‘Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle’ Key Art & Details Leaked, Slated For E3 Reveal

If you’ve been skimming the internet, you may have heard rumblings concerning a crossover between Nintendo’s Mario and Ubisoft’s Rabbids franchises. Notably, Kotaku verified the game’s existence earlier this month. Well, thanks to recent revelations, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle is now irrefutably real.

MARIO + RABBIDS KINGDOM BATTLE ARTWORK LEAKS

Thanks to ComicBook.com and Nintendo World Report, we have concept art and production slides pertaining to the upcoming RPG.

The playable characters hailing from Mario’s universe are Peach, Luigi, Yoshi and, of course, the titular plumber himself. Conversely, the Rabbids’ roster consists of four of the psychotic rabbits dressing up as the former four heroes.

All fighters will arm themselves with a weapon. (Personally, I think it’s a nice reference that Luigi’s gun is a vacuum.) Furthermore, a closer look at the game’s boxart seems to imply the existence of a Rabbid modeled after Donkey Kong. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean it nor the gorilla it’s based on will appear in playable roles.

Kingdom Battle is being helmed by two of Ubisoft’s internal studios, namely Ubisoft Paris and Ubisoft Milan, with Nintendo assuredly providing guidance. Snowdrop, Ubisoft’s new engine which was first used to power Tom Clancy’s The Division, is also being used for this mashup.

Nintendo’s digital E3 presentation is slated for June 13, so that’s likely the day this title will be formally unveiled. However, as the production slides reference how the team expected a reaction of surprise at E3, we’ll certainly see it next month. (Incidentally, the existence of another Mario RPG was also discovered recently, and I still expect to see that at E3, too.)

Also according to their plan, Kingdom Battle is intended to make an appearance at Gamescom in August. The Nintendo Switch title is scheduled to release in August or September of this year.