Rumor: Mario and Ubisoft’s Rabbids will star in a crossover Switch RPG

Nintendo loyalists have been calling for a true successor to the excellent Super Mario RPG for years at this point, and it appears that their prayers will finally be answered — but there might be a slight catch. A new report from Let’s Play Video Games suggested that Mario will be teaming up with Ubisoft’s Rabbids for a role-playing game (RPG) on the Nintendo Switch.

The report stated that the working title for the game is Mario RPG: Invasion of the Rabbids, and that it is being developed by Ubisoft under the guidance of Nintendo. It’s scheduled as a launch title for the Switch. It appears that it will launch at the same time as the next 3D Mario installment, as well.

The game will reportedly “[conform] to Nintendo’s own internal specifications for how Mario characters and iconography should be presented.”

The story will take place in the Mario universe, which has been invaded by both friendly and dastardly Rabbids characters, and will apparently feature a new version of Bowser designed to look like a Rabbid. Yoshi and a Rabbid will also be playable characters. The Rabbids characters will “jump” from your TV screen to the handheld to simulate your system becoming “infested” with the creatures … God help us all.

It’s worth noting that this wouldn’t be the first time a Mario role-playing game was developed by a third party. While the Paper Mario series has largely been developed at the Nintendo-run Intelligent Systems, AlphaDream has handled the Mario & Luigi RPG series, and the original Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars was developed by Square.

Recent role-playing Mario titles have met with a mixed reception. Paper Mario: Color Splash was criticized for abandoning most RPG elements entirely, and Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam is considered one of the weakest games in the entire series.