Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition

While I had never played the base series, Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition having that Mario tie-in made me want to play it and see what this was all about. I am pleased to say that this is a fantastic puzzle game that may have drawn me in with the help of a certain plumber, but it was the fun and challenging match three-style gameplay that ended up getting its dragon claws deep into me. I am glad I gave this one a chance, I enjoyed it so much that I did eventually track down a physical copy to add to my collection.

Hmm, Haven’t I Done This Before?

I will say that the story in Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition is about as generic as it comes and it is very similar to the Pokémon games. We get to name our character and we are training to become a Dragon Tamer. The setting is a place called Zed City and with two of our friends, we end up on a big quest to try and save the world, all the while honing our skills as a Dragon Tamer. It is not bad by any means, but the story is in no way going to wow you, and by the time you beat the game, you will have probably forgotten most of what went down in the story.

Not Your Daddy’s Match Three Game

I feel like I have to talk about the core of what the Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition gameplay is all about and while it is a “match three” style of game, it is one of the more unique types of this genre. You have to pick your dragons before you do one of these puzzle battle type things. You have five colors that represent different elements and each dragon is tied to a specific element. You can move any tile that you want, but you have a limited time to do so. The tiles move like a rotating puzzle so moving one to another part of the screen will cause all those that it touches to rotate, you line three of the same elements up that are the same as one of your dragons and you attack! Due to the sliding puzzle nature, you can line up big combos and dish out some major damage.

Isn’t This A Super Mario Game Too?

Why yes, Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition does after all have Super Mario Bros in the title and this is an extra mode here that basically takes the original game and gives it a Mario reskin. Hey, this is a lot of fun and a neat idea and I love how detailed the characters are and how bright it all is. If you are a Mario fan, you will get a huge kick out of the way that this mode looks. However, it is pretty much exactly the same game! I feel like they could have done more to “Mario” this up a bit and make the gameplay feel more unique. I would not say that it is bad at all, but I just feel like they did as little as they could here and they could have taken this Mario mode way further than they did. Although, it is fun how you use Mario enemies instead of dragons.

In The Brightness And The Darkness

Wow, how about that for a deep heading? Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition is a game that I really do like the whole style of, but I will admit, the dragon designs and the overall design of the game in general is rather generic, much like the story. It has a kind of dark style to it all that I guess is kind of cool. The Mario stuff on the other hand is bright, colorful, and full of personality just like you would expect from a Mario game. They pretty much just gave the base game a Mario Paint (see what I did there?) but it works and the little bits of animation that these classic Mario enemies have is very charming. I much prefer the Mario style of the game over the “Dragons” when it comes to the presentation.

Pros:

• This is some of the best match three gameplay around
• I liked making epic combos that did huge damage
• The Mario mode has a lot of charm to it
• It made me take an interest in this series

Cons:

• I liked the Mario stuff, but they could have done much more with it
• The main story and presentation is very generic