Going into E3 this year we knew that there was one Mario game that we wanted to see more of, and that was Super Mario Odyssey for Nintendo Switch. The next game in the 3D Super Mario series that began on N64 with Super Mario 64. Little did we know that Ubisoft were also making a great looking Mario game, with the XCOM meets Fire Emblem fun of Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle.

As part of its daily E3 broadcasts, Nintendo has a lot to show and talk about for both games.

In the following Super Mario Odyssey video we get a closer look at two of the kingdoms in the game -- Sand Kingdom and New Donk City. Now, in terms of Super Mario action Sand Kingdom looks a little familiar. Even if it features a number of great sequenced and challenged built around the whole possession mechanic. Yeah, lest you forget, Mario has the ability to use his hat to become/possess other characters like Bullet Bills. New Donk City on the other hand is a bit of weird one, a Mario-meets-realistic setting that we're not sure about. And what we see in this video doesn't sway us in either direction.



One of the surprise announcements from E3 this year has to be the arrival of Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle in August. Coming from Ubisoft this possibly features better graphics than Odyssey, with gameplay that's a dash of XCOM with its own tactical flavour. And it looks pretty deep too, with character customisation that looks extensive, and the ability to upgrade and chain skills and moves to pull off some impressive attacks. Chalk this one up as another Nintendo Switch exclusive that we need to play.