THE BRIDGE

tag mobile games

Dragon Quest Portal app tops iOS, Android charts in Japan

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The most popular mobile app in Japan right now (the top free app on both iOS and Google Play) is a mobile port of the original Dragon Quest. Publisher Square Enix, long under fire for its relatively overpriced mobile games, has given nostalgic gaming fans a freebie by rolling out this smartphone version of the 80s 8-bit classic. What’s interesting here is how the game was released, not as a standalone ‘Dragon Quest Classic’ app, but rather as a Dragon Quest Portal app, in which the original game is available as a ‘free’ in-app purchase. Other games in the series, like Dragon Quest II and Dragon Quest III will be subsequently made available from the portal as well, although I doubt they’ll be free as well [1]. If that’s the case, it looks like this will be a clever way to get customers in the door, and then profit from them later. The initial promotion was to make Dragon Quest available to the first 1 million people who downloaded it, after which it would be sold for 500 yen (or about $5). But apparently fan response has been very positive, with more than three million downloads to date, and the…

dragonquest

The most popular mobile app in Japan right now (the top free app on both iOS and Google Play) is a mobile port of the original Dragon Quest. Publisher Square Enix, long under fire for its relatively overpriced mobile games, has given nostalgic gaming fans a freebie by rolling out this smartphone version of the 80s 8-bit classic.

What’s interesting here is how the game was released, not as a standalone ‘Dragon Quest Classic’ app, but rather as a Dragon Quest Portal app, in which the original game is available as a ‘free’ in-app purchase. Other games in the series, like Dragon Quest II and Dragon Quest III will be subsequently made available from the portal as well, although I doubt they’ll be free as well [1]. If that’s the case, it looks like this will be a clever way to get customers in the door, and then profit from them later.

The initial promotion was to make Dragon Quest available to the first 1 million people who downloaded it, after which it would be sold for 500 yen (or about $5). But apparently fan response has been very positive, with more than three million downloads to date, and the promotion has been extended until December 10.

A couple of days after that, of course, Dragon Quest VIII drops, at the hefty price of 2800 yen (or almost $28).

But if you are in Japan and you’d like to re-live the original Dragon Quest, you still have a little over a week to get it for iOS or Android.

dragon-quest-2 dragon-quest-2


  1. If they are, maybe not for long I suspect.  ↩

EA’s Tetris Monsters is now Japan’s top iPhone game

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This week saw the launch of EA’s ambitious new mobile game for Japan, Tetris Monsters. The game is a puzzle-meets-RPG hybrid, and it’s very clear that EA is trying to follow the model set by Japan’s favorite mobile game Puzzle & Dragons. Since launching on the Japanese App Store late Tuesday night, Tetris Monsters has rapidly ascended the iOS charts, and today it became the top ranked game in Japan, and the second ranked free app overall. (Update 17:45 JST: It is now the top ranked overall app, no doubt thanks to this article!) Social games expert Serkan Toto expressed his thoughts on the title so far: I think the game is very well executed and contains all the elements of a hit game in Japan: local production, good graphics and sound, all the usual monetization techniques, great IP, a bit of innovation on the puzzle mechanics etc. Coincidentally, on the same day that Tetris Monsters launched, Puzzle & Dragons publisher GungHo Online Entertainment announced (PDF) that it had surpassed 18 million downloads. Serkan also questions whether EA can win over these fans who are already so deeply invested in P&D [1]. If the game proves to be a success…

tetris_monsters_wide

This week saw the launch of EA’s ambitious new mobile game for Japan, Tetris Monsters. The game is a puzzle-meets-RPG hybrid, and it’s very clear that EA is trying to follow the model set by Japan’s favorite mobile game Puzzle & Dragons.

Since launching on the Japanese App Store late Tuesday night, Tetris Monsters has rapidly ascended the iOS charts, and today it became the top ranked game in Japan, and the second ranked free app overall. (Update 17:45 JST: It is now the top ranked overall app, no doubt thanks to this article!)

Social games expert Serkan Toto expressed his thoughts on the title so far:

I think the game is very well executed and contains all the elements of a hit game in Japan: local production, good graphics and sound, all the usual monetization techniques, great IP, a bit of innovation on the puzzle mechanics etc.

