A crossover between Nintendo’s Super Mario and Ubisoft’s Raving Rabbids franchise for the Nintendo Switch was all but confirmed Tuesday. The game was lined up to be a surprise announcement at the upcoming E3 convention in June, but a massive leak has given away almost everything but gameplay footage.
Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle is being developed and published by Ubisoft and is scheduled to be released later this summer, according to leaked images provided Comic Book and Nintendo World Report .
The game is being described as a role-playing game that mixes exploration and turn-based combat. Players will have four “twisted” Mario worlds to play through filled with puzzles, secret zones, and easter eggs. The explorations bits fill up 35 percent of the game, according to one of the leaked images.
The remaining 65 percent of Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle is a turn-based battle game that journalist Laura Kate Dale described as “ X-Com for kids” via her Twitter account .
Raving Rabbids & Mario cross over. Please be true ?. https://t.co/vaKAcGnuy7 #Nintendo , #MarioRabbidsKingdomBattle , #crossover pic.twitter.com/cuR6WnWGaY
— Mason Vera Paine (@MasonVeraPaine) May 24, 2017
Interestingly, the combat sections will feature guns and other weapons, something not typically seen in a Mario title beyond ghost blasters or water squirt guns. The weapons used in Mario + Rabbids are still cartoonish, however, and appear to be variants of characters and enemies from the Super Mario franchise, like Bullet Bill.
The leak also reveals there will be eight playable characters. Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Yoshi will fill the roster from the Nintendo side, while Rabbids dressed as the four characters will round out the remaining slots. Each character will have their own personalities and playstyles, per the images.
The game is estimated to be 20 hours long and will feature local co-op with a second player. Surprisingly, the game is being developed with Ubisoft’s Snowdrop engine. This is the same engine used for The Division , which is increasingly being spread to other games from the publisher such as South Park: The Fractured But Whole and the upcoming Avatar titles.
A timeline image made clear Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle was meant to be a surprise announcement at E3 with plenty of coverage in July and August followed by a release in August or September. That plan has been altered a good bit thanks to what is one of the more detailed leaks in recent years. However, it is still a massive surprise and gives more positive coverage of the Nintendo Switch.
New Details About Mario x Rabbids: Kingdom Battle Arriving On The Switch https://t.co/wQA0kAf3FH pic.twitter.com/Ppv95WdHpI
— My Nintendo News (@MyNintendoNews) May 23, 2017
This is, of course, not the first crossover Nintendo has done, but it is the first one with Ubisoft. Previous mash-ups have primarily been with Sega for the various Mario & Sonic games for the Winter and Summer Olympics.
Nintendo will not be hosting a live stage presentation at E3 this year, yet again. Instead, the company will host Nintendo Spotlight: E3 2017 live stream on Tuesday, June 12 at 12 p.m. ET/9 a.m. PT. This will be available to view from the company’s website and likely YouTube and Twitch. The focus will be on games launching for the Nintendo Switch in 2017, with special attention paid to Super Mario Odyssey .
The rest of the live-stream events will be from the Nintendo Treehouse: Live at E3 from the show floor when the conference opens June 13 to June 15. Games for both the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo 3DS consoles will share the online stage along with interviews from developers and other personalities from the games maker.
In addition to the live stream, Nintendo will have a massive booth space at E3 that will open at noon on June 13. This will be the first chance to go hands-on with Super Mario Odyssey along with other upcoming Nintendo Switch titles.
[Featured Image by Ubisoft/ Comic Book ]