Davide Solani.png

With Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle being released into the wild today, Ubisoft developer Davide Soliani has been speaking with Gamasutra about his experience of working with Nintendo. The now-familiar developer became a popular figure during Ubisoft's E3 conference, filmed crying happy tears after hearing his hero Shigeru Miyamoto praise the game on-stage. 

Mr Soliani spoke about Nintendo and how the company was happy to make different "scenarios that would not typically happen in the Mushroom Kingdom". He then talks about the balance of the game and how comedy would play a role with both characters and gameplay:

Nintendo really wanted us to push the limits as to what players would be able to experience in a Mario game and, through the Rabbids, we were able to create scenarios that would not typically happen in the Mushroom Kingdom. They were also so receptive to us highlighting the comedic elements of the characters and the gameplay.

Early on we were probably being a bit too conscious of wanting to have a balance between the Mario universe and the Rabbids, but Nintendo told us not to worry so much about that and that as long as things worked, the balance would find itself.

The interview goes on to discuss that while Fire Emblem and X-COM may be similar in gameplay, it's the Mario Kart franchise that had a big influence:

The goal was not just to streamline and speed up the standard TRPG formula--it was also to create a more spectator-friendly experience. With the Nintendo Switch, we’ve tried to build in a really dynamic and fun 'couch co-op' mode that reminded dev team members of when we'd play Mario Kart 64 with friends and family and have a blast both racing and watching,

The combat system and the bonuses in Mario Kart were a huge influence on us, We wanted to spice up our combat system with some unique behavior, which we called 'super effect.' Our weapons are not just dealing damage, but are adding some crazy behavior that can be used as an additional layer of strategy in our combat, but also to trigger some unexpected event, to surprise the players.

It's great to see Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle garnering strong reviews considering Mr Solani is such a fan of the plumber and his creator in particular, with the dev claiming that back in 2002 he spent 10 hours camped outside a hotel in Milan during the pouring rain just for a chance to meet Miyamoto-san. 

What do you think to the comments made by Davide Soliani? Are you enjoying Mario + Rabbids? Make sure to let us know in the comments. 

[source gamasutra.com]