Puzzle & Dragons Z + Super Mario Bros. Edition

Lore & Background

The bundled game combines two distinct titles. Puzzle & Dragons Z was first revealed on May 3, 2013, at the Puzzle & Dragons Fan Appreciation Festival 2013 and released in Japan on December 12, 2013. It adds role-playing elements such as towns and non-player characters to the mobile game's core gameplay. Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition, released in Japan on April 29, 2015, features characters from the Super Mario series in gameplay similar to Puzzle & Dragons Z, including an overworld and story. The compilation was announced on January 14, 2015, and released on May 22, 2015, for North America, Europe, Australia, and South Korea.

Gameplay in the Super Mario Bros. Edition uses a match-three grid of 30 orbs (six columns, five rows). Players move one orb at a time, displacing others to create matches. Teams can have up to five members, who attack when orbs of their element are matched. Heart orbs heal, and 'Z' orbs attack all enemies. In the Super Mario Bros. edition, elemental damage is 150% against strong opponents, lower than the standard double damage in Puzzle & Dragons. The bottom screen shows the orb grid, while the top screen displays party icons, HP, and enemies. The game is turn-based, with enemies attacking after set turns; players can target enemies using shoulder buttons or the D-pad.

The plot of Puzzle & Dragons Z follows a player character preparing to become a Dragon Tamer, joining friends Nick and Sara at Zed City's Ranger HQ. The player receives a D-Gear from Captain Watari, meets an amnesiac dragon named Syrup, and explores the Passage of Life. The evil organization Paradox, led by Dogma, attacks and tears out parts of the world as puzzle pieces. The player must defeat five Skydragons under Paradox's control and recover the World Pieces. Dogma's servant Enigma is revealed as the mastermind, possessing Dogma and fusing with the Skydragons. Syrup reveals himself as the life Skydragon Zerclea, reviving the player to defeat Enigma. Post-game, the player explores Dystopia, facing dark versions of the Skydragons. A backstory reveals Enigma's arrival 15,000 years ago, his alliance with the dragonoid Avalon, and the destruction of Eden. The player eventually confronts Avalon, who retreats.

Reader's Guide

Puzzle & Dragons Z + Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition holds significance as the primary Western release of two Japanese Puzzle & Dragons spin-offs, offering a single-cartridge experience for players in North America, Europe, Australia, and South Korea. Its legacy is tied to the popularity of the Puzzle & Dragons mobile franchise and the crossover appeal of Super Mario characters. The compilation received 'mixed or average' reviews on Metacritic. IGN's Kallie Plagge scored it 7.9/10, praising the Super Mario Bros. Edition as 'the shining star' alongside the less successful Z. PC Magazine's Jordan Minor similarly favored the Super Mario Bros. Edition, noting that it uses RPG components to enrich a pick-up-and-play puzzle game, while Z tries to be a full-blown RPG centered on puzzles. Minor also criticized the artwork in the Super Mario Bros. Edition as uninspired and disliked the companion character TAMADRA. As of July 30, 2014, the game had shipped over 1.5 million copies, indicating strong commercial performance. The compilation's release strategy—bundling two distinct titles for Western audiences—reflects a common approach to localizing Japanese games, and its mixed critical reception highlights the challenge of merging puzzle and RPG elements effectively.

Did You Know?

• The bundled game was announced on January 14, 2015, and released on May 22, 2015, for North America, Europe, Australia, and South Korea.
• Puzzle & Dragons Z was first revealed on May 3, 2013, at the Puzzle & Dragons Fan Appreciation Festival 2013.
• In the Super Mario Bros. Edition, elemental damage is 150% against strong opponents, lower than the standard double damage in Puzzle & Dragons.
• As of July 30, 2014, the game had shipped over 1.5 million copies.

Development & International Rollout

GungHo Online Entertainment first unveiled Puzzle & Dragons Z on May 3, 2013, during the Puzzle & Dragons Fan Appreciation Festival, presenting it as a Nintendo 3DS spin-off that would carry the mobile franchise's core loop into a handheld console setting. The title launched in Japan on December 12, 2013, and distinguished itself from its mobile predecessor by layering in role-playing elements such as explorable towns and non-player characters. Two years later, GungHo followed up with Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition, which dropped in Japan on April 29, 2015 as a standalone release featuring characters from the Super Mario franchise alongside a full overworld and narrative. Rather than shipping these two titles separately in Western markets, GungHo chose to bundle them together. The combined package was announced on January 14, 2015, and hit shelves in North America, Europe, Australia, and South Korea on May 22, 2015, giving international players both experiences in a single cartridge.

Core Gameplay & Combat System

At its heart, the game is a match-three puzzle set on a grid of thirty orbs arranged in six columns and five rows. The player shifts one orb at a time, pushing neighboring orbs aside to create lines of matching colors. Each party slot holds up to five monsters, and a monster strikes whenever orbs of its element are matched. Beyond the standard attribute orbs, two special types appear: heart orbs that restore the player's health, and Z orbs that deal damage to every enemy on screen simultaneously. Elemental matchups matter—matching a monster's strong attribute deals bonus damage, though the Super Mario Bros. Edition caps that multiplier at 150 percent rather than the full double hit found in the base Z title. The 3DS's dual-screen layout splits the action: the orb grid sits on the bottom display while the top screen shows party icons, the player's HP bar, and the current enemy. Combat is turn-based, with foes striking after a predetermined number of turns, and the player can switch targets using the shoulder buttons or D-pad.

Narrative & World-Building

The story follows a player character preparing to sit the Dragon Tamer exam at Zed City's Ranger HQ, accompanied by fellow candidate Nick and veteran tamer Sara. Captain Watari issues them D-Gears, devices that digitally store monsters, and the player soon befriends a mysterious amnesiac dragon they name Syrup. Beneath the HQ lies the Passage of Life, a hidden dungeon that becomes the stage for the main conflict. The villainous organization Paradox, led by Dogma, tears chunks of the world apart in the shape of puzzle pieces and subjugates the five Skydragons. The player's mission is to defeat those dragons and recover the World Pieces. The true mastermind, Enigma, uses the Divine Death Dragon Arkvelza to possess Dogma's body and fuse with the Skydragons, nearly killing the player until Syrup reveals himself as the life Skydragon Zerclea and saves them. In the post-game chapter set on the continent of Dystopia, the narrative flashes back 15,000 years to reveal how Enigma learned soul-transfer from the Earth Dragon King Avalon, destroyed his hometown of Eden, and was ultimately stopped by the Prime Dragon Eidos. In the present, Avalon remains alive and seeks to finish Enigma's work.

Critical Reception & Commercial Performance

On Metacritic, the bundled title earned a "mixed or average" aggregate score. IGN's Kallie Plagge gave it a 7.9 out of 10, singling out the Super Mario Bros. Edition as "the shining star" while noting that the Z component felt comparatively less successful. PC Magazine's Jordan Minor echoed that split verdict, praising the Mario title for using its RPG scaffolding to enrich a pick-up-and-play puzzle experience, while criticizing Z for attempting to be a full-blown role-playing game that merely happens to center on puzzles. Minor also took issue with the companion character TAMADRA and found the Mario Edition's artwork uninspired. Despite the mixed critical response, the franchise's commercial footprint was substantial: by July 30, 2014, Puzzle & Dragons Z alone had shipped more than 1.5 million copies in Japan, underscoring the series' deep domestic following before the Western bundle even reached shelves.