Coincidentally, on the same day that Tetris Monsters launched, Puzzle & Dragons publisher GungHo Online Entertainment announced (PDF) that it had surpassed 18 million downloads. Serkan also questions whether EA can win over these fans who are already so deeply invested in P&D [1].

If the game proves to be a success here in Japan, then surely EA will port it to other mature mobile markets like the US or Korea. Tetris Monsters might have even better luck building momentum outside Japan, where Puzzle & Dragons won’t be the same kind of obstacle.

Check out our quick demo video of Tetris Monsters below if you’d like a quick introduction to how it works.


  1. By ‘deeply invested’, we can also interpret this in a financial sense as well, since the game has been a huge money maker for publisher GungHo.  ↩

Celulo: Wizcorp connects the dots on a great puzzle game for iPhone

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Last week Tokyo-based development studio Wizcorp unveiled a fun mobile game for iOS called Celulo. You’re presented with a grid of cells or circuit components, and the idea is create a continuous circuit connecting the left and right sides of the playing area. But in order to win big points, your circuit should be as long and winding as possible. And you should make as many circuits as possible within the given time limit. Simple right? Well, it initially took me a while to figure things out, but once you get over that initial hump, Celulo is really lots of fun. There are bonus items that you can use during your game to double your points, or to freeze the screen to give you extra time, for example. The game also provides Facebook integration, as well as weekly tournaments that you can partake in with friends. If you’d like a demonstration of how the game works, check out my short video demo above. I’m looking forward to playing it some more over the coming weeks. The folks at Wizcorp point out that this is a HTML5 game, “boasting speed and performance which leave many native apps in the dust.” Readers…

Last week Tokyo-based development studio Wizcorp unveiled a fun mobile game for iOS called Celulo. You’re presented with a grid of cells or circuit components, and the idea is create a continuous circuit connecting the left and right sides of the playing area. But in order to win big points, your circuit should be as long and winding as possible. And you should make as many circuits as possible within the given time limit.

Simple right? Well, it initially took me a while to figure things out, but once you get over that initial hump, Celulo is really lots of fun. There are bonus items that you can use during your game to double your points, or to freeze the screen to give you extra time, for example. The game also provides Facebook integration, as well as weekly tournaments that you can partake in with friends.

If you’d like a demonstration of how the game works, check out my short video demo above. I’m looking forward to playing it some more over the coming weeks.

The folks at Wizcorp point out that this is a HTML5 game, “boasting speed and performance which leave many native apps in the dust.” Readers may recall that it was about a year ago when Japanese gaming giant GREE announced its investment in Wizcorp, aiming to capitalize on that same HTML5 expertise.

celulo-1 celulo-3

Why I love Japan’s stupidest mobile games

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It has been said many times that Japan’s mobile space is unique. And I’m repeatedly finding that this uniqueness extends to the kinds of mobile applications and content that the country produces. And while I don’t want to say that Japan has weird taste, some of the more exotic creations (we’ve highlighted many of them before) that have come from this country are mind boggling from my western point of view. But in a way, that also makes Japan’s app space sort of beautiful. Earlier today I mentioned Alpaca Evolution, which is a ridiculous game where you have to bash all your alpaca brothers and absorb them into your own body as you evolve. It’s a crazy concept, but the artwork is great, the game play is simple – and surprisingly it’s a lot of fun. Is it dumb? Definitely. Is it great? In its own way, it’s that too. Another iPhone game I came across today might be even more simple, and maybe more ridiculous too. It’s called Pluck Hair, and it tasks players with (you guessed it!) plucking hairs as fast as you can with a gentle swipe of your finger, but if you do it incorrectly or…

It has been said many times that Japan’s mobile space is unique. And I’m repeatedly finding that this uniqueness extends to the kinds of mobile applications and content that the country produces. And while I don’t want to say that Japan has weird taste, some of the more exotic creations (we’ve highlighted many of them before) that have come from this country are mind boggling from my western point of view. But in a way, that also makes Japan’s app space sort of beautiful.

Earlier today I mentioned Alpaca Evolution, which is a ridiculous game where you have to bash all your alpaca brothers and absorb them into your own body as you evolve. It’s a crazy concept, but the artwork is great, the game play is simple – and surprisingly it’s a lot of fun.

