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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…

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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 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.  ↩

Is Tetris Monsters the next Puzzle & Dragons? [Video]

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Many games have tried to replicate the success of Japan’s mobile smash hit Puzzle & Dragons, but there aren’t many that have really made an impact. But few weeks back EA teased a game that has maybe just as much hit potential. That title is Tetris Monsters and it just launched in the Japanese App Store today. Like Puzzle & Dragons, this is a puzzle/RPG hybrid, but of course the puzzle component here is Tetris. I should note that the iconic puzzle game has been changed a lot, with a just a few controls: Block position indicators at the bottom of the puzzle area. You simply tap where you want your block to fall. A cycle button on the right where you you can adjust the block’s orientation. A ‘hold’ button on the right to take a pass on a block you don’t want. As for the RPG portion of the game, when you complete lines or series of lines, you make a strike against your enemy. And as you win and collect more monsters, you become stronger and better equipped for future battles. The artwork looks solid, and of course Tetris’s icon music is every bit as awesome as…

Many games have tried to replicate the success of Japan’s mobile smash hit Puzzle & Dragons, but there aren’t many that have really made an impact. But few weeks back EA teased a game that has maybe just as much hit potential. That title is Tetris Monsters and it just launched in the Japanese App Store today.

Like Puzzle & Dragons, this is a puzzle/RPG hybrid, but of course the puzzle component here is Tetris. I should note that the iconic puzzle game has been changed a lot, with a just a few controls:

  • Block position indicators at the bottom of the puzzle area. You simply tap where you want your block to fall.
  • A cycle button on the right where you you can adjust the block’s orientation.
  • A ‘hold’ button on the right to take a pass on a block you don’t want.

As for the RPG portion of the game, when you complete lines or series of lines, you make a strike against your enemy. And as you win and collect more monsters, you become stronger and better equipped for future battles. The artwork looks solid, and of course Tetris’s icon music is every bit as awesome as it used to be. I’ve only played it for a short time so far, but I look forward to checking it out some more.

To learn more about the game, check out our quick video demo above. For folks here in Japan who would like to learn more, there will be a Tetris Monsters event coming up this Saturday at the Apple Store in Ginza.

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