The much anticipated follow-up to 2017’s Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, which is called Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, finally has a release date and that date is October 20. This is the first time that we saw the game since its release back at E3 2021, after Nintendo accidentally leaked the game themselves.

The game is being directed by Davide Soliani, who also directed the first game and famed game composer Grant Kirkhope is back again as the music meister, no word on if any raps will be provided.

The game has a new villain in Cursa, who has been travelling the cosmos and seeking out the power known as Sparks, the offspring of Lumas and Rabbids. Mario and the rest of the crew will travel across the stars, in order to restore peace, free the Sparks and stop Cursa.

The game is going to feature an evolved form of the grid based combat system that we got in the first game, but moving to a ring of movement, rather than a fixed set of squares.

Just hours before the Direct Mini, it was revealed that Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, the first game in the series, would be available to all Nintendo Switch Online members from July 4 - July 10, completely free. If you want to ensure you claim it, you can do so here, just remember to wait for those dates.