THE BRIDGE

Video Reviews

Puzzle Trooper: Making the puzzle/RPG accessible to the West

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Last week game developers Kabam and Gumi launched their Puzzle Trooper game for a number of markets worldwide, on iOS and Android. The game is clearly very much influenced by the wildly successful Puzzle & Dragons, but it takes advantages of one key area where P&D could have done better: localization. For Western users who play Puzzle & Dragons, including myself, it may take a while to grasp many of the game’s core concepts. I think that in the English version of the game, some things (like combo multipliers, orb manipulation, and knowing which elements are most effective against other elements) are not adequately explained to beginners. Check out my video below for a more visual comparison. This is the best game ever from the Southeast Asia region Developed by Gumi’s Singapore team, I think that Puzzle Trooper is very deliberately trying to do what Puzzle & Dragons overlooked in its localization, presenting that proven puzzle-RPG game model to global audiences in a manner which they can understand [1]. There are countless similarities with P&D, but the characters are completely different (and very much not in a Japanese style), presented as army troops that can be collected, enhanced, and evolved….

puzzle-trooper

Last week game developers Kabam and Gumi launched their Puzzle Trooper game for a number of markets worldwide, on iOS and Android. The game is clearly very much influenced by the wildly successful Puzzle & Dragons, but it takes advantages of one key area where P&D could have done better: localization.

For Western users who play Puzzle & Dragons, including myself, it may take a while to grasp many of the game’s core concepts. I think that in the English version of the game, some things (like combo multipliers, orb manipulation, and knowing which elements are most effective against other elements) are not adequately explained to beginners. Check out my video below for a more visual comparison.

This is the best game ever from the Southeast Asia region

Developed by Gumi’s Singapore team, I think that Puzzle Trooper is very deliberately trying to do what Puzzle & Dragons overlooked in its localization, presenting that proven puzzle-RPG game model to global audiences in a manner which they can understand [1].

There are countless similarities with P&D, but the characters are completely different (and very much not in a Japanese style), presented as army troops that can be collected, enhanced, and evolved. I’ve been playing the game for a few days, and so far I really like it a lot. There is an interesting player-vs-player option where you can game with friends over Bluetooth, which looks fun. And the in-game text is pretty humorous, as are the fun character names.

So far the game has been made available to markets outside Japan, and it is currently number one in the role-playing category in Thailand, Malaysia, Spain, Russia, Brunei, and the Dominican Republic. I look forward to seeing how far this game can go now that Kabam is on board with Gumi. The company’s CEO Hironao Kunimitsu is pretty enthusiastic about the title, telling me that his Singapore team did a great job, adding “This is the best game ever from the Southeast Asia region.”

If you’d like to give it a try, you can get it for free over on the App Store.


  1. It should be noted that Puzzle Trooper has not launched in the Japanese market. So if anyone is wondering why GungHo is (apparently) not upset about a game that borrows so heavily from its hit game Puzzle & Dragons, perhaps that’s one of the main reasons. In any case, as much as I like Puzzle & Dragons, I think it’s good that Gumi can build a game like this one.  ↩

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

GotchaWarriors: Is this Japan’s answer to Plants vs Zombies? [Video]

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GotchaWarriors is a fun new Japanese tower defense game, first published on iOS a little less than a month ago. It’s very similar to Plants vs Zombies in many ways, but with some fun elements of card battle games making it a little different. The game pits you against Dr. Strangelove (or Dr Calamity in the Japanese version) and his team of zombies, and you have to build and recruit your team of fighters in order to beat him. Like with Plants and Zombies, you can put more defensive characters in the front and longer-range shooters in the back. It’s also useful to put short range attackers upfront just behind your defenses where they can be a little bit more active and slash on diagonals. So far the game has more than 400,000 downloads, which is pretty good for a game only a month old. And last week the Android version was released, and so far it is the 13th ranked arcade game on Google Play for Japan. From my point of view, I think the game has a lot of potential, however like many other made-in-Japan games targeting global audiences, the introductory tutorial for the English version could be…

GotchaWarriors is a fun new Japanese tower defense game, first published on iOS a little less than a month ago. It’s very similar to Plants vs Zombies in many ways, but with some fun elements of card battle games making it a little different.

The game pits you against Dr. Strangelove (or Dr Calamity in the Japanese version) and his team of zombies, and you have to build and recruit your team of fighters in order to beat him. Like with Plants and Zombies, you can put more defensive characters in the front and longer-range shooters in the back. It’s also useful to put short range attackers upfront just behind your defenses where they can be a little bit more active and slash on diagonals.

