Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope is not a safe sequel

Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope looks like a more interesting sequel than you might expect.

The Kingdom Battle sequel comes out on October 20 and adds a number of new characters, including Mario rival Bowser as a reluctant ally, along with new mechanics, including a less grid-based combat system.

Sparks of Hope also adds two new composers, Yoko Shimomura (who has experience with previous Mario role-playing games such as Super Mario RPG and the Mario & Luigi series) and Gareth Coker (who composed the hauntingly beautiful music for the Ori games). They join Grant Kirkhope, who worked on the music for the first game.

I had the chance to talk to Cristina Nava, senior associate producer on the game, and asked her about these new elements in Sparks of Hope. Below is an edited transcript of our chat.

GamesBeat: When did the team decide to make a sequel? Was this always planned?†

Christina Nava: The first game was an experiment. It was something that we didn’t know how it would be received by the audience, by the audience, by the players. When we understood that the game was working and that people were enjoying it, sometimes very much, we first developed the DLC, the Donkey Kong Adventure and so on. As we did that, we started thinking, okay, now that we’ve launched the DLC, it’s 2018, it’s summer. The game continues to be successful. Can we stop there? Well, no, actually, because we are living the dream of developing such a game in collaboration with Nintendo. It was a dream come true for every Nintendo fan.

We thought we had more to tell the players, more to the players. So we thought, what can we do? Can we do more of the same, do a Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle 2 with different settings and new heroes? We didn’t have to touch the mechanics, which seemed to work. Or should we innovate again and give players something more, something they didn’t expect? And so we started thinking about how – especially with the combat, because it’s a combat game – we could make something innovative again. That’s how we started thinking about, okay, let’s look outside the turn-based tactical game niche and go to real-time. Real-time action, real-time movement. This was the foundation of how it all started, along with a bigger story in a bigger universe.

GamesBeat: One thing that struck me about the trailer is that, aesthetically speaking, the first game took so much out of the Mario universe. It seemed to come straight out of a Mario game. Here things are visually clearer. Can you tell us more about that approach?

nav: Thanks for mentioning that, for mocking that, because that’s another aspect where we didn’t want to repeat ourselves. Everyone of us really liked the aesthetic of the first game, but we wanted to innovate there too. Together with our art director and the creative director, we thought about a different aesthetic, to give something different there. The motivation was just artistic. We wanted to give something new again. We had nothing against the previous aesthetic. We just wanted something new. We are developers, but we also remain real players. As players we like to be surprised and give a new experience, with all the senses. Visually, we want something new every time.

GamesBeat: The other notable thing is that each character now has a unique weapon. They don’t just have the arm cannons. Can you talk about that approach and how you’ve combined each character with their weapons, like how Luigi now has a bow and arrow?

nav: Each hero belongs to a specific archetype, even if it may not be obvious. We don’t declare it. But you mentioned Luigi. Luigi is a long-range fighter. He has, as you said, a bow. He’s a marksman. Each hero has their signature signature weapon. He deals more damage the further away from the enemy he is. As he gets closer, the damage gets smaller. He links the weapon’s features to his signature technique. Each hero has their own signature technique. His name is the Steely Stare, which means….

GamesBeat: Like in Mario Kart, that’s great.

nav: Yeah yeah! And Mario has the Hero Sight while Luigi has the Steely Stare. With that, if you choose to activate that technique even outside of his turn, when an enemy moves in his line of sight, within the skill’s range and area of ​​effect, Luigi will respond. He can shoot at the target even outside his turn. It is not only during the hero’s turn, but also during the enemy’s turn. It’s one of my favorite moments. I tend to use it a lot because I like it when my plans come together. When I expect the ability to activate and I see an enemy can go into the area that Luigi is looking at, see it all come together, see enemies flying in the sky, heroes reacting and firing, that gives me real satisfaction. You can make many combinations by carefully planning what happens on the battlefield.

GamesBeat: I found it interesting to see Yoko Shimomura contribute to the soundtrack. She has so much history with Mario and role-playing games, dating back to the original Super Mario RPG. Is that why she was approached to contribute to the music of this game?

nav: Yoko is a legendary musician. We have always been big fans of her. It is true that she has a history that goes back. The fact that we tried to have her on board, and we succeeded, was because we really liked her style, and we wanted a lot of different vibes in the game from a musical point of view. Grant is coming back, Grant Kirkhope. He did a great job and became a friend of ours in Kingdom Battle. He is truly the personification of the musical style of the union, the amalgamation of the Mario and Rabbids universes. And since we’ve become cosmic, we naturally wanted to have different musical moods in the game. One of the first names that came to mind was, okay, we have to try. We want another legend. We had Grant and we wanted another legendary name. So we tried, and we got her.

She works with the third musician on the game, as we have three musicians this time. We went cosmic not only with the story and the worlds, but also with the music. We also have Gareth Coker. It’s a matter of liking their music styles so much.

GamesBeat: We saw Rabbid Rosalina, who looks like a nice character. She has such a jaded personality. Will the human Rosalina somehow appear in the game?

nav: Rabbid Rosalina is there because it also pays tribute to some Super Mario Galaxy themes and elements. Rabbid Rosalina is a big fan of Rosalina. [Rabbid Rosalina] doesn’t appear too late in the game, as we wanted players to be able to add her to their hero list as soon as possible. As for Rosalina herself, I wouldn’t want to ruin the story for you, so I can’t deny or admit she’s there. You won’t know for a few months if there are other Galaxy elements in the game. But for now, Rabbid Rosalina is here.

GamesBeat: Adding Bowser as a party member, that’s pretty exciting. He had a part in the first game, but he didn’t have much screen time. Now he becomes a playable party member. That’s a pretty exciting change.

nav: Absolute. In the first game, in Kingdom Battle, we had more of a Bowser cameo. He was on vacation. It was his son who messed up with the heroes in the different environments. We really wanted Bowser here. It was the perfect time, because we have an nemesis, Cursa, and Cursa wants to drain all the energy from the galaxy. With his powers, he is able to ghost control even Bowser’s henchmen. So you may have seen the Bob-ombs and the Goombas with the lit-up eyes in the trailer, as they are controlled by Cursa. That leaves Bowser alone. He is no longer the king of the Koopas. He must win back his minions and so, however reluctantly, he must ally with the heroes and become one of the playable heroes.

He has explosive powers, the Bowzooka. He shoots magma rocks at the enemies. He unleashes on the battlefield, with his technique, Rabbidized Mecha Koopas, which go to a target and attack them naturally. Bowser is a lot of fun to play.