Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition

Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition is a Mario-themed puzzle game with role-playing elements from the Puzzle & Dragons series released for the Nintendo 3DS. Originally, it was released in Japan on April 29, 2015. An overseas release was later confirmed, and announced during the January 2015 Nintendo Direct to be released in May 2015 with Puzzle & Dragons Z as Puzzle & Dragons Z + Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition. -- the bundled game was released in Europe on May 8th, 2015; in Australia on May 9th, 2015; and in North America on May 22nd, 2015.

Story
The story, from the introduction of the game:

When Mario arrives, a red Toad appears to inform Mario that Princess Peach has been kidnapped by Bowser once again. There was even a message left by Bowser:

Bowser's message, from the introduction of the game:

As it turns out, Bowser and his Koopa Troop heard about the Orbs and launched an attack on the Mushroom Kingdom. Bowser's magician, Kamek, is stealing the power of the Orbs for unknown reasons, casting a spell that's causing the Mushroom Kingdom to overflow with all kinds of Orbs.

To save Princess Peach, Mario would have to use the power of the Orbs to rescue her. The Red Toad joins him to help out along the way. During Mario's adventure, he will encounter many enemies and challenges, face the Koopalings, and recruit enemies trapped in Baddie Blocks that would become allies in his quest to save the princess. Bowser had also kidnapped Yoshi and his friends, but Mario is able to rescue them along the way. Later, he also finds Bowser Jr. and Kamek in several towers but defeats Bowser Jr in each of them as Kamek worries.

After Mario reaches Bowser's Castle and defeats Bowser, Bowser summons the Koopalings and Bowser Jr. in an effort to defeat Mario. Impressed that Mario was able to defeat him and the Koopalings with the power of the Orbs, he vows to face him again once he has obtained "his full powers", then leaves. Princess Peach is saved and peace once again is restored to the Mushroom Kingdom.

Gameplay
The gameplay of Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition is like that of other Puzzle & Dragons games, it is a tile matching game with elements of a monster collecting RPG. The player creates teams by picking from an array of enemies and allies then play in courses where they solve a tile-matching puzzle that determines how powerful their teammates' attacks are on waves of enemies.

Puzzles
Courses consist of certain numbers of enemy waves, each with their own offensive and defensive statistics. The player must clear all of the enemy waves without having their team's total HP drop to zero. The game's screen is split, with the enemies on the top screen, and a 6-by-5 tile grid appearing on the bottom screen.

Courses are played out in a turn-based style. The player's turn consists of activating any Skills from any of their teammates if available then attempting to make a match of three or more Orbs on the Orb field. The Orbs are of five colors representing the elemental attributes of the enemies (Fire, Water, Wood, Light and Dark) as well as Heart Orbs that represent life recovery. The player drags an Orb with to adjacent positions, swapping with the Orb already there. As long as the player does not let go of the Orb, they can move it as much as necessary within five seconds once they start moving it, allowing them to arrange for Combos in a single turn. After completing this, all matched Orbs are removed from the Orb field and accounted for as damage. The Orb field then cascades all Orbs down and fills the Orb field once more; this may result in more Combos, known as "skyfall combos".

Damage is based on what colors were matched in the Combos: for example, a basic combo of three red (Fire) Orbs will have any teammates that is Fire-attribute deal its damage equal to its base attack (ATK) to one enemy. When Heart Orbs are matched in a Combo, it restores health to the team based on the team's total health recovery stat (RCV). Combos of more than three Orbs will increase the damage dealt for each additional Orb. Making multiple Combos on the same turn will boost all damage or healing for all teammates regardless of colors matched, while separate combos of the same color further multiply the damage dealt. Single combos of five or more Orbs will activate an attack that hits all enemies on the field. Certain Leader or Awoken Skills may also change damage dealt, so long as the particular parameters are met. Damage is dealt to a single monster, generally determined by the game is the best attack. Damage will be affected by both the enemies' defense power and its attribute, for Fire damage against a Fire enemy will work, but will be boosted against a Wood enemy and decreased against a Water enemy, and so forth in a rock-paper-scissors relationship; Light and Dark enemies are solely weak to the other type. The player can force damage to go a a single enemy to selecting it with, , or.

