The best Mario game on Switch is not by Nintendo – Reader’s Feature

A reader recommends what they consider to be the best Mario game on Switch, with the added bonus that it’s extremely cheap.

It’s been seven years since Super Mario Odyssey and with the Switch 2 coming up you don’t really need much in the way of rumours to guess that a new 3D one is going to be a launch game, or close to it. I do like Odyssey, but I would not say it was the best Mario-related game on the Switch.

There have been lots of others, most of which are excellent, including Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Bowser’s Fury, Paper Mario: The Origami King, Super Mario Maker 2, two Mario Party games, and a bunch of others I’ve probably forgotten about – as well as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, if you count that.

However, none of these are my favourites and, inspired by the news this week that its director is leaving Ubisoft, I’d like to put it to you that Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope is in fact the best Mario game on Switch. Not only that, it’s also the best strategy game of the current generation.

Despite what many assume, Nintendo does let other companies work with its characters from time to time. It’s always more minor spin-offs and remasters but Capcom famously made a couple of 2D Zelda games and lots of minor second party studios have made Mario games before.

They’re almost always Japanese though, with one of the few exceptions being Luigi’s Mansion developer Next Level Games – which Nintendo bought shortly after.

So, giving the keys to the Mushroom Kingdom to Ubisoft was kind of a big deal, which explains why said director is most famous for crying at E3, when he got name-checked by Shigeru Miyamoto.

The first game was called Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle and was very good. Even if you hate Rabbids (which I think most people do) it was a very solid turn-based strategy game, similar to the battles in XCOM. It never stopped being weird for Mario and co. to be using guns (although I’m not sure it was ever said exactly what they were firing) but it was a fun, if slightly unoriginal strategy game.

Apart from anything it was a very good game for those interested in the genre but put off by its complexities. Although for veterans it was still quite a challenge and not easy at all. The sequel is called Sparks Of Hope and that is the one that I’m really here to talk about.

It was a bit of a sales disappointment apparently, because people were still buying the first one, but it’s better in every way, with much more variety and some amazingly clever boss battles. There’s no grid system for moving either, which frees things up a lot and almost makes you forget the game is turn-based at all.

I’d even go so far as to say the combat is better the XCOM, just because it’s so flexible. It’s kind of like the hero shooter version of the same concept, with all the different characters having very different abilities and weapons, as well as their own skill trees. Played on normal it’s also a really hard game, which I appreciate.

On top of this, the graphics are fantastic and up there with any of the Switch’s best games. If it wasn’t for the Rabbids you’d never guess it wasn’t a Nintendo game and there’s no greater praise you can give a Mario game than that.

I don’t know if there’s going to be any more, now that the director has left, but the one benefit of it being a flop is that you can always pick it up for cheap at almost any store. I strongly recommend you do too as not only is it a great game but we may never see its like again.

By reader Grackle

The reader’s features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.

You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. Just contact us at gamecentral@metro.co.uk or use our Submit Stuff page and you won’t need to send an email.

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