Mario + Rabbids 2’s development team is triple the size of the first game’s
Creative director says the aim is to make a proper sequel, not just repurpose the original
The development team for Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope is three times the size of the team that worked on the original game.
The news was revealed during a Multiplayer.it interview with the game’s creative director Davide Soliani and producer Cristina Nava.
During the interview, it was explained that while the first Mario + Rabbids was developed with a team of just over 100 people, that number has now tripled for Sparks of Hope, with other Ubisoft divisions also getting involved.
Elsewhere in the interview, Nava explains how the game’s new 360-degree camera system makes the title look and feel different from its predecessor. Whereas the first game was played with an overhead view, players will now have free control over the camera and can bring it down to ground level.
“It’s not just about a camera change,” Nava says. “The worlds are no longer a corridor like the exploration parts were in Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle between battles. It’s not an open world, this we would like to point out, however within each planet you will be able to move more freely.”
Soliani also adds that many of the new features in the game are a direct result of fan requests, including the ability to customise squads to play only as Mario or Rabbids characters.
“We’ve been listening to our community so much, and some of the things they’ve asked for that we’ve been collecting and discussing since we released the game in 2017 have become a reality, things we can’t talk about yet.” Soliani explains.
further reading
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope has officially been revealed with its first trailer
“I’ll give an example because it’s not a spoiler: it was a lot of people’s desire to be able to freely compose their team, and in Sparks of Hope a player can decide to team up with all Nintendo characters, all Rabbids-only characters, or a mix of whatever they prefer. It’s a small example that came directly from the community and has become an integral part of the game.”
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope was officially revealed earlier this month during Ubisoft’s E3 2021 presentation.
The game has players teaming up the likes of Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach with their Rabbid counterparts as they travel through space to save the Sparks, creatures that are part Rabbid and part Luma from Super Mario Galaxy.