After the player finishes their turn, a counter on each of the enemies drops by one. If one of these counters gets to zero, that enemy is given a turn to attack, and the counter resets to a predefined value. If the player does not end their turn on a successful match, the enemies' attack counter advances once while any timers for the player do not change (statuses imposed by enemies are affected, though). When an enemy's HP drops to zero, the enemy drops out from battle, and there's a chance that it will leave an item. Once all enemies in a battle are defeated, the player is rewarded with experience points and Coins, then moves to the next battle until eventually reaching the boss battle at the end of the course.

Teams
The player can create teams to use in courses, either at Toad Houses or before entering a course. Each team consists of six characters: a Leader, a Helper and four other teammates. The characters are displayed as cards, with the color of the card matching their attribute (as well as the Orb type on the top-left corner of their card). If a teammate has a secondary element, or sub-attribute, it will be shown on the bottom-right corner of their card. The player can arrange teammates by dragging their cards with and dropping them into slots on the top of the touch screen: Leaders can only be placed on the far left slot, but any other teammates can be placed in any of the four slots right of it. Helpers can be selected only when entering a course. The player can create up to six different teams.

Leaders consist of either Mario or Luigi in one of their forms. Leaders provide the team with Leader Skills, Skills that automatically activate when certain criteria are met: having teammates of a certain attribute, clearing a certain amount or types of Orbs, clearing a certain amount of Combos, or keeping the team's total HP at a certain amount. All Leader Skills in the game raise ATK in some form, while others raise HP and/or RCV in addition.

Helpers are teammates on the far fight side and have Helper Skills that also boost their team's stats. Helper Skills function the same as Leader Skills. Helpers are selected when the player enters a course. Helpers consist of any color of Toad, Yoshi, Winged Yoshi, and any form of Bowser, Peach, and Rosalina. The opposite brother of the Leader can also be selected as a Helper: if the player has Mario as Leader, Luigi can be selected as the Helper only (the player cannot have the same brother as Leader and Helper).

Courses
When the player selects a course, they can choose which team they wish to use (by pressing or ), select their Helper, then confirm their selection before entering the course.

Throughout the course, player may come across ? Blocks, which can hold Coins, 1-Up Mushrooms, Transformation Items, or Skill Items. Opening them requires the player to clear a certain amount of Orbs, make a certain amount of combos, and/or to arrange Orbs horizontally or vertically on the Orb field within a set amount of turns. ? Blocks will open only if the player successfully satisfies any and all conditions.

The player may also encounter a branching path in a course, with two different colored Orbs hovering above each path, representing which Orb color the player needs to clear most of from the Orb field to take its path: for example, if the player wishes to take the path with a Fire Orb above it, they will need to clear more Fire Orbs than other Orb types to proceed. The player will remain at the branching path until they clear either Orb colors at that branching path, and the player's Skill counter will not decrease until they do so (the player can use Skills that change Orb types, however). What appears at the path can vary from signs, Warp Pipes, to Gold Blocks. Proceeding on a path with a sign allows the player to continue on the "main" path, while entering Warp Pipes takes them to different areas with ? Blocks and/or different types of enemies (but not always) before returning to the main path. Gold Blocks in branching paths do not show which Orb type the player needs to clear most of, but clearing with the right Orb type will cause the Gold Block to produce a Beanstalk, taking the player to another area. If the player clears the same amount of Orb types for a Gold Block as a Warp Pipe or a sign, the player automatically takes the path of the latter instead.

Once the boss battle is cleared, the player earns the various rewards earned throughout the course (the player can still earn them even after exiting the course before completing it). If the player's team's HP drops to zero, they have the option to use 1-Up Mushrooms to continue where they just lost, refilling their HP and resetting the entire Orb field, or to exit the course (the player will still keep any items collected before being defeated). Once the course is cleared, the next course unlocks.

Status effects
The player's team and enemies can use certain types of Skills to inflict status effects.