So far the game has more than 400,000 downloads, which is pretty good for a game only a month old. And last week the Android version was released, and so far it is the 13th ranked arcade game on Google Play for Japan. From my point of view, I think the game has a lot of potential, however like many other made-in-Japan games targeting global audiences, the introductory tutorial for the English version could be better. I don’t think it has the broad appeal of a game like PvZ, but I confess, I think I enjoy this a little more than PvZ.

The game’s publisher, One of Them Inc, notes that this is a game for ‘high spec’ smartphones, so if you have older handset this game might not perform so well. I found that even on my a iPod touch it generated quite a bit of heat.

Overall the game is a good one, and I recommend you try out GotchaWarriors and let us know what you think. To learn more about the gameplay, check out our demo video above.

gotchawarriors-3

gotchawarriors-3

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.  ↩

Japanese tower defense hit ‘Battle Cats’ marches on, now with 4 million downloads

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The Japanese tower defense game Battle Cats from Kyoto-based developer Ponos has just surpassed 4 million downloads, this according to Gamebiz.jp. This comes shortly after the title passed the 2 million downloads milestone just last month. The game was initially released for iOS back in November, with the Android version following at the end of December. The title has been a top 50 iOS app in Japan for the majority of 2013, and a top 5 stallworth in the strategy category. The Android version has done even better, starting out a little slow, but staying in the top 25 of all Android apps for Japan since early January, with the exception of a few days. Personally I’m a huge fan of this game, and I’m really glad to see it doing well. I confess, that Puzzle & Dragon’s has displaced Battle Cats somewhat in my gaming time, but if I can ever get past chapter 3, round 48, then I expect my addiction will re-kindle pretty quickly. While I haven’t yet cracked the problem of beating chapter 3, some readers have inquired about beating chapter 2. So here’s a short video (above) which gives an overview of that round. I…

The Japanese tower defense game Battle Cats from Kyoto-based developer Ponos has just surpassed 4 million downloads, this according to Gamebiz.jp. This comes shortly after the title passed the 2 million downloads milestone just last month. The game was initially released for iOS back in November, with the Android version following at the end of December.

The title has been a top 50 iOS app in Japan for the majority of 2013, and a top 5 stallworth in the strategy category. The Android version has done even better, starting out a little slow, but staying in the top 25 of all Android apps for Japan since early January, with the exception of a few days.

battlecats

Personally I’m a huge fan of this game, and I’m really glad to see it doing well. I confess, that Puzzle & Dragon’s has displaced Battle Cats somewhat in my gaming time, but if I can ever get past chapter 3, round 48, then I expect my addiction will re-kindle pretty quickly.

While I haven’t yet cracked the problem of beating chapter 3, some readers have inquired about beating chapter 2. So here’s a short video (above) which gives an overview of that round. I hope it helps!

If you’re a fan of Battle Cats, feel free to share your tips or invite codes in the comment section below.

With 4 million downloads for iPhone, popular Japanese collage app hits Android [Video]

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Japanese photo application Papelook has just announced that it has surpassed 4 million downloads on iOS. The application, which very much falls in the ‘kawaii’ apps category, is a very handy way to repurpose your photos in a stylish collage which can then be shared with friends. And for those of you not on iOS, the company has announced that an Android version is being released today as well. Check out our video demo above for a general idea of how the service works. Currently the majority of its users are young women (80%), and the feminine style of the photo decorations certainly reflects that. Nonetheless, I put together a collage of baby pictures just now, and I expect I’ll make a few more like this to share with family in the future. The application has been around for a long time (since mid 2011), but it wasn’t until its 2.0 release last May that it saw some real momentum. The company says that it has about 1.2 million active users currently, which is certainly an impressive total for an app in this genre. Papelook also publishes its pape.me girls fashion magazine app for iOS which itself has 250,000 downloads….

Japanese photo application Papelook has just announced that it has surpassed 4 million downloads on iOS. The application, which very much falls in the ‘kawaii’ apps category, is a very handy way to repurpose your photos in a stylish collage which can then be shared with friends. And for those of you not on iOS, the company has announced that an Android version is being released today as well. Check out our video demo above for a general idea of how the service works.

papelookCurrently the majority of its users are young women (80%), and the feminine style of the photo decorations certainly reflects that. Nonetheless, I put together a collage of baby pictures just now, and I expect I’ll make a few more like this to share with family in the future.

