“Puzzle and Dragons Z + Puzzle and Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition”, a two-game combo pack, will be released at both retail & digitally, exclusively for 3DS; in May 2015 announced Nintendo.
Check out the trailer for the two games.
Puzzle & Dragons Z is a 3DS version of the million-selling “Puzzle & Dragons” iOS/Android/Kindle Fire title that has taken Japan (where is has sold over 40 million copies) & the world by storm. Like all versions, these two 3DS versions are developed by GungHo with marketing & supervising by Nintendo.
Here’s the Puzzle & Dragons Z + Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition image gallery.
Click on any of these image thumbnails to see the full-size photos:
The games combine a puzzle game with RPG & Strategy elements, similar but different from the Puzzle Quest franchise; and another spin on the very familiar match-three Puzzle Game style.
You will explore dungeons while matching orbs on the bottom screen to attack enemies. Puzzles & Dragons Z adds more traditional RPG overworld exploration and NPCs to the mix.
Packed in with Puzzle & Dragons Z will be Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Edition, which takes the classic side-scrolling Super Mario Bros. trappings & applies them to Puzzles & Dragons. It’s worth noting that both editions (where they are separate titles) have sold over a million copies on the 3DS in Japan already, but are only now coming to the West.
Check out the first 30 minutes of gameplay from the Japanese version of Puzzle & Dragons Z for the 3DS.
In the Mario Edition, you will have an Overworld Map with various level points to enter, like in a traditional New Super Mario Bros. game; and both Orbs & enemies, as well as the world you will explore, will all be taken from the Super Mario Bros. universe.
You can attack enemies and capture them to turn them into allies, and will have all manner of Mario characters to unlock and join your team. These include major characters like Mario, Luigi & Toad, as well as Bowser Baddies like Goomba, Koopa Troopa, Hammer Bros. & many more.
This early 2015 release will be sure to satisfy RPG and Monster Catching-genre fans looking for a game to tide them over until the next major triple A RPG releases for the 3DS.
Here is a really neat video of the original Japanese announcement, in which the developers at GungHo bring Mario-creator & Nintendo mastermind Shigeru Miyamoto onto the stage to talk about the first time he played Puzzles & Dragons; and thought it would be a great fit for the 3DS.
“Shiggy” said the gameplay could benefit from a second screen… GungHo concured, and development started on the collaborative Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Edition, since Miyamoto said he was never interested in creating this type of puzzle game himself.
I hadn’t heard about Puzzle & Dragons until I saw this news and did some research. I’m generally very in the dark regarding the iOS & Android game market. This game looks fun and looks like a nice, relaxing title to tide you over until something more significant comes along.
Reminds me of Puzzle Quest, although I never played that series either. Maybe this will be my first foray. I’ve heard complaints that the mobile titles are microtransaction-hogs that make you think you are making progress but in reality are trying to subtly force you to pay up…
It looks like the 3DS version will avoid that and it seems to be an offline title. At least I hope so. Although Nintendo has started to do more & more microtransactions recently…
Will you be buying Puzzle & Dragons Z + Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Edition? Are you already a fan of the series?