Menus

 * Select: /
 * Confirm:
 * Back:
 * World Map:
 * Switch from Normal Worlds to Special Worlds: or
 * Menu:

Course/Team Menus

 * Edit Team:
 * Select Team: or
 * Sort:

During courses

 * Move Orb: Drag and let go of
 * Select Target:, , or
 * Skill Menu:
 * Map:
 * Menu:

Worlds
The game has eight worlds with a world map similar to the New Super Mario Bros. series. There are Toad Houses at the beginning of each world, as well as towers (and ghost houses), with a castle and airship as the last two courses at the end of the first seven worlds.

There are 100 courses in the main game. When the player completes the game, more difficult, Special World versions of the regular worlds are unlocked. The themes of the Special Worlds remain the same like the regular worlds, but their maps are colored slightly differently. The challenges and the items dropped from ? Blocks in courses are different, and the enemies are stronger as well.

Characters

 * Mario
 * Luigi
 * Princess Peach
 * Bowser
 * Koopalings
 * Kamek
 * Bowser Jr.
 * Toads
 * Yoshis
 * Winged Yoshis
 * Rosalina
 * Tamadra

Leaders and Helpers
The player can use Mario or Luigi (and fifteen of their power-up forms) as leaders of a team. Helper characters will also join the player after clearing levels or worlds. For a complete listing of every character that can be turned into allies, see: List of characters in Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition

Enemies
Note that all enemies and bosses in this game can also become allies to the player. Sometimes, some of the enemies as seen in this list are reused for boss battles, but can sometimes be a bit stronger. Names in italics are names used in the PAL version.

Enemies and bosses have a colored health bar beneath them with an Orb next to it that represents its main attribute (Fire, Water, Wood, Light, and Dark). An enemy will take more damage depending on the attribute that is strong or weak against another attribute. For example: Fire is weak against Water, but is strong against Wood; Water is weak against Wood, but is strong against Fire; Wood is weak against Fire, but is strong against Water. Light and Dark attributes are equally weak and strong to each other, but inflict normal damage to the other three attributes.

For more information about enemies, see: List of characters in Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition


 * Goomba
 * Paragoomba
 * Big Paragoomba
 * Green Koopa Troopa
 * Green Koopa Paratroopa
 * Big Green Koopa Paratroopa
 * Red Koopa Troopa
 * Red Koopa Paratroopa
 * Dry Bones
 * Yellow Koopa Troopa
 * Yellow Koopa Paratroopa
 * Big Yellow Koopa Paratroopa
 * Hammer Bro
 * Fire Bro
 * Boomerang Bro
 * Ice Bro
 * Sledge Bro
 * Buzzy Beetle
 * Bony Beetle
 * Big Bony Beetle
 * Para-Beetle
 * Heavy Para-Beetle
 * Spiny
 * Lakitu
 * Bullet Bill
 * Banzai Bill
 * King Bill
 * Cheep Cheep
 * Big Cheep Cheep
 * Cheep Chomp
 * Blooper
 * Blooper Nanny & Baby
 * Blooper Nanny & Babies
 * Piranha Plant
 * Fire Piranha Plant
 * Petey Piranha
 * Bone Piranha Plant
 * Big Bone Piranha Plant
 * Bob-omb
 * Chain Chomp
 * Flame Chomp
 * Green Coin Coffer
 * King Green Coin Coffer
 * Red Coin Coffer
 * King Red Coin Coffer
 * Blue Coin Coffer
 * King Blue Coin Coffer
 * Yellow Coin Coffer
 * King Yellow Coin Coffer
 * Purple Coin Coffer
 * King Purple Coin Coffer
 * Boo
 * Big Boo
 * King Boo
 * Thwomp
 * Super Thwomp
 * Thwomp & Thwimps
 * Whomp
 * Super Whomp
 * Wiggler
 * Red Magikoopa ( Red Kamek )
 * Blue Magikoopa ( Blue Kamek )
 * Green Magikoopa ( Green Kamek )
 * Yellow Magikoopa ( Yellow Kamek )
 * Purple Magikoopa ( Purple Kamek )
 * Boom Boom
 * Wiggler & Flame Chomp
 * Flutter & Flame Chomp
 * Chain Chomp & Flame Chomp
 * Chain Chomp & Flame Chomps
 * Bullet Bill & Goomba
 * Bullet Bill & Goombas
 * 2-Goomba Tower
 * 3-Goomba Tower
 * Spiny Egg & Lakitu
 * Double Lakitu
 * Spiny Egg & Lakitu
 * Blooper & Cheep Cheep
 * Blooper & Cheep Cheeps
 * Red Koopa Troopa & Cheep Cheep
 * Dry Bones & Cheep Cheep
 * Whomp & Boos
 * Boo Trio
 * Boo Crew
 * Gold Goomba

Major bosses
The following bosses are unique in that they're one of a kind, and will never join the player under normal conditions. When these bosses do join the player, the player is not able to part ways or depower any of them, and they'll stop appearing as enemies as well.