The application has been around for a long time (since mid 2011), but it wasn’t until its 2.0 release last May that it saw some real momentum. The company says that it has about 1.2 million active users currently, which is certainly an impressive total for an app in this genre. Papelook also publishes its pape.me girls fashion magazine app for iOS which itself has 250,000 downloads.

Geographically, 71.6% of its users come from its home market of Japan, with 10.7% and 6.5% from Thailand and Taiwan respectively.

As for its future business, Papelook may offer print services since many people make such collages for birthdays or weddings. And given the focused audience, advertising tie-ups are possible as well.

papelook-growth

Domino’s Hatsune Miku app boosting pizza sales in Japan. We gave it a test run. [Video]

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Last week we mentioned a new augmented reality iPhone app from Domino’s Japan featuring virtual pop star Hatsune Miku. The app overlays a virtual song and dance performance right on top of your pizza box using the iPhone camera. Domino’s has reportedly even seen shortages of its new Hatsune Miku pizza boxes at some locations, with some stores reporting a 10x increase in sales. As we noted last week, Kamakura-based studio Kayac was involved in the planning and development of the application, and it certainly looks to be a successful campaign so far, in terms of publicity. Domino’s even has pink Hatsune Miku branded motorbikes for deliveries! In order to get a better idea of how the app works, I went ahead and ordered a pizza. These are the sacrifices we make for you, dear reader, so I hope you appreciate it! Check out Hatsune Miku’s augmented reality performance on pizza boxes in our video below.

dominos-pizza-hatsune-miku

Last week we mentioned a new augmented reality iPhone app from Domino’s Japan featuring virtual pop star Hatsune Miku. The app overlays a virtual song and dance performance right on top of your pizza box using the iPhone camera. Domino’s has reportedly even seen shortages of its new Hatsune Miku pizza boxes at some locations, with some stores reporting a 10x increase in sales.

As we noted last week, Kamakura-based studio Kayac was involved in the planning and development of the application, and it certainly looks to be a successful campaign so far, in terms of publicity. Domino’s even has pink Hatsune Miku branded motorbikes for deliveries!

In order to get a better idea of how the app works, I went ahead and ordered a pizza. These are the sacrifices we make for you, dear reader, so I hope you appreciate it!

Check out Hatsune Miku’s augmented reality performance on pizza boxes in our video below.

Most successful mobile game ever? Puzzle & Dragons passes 10 million downloads [Video]

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Japanese game developer and publisher GungHo Entertainment announced today that its insanely popular Puzzle & Dragons game has finally surpassed the 10 million downloads mark (as of March 9th). It took just over a year to reach the mark, after its initial release in February of 2012. And while the games download count is not by itself a standout accomplishment, its longevity at or near the top of the Apple and Google Play top grossing app charts is incredible. Most of the game’s downloads are from its home market of Japan, where the game has been helped by television commercials. Described as a combination of a Bejeweled-ish puzzle game and an RPG, Puzzle & Dragons has yet to really catch on outside of Japan, after launching English versions late last year. I’m not certain why this is, but speaking from my own experience with the game [1], my initial encounter didn’t get me hooked. At first I didn’t quite realize how the jewels (called ‘Orbs’ in the game) could be maneuvered. But eventually I figured out you could move an orb wherever you wished – you can even move them diagonally. There are still a lot of things that I…

Japanese game developer and publisher GungHo Entertainment announced today that its insanely popular Puzzle & Dragons game has finally surpassed the 10 million downloads mark (as of March 9th). It took just over a year to reach the mark, after its initial release in February of 2012. And while the games download count is not by itself a standout accomplishment, its longevity at or near the top of the Apple and Google Play top grossing app charts is incredible.

Most of the game’s downloads are from its home market of Japan, where the game has been helped by television commercials. Described as a combination of a Bejeweled-ish puzzle game and an RPG, Puzzle & Dragons has yet to really catch on outside of Japan, after launching English versions late last year. I’m not certain why this is, but speaking from my own experience with the game [1], my initial encounter didn’t get me hooked.

puzzle-and-dragonsAt first I didn’t quite realize how the jewels (called ‘Orbs’ in the game) could be maneuvered. But eventually I figured out you could move an orb wherever you wished – you can even move them diagonally. There are still a lot of things that I have yet to learn about the game, like which monsters in your collection are best used to evolve other monsters, or strategies relating to the various types of monsters when attacking.

But nevertheless I enjoy the game immensely, and part of the reason is because of the game’s depth. There’s still a lot that I have yet to figure out. If you’re new to the game, I recommend you check out some of the many video demos on YouTube (including my own demo, which you can see above). There’s also a subreddit dedicated to the game, which you might want to watch as well.

