Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle sounded like a bizarre idea on paper -- combining the Mario universe with the chaotic Rabbids from Ubisoft -- but the resulting turn-based tactical shooter surprised everyone with production quality comparable to genre classics like XCOM. Thanks to a mysterious device called SupaMerge, the Rabbids are accidentally transported into Mario's Mushroom Kingdom and inadvertently merge it with their own reality, creating a warped, glitch-riddled world in which Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Yoshi must team up with heroic Rabbid copies of themselves to face the chaos the other Rabbids have caused.

The combat system combines cover, grid-based movement, and firearms with classic Mario abilities such as jumping off a teammate's head to reach farther positions, or character-specific special attacks, with each hero-Rabbid pair offering a distinct combination of weapons and abilities. Crucially, movement, a sliding attack into an enemy, and a jump all happen within a single turn without spending an action, turning every round into a small puzzle sequence focused on finding the most efficient route across the map. The level design gradually introduces new mechanics, from simple skirmishes to complex puzzles using terrain and environmental traps, and between battles the player walks through a lightly stylized world with simple puzzles of its own.

The game's humor, full of absurd gags and parodies of the Mario universe, stays true to the Rabbids' style, but the elaborate tactical layer elevates it well above mere parody, aided by an orchestral soundtrack that plays with Mario themes with a knowing wink. The game's design was led by Italian game designer Davide Soliani, whose passion for the project helped convince Nintendo itself to collaborate, one of the most surprising moves by the Japanese company at the time of its announcement. The game also received the Donkey Kong Adventure expansion and a full-fledged sequel, Sparks of Hope, in 2022, and remains one of the most pleasant entry points into turn-based tactics.