Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope Cursa
Image: Ubisoft

Yesterday, the Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope story trailer dropped and gave us a bunch more footage of all the characters we are going to be able to see when the game releases for Switch on October 20th. On top of the classic team, the Rabbid Lumas and the newly-introduced Bowser, the trailer looks like it's teasing the presence of another Mario all-star (if you'll pardon the pun) and she may not be quite as friendly as we've seen her in the past.

If you couldn't guess from our stellar hint above (or, indeed, from the title), many seem to think that Rosalina may have a part to play in the latest tactics game, but not as a hero.

Expressed in an excited tweet from @OnTheDownLoTho, the Twitter user posts a small section of the trailer showing Cursa (the game's main villain) snatching up the Rabbid Lumas before going all red-eyed on them and squishing them up in her galaxy-formed hand.

Watching the clip, you may well be thinking, "hmm, now where have I seen that blue eye before?" The answer may well come from Super Mario Galaxy's observatory overseer, Rosalina. That friendly blue eye certainly matches the space princess' own. "But wait, what's that in the middle of Cursa's chest?" we hear you ask — that's right, it's a star! Where have we seen a character with a star on their chest before? Boom, Rosalina again.

Perhaps the biggest clue of Sparks of Hope's Rosa-mean-a twist is Cursa's galaxy-filled arm and hand. True, blue is hardly an uncommon eye colour in video games and we guess someone else could have an item of clothing with a star on the chest, but how many characters can turn themselves into an Eternity galaxy blob? Not all that many.

If you cast your mind back to Super Mario Galaxy 2, you might remember the Cosmic Spirit Rosalina (seen below) who has a history of making herself a little galaxy-looking. So too does she have a history with growing, like, really big. The ending to Mario Galaxy proved as much, with Mario becoming nothing more than a petit plumber next to Rosalina's towering form.

Cursa's slight hesitation before pulping the Lumas may hint that there's a little bit of goodness left within her, though crushing your friends in your hands is generally a pretty unforgivable move.

The question remains as to why Rosalina has turned to the dark side. Twitter, of course, has its theories, with @Despair_ReRuns linking Cursa to the manipulative power of the MegaBug in Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle.

Be it a connection to the previous game in the series or a load of old codswallop from the beginning, we sure are excited to find out if Rosalina will be making her galactic return in Sparks of Hope.

What do you make of this theory? Share your ideas with us in the comments below!

Further reading

[source twitter.com]