A Blogging Mama x GungHo (North America) collaboration for once! Let’s talk PAD with two GungHo staff: Sam and Kenji, and find out what’s coming up in the North America version of PAD!

All questions from me (Reni) are in the blue boxes for clarity.

Introduction

Hi guys! Thanks for making this exclusive interview possible, it’s my honor to be holding this interview and talk about my favorite mobile game!

Before we dive in, we all see you for a limited time on stream only. Can you give us a short introduction of yourself, and what your role is in GungHo, so everyone can know you even more?

GungHo Sam: Hi Reni, thank you so much for all of your work, bringing JP and NA news to players in an easy-to-read format on your blog! I’m GungHo Sam, and I work mainly as a bridge between you, the players, and the Puzzle & Dragons team! Puzzle & Dragons has been my favorite game ever since I started playing it 6+ years ago (July 2013).

GungHo Kenji: I’m a software engineer at GungHo America. Right now I’m working on our upcoming game for the Nintendo Switch, Volta-X! I am invited to appear on the stream with Sam since I have been playing for a while and I love the game!

Sam: Not to mention your 30+ crowns! It shows how much you care about the game!

We all watch (and admire) you play on the live stream, and we wonder about your PAD style – What was your starter and starting roll?

Kenji: Tyrra! I don’t remember my first roll (possibly a golem ?), but my first god was Freyr . I feel kind of bad for them because they don’t get much use anymore 🙁

Sam: Tyrra for me too! I had to go with Tyrra since a certain fire lizard happens to be my favorite starter from a different game too. I remember restarting my account a few times to get a gold egg as my first roll, and was extremely happy with rolling a Genie . 3-turn Dark Attribute damage void is such a useful skill, even today!

There are a lot of PAD monsters available in game, which is your favorite monster to use in a team, favorite monster in terms of artwork, and favorite monster overall?

Kenji: My favorite leader to use changes every month or so. Last month it was Qilin , this month I think it’s Mega Fenrir . For artwork it’s so hard to choose! It’s got to be a tie between New Year’s Kanna and Kyori . My favorite monster overall… Wow this is hard. Mugamazake?

Sam: Incarnation of Kirin, Sakuya was one of my earliest gods, and she’s served me well for many years, helping me clear many Descended Dungeons with her 5x multiplier, and now that she received her Super Reincarnated version , I’ve been using her for first-clearing new dungeons that pop up! When Awoken Ra first released, he was my go-to lead for a very long time (sorry, Sakuya). I guess I’ve always been drawn to the rainbow playstyle.

As far as artwork goes, I think everyone knows by now that all forms of Typhon is my husbando, but I absolutely adore Super Reincarnated Sakuya’s artwork as well.

Along the lines of artwork, do you have a favorite PAD artist?

Sam: It’s hard to say, since everyone has such unique styles, and I love the artwork for all the monsters and characters in the game. However, I must say that Yusuke Kozaki-san (Sakuya) and Saichi-san (Typhon) would be my favorites since they gave birth to my most beloved characters!

Fun fact: did you know that Saichi-san also worked on certain versions of Sakuya’s illustration? 😉

Kenji: I don’t really keep up with the artists behind PAD, although the art was the primary reason I was so interested in the game when I started. I used to list out all the monsters I wanted based on their artworks. I guess my favorite would be Kazama Raita for New Year’s Kanna or Ikeya for Kyori. But I would like to give an honorable mention all the artists who worked on the Awoken forms of God types. I usually like their Awoken form artwork the most.

Sam: Awoken forms are interesting since they take the base forms and add some elements of the “evolution material” monsters to the artwork! For example, Awoken Minerva originally used Awoken Zeus Vulcan and Awoken Hera-Ur as her materials, and you can see Zeus Vulcan’s sword and Hera-Ur’s flaming orbs around her. Can you spot these elements in the other Awoken forms too?

Since it’s almost Halloween, is there a PAD monster you’d like to dress up as?

