Puzzle & Dragons expanding to the Mushroom Kingdom

Only a Japanese release date so far

Puzzle & Dragons, extremely popular mobile game with 32 million downloads in Japan and 6 million downloads in America, will be expanding to the realm of Nintendo. Puzzle & Dragons Super Mario Bros. Edition will mix up the classic formula of P&D with characters and locations from the Super Mario franchise.

The Nintendo 3DS certainly is no stranger to Puzzle & Dragons, as Japan already has a game based on its original universe, but it's interesting to see the game expanding to a Nintendo property. According to the trailer, the gems are now replaced with Mario icons such as Fire Flowers, Invicibility Stars and Poison Mushrooms, and the overworld looks very similar to the ones from New Super Mario Bros. on the Wii or Wii U. Enemies from the original games are also replaced with iconic Mario enemies such as Koopas and Goombas, which can also be acquired and be placed in your party.

The game, thus far, has only been announced for Japan, and will be making its debut on April 29th according to the trailer. Given the popularity of the mobile game and the Mario series here in America, it would make sense for it to come out here. Keep in mind though that the original game on the 3DS never made it over here despite its popularity. Let's hope with the additional star power from Mario, Gungho can make that happen.