 * Larry Koopa ( and Boss)
 * Joins the player as an ally after ★ is completed.
 * Lemmy Koopa ( and Boss)
 * Joins the player as an ally after ★ is completed.
 * Morton Koopa Jr. ( and Boss)
 * Joins the player as an ally after ★ is completed.
 * Wendy O. Koopa ( and Boss)
 * Joins the player as an ally after ★ is completed.
 * Iggy Koopa ( and Boss)
 * Joins the player as an ally after ★ is completed.
 * Roy Koopa ( and Boss)
 * Joins the player as an ally after ★ is completed.
 * Ludwig von Koopa ( and Boss)
 * Joins the player as an ally after ★ is completed.
 * Bowser Jr. (,, and Boss)
 * Joins the player as an ally after ★ is completed.
 * Bowser ( Boss)
 * Joins the player as a helper after World 8 is completed.
 * Bowser and Koopalings ( Bowser and his Minions ) + Bowser Jr. (Final Boss)
 * This boss can't be recruited, and can never be rematched after World 8 is completed.
 * Dry Bowser (★ Boss)
 * Joins the player as a helper after ★World 8 is completed.

Generic bosses
The following generic enemies "only" appear as bosses. Unlike the major bosses, these bosses have a very small chance to join the player when defeated, and they'll always appear as enemies, regardless of whether or not they're in the player's party.


 * Boom Boom (,, , , , , , and Boss)
 * After Bowser Jr. joins the player, Boom Boom replaces him as the boss of, , and.
 * After Bowser joins the player, Boom Boom replaces him as the boss of.
 * After Dry Bowser joins the player, Boom Boom replaces him as the boss of ★.
 * Blooper Nanny & Babies (World 4-5 Boss)
 * Blooper & Cheep Cheep (World 4-7 Boss)
 * Boo Trio (,, and )
 * Blooper & Cheep Cheeps (World 5-5 and World 8-6 Boss)
 * Wiggler & Flame Chomp (World 5-6 and World 8-4 Boss)
 * After Larry Koopa joins the player, Wiggler & Flame Chomp replaces him as the boss of.
 * Petey Piranha (World 5-7 and World 8-3 Boss)
 * After Lemmy Koopa joins the player, Petey Piranha replaces him as the boss of.
 * Flutter & Flame Chomp (World 5-8 and World 8-5 Boss)
 * After Iggy Koopa joins the player, Flutter & Flame Chomp replaces him as the boss of.
 * Spiny Egg & Lakitu (World 6-3 and World 7-10 Boss)
 * After Morton Koopa Jr. joins the player, Spiny Egg & Lakitu replaces him as the boss of.
 * Bullet Bill & Goomba (World 6-4 Boss)
 * After Morton Koopa Jr. joins the player, Bullet Bill & Goomba replaces him as the boss of.
 * Double Lakitu (World 6-5, World 7-4, and World 8-11 Boss)
 * After Roy Koopa joins the player, Double Lakitu replaces him as the boss of.
 * 2-Goomba Tower (World 6-6 and World 8-1 Boss)
 * More than one 2-Goomba Tower can appear at the same time.
 * After Larry Koopa joins the player, 2-Goomba Tower replaces him as the boss of.
 * 3-Goomba Tower (World 6-6 and World 8-2 Boss)
 * More than one 3-Goomba Tower can appear at the same time: two 3-Goomba Towers appear as the bosses of World 8-2, and three for ★World 8-2.
 * After Wendy O. Koopa joins the player, 3-Goomba Tower replaces her as the boss of.
 * Whomp & Boos ( Boss)
 * Bob-omb & Lakitu (World 6-9 and World 7-5 Boss)
 * After Ludwig von Koopa joins the player, Bob-omb & Lakitu replaces him as the boss of.
 * Big Yellow Koopa Paratroopa (World 7-7 Boss)
 * Sledge Bro (World 7-11 Boss)
 * Chain Chomp & Flame Chomp (World 8-9 Boss)
 * After Lemmy Koopa joins the player, Chain Chomp & Flame Chomp replaces him as the boss of.
 * Bullet Bill & Goombas (World 8-10 Boss)
 * After Roy Koopa joins the player, Bullet Bill & Goombas replaces him as the boss of.
 * Boo Crew ( Boss)

