>\n<p class=\"sc-77igqf-0 bOfvBY\">2017&#8217;s <em>Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle <\/em>is one of the stranger things Nintendo has ever signed off on.  The company had licensed its famous plumber out to some weird things in the past\u2014<em>Mario Teach Typing<\/em>, <em>Mario Is Missing!<\/em>and the original <em>Super Mario Bros. <\/em>movie come to mind\u2014but nothing on par with a turn-based tactical shooter that gave Mario a gun and paired him up with Ubisoft&#8217;s intentionally aggravating Rabbids characters.  Even weirder: The game was great.  The combination worked, and the developers at the Ubisoft studios that worked on the game clearly had some fun playing with the Mario universe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-77igqf-0 bOfvBY\">I&#8217;ve only put in a few hours on the sequel, <em>Mario + Rabbids Sparks Of Hope<\/em>, and while there are some welcome changes to the gameplay, I can&#8217;t help but feel like it&#8217;s missing a little something.  The first game was so audacious, from top to bottom, that seeing another game where Mario is friends with Rabbids (specifically, Rabbid versions of his friends) and going on an adventure that involves shooting bad Rabbids with a gun (even a silly, sci -fi laser blaster) has kind of \u2026 lost its novelty? <\/p>\n<p><span class=\"flex-video widescreen\"><iframe data-src=\"https:\/\/www.avclub.com\/embed\/inset\/iframe?id=youtube-video-VEAusFKB368&amp;start=0\" data-chomp-id=\"VEAusFKB368\" data-recommend-id=\"youtube:\/\/VEAusFKB368\" id=\"youtube-VEAusFKB368\" data-recommended=\"false\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" class=\"core-inset lazyload\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"webkitAllowFullScreen\" mozallowfullscreen=\"mozallowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><span data-chomp-id=\"VEAusFKB368\" data-recommend-id=\"youtube:\/\/VEAusFKB368\" id=\"youtube-VEAusFKB368\" data-recommended=\"false\" class=\"js_recommend\"\/><\/span><figcaption class=\"sc-1ptbguh-0 hxeMec caption\">Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope &#8211; Cinematic Launch Trailer &#8211; Nintendo Switch<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-77igqf-0 bOfvBY\"><em>Sparks of Hope <\/em>explicitly moves past the more traditional <em>Super Mario <\/em>aesthetics of the first game in favor of bringing in some stuff from the Wii&#8217;s <em>Super Mario Galaxy <\/em>games.  That means you go to different planets, meet wacky new Rabbid characters, and collect Rabbid versions of that game&#8217;s star-like Luma guys.  there&#8217;s nothing <em>wrong <\/em>with any of that, but <em>Mario Galaxy <\/em>was already mostly just space stuff, and the new Rabbid planets are just \u2026 new video game settings with Rabbids in them. <\/p>\n<div class=\"bxm4mm-16 jvTtVq\">\n<div class=\"sc-1atgi65-0 sc-1atgi65-1 bdNdA-D js_commerce-inset-permalink\" data-inset-url=\"https:\/\/events.release.narrativ.com\/api\/v0\/client_redirect\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wayfair.com%2Fflashdeals%3Fnrtv_cid%3D.nrtv_plchldr.%26af_rid%3D1789245528626916798%26nrtv_as_src%3D1&amp;a=1789243249009202478&amp;uuid=f1456e17-3c63-4055-b556-2245861803c3&amp;uid_bam=1780607800286527342&amp;ar=1789245528626916798\" data-inset-category=\"CommerceInsetMobile\">\n<p>G\/O Media may get a commission<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"sc-77igqf-0 bOfvBY\">The first place you visit is a beach world run by a goofy sea god, and while he&#8217;s a good friend and I love him, nothing about any of it seems like something that could only be accomplished with the chocolate-and-peanut-butter combo of Mario and Rabbids.  There&#8217;s just not enough recognizable <em>Super Mario <\/em>stuff or off-the-wall screeching zany Rabbid stuff for me, which is <em>fine<\/em>, but \u2026 like \u2026 if you wanna get nuts, let&#8217;s get nuts.  Give me some Rabbid version of <em>Mario <\/em>stuff that isn&#8217;t just \u201cMario but screaming and with rabbit ears,\u201d or maybe some <em>Mario <\/em>version of Rabbid stuff?  Like a horrible shrieking rabbit turned into a lovable cartoon plumber?  Or how about Rabbid Samus?  Rabbid Link?  