Pairing the static match-three gameplay of Puzzle and Dragons with the traditionally more active Super Mario Bros. franchise seems a strange choice on paper, but in practice it’s immediately clear how shrewd the partnership is. Adding the recognizable faces, sounds and sights of the Mushroom Kingdom makes the game immediately familiar regardless of prior experience with Puzzle and Dragons, and the recently released eShop demo of Puzzle and Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition offers a charming, albeit brief taste of what players can expect from the crossover.

Each level is made up of several different enemy encounters, each usually featuring different elemental affinities and abilities than the last. Matching orbs of the proper element deals significant damage, but if you take too long to get the job done your enemies will unleash attacks of their own, and with one solitary life bar any mistakes can quickly become costly. Many stages contain special life orbs, however, which restore some health when matched. What this all amounts to is a measured balance of offense and defense, whittling down your opponent’s health while managing your own.

Like all match-three puzzle games there’s an element of unpredictability and luck when the next wave of orbs drops down, but Puzzle and Dragons possesses a surprisingly robust strategic element as well. You may succeed in the early levels by blindly matching up orbs and letting gravity do its work, but as the difficulty rises it becomes increasingly crucial to carefully plan your route on the way to each match. When you grab an orb and drag it to a new position, you displace every other orb you pass along the way, and skilled players will use this mechanic to manufacture ridiculous strings of matches in a single motion. It feels fantastic to methodically plan a move to smite your foes in a single wave of your stylus, and it’s an art that takes time to master.

There’s a ton of depth to Puzzle and Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition, like leader skills, helper skills, team customization, and branching level paths, and many of those elements didn’t feature in the game’s free eShop demo. Nevertheless, I was impressed by the what I saw, and came away more confident than ever that Nintendo has produced a legitimately worthwhile experience in its collaboration with GungHo Entertainment. The pair really seem to have implemented the Mario franchise intelligently, filling the game with the charm and minute details that have come to define the storied series over its 30 years.

Puzzle and Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition is only half the package, though. Its counterpart, Puzzle and Dragons Z, takes the immensely popular gameplay of GungHo Entertainment’s Puzzle and Dragons and frames it inside a full-fledged RPG. It’s not playable in the eShop demo, but players in Japan seem to be enjoying the elaborated gameplay quite a lot, and along with the surprisingly enjoyable Super Mario Bros. crossover, Nintendo might have another hit headed to 3DS when Puzzle and Dragons Z + Puzzle and Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition launches on May 22.