Episode 442: Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle

[Rob Zacny]

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Three Moves Ahead 442:

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
Ever since Troy Goodfellow founded Three Moves Ahead in the mid-60s, the same question has been asked over and over: When will you cover a Mario game? Your emails, faxes, and mimeographed tracts have been heard, and we are proud to present our first Mario-based episode: Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle for the Nintendo Switch. Rowan Kaiser took over the studio along with guests Danielle Riendeau and Ben Bertoli to talk about Mario + Rabbids and its expansion, Donkey Kong Adventure. Referred to as "Mario XCOM" since its announcement, Mario + Rabbids combines tactical gameplay with the character and charm one would expect from a Nintendo + Ubisoft game. Is the first Mario game we've covered on 3MA? We believe so. Is it the last? Not likely, given the strategic depth and Cold War undertones of Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker.

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, Into the Breach, XCOM

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[Henke]

I liked, but didn't love, Mario+Rabbids, so I didn't pay much attention to the Donkey Kong DLC, but you guys really sold me on it.

 

I also stuck with Rabbid Peach for most of the campaign, she really is the breakout star of the game.

[ilitarist]

is this episode cursed

[Khan Khomrad]

Danielle is back. Hurrah!

[Michael]

9 hours ago, ilitarist said:

is this episode cursed

 

Yes

[ilitarist]

On a more serious note, it's funny how my two favourite genres - turn-based strategy and RPG - are mostly PC-exclusive. But their fusion, strategy RPG, is mostly available on consoles. And rare SRPG you get on PC is more like squad-based tactics with skills, and between Silent Storm and XCOM there was almost nothing. King's Bounty, maybe. Now it's better and you get more indie strategy RPGs and even big ones like Disgaea and Valkyria Chronicles are ported. But still - you can get any Final Fantasy on PC except of three Tactics games. And you don't have most entries from Disgaea, Valkyria Chronicles, and no Fire Emblem or Etrerian Odyssey. This is strange.

[Cbirdsong]

This episode got me to return to the game after falling off halfway through and check out the Donkey Kong DLC. It's a very good distillation of the base game, but all the problems I had with the base game remain present to some degree

 

I really like that you can just respec your skill points as much as you want and experiment with builds, but it really doesn't feel like the UI and skills themselves were designed around that. It would be better if there were less granular skills that you can more easily rearrange, as configuring your team around the level is clutch for the really difficult post-game challenges. (Those also really make me wish for a rewind mechanic like Invisible Inc.)

 

I still feel like the world map traversal and puzzles are largely a drag on the game, even though they removed the base game's truly terrible timed challenges. I imagine they felt like they needed to break up the crunchy tactical levels somehow, but the puzzles are at best annoying to complete, and I can't ignore them because sometimes (rarely) you get skill points instead of a meaningless collectible. I hope they come up with something different if they make a proper sequel. Maybe a light city builder kind of thing?