Is it dumb? Definitely. Is it great? In its own way, it’s that too.

hair-pluck

Another iPhone game I came across today might be even more simple, and maybe more ridiculous too. It’s called Pluck Hair, and it tasks players with (you guessed it!) plucking hairs as fast as you can with a gentle swipe of your finger, but if you do it incorrectly or in the wrong direction, you’re charged with a time penalty.

In a way, it disturbs me that I played this game for about a half an hour. And it disturbs me even more than I bothered to record a video to show it to you (see below).

But there’s a very simple element of joy that exists in this game. I think it’s the same flavor of joy that exists in the Nameco series of games, where it just feels good to harvest mushrooms.

To put it in simpler terms, I think it’s the same reason we all like bubble wrap.

Undoubtedly many readers will dismiss it as stupid. It’s easy to say that this is just Japan being Japan. And I’m not saying that games like Pluck Hair aren’t stupid.

But I really like that somewhere in Japan there’s a developer who pensively said to himself, “A hair plucking game? F**k yeah, I think that’s a good idea.”

That’s just awesome.

As football season nears, GREE improves ‘NFL Shuffle’ — But can it be a hit game?

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Last year Japanese mobile gaming company GREE (TYO:3632) introduces a football battle card game for the North American market called NFL Shuffle. Despite a few bugs in early iterations of the title, I quickly became a fan, and have enjoyed the game ever since. Recently GREE announced an update that brought some interesting new elements into gameplay, leading up to the up the 2013 NFL season. A new “talents” feature has been introduced to certain players/cards, giving them special abilities that can be triggered at certain times in your game. For example, in the picture below you can see a LeSean McCoy card added ability that can be triggered at key moments. While I have enjoyed the game so far, I think that it is sorely missing an element of skill – and perhaps this new variable can fix that. I have yet to pick up a card that has to new feature, but I’ll keep you posted and perhaps follow this up with a video review. For me the early levels in season mode were painfully easy, and then when you reach “captain” level (particularly when you run up against the 49ers) the game becomes painfully difficult – almost…

gree-nfl-shuffle

Last year Japanese mobile gaming company GREE (TYO:3632) introduces a football battle card game for the North American market called NFL Shuffle. Despite a few bugs in early iterations of the title, I quickly became a fan, and have enjoyed the game ever since.

Recently GREE announced an update that brought some interesting new elements into gameplay, leading up to the up the 2013 NFL season. A new “talents” feature has been introduced to certain players/cards, giving them special abilities that can be triggered at certain times in your game.

For example, in the picture below you can see a LeSean McCoy card added ability that can be triggered at key moments.

lesean-mccoy-nfl-shuffle
NFL Shuffle’s new ‘talents’ feature

While I have enjoyed the game so far, I think that it is sorely missing an element of skill – and perhaps this new variable can fix that. I have yet to pick up a card that has to new feature, but I’ll keep you posted and perhaps follow this up with a video review.

For me the early levels in season mode were painfully easy, and then when you reach “captain” level (particularly when you run up against the 49ers) the game becomes painfully difficult – almost impossible, unless you buy premium cards, which may be GREE’s intention. But for users who opt not to pay, it has left the game somewhat crippled, so I hope the new update remedies that [1].

This game is an intriguing port of the Japanese card battle model into a game genre that traditionally sticks to other formats. GREE’s MLB Full Deck is a similar effort for those who prefer baseball. I’m curious to hear from other players of NFL Shuffle to get your impressions of the game so far. Can GREE iterate it into a hit game as the 2013 season progresses? The company is still in search of its first real overseas hit, so we’ll have to wait and see how the year plays out.

Talents feature
talent activated!

  1. I count myself among that category of gamers who don’t want to pay for in-app purchases. Most of my iOS spending ends up (for better or worse) going towards productivity apps and text editors!  ↩

Why I can’t stop playing Puzzle & Dragons

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I started playing Puzzle & Dragons a few months back. Or at least, that was my first serious look at it [1]. Prior to that, I had picked it up for a few plays only to put it down just as fast. It’s a game that takes a little bit of time to get into, and in the English version the help menu isn’t really an adequate primer for what the game has in store. And while I’ve come to really love the game, I think it can be tricky for newcomers. What follows is a short explanation of what I’ve learned about the game so far, as well as what I wish I knew when I first picked it up. The mechanics of the puzzle is not immediately apparent to start. If you haven’t tried the game yet, I’ve included a short video explainer above to help you get the gist of how to recognize basic orb patterns that can quickly be solved, and once you master those, you can move on to more advanced techniques [2]. Looking ahead to possible combinations makes the game feel somewhat chess-like sometimes, in that you need to plan ahead to execute your…

