I tried out the demo, I like it better than Pokémon Shuffle since it seems less random, and the team setup seems more in-depth, though it's tough to tell since the demo just has two presets. It isn't something I'll rush out to get, and I also don't care about the "Z" portion of the game, but I'll grab it at some point.

I had hit the hype train earlier on but then the demo kinda mellowed that out... but it wasn't enough to get me to cancel the pre-order. So it was shipped and I started playing it. I kind of wish I understood better who is expendable as a teammate and how best to make teams but otherwise it's pretty fun. It's definitely a different way of thinking about the match-3 style gameplay and I appreciate that.

I'm going to play through the SMB section and maybe dabble in the DragonsZ one. Not sure quite yet. I'm sure I'll try it.

You should come on the podcast and talk about it!

Not a big fan of this type of gameplay and since I've always invested so much time into Pokemon Shuffle (and it's free!), I'll just stick with that one.

@Mop it up

There's actually a pretty good puzzle game tucked away in here. It took me a bit of time to get a grasp on the mechanics, but now I can regularly do several combos in one go (this is before stuff starts falling in from offscreen). Haven't played the demo, though, so I'm not sure how it compares to the main game. But the main game itself is...kinda difficult!

@DrFinkelstein

I probably should sometime in the future--once I get my current projects done (TT and BitF books), I'll have a lot more time.

Haven't tried Z yet, but the SMB game gets pretty tough around world 3! It helps to realize from the beginning that moving pieces around moves EVERYTHING around, so you can make a lot of combos like that. I feel like I'm genuinely getting better at the game as I progress (just hit world 4 in Mario), so that's always a nice feeling. As far as I can tell, most teammates are equally valid in some way or another--nearly all of them can "evolve" into better forms, so there's no shame in hanging onto Koopas or Goombas.

@Jargon

I know what you mean. I do still prefer the whole Tetris Attack approach to puzzle-based gameplay, but I'm enjoying this more than I thought I would.

I enjoyed the demo quite a bit. And just the idea that the Hard Mode demo could be consistently beatable fascinates me! I'll pick it up when the mood (a.k.a. a good sale) strikes me.

Maybe if I can figure out how to not get crushed in the 'Hard Mode' section of the demo, I'll pick this up. I've got a lot of puzzle games on my 3DS right now, so I'm not rushing out to get another. At least, not yet.

This game just came in the mail today and I played about he first hour of Z, it's super fun, and there is a lengthy (some might say too lengthy) tutorial to the game that explains all of the major mechanics, unlike the demo which didn't explain jack.

This game is pretty deep! I mean there's a lot going on, and I'm just at the beginning. Really like it so far though, the presentation is fantastic, the RPG overworld has a really Chronotrigger meets Pokemon vibe, super cool. Nothing groundbreaking, it's composed completely of tried and true JRPG tropes, but it's all good stuff.

Very fun, very loving it! I'm glad I didn't let the lackluster demo dissuade me from buying it. They should have just made the first hour of the game the demo, that would have worked better I think.