Items
Throughout the game, there are items that can be collected to help raise the levels of the player's allies.

For a full list of which enemies drop which items, see: List of item drops in Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition

Transformation Items
Transformation items are used to transform teammates that are not Leaders or Helpers into stronger forms, allowing them to use stronger versions of their Skills. Transforming an ally resets their Skill Level back to 1, and if transformed as far as possible allows them to use Awoken Skills.

With the digital update to version 2.0, each Koopaling can be transformed into two other forms mutually exclusive from each other. Once any of the Koopalings are transformed, their Awoken Skill is replaced with a new one, depending on which form the player chooses, and their form can be switched to their other form and back, as long as the player has enough Transformation Items for them. However, much like with any generic ally, it is impossible to revert the Koopalings back to their original forms.

Skill Items
Skill Items are used to raise Skill levels of characters, reducing the amount of turns needed to use Skills. Ordinary Skill Items are used to raise Skill levels from 1 to 4, while rarer, "Grand" or "Rare" Skill Items are used to reach levels 5 through level 7, the maximum.

For a full list of how many Skill Items are needed to raise a character's Skill level, see: List of Skill upgrades in Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition

Plus bonuses
When the player powers up an ally in at the Power Up spot at Toad Houses, they may sometimes earn plus stats next to their current stats in the form of stars. Each depowered ally has a 20-25% chance to produce a plus, or star, for another ally.

Demo
On April 30, 2015, a demo version of Puzzle & Dragons Z + Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition was released on the Nintendo 3DS eShop. Unlike earlier demos, this demo has unlimited uses, and requires 641 blocks to download. Despite being a demo for both games, players can only play Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition and only has one continue.

There are two stages in the demo: Intro and Expert, the latter unlocked by clearing the Intro stage. In Intro, players have two teams to select from, consisting of either Super Mario, a Goomba, a Red Koopa Troopa, a Piranha Plant, and a Spiny; or Super Luigi, a Yellow Koopa Troopa, a Hammer Bro, a Flame Chomp, and a Wiggler. The Mario brothers are level 3, while the other teammates are level 2. The helper is the counterpart brother. The stage is a grassy stage with four enemy waves, and the boss is a Big Green Koopa Paratroopa. The player has Fire, Wood, Light and Heart Orbs for this course.

In Expert, players can choose between two teams consisting of either Boo Mario (level 30) and a Fire Bro, a Fire Piranha Plant, a Cheep Cheep, and a Bony Beetle (all level 25); or Ice Luigi (level 30) and a Green Koopa Troopa, an Ice Bro, a Blue Magikoopa, and "Red Koopa Troopa & Cheep Cheep" (all level 25). The player's helper is the other brother, but with the same power-up as the one they selected. The stage is an underground stage with six enemy waves, and the boss is "Flutter & Flame Chomp". The player has Fire, Water, Wood, Dark, and Heart Orbs for this course.

Ver 2.0
A digital update for this game was released in Japan on December 16, 2015 and in North America on December 24, 2015. Score Attack is heavily revamped: instead of having three courses, it is now split between two modes: Fixed Challenge and Free Challenge with five courses each. Players can view replays of their own runs or from other players around the world. There are also forty-one additional teammates that the player can use, increasing the total amount of teammates from 137 to 178: five forms for Mario and Luigi (Rock, Double, Metal, Gold, and Boomerang) that are unlocked from the Score Attack courses, two forms for Gold Goomba (Gold 2-Goomba Tower and Gold 3-Goomba Tower), three forms for each Magikoopa color, and two mutually exclusive forms for each Koopaling that pair them up with normal enemies. Low-tier enemies, mid-tier enemies, and King Coin Coffers have also received new Awoken Skills, a feature once exclusive to top-tier enemies, Boom Boom, the Koopalings, and Bowser Jr..