I started playing Puzzle & Dragons a few months back. Or at least, that was my first serious look at it [1]. Prior to that, I had picked it up for a few plays only to put it down just as fast. It’s a game that takes a little bit of time to get into, and in the English version the help menu isn’t really an adequate primer for what the game has in store. And while I’ve come to really love the game, I think it can be tricky for newcomers. What follows is a short explanation of what I’ve learned about the game so far, as well as what I wish I knew when I first picked it up.

puzzleanddragonsforum.com
via puzzleanddragonsforum.com

The mechanics of the puzzle is not immediately apparent to start. If you haven’t tried the game yet, I’ve included a short video explainer above to help you get the gist of how to recognize basic orb patterns that can quickly be solved, and once you master those, you can move on to more advanced techniques [2]. Looking ahead to possible combinations makes the game feel somewhat chess-like sometimes, in that you need to plan ahead to execute your moves within the limited time you have. I used to be a chess fanatic, and perhaps that’s why this game appeals to me so much.

It’s also not at all obvious for a beginner how to best power up and evolve your monsters. While it’s important to save magic stones to try to get rare eggs from the machine, you’ll find in later levels that in order to acquire evolution material for specific cards, you need to find out in which dungeons you can acquire it. You could keep playing until you stumble across it, or you could check one of online databases for the game that are out there.

I still don’t fully understand evolving monsters and building teams, and there are lots of other resources out there that you might want to check out to learn more about that. But I do like that the depth of the game and the fact that I’ve been casually playing for months and there’s still so much more to learn.

Everybody must get stones

game-over
Spend a magic stone to continue?

Why Puzzle & Dragons has been such a money-maker for GungHo Entertainment? It’s all about the magic stones, the games currency. You’re occasionally awarded a stone, or simply given one as a gift upon login – but no matter how you get them, you probably ought to save them to either expand your monster box (in early stages especially) or to take a shot at the rare egg machine.

But the game draws on the same money-making principle of video game arcades back in the 70s and 80s: insert coin to continue. And sometimes after you’ve played a long round only to lose to a tough boss, you’ll be tempted to spend a magic stone to continue. Or, if you have no magic stones, you’ll be very tempted to buy one.

As a personal rule, I try not to spend any money on any virtual goods in games [3], and I’m really glad that the game isn’t crippled as a result. Game play isn’t really hampered at all, in fact. I don’t think I’m a hardcore fan of the game, but I do pick up the game daily, which is more frequent than any other mobile game.

What day is it, anyway?

puzzle-dragons-spring

Puzzle & Dragons has special dungeons available on certain days of the week. On the weekend for example, you earn more coins than usual, which can then be used to pay for power ups later on. Thursday is a fun day for me as it awards wood monsters, and I’m working on building a wood team. But this pattern of recurring in-game events is a pretty brilliant strategy from GungHo. Gamers look forward to the weekend when they can rack up lots of coins, or to special events during the week when there might be an increased chance of finding a rare monster. There are events on special occasions too, like a recent easter event, or the current spring event which just started.

No doubt gamers who take Puzzles & Dragons more seriously may find the information above somewhat trivial or obvious. But I think since the English version of the game still hasn’t come close to being popular on the US app charts, I thought I’d pass on a little information about why I like it so much. Besides the fun of the puzzles alone, there’s a lot of enjoyment to be had in collecting rare monsters and building a team. I enjoy the card battle genre, and P&D has all the right elements of that, I think.

Anyway, if you’d like to learn more about the game, I’ve included some more resources below. Some of them are deeper than you’ll need starting out, but keep them on hand for when you start to get hooked. If you have any advice to give I’d be delighted to hear it, so don’t hesitate to leave a comment below.


