For several months now, GungHo Online Entertainment’s Puzzle & Dragons has been a worldwide mobile hit, drawing in millions of players and a booming revenue for the company. However, its latest move will see the series expand outside of the mobile front, moving to a whole new platform – and with a unique partner in tow.
Nintendo will team up with the mobile publisher to bring Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition to its newer 3DS game system on April 29th in Japan, for the price of around $33 (4,000 yen), according to VentureBeat. This mega-partnership should be a financial boon for both companies, with Puzzle & Dragons gaining new attention on a different platform, while at the same time featuring the highly popular Mario and company in a new setting.
GungHo has released a previous version of Puzzle & Dragons for the platform, titled Puzzle & Dragons Z, but obviously the Super Mario edition is a much bigger deal, featuring the famous plumber and a few of his friends and foes, who take part in each of the match-3 battles. As you can see in the video below, which was unveiled last night during GungHo’s most recent presentation in Japan, there are plenty of familiar characters to go around.
Right now, the game is only slated for a Japan release, and there’s no word on a release in other markets yet. However, with the Electronic Entertainment Expo around the corner – and Nintendo’s penchant for making announcements through online Direct presentations – it’s likely to be made official in just a few weeks’ time, probably around the same time that the new Nintendo 3DS model gets a release date in the USA and other parts of the world.
And given Puzzle‘s success in the U.S. market – it’s doing fairly well in its own right on our shores – it’s not likely that Nintendo would dismiss the idea of releasing it worldwide. Considering Mario’s popularity with previous crossovers – like his appearance in EA Sports’ NBA Street Vol. 3 and SSX On Tour – it’s bound to happen.