Note that in order to play online, players need to download the most recent software update.

Theme
A theme of this game is available in the Nintendo 3DS Theme Shop as "Puzzle & Dragons Super Mario Bros. Edition". It can be purchased for $1.99 USD.

"This bright, colorful theme features Mario and Luigi, plus their cute new friend Tamadra from the Puzzle & Dragons series."

International Championship
On September 29, 2015 GungHo Online announced on their North American Puzzle & Dragons Facebook page the International Championship for the series using Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition. North American contestants submitted their high scores on Score Attack's Hard course for a chance to compete in California in the ESL Gaming Studios. Top contestants flew to Japan to compete for the finals in the International Championship in January 2016 for a chance to win prizes.

On December 24, 2015 GungHo Online updated the Championship to go along with the game's digital upgrade to version 2.0: preliminary and semi-finals will use Course 3 of Score Attack's Fixed Challenge mode, while the finals use Course 5. Four contestants have been awarded with a custom Puzzle & Dragons International Championship New Nintendo 3DS XL System, and those that make it to the finals are awarded P&D International Championship Gold, Silver, and Bronze Medals.

Differences from Puzzle & Dragons
Gameplay between the Super Mario Bros. edition and the original Puzzle & Dragons mobile game, while more streamlined for the former, is essentially the same. There are noticeable differences, however.

General

 * There is no Ranking system in the Super Mario Bros. edition.
 * There is no Stamina meter in this game; the player can enter courses as many times as they wish.
 * The original Puzzle & Dragons has ongoing events, dungeons that change weekly, and prizes associated with logging in the mobile game daily. There is no such feature in this game.
 * There are no collaborations from other series.

Teammates

 * The Super Mario Bros. edition has 178 different teammates from the Super Mario Bros. platforming games. The original Puzzle & Dragons has more than two thousand different monsters, many from other franchises.
 * In this game, the player's teammates can level up by earning XP directly in battles in a course, as well as depowering other teammates in the Power Up spot at Toad Houses. In the original Puzzle & Dragons, the only way for the player to raise the stats of their monsters is to fuse them with other monsters in the Power-Up/Fusion section.
 * Fusing monsters in the original Puzzle & Dragons requires the player to use gold to do so. The player can power up teammates in this game at no such cost.
 * The player cannot see which level a teammate will reach before actually powering them up in this game.
 * The player cannot sell their teammates in this game, but can part ways with them. In Puzzle & Dragons, the player can earn gold and Monster Points this way.
 * In this game, the player can raise the Skill levels of their teammates by using Skill items in the Skill Up spot at Toad Houses. In the original Puzzle & Dragons, the only way for the player to raise their monsters' Skill levels is to fuse them with the same type of monster (or similar), or fusing "Py"-type enemies.
 * The player can have up to 300 teammates in their Ally Box in this game. The Monster Box in Puzzle & Dragons does not have this limit.
 * There are no monster types in this game (Attacker, God, Devil, Healer, etc) or rarity ratings.
 * There are no teammates in this game that have negative RCV stats (a decrease in a team's recovering ability); the lowest is 0.
 * The player can use Transformation Items to transform their teammates into stronger forms up to two times at the Transform spot at Toad Houses. In the original Puzzle & Dragons, the player uses special types of monsters as "Evo Materials" to evolve them into stronger forms.
 * In this game, once a teammate is transformed, they cannot be reverted back to their previous form (the Koopalings' stronger forms can be changed, but cannot be reverted back). In the original Puzzle & Dragons, this can be done by using "-lit" type monsters.
 * Teammates designated as Leaders and Helpers in this game have their forms listed separately, and thus cannot be transformed.
 * The player can unlock a teammate's Awoken Skill by using Star Gems. In Puzzle & Dragons, the player must fuse TAMADRA-type monsters to do so.
 * Teammates in this game have only one Awoken Skill each, which can be strengthened with more Star Gems. In Puzzle & Dragons, stronger monsters can have more than one Awoken Skill.
 * Leaders and Helpers in this game do not have Awoken Skills, but any other teammate can.
 * Leaders and Helpers are unlocked in this game as the player completes tower, castle and airship levels in each world in the main game, or in Score Attack. They also have stronger Leader and Helper Skills and most have sub-attributes.