  1. Note that I’m referring to the US/English version of Puzzle & Dragons, as opposed to the Japanese version.  ↩

  2. Some of the tutorials that exist on the net seem to indicate tactics that are far more complex than my simple video demo. I look forward to diving deeper and learning more.  ↩

  3. The money I spend in the Apple Store is usually on text editors or, more recently, on the very expensive Dragon Dictate, which I used to write this post.  ↩

With over 4M downloads, crazy ‘Battle Cats’ game from Japan still has some surprises in store

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One of my very favorite mobile games over the past year has been Battle Cats (known in Japan as Nyanko) from Kyoto-based game developer Ponos. It’s a pretty simple tower defense title, but the unique cat heros and strange enemies give the game a very distinct, very weird character. Even though it only launched back in November, the title already has more than 4 million downloads, and that’s without the assistance of any of the major game platforms like GREE or Mobage [1]. I recently had a chance to speak with a Ponos representative about their very unusual game. I was surprised to discover that there was an i-mode version of Battle Cats before these latest smartphone titles for Android and iOS. And while the Japanese and English version have some differences, both were created to have the appearance of a movie parody. While the title can’t really be called a runaway hit, I find I keep coming back to it because I just have a hunch that there’s a lot of potential for more growth here. Our video demo of Battle Cats over on Youtube has a crazy amount of comments from overseas users, which has really surprised me….

battle-cats-4-million

One of my very favorite mobile games over the past year has been Battle Cats (known in Japan as Nyanko) from Kyoto-based game developer Ponos. It’s a pretty simple tower defense title, but the unique cat heros and strange enemies give the game a very distinct, very weird character. Even though it only launched back in November, the title already has more than 4 million downloads, and that’s without the assistance of any of the major game platforms like GREE or Mobage [1].

I recently had a chance to speak with a Ponos representative about their very unusual game. I was surprised to discover that there was an i-mode version of Battle Cats before these latest smartphone titles for Android and iOS. And while the Japanese and English version have some differences, both were created to have the appearance of a movie parody.

While the title can’t really be called a runaway hit, I find I keep coming back to it because I just have a hunch that there’s a lot of potential for more growth here. Our video demo of Battle Cats over on Youtube has a crazy amount of comments from overseas users, which has really surprised me. Most of it is simply players looking to share invite codes, but to me it is a pretty strong indication of an active overseas fan base. I asked the folks at Ponos if they have been surprised that players outside Japan are taking such a liking to Battle Cats:

Well, the truth is that there was hardly any marketing. So you could say it is pure organic growth. I didn’t think of Battle Cats as a hit outside of Japan before. I must say I’m surprised myself. We are currently examining how to appeal to a broader audience, outside of Asia, where people know less about Japan and might have trouble connecting with the various places, treasures and characters.

Profitable cats?

god-cat
God Cat iPhone wallpaper, anyone?

But is the game making any money? It has done well on the top grossing charts in Japan, and on Android it has been a top 50 grossing app in Taiwan and Singapore too. The company declined to disclose any details about its revenue for the game (players can buy cat food to purchase in-game items) but they say that Battle Cats is “doing fine” in terms of income.

What can we expect in the future for Battle Cats? I’m told that they are working on some new content, including new original characters and attacks. These are coming in one of the next updates.

Given the ‘kimo-kawaii’ nature of the game [2], I was also curious to know whether or not the company intended to get into merchandising, like many other popular mobile games these days. They affirm that this is indeed the case, and that they are speaking with a number of companies, looking forward to having a lineup of Battle Cats merch “in the near future.”

Finally I had to ask about the very difficult chapter 3, round 48 that both myself and a number of readers have been having difficulty with. The Ponos rep tells me:

I will answer this not as employee but from experience. As the campaigns get increasingly more difficult you need to efficiently use ranged attacks and shield characters in order to defeat the enemy.

While I haven’t spent too much time trying to beat this round recently, I noticed that there have been some double-chance ‘Treasure Festival’ events in the game recently (see below), where players can then make an effort to improve the power of their cat army. I think if you keep an eye out for such events, and follow the strategy above, then the round should be beatable.

I’m looking forward to seeing the new content when it’s published, and it will be interesting to see if new additions to the game can sustain Battle Cats’ recent success. Stay tuned!

battle-cats-treasure-promo


  1. I’d even consider putting Line in this class these days, given the dominance that we’re seeing from that platform recently.  ↩

  2. I recently learned this word. Thanks Emily and Serkan!  ↩