Genre:  Puzzle
Platform:  Nintendo 3DS

Puzzle games are by far my favorite genre.  I hate to brag, but I’m pretty darn good at them.  I think the reason that I’m so good at them is because I’ve played them all for so long that patterns start to emerge and the games start to feel similar.  That being said, I am not good at this game, and I love it!

Puzzles and Dragons Z/Puzzles and Dragons Super Mario Edition is a wonderful game for the 3DS.  The touch screen is perfect for this game.  It may look like your standard match-3 game, which is how I tried to play it for the first two hours, but it is certainly not that.  You can play it that way, but you will be terrible at this game.  Instead of taking one piece and lining it up with two or more of the same kind, you take it and move it anywhere you want on the board, but it shuffles the other pieces around as you do so.  This means that, with some careful strategy, you can get huge combo moves.  This is so different from normal puzzles games that my brain has had trouble adapting to the concept.  I love the new mental challenge, though!

While you play your way through the game, you have to select which “cards” you want to play with as well.  I have only played the Mario Edition so far, but I’m assuming it’s the same with the Z side as well.  As you play these cards, which are essentially characters, you can level them up.  You will constantly be switching cards around, though, because they definitely have advantages and disadvantages toward certain enemies.  You can also build up power to play occasional power moves, which you’re going to need.

As I mentioned, there are two different games on this cartridge.  One is the traditional Puzzles and Dragons Z (this is the latest in a long series of these games) and the other is a Super Mario Edition.  I’ve read that the Z side is actually a bit easier, but I like Mario and I started there first.

If you like puzzle games and you’re tired of being good at them all, pick this one up!  It will definitely challenge your noggin.