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daydream · May 7, 2015

The mobile classic hits 3DS in this double pack of puzzle action! Save Princess Peach from the claws of Bowser and rescue the world from the five sky dragons if you can spare the time!

Release Date: [JP] April 29, 2015; [EU] May 8, 2015; [AUS] May 9, 2015; [US] May 22, 2015
Platform: Nintendo 3DS (Physical, Digital)
Price: $29.99/29.99€/£24.99 - Free demo available now!
Size: 7319 blocks
Developer: GunHo Online Entertainment, published by Nintendo

The gameplay consists of three major elements:

The first one is comparable to Puzzle Quest. You match gems of different elements to gain mana that is, in turn, used for abilities consuming different kinds of mana.

The second element puts a twist on the match-3 gameplay, one that is comparable to Terra Battle. Once you touch an orb, a timer is started. During that timer, you can slide around the orb, pushing other orbs behind you, with the goal of creating as big a chain reaction as possible. The real damage comes from comboing, only matching three orbs won't get you far, at all! Heart orbs will refill your health as you take damage.

The third element can be described as monster collecting, akin to Pokémon. You assemble a team of monsters (or Mario enemies, as it were), you hatch eggs, you level them up, you evolve them and bring them into battle. The strength of your minions determines the strength of your attacks, the type of abilities at your disposal, and so on, and so forth.

Features like an overworld, different towns to visit, different characters with different forms (Fire Flower Mario, Tanooki Luigi, etc.) round out the puzzle RPG experience.

Puzzle & Dragons Z - Overview Trailer

Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition - Overview Trailer

Nintendo Treehouse - Depths and Dynamics

Tutorial #1 - The 'L' Pattern

Tutorial #2 - The Flying 'L' Pattern

Tutorial #3 - The Stepping Stone Pattern

Any F2P/Pay-to-win elements?

The F2P elements present in the mobile versions have been completely removed for the 3DS version.

Any preorder bonuses? DLC?

No DLC planes have been announced as of yet. However, there are preorder bonuses. Preordering at the Nintendo UK store gets you a Mario plushie. Preordering at Gamestop in the US gets you a special relic.

You will also get a free relic if you buy the game on the EU eShop until May 31.

Any tips for a newcomer?

There are a lot of helpful resources for P&D out there. You can find a few helpful videos from Nintendo in the Media section. Here's a guide to making combos. Here's a wiki for Super Mario Bros. Edition. The following graphic illustrates some of the basic matching techniques. High-level play requires you to string as many of these as possible together:

Who is responsible for the soundtrack?

The music was composed by renowned RPG composer Kenji Ito. On top of that, Super Mario Bros. Edition features a lot of tracks from a lot of Mario games.

Check out TheSlySoul's review thread!

Thanks to ZeroAKA for the banners!

Kouriozan · May 7, 2015

Nice OT.
Played a bit of each, some of Z monsters design looks really good, and I feel that you'll get tons of Mario and Luigi in Mario Bros. edition.

already got small, super and ice of both at the start of world 2

TheSlySoul · May 7, 2015

Subscribed.
Looking forward to downloading this in the morning.

Jucksalbe · May 7, 2015

Great OT. Really looking forward to this game, demo seemed interesting. I still have to wait two more weeks, though.

weevles · May 7, 2015

I'll preorder. My son played the crap out of the mobile version and adding the SM characters is just like sprinkling sugar on the crack pipe.

Tizoc · May 7, 2015

GAF

Match 3 games are my drug.
MY DRUG!

Should I get this retail or digital? I'm planning on getting an N3DS by June or July and I don't think I'll transfer my digital games to it.

YianGaruga · May 7, 2015

I'll get my copy tomorrow and cant wait to play Z. I'll probably get my fill and leave the SMB edition for some time later this year.

RedBoot · May 7, 2015

My main concern: how far into the Mario coffers does this one go? Am I going to be able to build a Waluigi team? I mean, P&D has yellow and purple gems, having Wario and Waluigi is about as obvious as having them be P3 and P4 in a 4-player Mario game.

I thought I saw

Rosalina

in a screenshot, so I have some hope.

TheSlySoul · May 7, 2015

Tizoc said:
Should I get this retail or digital? I'm planning on getting an N3DS by June or July and I don't think I'll transfer my digital games to it.

Lazy Gamer made a valid point in that it is a game you can quickly pick up to grind some levels while waiting for something. So digital might be the best since it is built like an RPG.

Nudull · May 7, 2015

Can't wait for this!

daydream · May 7, 2015

RedBoot said:
My main concern: how far into the Mario coffers does this one go? Am I going to be able to build a Waluigi team? I mean, P&D has yellow and purple gems, having Wario and Waluigi is about as obvious as having them be P3 and P4 in a 4-player Mario game.

