Puzzle & Dragons
Puzzle & Dragons (パズル&ドラゴンズ, Pazuru Ando Doragonzu) is a free mobile game for Android and iOS developed by GungHo Online Entertainment. On December 21, 2022, a collaboration with the anime JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: The Animation was announced. The collaboration started on December 26, 2022 and ended on January 9, 2023.[1]
Summary
Puzzle & Dragons (shortened to P&D or (パズドラ, Pazudora)) was originally released in Japan on February 12, 2012, with subsequent releases in South Korea on December 10, 2012, the North American market on November 8, 2022, Europe on October 9, 2013, Hong Kong on January 23, 2014, and Taiwan on July 19, 2014. It is a match-three game with gacha game monster-collecting role-playing and strategy elements. Players collect monsters (with individual monsters often referred to as "Cards" in English) through various means to create teams to take on Dungeons (ダンジョン, Danjon) to win in-game currencies and more monsters. The puzzle element of the game takes place in the game's Dungeons where players move tiles called Orbs (ドロップ, Doroppu, "Drops" in the Japanese version) on a 6-by-5 tile board within a time limit to make as many matches or Combos (コンボ, Konbo) of three or more orbs of the same color that match with the monsters' elemental Attributes (属性, Zokusei, abbreviated to "Att."): Fire, Water, Wood, Light, and Dark. If there are monsters on the player's team that have those Attributes, they can inflict damage on the Dungeon's enemy monsters. There are also Heal Orbs to recover HP and hazards such as Jammers that take up space, Poison and Mortal Poison Orbs that deduct the player's HP when matched, and Bombs that if not matched will explode to clear orbs on the board and deduct HP.
A monster team comprises a monster designated as the Leader (リーダー, Rīdā), up to four monsters designated as Subs (サブ, Sabu), and a Helper (助っ人, Suketto) that is another player's team Leader. All monsters possess various stats such as Attack (ATK), HP, and Recovery (RCV), which increase when the monster gains experience to increase its level, either by clearing Dungeons or being fused with other monsters such as a certain class exclusively used for increasing experience. The monster level generally scales from 1 to 99 with some monsters capable of having a Level Limit Break (レベル限界突破, Reberu Genkai Toppa) increasing the level cap to 110 and then a Level Super Limit Break (レベル超限界突破, Reberu Chō Genkai Toppa) that further increases the level cap to 120. When monsters reach their max level they can Evolve (進化, Shinka) to change their stats and abilities, with further Ultimate Evolutions (究極進化, Kyūkyoku Shinka), Reincarnation Evolutions (転生進化, Tensei Shinka), Super Reincarnation Evolutions (超転生進化, Chō Tensei Shinka), Pixel Evolutions (ドット進化, Dotto Shinka), and Assist Evolutions (アシスト進化, Ashisuto Shinka). All monsters can also be given +Points to further buff the ATK, HP, and RCV stats to their maximum values. Monsters also possess Types (タイプ, Taipu) that are either reflective of their general stat focus (Attacker, Physical, Healer, Balanced), their design motif (God, Devil, Dragon, Machine), or their utility (Evolution, Awakening, Experience, or Vendor). All monsters also possess various kinds of Skills (スキル, Sukiru). An Active Skill can be used by the player during a Dungeon with varying effects such as changing the Att. of Orbs on the board, directly inflicting damage to the enemy monster(s), buffing the player's team's stats, or recovering HP or other statuses such as various Binds; certain monsters also have a Skill Evolution (スキル進化, Sukiru Shinka) that changes the Active Skill for the remainder of the Dungeon. A Leader Skill is a set of criteria the monsters in the Leader and Helper slots have then when matched improve the stats of the monsters on the team, such as applying an ATK multiplier if a certain number of the same Att. Orb are matched or if a certain number of Combos are made in a single turn. Awoken (覚醒, Kakusei) Skills are a combination of passive stat multipliers and Orb-matching criteria that individual monsters on the team have to buff themselves unique from the Leader Skill such as the Two-Pronged Attack (2体攻撃, Nitai Kōgeki) that multiplies ATK and hits two enemy monsters at once when 4 Orbs of the same Att. are matched or the [L] Increased Attack (L字消し攻撃, Eru-ji Keshi Kōgeki) that multiplies ATK and removes the Lock status from Orbs on the board. While identical monsters will possess the same Awoken Skills, Latent (潜在, Senzai) Awoken Skills can be applied to monsters to give them custom additional Awoken Skills and Super Awoken (超覚醒, Chōkakusei) unlocked after the Level Limit Break to have one of a set of additional Awoken Skills that are obtained at random by spending +Points on a monster who has already reached the +Point cap of +297. Monsters can also be set as Assists (アシスト, Ashisuto) which adds that monster's Active Skill as an additional Active Skill available to the base monster as well as improving stats based on the Assist's stats; monsters that have undergone Assist Evolution are granted the Awoken Assist Awoken Skill that append their Awoken Skills to the base monster when set as an Assist.
