Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope / YMMV

Awesome Music:
- With a team consisting of Grant Kirkhope (returning from the previous game), Yoko Shimomura (adding yet another Mario-related work on her résumé), and Gareth Coker (of Ori fame), this was inevitable.
- Rather fittingly, a majority of the music for the Rayman in the Phantom Show DLC campaign is done by Christophe Héral, known for Beyond Good & Evil, and, more importantly for this case, the UbiArt Rayman games: Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends. And yes, his additions are bangers, too.
- Fans were hoping for Phantom to get another song, and BOY did he deliver! Another roasting song that is equally catchy as his previous one.
Character Rerailment: In the Rayman in the Phantom Show DLC, the character's personality is much closer to how he appeared in Rayman 2 and 3; a friendly and laidback, if somewhat cocky and egotistical individual, compared to the far more excitable and manic persona he had in Origins and Legends.
Complete Monster: Cursa, the physical reincarnation of the Megabug, born from a fragment of the latter absorbing stellar matter and becoming sapient, planned to destroy the universe by covering it in darkness. Cursa went on to attack the Comet Observatory, causing the Rabbids and Lumas to fuse into Sparks and Cursa to possess Rosalina. After taking over Rosalina's body, Cursa absorbs the life out of and kills hundreds of Sparks across the universe, ultimately planning to absorb all of the remaining Sparks across the universe and kill them as well so that it can crush Rosalina's hope—purely out of spite—and also so that it can retain control over her. Cursa goes on to pollute multiple worlds with Darkmess, causing destruction and mayhem. Cursa then attacks the Mushroom Kingdom and mind controls all of Bowser's minions. Cursa later absorbs the life out of three Sparks given to it by one of its three remaining Spark Hunter minions and swiftly kills said Sparks in the process, and cruelly punishes and abuses the other two Spark Hunters for not having any Sparks for it to absorb.
Contested Sequel: While both Mario + Rabbids games were well-received, some fans argue that the first game is superior for its X-COM-style gameplay and having a greater amount of Mario series elements involved in the narrative (namely in the form of Yoshi as a playable character in the main game and Donkey Kong getting his own DLC campaign), whereas others prefer the second game for the integration of Real-Time Strategy elements into the combat to make it more action-oriented, much deeper plot, and having Rayman as a DLC character with his own story campaign.
Demonic Spiders:
- Oozers. Their main gimmick is their ability to seal your weapons or your techniques and sparks. Each of these abilities has a two turn cooldown, so they alternate between the two. Beware when dealing with two Oozers at once, as they will coordinate their techniques so that both debuffs will be on you at once at all times, requiring you to either use up items to cure the debuffs or fight from a distance.
- Riptides. Wildclaws are already a pain to deal with due to the fact that they react to any attack by approaching you and, if they get within range, hitting you with a powerful melee attack. Riptides do this as well, but their attacks also get stronger the more you damage them, and inflict a splash debuff in the process. Also where Wildclaws' advances could be mitigated by inflicting the splash debuff on them, Riptides are immune to it. And they have a very large amount of health, making them akin to a Boss in Mook Clothing.
- From The Last Spark Hunter onwards, Fieldbreakers. These enemies have large amounts of health and deal major, cover-ignoring damage. Their most dangerous attack, though, is their ability to rain down Darkmess puddles that cover the battlefield, which they can and will use every turn. They deal good chunks of damage every time you step in them and have a nasty habit of covering up important areas, such as entrances/exists to pipes and the buttons in the "Coup in Kanya's Lair" mission. On top of all of this, they're resistant to all status effects that can be resisted, which is especially noticible when they're paired with Golem enemies, which grant heroes who dash their eggs their respective elemental properties for the turn, which can heavily cut down on your ability to properly handle the Fieldbreakers.
Ensemble Dark Horse: Out of the group of Spark Hunters who each have their fair share of fans, Midnite is considered to be the most notable, due to her adorable ghostly appearance, while being generally alluring to her fans, and she has been the subject of fanart since she was introduced in the trailers, more than the rest of the members. On top of that, she is the only Spark Hunter who had the closest friendship with Edge, even after this friendship soured once the latter left their group.
Epileptic Trees: Given the presence of Rabbid Rosalina, the Sparks looking like Lumas and the game taking place in space, many fans have theorized that Rosalina will play some part in the game. Come the full game release and it turned out that yes, Rosalina herself is in the game.
Hilarious in Hindsight: Fans referred to the game as Nintendo's Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) when it was revealed at E3 2021. A few months later, it was announced that Chris Pratt would be voicing Mario in The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
- In addition, it was also announced that Charlie Day would be voicing Luigi in the same movie. Not only have Pratt and Day worked together in The LEGO Movie, but Day provided the voice of Benny: an astronaut obsessed with spaceships.
I Knew It!:
- Pretty much everyone realized that Cursa was possessing Rosalina well before the game released.
- Similarly, pretty much everyone correctly guessed that Edge was a former Spark Hunter.
Just Here for Godzilla:
- The inclusion of Rayman has certainly convinced more people to purchase not just the Phantom Show DLC, but the game as a whole.
- There are also some people who became interested in the game just to hear the final voice performance of Charles Martinet as Mario and Luigi, after he had been voicing the characters in every game since 1994, almost thirty years earlier, before passing on both roles to Kevin Afghani.
Salvaged Gameplay Mechanic: One of the main complaints the first game received was that Mario was not only quite useless in combat, but also required in the team alongside at least one Rabbid. This game alleviated this complaint by not only making Mario and the Rabbids optional in the team, but also making Mario more useful by giving him the ability to shoot enemies in two different directions with one attack.
Scrappy Mechanic:
- Some of the sidequests (like the Planet Coins that are hiding in random level scenery) are considered "hidden" and won't show up in your quest log even after you fully completed the story in that world. This can make 100% completion a bit of an undertaking without a guide.
- Throwing Darkmess Eggs at Darkmess Eyes, especially during a battle. Sometimes physics will not be your friend and you'll line your throw perfectly only for the Egg to collide with a corner of level geometry instead.
Shocking Moments:
- The Rabbids can speak now.^note Given that the Rabbids have been previously portrayed as only Heroic Mimes in past games, this revelation was enough for the internet to go completely bonkers.
- Beep-O having a British accent was something that surprised players, given how American and Italian accents were the default for voice-acting in the franchise.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: This is the very first instance of Mario and Rayman sharing a game (not counting Rayman appearing as a spirit in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate), and yet they never got to meet or interact.
Unexpected Character: The September 10th Ubi-forward stream would unveil that Rayman would join the party in the game's third DLC expansion, surprising just about everyone since Rayman hasn't been seen, let alone acknowledged by the Rabbids (despite the two being in a Shared Universe) since Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party back in 2008, and was last playable in Raving Rabbids 2 the year prior. It also marked twenty years since he last appeared as a main character in a 3D game.
Unpopular Popular Character: Warden Woodrow of Palette Prime. In-Universe, he brings bad luck whenever he recites a poem, was once chased by an angry mob in an attempt to bar him from poetry, and is described by Beep-O as "depressing" and "a bummer at parties". Out of universe, his sad backstory and unique character design has made him one of the more popular characters in the game's fanbase.
Visual Effects of Awesome: While the first game looked pretty good, Sparks of Hope truly upped its game, and now the graphics are even better than before.

YMMV / Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope

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