Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box (titled Professor Layton and the Devil's Box and Professor Layton and Pandora's Box in Japan and Europe respectively) is the successor to the Nintendo DS video game Professor Layton and the Curious Village. The game was initially released in 2007 by Level 5 and later in 2009 in America in 2009.
It is set after Professor Layton and the Curious Village, when Professor Layton receives a letter from his old mentor, only to go to his house and find him dead. The culprit is supposed to be a box that curses anyone who opens it, and the only clue is a ticket for the Molentary Express.
Promotion
Prior to the game's release in America, Nintendo sent out invitations to various women in the media in New York to attend an event where they could play Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box. Women were separated in teams of six, and the goal was to rank up more points than the other teams. The team with the most points by the end of the event would receive free Nintendo DSis. Each team had a name referencing Professor Layton.
Gameplay
The gameplay is almost identical to predecessor in which you solve puzzles to advance in the game. In the previous game, some of the puzzles allowed you to jot down notes on the touch screen, but here you can memo on all the the puzzles simply by touching the Memo icon. The hint coins return from the previous game, hidden in various parts of the game.
The Professors Trunk
The proffesors trunk returns from the previous game but is slightly different. The top row of icons are the same featuring Journal, Mysteries, Puzzle index and save game. The Bottom row however is slightly different, featuring four different icons instead of three. They are Camera: a minigame where you have to create a camers similar to the painting minigame in the previous game; Hamster: where you have to create a exercise course for your fat hamster to burn of calories; the tea set, where you brew tea using a varity of ingrediants to plese verious people; and later in the game you obtain the Mysterious Journal. Each key you get unlocks a diary entry.