One of this fall’s big Nintendo Switch games will be Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, a game that has been rumored for quite some time and does indeed exist, as confirmed by art assets provided to Kotaku. The game will mix Nintendo’s iconic plumber (and friends) with characters from Ubisoft’s popular Rabbids series.
Although the person who sent the assets asked us not to share them, they corroborate the existence of a bizarre crossover RPG that’s currently scheduled to come to Switch in either August or September. Ubisoft is developing Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle on the publisher’s proprietary Snowdrop engine, according to the assets we’ve seen. The game’s selling points appear to be a) turn-based combat, b) two-player local co-op, and c) a goofy sense of humor. (The art we’ve seen features Mario and crew wielding guns that shoot laser beams.)
The game will apparently have eight playable characters: Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Peach, and, bizarrely, four Rabbids dressed up as Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, and Peach.
The existence of this Mario and Rabbids crossover was first reported by Laura Kate Dale, who became infamous over the past year for running various rumors about the Switch, including some correct specifics on the hardware. Although many of her software rumors turned out to be false, Dale nailed this one, and it’s likely we’ll see Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle at E3 (unless Ubisoft decides to announce it earlier). (Update (4:49pm): Apparently the French website GameBlog was actually first to report on this game, calling it “a Yoshi / Rabbid Rabbits crossover” in this wild collection of rumors.)
Nintendo and Ubisoft did not immediately respond to requests for comment.