Rabbid Captain Falcon? <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-77igqf-0 bOfvBY\">Maybe something cool like that will happen later in the game (I know there&#8217;s some Rayman-themed DLC on the way), but at least in the early hours, it seems like more of the same vibe and aesthetics\u2014and it&#8217;s absurd to be saying that about a game where Mario shoots Rabbids with a gun.  I&#8217;m aware. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-77igqf-0 bOfvBY\">In terms of gameplay, I don&#8217;t have any complaints about <em>Sparks of Hope<\/em>.  The battles are a lot more action-based, since you&#8217;re now free to move around as much as you want, which means you have more freedom to line up your shots or to get teammates in range for area-of-effect bonuses.  Beyond that, you have your team shoot at the enemy, then they get a turn to shoot at you, and you win if you kill everybody or run past them and get to a specific spot on the map.  Pretty straightforward turn-based tactical shooter stuff, made slightly more interesting by the inclusion of Mario and Rabbids\u2014but not as interesting as it seems like it all should be.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>    .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mario + Rabbids Sparks Of HopeImage: Ubisoft every Friday, AV Club staffers kick off our weekly open thread for the discussion of gaming plans and recent gaming glories, but of course, the real action is down in the comments, where we invite you to answer our eternal question: What Are You Playing This Weekend? 2017&#8217;s &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/the-mario-rabbids-sequel-isnt-quite-zany-enough\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Mario + Rabbids sequel isn&#8217;t quite zany enough<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[4],"tags":[6198,3887,33235,33233,273,33236,4204,27217,33234,33232,400,1422,686,279],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":75320,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/mario-rabbids-sparks-of-hopes-rayman-dlc-is-a-decades-long-dream-come-true-for-creative-director\/","url_meta":{"origin":104647,"position":0},"title":"Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope&#8217;s Rayman DLC Is a Decades-Long Dream Come True for Creative Director","date":"September 23, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Mario + Rabbids creative director Davide Soliani has been at Ubisoft for a long, long time. He's been there so long his first game was Rayman for the Game Boy Color, which he worked on after signing on back in 1997.So getting to put Rayman in Mario + Rabbids: Sparks\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":72566,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/video-mario-rabbids-sparks-of-hope-showcases-wiggler-boss-battle-gameplay\/","url_meta":{"origin":104647,"position":1},"title":"Video: Mario + Rabbids Sparks Of Hope Showcases Wiggler Boss Battle Gameplay","date":"September 11, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope launches October 20th exclusively on the Switch, and at the latest Ubisoft Forward event, fans of Mario and the Rabbids got a look the new \"Wiggler Boss Battle Gameplay\". Apart from the battle itself, it showed a new\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":102594,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/video-digital-foundrys-technical-analysis-of-mario-rabbids-sparks-of-hope\/","url_meta":{"origin":104647,"position":2},"title":"Video: Digital Foundry&#8217;s Technical Analysis Of Mario + Rabbids Sparks Of Hope","date":"October 20, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Image: Nintendo, UbisoftDigital Foundry is back with another Switch technical analysis, and this time the focus is on Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope. From a visual standpoint, DF's Oliver Mackenzie feels Sparks of Hope isn't a technical evolution of its five-year-old predecessor, which is a \"totally fair trade-off\" given\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope","src":"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZpZXdCb3g9IjAgMCA5MDAgNDkwIj48L3N2Zz4=","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.kinja-img.com\/gawker-media\/image\/upload\/c_fill,f_auto,fl_progressive,g_center,h_675,pg_1,q_80,w_1200\/288e3600fa438bbf72a50aae03eb839e.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104647"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104647\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}