Monsters in the game have various inspirations from generic fantasy monsters such as goblins, ogres, slimes, and dragons to being inspired by various real world mythologies, religions, and historical figures. Monsters are variably obtained through winning them in Dungeons or winning them through the Egg Machines (ガチャ, Gacha) by spending Magic Stones (魔法石, Mahōseki) obtained through either clearing Dungeons, special events, or microtransactions; monsters can also be obtained through the Monster Purchase (モンスター購入, Monsutā Kōnyū) store with a Monster Points currency obtained by selling monsters or trading in monsters at the Monster Exchange (モンスター交換所, Monsutā Kōkansho). Players are encouraged to use the Egg Machines during special twice-monthly events called God Fests (ゴッドフェス, Goddo Fesu) where certain monsters that can only be obtained through the Egg Machine are made available, including many monsters only accessible during the event. Certain other themed Egg Machine events also happen throughout the year with some themed to holidays such as Halloween and Christmas or unique themed sets of original characters such as the Dragonbounds & Dragon Callers event which features an original storyline. Puzzle & Dragons also has special Collaboration (コラボ, Korabo) events which feature characters from various third-party intellectual properties such as other video games, anime, manga, and movies. These special events often feature monsters that when obtained by the player can unlock additional customizations to the game, such as Orbs Skins (きせかえドロップ, Kisekae Doroppu) to change the appearance of the Orbs on the board and BGM Sets (BGMセット, Bījīemu Setto) that allow the player to customize the background music in Dungeons.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Collaboration
On December 21, 2022, the official Japanese Puzzle & Dragons YouTube channel held a live broadcast to mark the end of 2022 and of their year-long 10-year anniversary festivities. During the broadcast, they had a surprise announcement of a collaboration featuring characters from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: The Animation, which was coincidentally also celebrating its 10-year anniversary in 2022. The in-game event began the following Monday December 26, 2012, allowing players of P&D to obtain characters featured in the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure anime through a special Collaboration Egg Machine, Special Dungeons, a Descend (降臨, Kōrin) Dungeon, a Boss Rush dungeon, and a Time Attack that would award players a special Title (称号, Shōgō) based on the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: The Animation logo. The event concluded on January 9, 2023. Monsters in the event feature the special Voice Awoken skill, that when the player activates their Active Skill it plays a short soundbyte from the anime as well as have special animation effects in Dungeons when their base Active Skill is used. Players who obtain Jolyne Cujoh for the first time through the Egg Machine (available as a set Magic Stone Bundle microtransaction) would be awarded a JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Orbs Skin while players who obtain Dio Brando from the Egg Machine (also available as a Magic Stone Bundle) for the first time would be awarded the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure BGM Set featuring the music used in the game's Dungeons.
On February 28, 2023, the official North American P&D YouTube channel announced that the North American edition of P&D would also gain access to the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Collaboration Event. Two days later on March 2, 2023, it was announced on the official website that the event would last March 6 to March 19, 2023.
Characters
DISCs
The JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Collab DISC (ジョジョの奇妙な冒険コラボDISC, JoJo no Kimyō na Bōken Korabo Disuku) monsters are obtained from the special JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and "Enrico Pucci Descended!" (エンリコ・プッチ降臨！, Enriko Putchi Kōrin!) dungeons in the game. Players collect them to trade in for various monsters in the event such as the higher rarities of the DISCs or the Bow and Arrow.
Events
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This section requires expansion.
