A producer of the Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope crossover title states that the game originally had grid-based combat during development. This game was the sequel to the 2017 release of Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, where it took both the Mario cast and Rabbid characters on a new adventure into outer-space in a new tactics-based crossover. One of the major improvements from Sparks of Hope compared to Kingdom Battle was the decision to make the sequel more open as opposed to restricting it to grid-based combat.
When Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle first released, it was a surprising experiment that proved to be rather successful, merging the worlds of Rabbids and Mario into a Turn-based tactics game in the vein of titles like XCOM. The sequel provides its own twist on this format, making it more of a Real-Time Strategy game and allowing for greater exploration. However, this was not always the plan, as Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope producer Xavier Manzanares stated the sequel did originally feature the grid from the previous entry.
According to Manzanares in an interview with EDGE magazine, Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope had the grid based system back during the game's development in 2018. This extended to internal gameplay presentations that the developers were making to both Nintendo and Ubisoft. This however changed around March or April 2019, where they then made the decision to break that system and make things more free and open.
This decision was made as they had felt there was "enough trust" between the two companies that controlling the characters directly would allow for more things that they couldn't do in the past. Moreover, director Davide Soliani noted that there were many prototypes the team went through in order to get the new system right, noting to EDGE the team had done so multiple times to boot. This experimentation and focus on the real-time aspects and single-player adventure did lead to features like multiplayer being cut from Sparks of Hope.
Currently, while the sequel did perform better critically from reviewers and fans, Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope didn't live up to sales expectations, possibly due to the game being released during a very competitive season against big, highly-anticipated titles like Bayonetta 3, Sonic Frontiers, and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. On the flip side, the game does have a post-launch roadmap, adding a set of DLC known as the Tower of Doom, a DLC focused on a mysterious Bob-omb Rabbid, and a Rayman-themed DLC in the future.
Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope is available now for Nintendo Switch.
Source: EDGE (via Nintendo Everything)
