Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle - Another huge round of rumored info

The following info comes from unnamed sources at Ubisoft...

- development started three years ago
- Ubisoft was the one that came up with the idea, and went through the standard pitching process to Nintendo execs
- seems like the title may have been in the works for Wii U at first
- being made by both Ubisoft’s Paris and Milan divisions, with the core creative direction being handled by Milan
- Nintendo is overseeing development and approving ideas, but have been very accepting and quick to approve ideas
- game features surreal, self referential gags
- at one point, there was a hulky Donkey Kong themed rabbid serving as one of the first boss encounters
- this rabbid has access to a pile of bananas that it can use to replenish its health
- to beat him, you have to cut off his food supply to prevent him from recovering
- the DK rabbid will dab periodically if it lands an attack correctly
- when the boss faints, the rabbid cosplaying as Princess Peach in your party takes a selfie with him
- the 8 playable characters each have an individual skill tree of sorts for developing special abilities
- each start with a base skill that they can later improve, in addition to learning new ones
- Mario has a passive ability which enables him to automatically fire at an enemy if they enter his field of vision
- some of these powers are common across multiple characters
- there are unique ones like Peach’s powerful ability to inflate enemies using a foot pump until they explode
- online suite was being tested several months back, although this mode was inaccessible in the test builds
- additional mode named ‘Arena’ was spotted in the test UI
- prototypes feature a mode dubbed ‘amiibo machine’, but the details behind it remain a mystery
- Ubisoft is producing prototype figurines of some of the game’s characters, which may turn out to be amiibo
- this game was originally intended to be unveiled during Nintendo’s January Switch event
- the reveal got pushed back in order to let the game get some more polish
- it will be revealed at E3 2017, and could see release in August or September