Rabbid kong was a key character for the Mario + Rabbids team. Our game was based on parody, and the use and misuse of iconic elements. Recognising a character loved by everyone from a completely different perspective is what made us fall in love with the world we were creating, and what also created our biggest challenge. Rabbid Kong was not easy to come up with by any means. Finding the right idea, with the right lines to depict him, which humorous elements to use and how, was not an easy task. At that time were constantly churning out ideas about everything and I remember like it was yesterday that we had been going on for weeks about Rabbid Kong. I think there is a stack of papers in Ubisoft Milan that is full of pencil sketches of ideas about on him.
My art director found the solution at the most unexpected moment.
We wanted to create a big Boss at the end of the wood tower in Ancient Garden, the first world of M+R. Instead of a big tree, as we were planning to have at that time, we wanted a more vertical structure, made of wood, that was reminding a bit a skyscraper. Thinking of the tower as a skyscraper, made us think about King Kong, which lead us to Donkey Kong, and made us start going crazy in term of finding the right way to merge Donkey Kong and a Rabbid. We made so many test that after few weeks we started to be a bit worried about being able to find a solution that could answer all our needs. One day, while Mauro, my art director, was in the hospital to accompany his dad for a check-up (no worries, he is fine now), he found a napkin in a bar inside the hospital’ structure and started to sketch on it, drawing Rabbid Kong, almost as we know it today. In those sketches Rabbid Kong was not yet the final one, but he was looking at a banana and a carrot, undecided about which one to eat, and this element of humor with the lines and proportion suggested by Mauro, made us fall in love with him.
Rabbid kong sketch over a napking found in a bar inside an hospital
Rabbid Kong is looking at a banana and a carrot
When I saw the drawing he showed me the next day, I was very impressed, we had just found our Rabbid Kong.
You can then imagine and understand our surprise and our joy in discovering that Rabbid Kong would become a statue of 5x5 meters (16x16 feet) and that it would be on display at the entrance of E3 in Los Angeles. I leave you with the images of the construction of the kong statues, which were done in a gigantic hangar to allow people to work on a larger statue.
CURIOSITY: Not many players knows that if they place a character (not Mario) nearby Rabbid Kong’s banana switch during the Boss battle, in his turn he will grab that hero and scratch his ass with the her'e’s face and then throw him far away, on the ground.
TIPS: You can use a sentry to trigger the banana trap, allowing you to take less risk and get lesss damaged
Mauro Perini, Mario + Rabbids Art director and friend. We are working together since 21 years and I’m not sure I could enjoying working on a game without him on my mark, Here is posing for me, in the design room.
Hasselblad X1D - 45mm - f/3.5 - 1/60s