I thought I saw

Rosalina

in a screenshot, so I have some hope.

If you're curious as to which characters/enemies appear in the game, you can check the MarioWiki link I included in the Q&A section.

The game doesn't go terribly deep BUT Mario & Luigi aren't the only characters, either. In any case, in terms of depth, P&D Z seems to be the main attraction here, by all accounts. (Personally, I'll probably start with Mario, though.)

Chopper · May 7, 2015

Started this this afternoon. Still getting to grips with the mechanics...

TheSlySoul · May 7, 2015

daydream said:
If you're curious as to which characters/enemies appear in the game, you can check the MarioWiki link I included in the Q&A section.

Well I learned the Leaf combo is Raccoon Mario/Fox Luigi today.

bumpkin · May 7, 2015

I tried the demo, glad I did before I decided to buy. The Mario themed content is cool and I guess the mashup of a puzzle game and an RPG is neat, but it didn't click at all for me.

Zonic · May 7, 2015

Hoping to have the funds to get this. Tried the demo & was surprised at how much depth there was, especially for a match-3 game.

If my damn Android device didn't have such small storage & allowed me to install apps on the SD card, I'd probably get it for that, but I might as well nab a version without microtransactions, let alone includes Mario.

The Demon Headmaster · May 7, 2015

Will this be on the UK eshop at midnight tonight?

Shauni · May 7, 2015

I don't get the OT title? Is it a P&D specific joke?

Is it a sex joke?

TheSlySoul · May 7, 2015

Zonic said:
If my damn Android device didn't have such small storage & allowed me to install apps on the SD card, I'd probably get it for that, but I might as well nab a version without microtransactions, let alone includes Mario.

The mobile game is a nice starting place, but the timers really turned me off.
It will be nice playing it without them in the way.

Domstercool said:
Eh?

I assume it's a mixture of the orbs (from puzzle and dragons) and the secret slide from Super Mario 64.

Oh, I get it. Peach's Secret Slide + Orb Slide (the way you match them). I felt dumb at first.

Domstercool · May 7, 2015

Shauni said:
I don't get the OT title? Is it a P&D specific joke?

Is it a sex joke?

Eh?

I assume it's a mixture of the orbs (from puzzle and dragons) and the secret slide from Super Mario 64.

Snakethesniper · May 7, 2015

Since the game was already out in japan I have 2 questions:
1) Is there a "collection" component like the pokèdex in pokèmon?
2) Is there a "rarity" component? Like particular rare monsters that you have to defeat in particular difficult challenges to get them?

I'm already sold on the game, just wanted to know this things too

RedBoot · May 7, 2015

daydream said:
If you're curious as to which characters/enemies appear in the game, you can check the MarioWiki link I included in the Q&A section.

The game doesn't go terribly deep BUT Mario & Luigi aren't the only characters, either. In any case, in terms of depth, P&D Z seems to be the main attraction here, by all accounts. (Personally, I'll probably start with Mario, though.)

Looks like the character list is about what I expected. :|

But yeah, I feel like starting with Mario is the right way to go.

d34thfrom4bov3 · May 7, 2015

Honestly wasn't a huge fan of the demo, maybe because I feel like they didn't exactly explain much of what the heck was going on. I'm still gonna pick it up, though I'm hoping there's some kind of actual tutorial or some way to actually ease into the game rather than 'play super easy mode that wins the round in one shot' or 'you better know what you're doing cause this is the big leagues boys'

TreIII · May 7, 2015

daydream said:
If you're curious as to which characters/enemies appear in the game, you can check the MarioWiki link I included in the Q&A section.

The game doesn't go terribly deep BUT Mario & Luigi aren't the only characters, either. In any case, in terms of depth, P&D Z seems to be the main attraction here, by all accounts. (Personally, I'll probably start with Mario, though.)

I know Bowser is recruitable, and I heard Junior and the Koopalings are as well, on Hard Mode, at least.

ZeroAKA · May 7, 2015

Still 2 weeks until NA release. The wait will be torture. ;_;

Deleted member 57681 · May 7, 2015

I might pull the trigger on this, 50+ hours of Shuffeling are starting to feel enough. Hard decision between physical and digital...
Is this game a good challenge?

Tizoc · May 7, 2015

Never knew 3DS eShop games can't be pre-ordered, I wanna pay for that game now dangit DX

TheSlySoul · May 7, 2015

Clown_im_OP said:
I might pull the trigger on this, 50+ hours of Shuffeling are starting to feel enough. Hard decision between physical and digital...
Is this game a good challenge?

Z has a good feeling difficulty curve, SMB Edition has a pretty difficult curve from what I read. There is a demo for the SMB Edition if you are interested in it. Normal kicked my butt at first because I chose the wrong team.

