Donât let the ridiculously silly Rabbids fool you. Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope is a formidable tactics game that can and will kick your butt if youâre not careful. Fortunately, the game also gives you a wide variety of mechanics and tools that come together in complex and satisfying ways. Hereâs what you need to know.
Itâs called Mario PLUS Rabbids for a reason…
Sparks of Hope lets you choose your team, and technically, you can roll around with only members of the original Mario cast if youâd like. But if youâre not giving in to the absurdity of the Rabbids, what are you even doing here? The best team is the one that does what it says on the tin.
But you should try out different characters
Itâs easy to stick to what you know, especially if it works. But each new character that you gain has different abilities that may be useful in the specific battle that youâre in. Maybe youâre having a hard time staying alive, in which case a healer might be the way to go. Maybe this battle requires you to get to the end of the map as fast as possible, so your mobile characters are now important. Donât keep using a character just because; the game levels everyone up as you go. Plus, you may discover a new favorite. Not liking the way someone plays isnât really an excuse, either, because the game lets you undo any skill points you spend!
Change the difficulty if you need to
Rabbids features an open world where you can traverse a map full of characters, points of interests, and secrets. Itâs possible to walk into a level before youâre ready for it. And frankly, some levels are just tough! When you start a battle, the game asks if you want to adjust the difficulty. If you find that you have trouble, thereâs no shame in adjusting the experience so youâre having fun rather than banging your head against the wall repeatedly.
Set waypoints
When you open your map, you can see where characters are, along with levels and other handy landmarks. You can highlight each one and press on it so that your radar will tell you where to go to start the quest. Some places will also allow you to fast travel after you select them as well.
Explore the world
You can beeline to the next mission, but that would be a waste. One of the most charming things about Sparks is that Ubisoft has filled the game to the brim with small details and secrets, whether thatâs silly dialogue, red coin challenges, or blue coin levels. Some of this the game will mark on your map when you pass by it, even if you werenât aware that it was there. Other stuff, youâll want to remember because you wonât be able to interact with it the first time you see it. But you wonât see it at all if you donât take a stroll.
Later on in the game, you unlock the ability to scan things. Youâll want to scan swirls on the ground, footprints, shimmers, invisible objects, and cracked walls with your trusty robot buddy Beep-o if you want to have a thorough go at it.
Prepare before battle
First off, you should always stop by a shop before you head into battle so you go in with enough mushrooms and the like. Once youâre in the pre-battle screen, you can look at your enemies and their weaknesses, and change your loadout to suit. Just like you experiment with different characters, you should feel comfortable changing Sparks as needed.
It may also be tempting to tell the game to heal your characters for that small fee, but I encourage you to gamble a bit. Can you get in a heal early? Do you think you can beat the level without taking much damage and simply enjoy the post-match rejuvenation? Eventually youâll unlock the revive ability. Donât waste the money just because you have it.
Spend the money, thatâs why you have it
lol okay but HEAR ME OUT, youâre saving the cash for other stuff! Rather than cashing out on healing, you could instead stock up on things like POW blocks and reset timers that regenerate your abilities instantly. Healing is a built-in mechanic, but not everything is. Save your cash for the things you couldnât otherwise do. By the same token, you should use your items rather than hoarding them until theyâre no longer useful.
Speed it up
Press Y during the enemy turn. Thatâs it, thatâs the tip.
Throw your enemies AND friends
Youâll want to move your characters as far as possible while still being within range of one another, so they can jump and glide to new areas (or heights). Beware fall damageâif you go into a pit, itâs going to hurt! But you can also dash into things like Bob-ombs, activate them, and then throw them into the other baddies to blow everything up. You should always dash on every turn, and keep a look out for pipes and other transportation shortcuts, but if you can dash, glide, teleport, and throw, thatâs even better.
Be careful with your shots
Characters like Mario, for example, will shoot twice. Killing an enemy sometimes requires you to redirect your shot back to the first guy, because it automatically finds another target for the second bullet. Unless, of course, youâre sure that you have a clean shot and want to get two targets. Donât assume youâre going to hit just because you pull the trigger, though. Sometimes itâs best to do a double tap to kill something rather than only kinda hurting two enemies and killing neither.
Line of sight matters
For shooting, the way this works may be obvious. If you canât see it, you canât hit it. But it matters for things like dashes and abilities, too. If you donât stand in the right place, itâs possible for your dash to miss the full Goomba line, so make sure the game says that your enemies will actually take damage, not just that theyâre currently targeted. Donât be discouraged if you donât have access to an enemy, though. Destroy the barriers and leave âem open!
Know your attack priority
If you do your main attack, thatâs it. You canât do anything else. Your secondary ability can also sometimes grey out other choices, so pay attention to what does what.
Play the objective
At the start of a bout, Sparks of Hope will tell you that you need to reach a certain part of the map, or that you need to defeat a specific enemy. Donât ignore the directive. The map will likely start swarming with enemies that werenât there before, which can be scary, and youâll likely want to take care of that. But the level ends as soon as you meet the conditions, so it doesnât matter how outnumbered you are by that point. Everything else is a distraction that may doom you into fighting an impossible fight, and restarting a match can be huge bummer.
Good luck out there!