If you have any tips for how to excel in the game, I’d love to hear, so don’t hesitate to let me know in the comments below. [Via Gamebiz.jp]

(Download image version of chart)


  1. If you’d like to add me as a friend in-game, my ID is 333,547,212. Feel free to drop your ID here in the comments too if you like.  ↩

Wind Runner: The latest Line game to hit number 1 in Japan’s App Store

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NHN Japan has been releasing a number of casual games via its popular Line chat platform in recent months, all of them relatively casual titles, many of them puzzlers like Line Pop or Line Birzzle. But its latest title, Line Wind Runner, while it is still very casual, is perhaps one of the most fun games to come from Line so far. The game is a side-scrolling platformer, and reminds me a little bit of Sonic the Hedgehog in that you have to collect as many stars as you can [1]. But the controls are appropriately simple for a mobile game, as your character runs on its own, and you merely need to jump over obstacles on your way. You can do one tap for a single jump, and to do a sort of air glide, you do a double tap which lets you reach greater heights. Currently Wind Runner is the top ranked game in Apple’s Japanese App Store, and it is the second ranked free app overall. It’s also doing well in other Asian countries, ranking as the third highest free app in Thailand and Taiwan, and the second highest in Cambodia. On Google Play, it’s also doing…

NHN Japan has been releasing a number of casual games via its popular Line chat platform in recent months, all of them relatively casual titles, many of them puzzlers like Line Pop or Line Birzzle. But its latest title, Line Wind Runner, while it is still very casual, is perhaps one of the most fun games to come from Line so far.

The game is a side-scrolling platformer, and reminds me a little bit of Sonic the Hedgehog in that you have to collect as many stars as you can [1]. But the controls are appropriately simple for a mobile game, as your character runs on its own, and you merely need to jump over obstacles on your way. You can do one tap for a single jump, and to do a sort of air glide, you do a double tap which lets you reach greater heights.

Currently Wind Runner is the top ranked game in Apple’s Japanese App Store, and it is the second ranked free app overall. It’s also doing well in other Asian countries, ranking as the third highest free app in Thailand and Taiwan, and the second highest in Cambodia.

On Google Play, it’s also doing ok, but still has lots of room to improve.


  1. Sonic collected rings.  ↩

Tokyo Otaku Mode keeps improving its manga photo app [Video]

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Just last week we reported that the up-and-coming Japanese startup Tokyo Otaku Mode had raised a new round of funding from three VC firms. And while the company’s progress on the web appears to be going well (see our feature on TOM from a few weeks back) the company has also made some recent updates on its most prominent mobile initiative, Otaku Camera. If you haven’t tried it yet, the basic feature of the app is that it turns any photo into a manga-style picture. But earlier in the month, the company announced new downloadable Hello Kitty photo frames for the app, and today it’s rolling out Tiger & Bunny photo frames, from the famous anime TV series. Currently all frame sets are marked as ‘Free’ in Otaku Camera, but I expect that in the future we’ll see paid photo frames rolling out as well, as Tokyo Otaku Mode makes and effort to monetize. When we last heard from Tokyo Otaku Mode, we were informed that Otaku Camera has over 500,000 downloads. I think this figure will get larger, given the company’s enthusiastic base, with over 10 million fans on Facebook. For a quick video overview of Otaku Camera, check…

Just last week we reported that the up-and-coming Japanese startup Tokyo Otaku Mode had raised a new round of funding from three VC firms. And while the company’s progress on the web appears to be going well (see our feature on TOM from a few weeks back) the company has also made some recent updates on its most prominent mobile initiative, Otaku Camera.

If you haven’t tried it yet, the basic feature of the app is that it turns any photo into a manga-style picture. But earlier in the month, the company announced new downloadable Hello Kitty photo frames for the app, and today it’s rolling out Tiger & Bunny photo frames, from the famous anime TV series. Currently all frame sets are marked as ‘Free’ in Otaku Camera, but I expect that in the future we’ll see paid photo frames rolling out as well, as Tokyo Otaku Mode makes and effort to monetize.

otaku-camera

When we last heard from Tokyo Otaku Mode, we were informed that Otaku Camera has over 500,000 downloads. I think this figure will get larger, given the company’s enthusiastic base, with over 10 million fans on Facebook.

For a quick video overview of Otaku Camera, check out our video demo above. If you’d like to try the app for yourself, it’s available on both iOS and Android.