When Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle was first announced, gamers were quick to notice what series had inspired it. Yes, the mechanics of the excellent XCOM games could certainly be found in there somewhere… Well, it turns out the developers of that particular franchise are pretty happy about the whole thing.
Takeaways:
- XCOM 2’s creative director, Jake Solomon, says he was very surprised and happy at the announcement, “It was really cool to see”.
- Solomon checked out some gameplay with Luigi entering half cover and was left shocked, “What world am I in?”
- On Nintendo and Ubisoft’s effort he said: “If they do something great, I’ll steal it… It’s going to generate more fans and it’s going to come up with new ideas.”

- Solomon says he owes his success to British game designer Julian Gollop, co-creator of the original X-COM franchise
- The biggest surprise? The fact that Nintendo was willing to put a rocket launcher in Princess Peach’s hands in the first place: “If I had known we could have done that, I would have pitched that to Nintendo a long time ago,” Solomon said with a laugh.
They often say greatness inspires greatness. This writer is a big fan of both Mario and XCOM, so to see both of them coming together is quite brilliant indeed. Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle is coming to the Switch on August 29th – will you be picking it up? Let us know in the comments below, if you please.
Jake Solomon talks Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
I am so, so, so, so, SO stoked for this game. Mario + XCOM, two of my favorite things mashed together. And Rabbids are there, too.