Ask anybody to name some Mario puzzlers and you'll most likely hear Dr. Mario, maybe Wario's Woods, Mario & Yoshi or Yoshi's Cookie. They never name the best of the lot though - Mario's Picross. The series had it's first game (Mario's Picross) on Game Boy in early 1995.
The original Mario's Picross had close to 200 puzzles. Basically, the object of the game is to chisel squares in a grid to form a picture. How is this done? Well, there are numbers on the sides of the grid. These will give you a hint as to what squares to chisel. For example, if there is a row of 15 squares and the number "10" next to it, that means that there are 10 squares next to each other in that row that have to be chiselled. You would have no idea where to place them (It could be the furthest left 10, the furthest right 10, or anything inbetween). Now, if the numbers "10 4" would be next to the row instead, you'd be absolutely certain - It means there's a row of 10 squares, then at least one empty square, then another row of 4 squares. As the row is 15 squares long, that means it would be a perfect fit. If you make a mistake, you will lose some time (There is a time limit). If your time's up, you must restart the puzzle. If you're completely stuck and have some time left, you can spend 5 minutes to buy a hint (A row and a column are filled after stopping a roulette). Each puzzle in Mario's Picross was 15 by 15 squares.
Mario's Picross also had a "Special" mode where you would not be told of mistakes - Thus leaving you in the dark as to whether you're solving the puzzle right or not. There was no time limit here, instead, there was a timer counting up to try and get a good time.
Unfortunately, Mario's Picross was a commercial failure outside Japan, leading Nintendo to not release the sequels worldwide. Japan proceeded to get Picross 2 (GB) and Mario's Super Picross (SNES) in the same year, and then 8 downloadable SNES sequels over the next 5 years (The SNES download service was Japan exclusive). Finally, in 2007, Nintendo released Picross DS worldwide, after 12 years of the games being exclusive to Japan.
Picross 2 for Game Boy introduced a few new elements. For starters, each puzzle was now 30 by 30 squares. They were all divided into 4 smaller, 15 by 15 segments. Basically, each puzzle was really 4 puzzles in one! The game also expanded "Special" mode into "Wario mode", with much more puzzles (The original "Special" mode only had a set of about 20 puzzles, from which it randomly picked one). The rules for the mode remained the same, except for one small change - Like Mario mode, Wario mode now had a time limit too. Since you "couldn't" make errors in Wario mode though, you would pretty much have to "wait out" all that time in order to run out, which would be pretty hard to do. Picross 2 had about 200 puzzles - 100 Mario, 100 Wario.
Mario's Super Picross improved much upon Picross 2. Puzzles were no longer all huge. The game starts with small, 5 by 5 puzzles, and eventually ends with puzzles as big as 25 by 20 (An odd number, but it works). Again, there is a Mario mode with hints and a Wario mode with no hints. There are about 280 puzzles total, split evenly between Mario and Wario. This time, in Wario mode, there is again no time limit, so you can spend as long as you want.
The music in the games is also quite good, by the way. The original two games only had 5 songs during puzzle solving each (Or you could turn music off), but you could select which one to play at any time. Super Picross now has 10 songs - 5 for Mario puzzles, 5 for Wario puzzles. You can still select which to play, but only for the mode you're in.
There's not much more to say about Super Picross - It's more of the same, really. And that's not bad at all, since, well, it's Picross! Whether you've played Picross before or not, Super Picross must be played - It's arguably the best in the series. Plus, since it starts out easy, it's great for beginners (The first two games are rather unforgiving at the start). Maybe after playing it, you can buy Picross DS too, if you haven't yet.
NOTE: The game is entirely in Japanese except for a few words (This was this way in the original release, so no, they didn't translate just those few words). However, it is still very easy to understand, so you shouldn't run into trouble. Also note that the game costs 900 Wii Points!
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1. Jazzem
31 Aug 2007, 13:17 GMT
Hold on, wasn't this JP only?
Either way, I love Picross DS, so I'm certainly not saying no to more of the same!
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2. KeeperBvK
31 Aug 2007, 13:42 GMT
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssss!!
Finally! I love Mario's Picross on the GB.
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3. Yoshi175
31 Aug 2007, 14:14 GMT
Yes finally some games from Nintendo that were never Realeased outside of Japan, and I love Picross!
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4. Mendez
31 Aug 2007, 14:30 GMT
I've been a huge Picross fan since Mario's Picross on Gameboy, but Picross DS is probably more than enough for me now...
Still, I'll be considering it.
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5. DEMON212
31 Aug 2007, 20:59 GMT
I have never been more confused and scared by a game. Maybe it's because it's in Japanese (Which I can't read), but just how the bloody hell are you supposed to know what you're drawing?
It doesn't look like it gives you hints or anything. And it can't even be themed, because one of them before the Footie player is an Aubergine (SP).
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6. Drake
31 Aug 2007, 22:48 GMT
You're not supposed to know what you're drawing (Not until you're done or near done anyway). Picross is about uncovering a picture, not recreating a picture. You can buy hints in exchange for time, though not in Wario mode.
