Nintendo and GungHo team up for Mario-themed Puzzle & Dragons

Nintendo has licensed its flagship Mario franchise as part of a new partnership with GungHo Online Entertainment, the games giant behind Puzzle & Dragons.

GungHo CEO Kazuki Morishita and Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto both announced Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros Edition during a presentation yesterday, according to IGN. The game, as you would expect, is the same as GungHo’s smash hit but with Mario themes and characters.

The Mario edition of Puzzle & Dragons will be released in Japan on April 29th. It will also feature StreetPass functionality and local multiplayer.

According to Gematsu, GungHo has said Nintendo will bring the title to other regions as well.

If you’ve not heard of Puzzle & Dragons, its one of the most successful mobile games of recent years. The original game has been downloaded in Japan more than 32m times, with a further 6m downloads in North America and plenty across Asia and Europe. The title was a major driver behind GungHo’s daily revenues of $4.5m back in October.

Check out the trailer for the new game below.