Kouriozan · May 7, 2015

Hmm, I'll focus on Mario Bros. Edition as it's probably the shorter game judging by the monsters amount and keeping the best for the last.

daydream · May 7, 2015

TheSlySoul said:
Z has a good feeling difficulty curve, SMB Edition has a pretty difficult curve from what I read. There is a demo for the SMB Edition if you are interested in it. Normal kicked my butt at first because I chose the wrong team.

Yeah, Luigi's team made the higher difficulty a breeze. To me that really highlighted the value of strategising, though. Seems like you won't be able to just waltz through the game with the same team.

Deleted member 57681 · May 7, 2015

TheSlySoul said:
Z has a good feeling difficulty curve, SMB Edition has a pretty difficult curve from what I read. There is a demo for the SMB Edition if you are interested in it. Normal kicked my butt at first because I chose the wrong team.

Yeah I guess I should check out the demo.
Are there multiple save slots?

Zonic · May 7, 2015

Demo's Expert was really frustrating at first (Mario's team had less HP & Luigi's team wasn't as balanced), but now that I've had a few times to try it, it's not as bad, though feels like luck can be a factor at times.

magnetic · May 7, 2015

Good to hear that the game can be challenging!

I will start with Mario and then later on move to the PDZ portion, to make sure I got the basics down.

burntchomsky · May 7, 2015

So how does this compare in terms of difficulty and content to the mobile game? Is the gameplay similar? Are leader skills intact? I'm also wondering if any of the dungeons (descended ones especially) are in this game, and if they are similar to the ones in the mobile game?

I really have no interest in playing the mobile game again. Because of the limited time different dungeons are up, you end up having to schedule your life around the game, instead of vice-versa. But the gameplay is very fun...hopefully this is similar in that regard.

Ninja Dom · May 7, 2015

I played through the demo and completed the Easy & Expert levels. Thing is I'm not sure exactly how I managed to complete the whole demo, as I haven't played P&D before.

Anyway, I'll give this a punt and buy it next week.

Chopper · May 7, 2015

How do I use the warp pipe on level 1-4? I've unlocked yellow orbs, but they won't show up on that level.

tiltnkirby · May 7, 2015

Kouriozan said:
Nice OT.
Played a bit of each, some of Z monsters design looks really good, and I feel that you'll get tons of Mario and Luigi in Mario Bros. edition.

already got small, super and ice of both at the start of world 2

They just keep popping out of the REM in PAD, they never stop...Send help, I can't take another Ur-Chimera.

Kinsei · May 7, 2015

Chopper said:
How do I use the warp pipe on level 1-4? I've unlocked yellow orbs, but they won't show up on that level.

Take a teammate in with the ability to change a type of orb to light orbs.

ZeroX03 · May 7, 2015

Imported a copy from the UK. Probably a week or two away. I'm not the biggest fan of mobile style games on my phone but if Pokemon Shuffle is any indication I love them on my 3DS.

Chopper · May 7, 2015

Kinsei said:
Take a teammate in with the ability to change a type of orb to light orbs.

Ah. Good idea. Thanks.

Edit: It won't let me activate that power...

wilflare · May 7, 2015

lovely OT
amazing work daydream and ZeroAKA

gonna get this game <3

User 479360 · May 7, 2015

I got my copy today, but know nothing about the series. It looks kind of interesting, though.

What should I expect? Are the games long? I don't normally play puzzle titles.

Brakke · May 7, 2015

Perfect game for download. I loved Puzzle and Dragons on iOS, definitely can dig the game without all the F2P bullshit.

Kouriozan · May 7, 2015

Okay, end of World 2 now, and things start to be challenging, all orbs + longer stages + more resistant monsters.

TheSlySoul · May 7, 2015

Man $10 AUD discount is not much, but saved $6 at least.
Not online yet though...

Aarglefarg · May 7, 2015

Are there multiple save slots so two people can play it on the one card?

Vena · May 8, 2015

Gah, why must this launch in two weeks. I want P&DZ now.

Tizoc · May 8, 2015

Is it out on EU eShop yet? Last I checked the buy option was greyed out.

quabba · May 8, 2015

TheSlySoul said:
Man $10 AUD discount is not much, but saved $6 at least.
Not online yet though...

What discount was this?

TheSlySoul · May 8, 2015

quabba said:
What discount was this?

Game is priced 10 off all currencies. So it is 50 AUD instead of 60.

NamikazeBurst · May 8, 2015

Definitely getting this. I have a pre-order for $35 after tax Canadian, so a pretty good deal. I just completed the demo, and it definitely seemed too easy. I beat every monster group in 1 turn except for two on the expert level (including the boss), and those I beat in two turns. I am no expert on P&D, so I hope the game gets harder.

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