Sam: Extreme King Metal Dragon , since he’s an accurate depiction of me in real life.

I’ve been trying to be more active though, and it’s my goal to dress up as Mega Awoken Black Dragonbound, Typhon by sometime next year. (If I can somehow get an 8-pack.)

Kenji: I think the easiest option would be TAMADRA , since it’s recognizable and simple. But, if I had a professional cosplay-costume-maker at my disposal, I might choose one of the Archangel Lucifer Ultimate Evolutions. He is just so cool!

Is there a particular team you enjoy using? (Doesn’t have to be a “meta” team)

Kenji: I love to use the farmable collaboration monsters like Amberjack , Don-chan , Himi Udon and Mastering (Poring Tower return when?) because they make the older dungeons challenging again and they’re just so funny! Nothing like those good ol’ taiko sounds.

Sam: All-Typhon team. Thanks to Super Awakenings, an all-Typhon team can cover Damage Void Penetration (VDP) and Bonus Attack (FUA), and thanks to his Skill creating Heal Orbs and his Leader Skill requiring 4+ linked Heal Orbs, it’s easy to do a Bonus Attack! For Damage Voids, I like to use Akechi Mitsuhide as an Assist since it creates a bicolor board when paired with Typhon’s skill!

(You might also run into me using Amen in 3-Player Multiplayer, or see Mega Awoken God Binding Wolf, Fenrir Viz up!)

Which dungeon is your favorite, and why?

Sam: Experience of 5 Lifetimes. (Serious face)

Kenji: I like lots of dungeons for different reasons. Grotesque Being is great because it’s both challenging and gives you TWO killers AND a Py, but on the other hand the monthly quests are a constant source of new challenges and fun ideas (October Lv 9, 2019 was super fun for me!). Lastly, I really like 3-player dungeons. I miss playing 3-player Arena or even 3-player Endless Corridors with players I’ve never met, but nowadays it seems it’s almost always “Waiting for players…” 🙁

Sam: Well, you’ll be on stream again soon, won’t you? 😉

Kenji: LET’S GO WE WINNING THIS ONE

What’s your favorite/most hated mechanic in PAD?

Kenji: My favorite is probably either Damage Void Penetration or Bonus Attack. I really like both of them because they give a huge reward for being able to solve boards well in a different way than usual. Moreover, they require you to build your team in a certain way to overcome certain dungeons. It’s the perfect fusion of puzzling prowess and team-building knowledge.

While I have lost countless stamina to Sopdet 💀, I must say the roulette (spinners?) is much more challenging than damage absorb used to be before void active skills. Damage control is hard, but timing your solves to move orbs in and out of a specific spot on the board is crazy difficult. Not to mention that the speed at which the orbs cycle isn’t always the same.

Sam: I’m the complete opposite of Kenji – spinners are one of my favorite mechanics, since I really enjoy playing rainbow teams, and spinners can help me fix a board that cannot activate certain Leader Skills, all without having to use a skill!

As for the most hated… I don’t particularly enjoy preemptive leader swap mechanics (Looking at you, Rokks ). Since I mainly play rainbow leads, it’s extremely hard to continue when the leader swaps to a row lead or attribute-specific lead. Of course, it’s possible to use Macha as an assist to combat this risk, but it’s still a difficult mechanic to get around, nonetheless.

Power Rangers x PAD Collab

We all are excited for the NA exclusive Power Rangers collab! So let’s start with one of the important questions that many players want to know: When should we expect the collab?

Sam: Oh boy, looks like this section is mostly for me…

We always give you the information as soon as we can, so stay tuned for further announcements!

What are some challenges for the collab?

Sam: I was initially scared about bringing real-life characters into Puzzle & Dragons, since the art style for them would have to be quite different from most of the other characters. However, the artwork turned out to be much more PAD-like while preserving the characters’ personalities and their aesthetic from the original series.

When did you learn about Power Rangers, and who is your favorite Ranger?