Teams

 * The player can create six teams in this game. The original Puzzle & Dragons game allows the player to have up to eleven, depending on their Rank.
 * In the original Puzzle & Dragons, there is a team cost for each monster when placing them in a team (stronger monsters have higher team costs). Excluding Leaders and Helpers, the player can place any teammates they want in this game.
 * Because Leaders and Helpers are listed separately in this game, with the Leader placed only in the Leader spot, there can be no duplicates of them. In Puzzle & Dragons, this is not the case, and any monster can be selected as Leader (even if they have no Leader Skill at all).

Courses

 * Courses in the game can take the player to branching paths. Dungeons in Puzzle & Dragons are straightforward.
 * Enemy formations per battle in this game are relatively static (with some variations). Most formations in a Puzzle & Dragons dungeon are random.
 * There are no Jammer, Poison Orbs, or Enhanced Orbs in this game.
 * Enemies in this game will use their Skills. In Puzzle & Dragons, enemies can do so only in Technical Dungeons.
 * The player can keep any items, XP and Coins in this game should they exit a course or get a Game Over before finishing it. In Puzzle & Dragons, this is not the case.
 * Some enemies always drop items from a 10+ combo attack in this game.
 * In Puzzle & Dragons, enemies can sometimes drop "Plus Eggs" in a course that always provide plus bonuses for the player's monsters. In this game, there as a slight chance a teammate can gain them by depowering other teammates.

References to other games

 * Super Mario Bros. 3: The World 1 Map theme has part of the Grass Land Map theme mixed in with the World 1 Map theme from New Super Mario Bros. Wii. When updated to version 2.0, a remixed version of the athletic theme can be heard in the Score Attack modes.
 * Super Mario World: A remixed version of the overworld theme can be heard in some of the sky-themed pathways in a course.
 * Super Mario All-Stars: Clearing the normal worlds in Super Mario Bros. in that game will put a star next to the name of the world for the hard mode versions of the worlds (ex: ★1-1). The Special Worlds in this game also place a star next to the name of the worlds. Types of enemies are also shown before starting a course in Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels; in this game enemy types are displayed before entering a course under "Enemies found here".
 * Yoshi's Safari: Players traverse through courses in first-person perspective, attack enemies with orbs similar to the blue projectiles in this game, can take different routes in a course, and a warning message appears when approaching a boss.
 * Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars: Toad joins Mario in the beginning of his adventure in World 1, just as he did for him in Mushroom Way. Bowser and Peach also join the player as Helpers, as they did for Mario's party in that game.
 * Super Mario 64: When updated to 2.0, Metal Mario appears as a Leader in the game.
 * Super Smash Bros. Melee: When updated to 2.0, Metal Luigi appears as a Leader.
 * Super Mario Galaxy: Mario's Bee and Boo forms appear in this game as transformations. Gusty Garden Galaxy's music is used for the game's credits.
 * New Super Mario Bros. Wii: The Penguin Suit appears on Water Orbs in this game. Several musical pieces that appear also originate from this game.
 * Super Mario Galaxy 2: A remix of Slimy Spring Galaxy's music is used for World 2's map theme. When updated to version 2.0, Rock Mario and Rock Luigi appear as Leaders.
 * New Super Mario Bros. 2: The world maps are almost similar in this game. When updated to 2.0, Gold Mario appears as a Leader.
 * New Super Mario Bros. U: The Koopalings' personalized airships return as the final stage of the worlds. The desert world is also a mix of the desert overworld maps from New Super Mario Bros. 2 and this game.
 * Super Mario 3D Land: When updated to 2.0, Boomerang Mario and Luigi appears as Leaders.
 * Super Mario 3D World: The Cat transformation is used by Mario and Luigi in this game. Several musical pieces from the game are also used here. When updated to version 2.0, Double Mario and Double Luigi appear as Leaders.
 * Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U: When updated to 2.0, Gold Luigi appears as a Leader.