Games
We speak to Ubisoft's developers about the main game's breakout success, the future of the franchise and a particular barrel-throwing ape.
At E3 2018, major gaming companies debuted trailers and demos galore. It was a veritable feast for the senses. Among all the major AAA debuts, though, like The Last of Us Part II and Super Smash Bros Ultimate, you might have overlooked the announcement of Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle DLC. Today, Ubisoft drops Donkey Kong Adventure, an all-new set of missions featuring the world of Nintendo's classic arcade antagonist, Donkey Kong.
According to Creative Director Davide Soliani, the DLC, originally planned to be short and modest, quickly outgrew its original vision.
"In the Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle Donkey Kong Adventure DLC, we wanted not only to create new classic enemies, but also put a lot of thought into making every battle a unique experience," Soliani tells us. "We added new enemy archetypes, new mission objectives, new world events and almost as many cutscenes as we have in the main game.
"When we started production of the DLC, we were aiming at three to four hours of experience, but we got carried away during the process to the point that it's now half as big as the main game," he continues. "The story mode is more than eight hours long, and then, at the end, players will unlock extra challenges."
Soliani emphasises, time and again, that this massive DLC is a "thank you" to the supportive fans – that he and his team are exerting this extra effort out of gratitude and humility. On the face if it, that sounds like a bit of PR, but to understand how unlikely and unexpected Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle was, you have to jump back to 2014. That's when Ubisoft began internal discussions with Nintendo. Soliani traveled to Nintendo headquarters in Japan multiple times to work out the parameters of the Mario and Rabbids partnership.
Certainly, it wasn't an obvious fit. The Mario franchise signified establishment, the bedrock upon which the modern gaming industry is built. The Rabbids, meanwhile, signified anarchy and chaos – crudely drawn and crudely behaved, like off-kilter internet memes.
Nintendo took a hands-off approach to the game. In fact, on at least two occasions, Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto encouraged Soliani and his team to push the envelope even further, and show how wild they were willing to get.
When Ubisoft unveiled the game at E3 2017, Miyamoto thanked Soliani for his hard work and dedication. Recognised and validated by one of his inspirations, Soliani burst into tears. Clearly, the man put his heart into this unlikeliest of pairings. It was that same enthusiasm that Soliani and his team brought to the Donkey Kong Adventure DLC, starting with Donkey Kong himself.
"As a team, we love Donkey Kong games and we love him as a character," says Soliani. "Personally, I've been intrigued by the possibilities of what he could offer in our game. We really played around his physicality – his long and powerful arms, his agility, and his temper – and we came up with a lot of new skills that are truly a game changer in our combat system.
"Donkey Kong can grab pretty much everything he encounters on the battlefield: enemies, team-mates and cover blocks (even the explosive ones) and he can throw them wherever he wants. He can also carry them around while moving or swinging, thanks to Dandelions that help him move quickly from one part of the map to another. And those are just his movement abilities."
In the core Mario + Rabbids game, the different playable characters have special abilities, which also function as Easter eggs for observant fans. Luigi, for example, has Steely Stare, a meme reference to his death stare in Mario Kart 8. Donkey Kong is also filled with nods to his storied past.
"He can play bongos to attract enemies and then ground pound an area around himself to make them fly away," says Soliani. "Or he just uses his Bananarang to hit multiple enemies at once. The synergy between Donkey Kong's moveset and the other characters' movesets opens a lot of tactical choices for players. I can't wait to see the first reactions from our fans."
Ubisoft and Nintendo both emphasise the emotional impact these characters have on fans. It makes sense, then, that they also celebrate the value and intimacy of local couch play over online multiplayer. It's an old school mentality, that multiplayer is meant to be a social activity, conducted both over gameplay and in-person.
"Because the game is a turn-based combat experience, we loved the idea of building a multiplayer experience inside the living room or on the go," says Soliani. "You can face a challenge with a friend and cooperate together. We love having two players discuss a common strategy and take the time to talk it over."
The company reinforced these traditional values in December 2017, when they offered a free update to include local versus play. It's not the online matchmaking system that many fans hoped for, although Soliani does acknowledges the untapped potential.
"It would be interesting to bring the Mario + Rabbids experience to an online platform," says Soliani. "But an online matchmaking system is not planned for the game.
It would be interesting to bring the Mario + Rabbids experience to an online platform
"Nintendo has been always supportive with all our ideas. Collaborating with them was a pleasure, and we think our relationship has strengthened over time."
It's a vague, but intriguing answer. Could another Mario + Rabbids game be in the works? And now that the first game has been a success, and the trust has been solidified, is an online multiplayer more likely now than it was before? Soliani doesn't say.
But it's good news that Nintendo has allowed a third party company to play so fast and loose with its sacred cows. Hopefully, Nintendo will continue to seek out collaborators that will treat their iconography with the respect – and gentle ribbing – that it deserves.