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7. DEMON212
02 Sep 2007, 01:32 GMT
So if you aren't supposed to know what you're drawing, what makes it fun?
I mean why would hacking/chipping away at a bunch of tiles for hour after hour trying to create a picture in the hopes it's the one that the game wants you to do, be fun?
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8. Drake
02 Sep 2007, 12:49 GMT
The same reason loads of people like Sudoku, crossword puzzles and other stuff. Then again, you usually don't like what everybody else likes...
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9. Don-Bon
02 Sep 2007, 18:01 GMT
Demon, look at all the numbers around the board. By those numbers you can figure out where to start "chipping away".
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10. DEMON212
02 Sep 2007, 23:17 GMT
The numbers are supposed to help? I'd have thought one of them saying "64" when there aren't 64 tiles in a column to be unhelpful, rather than helpful.
So basically this is a glorified costly version of Minesweeper but with pictures?
Got it.
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11. Drake
02 Sep 2007, 23:28 GMT
There's a space between 6 and 4. Read the review.
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12. wii-c-kid
14 Sep 2007, 07:32 GMT
Don't rise to the bait Drake, I guess some things are just lost on certain people. DEMON212's just going to have to wait a couple more weeks for Super Metroid.
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13. Paulymate
14 Sep 2007, 12:18 GMT
This is a great game, and it's wonderful to get a chance to play it.
Note that, to add to the excellence, as it was never released in PAL before and hence crushed/slowed down/ruined it runs fullscreen and at 60HZ.
Buy, you fools, buy.
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14. KhaoShar
14 Sep 2007, 15:37 GMT
In the first level you get to chip out japanese letters >_
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15. ICEknight
14 Sep 2007, 21:29 GMT
They didn't translate it? That's not too good...
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16. KhaoShar
14 Sep 2007, 21:47 GMT
Hey, why is there only the first line of my previous comment? Was the rest I wrote so unfitting?
At least my warning that this only runs on screens compatible to 60Hz should be there
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17. SKTTR
17 Sep 2007, 00:27 GMT
Just downloaded this, and yeah I love it.
It's just the successor to Mario's Picross for Super Game Boy.
Remixed music and all new levels, everything colored and animated, full screen at 60hz.
Anyway, it's odd that much of the screentext is in Japanese but that won't hold off Picross fans. There is no story or anything that's much of interest. You have to understand the concept of the game, and it's simple and that's all. Everything that could be of importance is written down in English (like the manual).
Many many puzzles await, Nintendo characters like Wario appear, and it's one of the best puzzle games out there.
It's fully playable.
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18. Manaman
17 Sep 2007, 12:42 GMT
An absolute classic. I was always hoping it would appear ever since Japan got it last December, and I'm glad to see some of the classic ditties from GB version is in this game.
One of the best puzzle games around and in many ways, it's much better playing Picross on the telly than the handheld... this is especially true with the larger puzzles where scrolling spoiled the experience somewhat in Picross DS.
Puzzle fans should grab this now. It really is a truly awesome experience.
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19. VC_D
17 Sep 2007, 16:46 GMT
The official website says this game can only be played using either the classic controller or the gamecube controller. Is it maybe possible to play this game with the wii-remote? I would think you don't need more than 2 buttons for this kind of game (my experience with Picross DS).
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20. Bass X0
19 Sep 2007, 14:35 GMT
Translating it would have cost a lot more points.
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21. Justin
01 Oct 2007, 23:26 GMT
I hope this comes to the USA sometime since they didn't release it with SMB:LL
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22. Pocketim
14 Nov 2007, 21:52 GMT
Is this worth picking up if I already have Picross DS?
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23. Drake
14 Nov 2007, 23:30 GMT
Every Picross game is worth picking up, even if you already have others.
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24. WaddleWave
05 Dec 2007, 13:48 GMT
This is definitely worth the points. Every Picross game has different puzzles. The language it's not vital for it's addictive gameplay (you won't notice that minutes becomes hours.). Hope this comes to US pretty soon.
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25. Guyute
19 Dec 2007, 04:24 GMT
What's the chance of this coming to the US?
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26. RevolverLink
19 Jan 2008, 08:48 GMT
Why hasn't this game come to the States yet!? I need to satisfy my Picross fix!
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27. ReZon
20 Jan 2008, 01:57 GMT
Yeah, I would totally love if this game were released in NA please?
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28. Kawaiipikachu
29 Jan 2008, 12:46 GMT
I love this game .
It needs no translation & it's great .
It's a smart game for smart people .
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29. Quimby
23 Mar 2008, 01:08 GMT
This is the game I got the most excited about on the VC. For me, there was no descision to be made about its purchase, it IS a must have. If I had to spend eternity with only 3 games, I would have this, Street Fighter 2 Turbo, & Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door. Easy.
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30. Fireballmario
20 Apr 2008, 15:48 GMT
Dang it! I really want this game to come out here in America, but as usual we have to wait forever to get it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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31. marktheshark
02 May 2008, 03:36 GMT
Why must NOA deprive us of this good game.
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