Kenji: I used to watch Power Rangers on VHS back home. I think I just liked Red Ranger because he was the leader. I was pretty young, so I didn’t really have the capacity to reason why anyone else would be better than him.

Sam: I was born in Korea and I wasn’t allowed to play video games growing up, so I spent a lot of free time in front of the TV. Power Rangers was one of the series that I grew up with, and I always admired how they had humongous robots that they used to defeat evil with. (I still don’t have a Zord, though. Hopefully, one day.)

My personal favorite has to be Billy (Mighty Morphin Blue Ranger). I’ve always been a fan of “smart” characters, although most of my friends were fans of Jason (Mighty Morphin Red Ranger).

Since the Rangers all have very cool weapons, will we see any of them in-game?

Sam: It’d be really cool to see Mighty Morphin Green Ranger’s Dragon Dagger as an Assist Evolution, wouldn’t it? I absolutely love weapons inspired by instruments.

I can assure you that we understand that Assist Evolutions play a pivotal part in today’s team building strategies, and we don’t want you to miss out on them!

What are you most excited for in the collab?

Kenji: I’m most excited to get some exclusive new cards! I always love seeing new content and I have a feeling that this collab is going to have some really powerful and useful characters in it!

Sam: The fact that we’ll be seeing Power Rangers in Puzzle & Dragons is simply unbelievable. We did our best to make sure that each illustration captures the original essence of the original series while fitting into the Puzzle & Dragons world, and the same goes for the original music in the dungeon. You had a preview of the music in the trailer, but I can’t wait for everyone to hear the whole thing in the dungeon!

Power Rangers Collab coming soon to Puzzle & Dragons! pic.twitter.com/G4mlKuy6U4 — Puzzle & Dragons NA (@PuzzDragNA) October 11, 2019

Can you give any spoilers, like which character you’re most looking forward to putting on the team?

Sam: Can’t go too much into detail about what the characters can do yet, but Mighty Morphin Green Ranger fighting with his Dragonzord packs a punch, just like in the original series!

Also, Lord Drakkon has one of the coolest artworks in the history of Puzzle & Dragons! If you’re a Power Rangers fan but haven’t been following the comics, make sure to check out the Shattered Grid arc! No spoilers from me on this end!

Kenji: You didn’t hear it from me but… I can almost guarantee you that there will be a certain blue ranger who will be Wt attribute 😉

Sam: Hey, no spoilers! >:3

Vision

With the upcoming 7th anniversary of the NA server, what’s one thing you are personally looking forward to?

Sam: I really want the new 7th Anniversary TAMADRA ! Every year, we get a new anniversary TAMADRA and all of their designs have been superb!

Oh also, did I mention that Incarnation of Suzaku, Leilan is my first god? I think there might be some good news coming for her!

Kenji: I also really want to get that 7th Anniversary Tamadra! I have a collection of the anniversary ones sitting in my box. But I also heard something about 7th anniversary baked goods???

Sam: Stay tuned for further announcements!

Concluding bits

Is there anyone you’d like to thank, for making the NA exclusive collab possible?

Sam: Many thanks to all of the Puzzle & Dragons fans for making this possible – without your support, this collab would’ve been a pipe dream!

Also, we’re grateful for the support from everyone on the Puzzle & Dragons team and Hasbro as well!

Is there anything you want to say to the fans out there?

Kenji: Use more Don-chan. Thanks for all your support!

Sam: My ultimate goal for Puzzle & Dragons is to get a page of Sakuya and Typhon each. If you have a page of your favorite monster, share your screenshot with us! It could be a completely different screenshot too – if you think it’s neat, we’d love to see them!

Thank you for all of your support, and as always, stay tuned for further announcements!

Thank you for the unique (and exclusive) opportunity to talk about PAD!

© GungHo Online Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

POWER RANGERS © 2019 SCG Power Rangers LLC and Hasbro. Power Rangers and all related logos, characters, names, and distinctive likenesses thereof are the exclusive property of SCG Power Rangers LLC. All Rights Reserved. Used Under Authorization.