Will Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope have online and co-op?

Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope is a highly anticipated Nintendo game that takes the intensity of a turn-based strategy game and adds splashes of color and humor. The vibrant mashup sequel has new characters, new enemies, and new locations. But will you be able to experience Mario + Rabbids online with a friend?

Mario + Rabbids is most likely coming sometime in 2022, meaning that the wait for fans shouldn’t be too long. Despite the upcoming launch, not much is known about the Kingdom Battle sequel. Here is everything we know so far about multiplayer, co-op, and online play in Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope.

Is Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope going to have co-op?

Nintendo and Ubisoft have not made any announcements about multiplayer thus far but fans are expecting this to be a feature in Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope.

Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle had co-op multiplayer, meaning friends could team up to take on various challenges. But the multiplayer options were limited. First, players couldn’t compete against each other at all. Second, players that wanted to team up couldn’t do so in the main single-player campaign.

Co-op was a completely separate mode, located in the Buddy Dome within Peach’s castle. In Buddy Dome, each player controls two characters while working together to come up with a strategy to complete various challenges.

It’s possible that Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope will amp up the available multiplayer options due to Nintendo fans openly criticizing the lack of co-op options in the previous game. But so far, developers haven’t given any solid updates about the cooperative portion of the game.

Will Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope have online play?

Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope developers haven’t discussed online gameplay yet, but it’s still a strong possibility. Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle didn’t have any online but that doesn’t mean it’s out of the question for Sparks of Hope since many Nintendo Switch games have seen robust online additions in their sequels.

YouTuber AbdallahSmash026 talked with Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle lead developer Xavier Manzanares about the lack of online play. Manzanares explained that the team wanted co-op from the beginning since the team felt that “turn-based multiplayer would be very cool.”

Manzanares went on to say that all of their focus went into this in-person co-op element instead of online. This was partially due to Nintendo’s lack of online support.

“It’s not just putting it online, it’s about how do you communicate, what do you indicate, how fun it is to be afar. What is fun when you play co-op on the couch is to see the reaction of the other guy… So it’s different, and at the very beginning we decided to really focus our attention on local play,” Manzanares said.

Nintendo has upped its online capabilities since Kingdom Battle, meaning there might be some online opportunities in Sparks of Hope. This is something developers haven’t revealed just yet, so it currently remains a mystery what online Mario + Rabbids would look like.