amphibious_ReViews

I can't remember anymore if this was my first Picross game, but it absolutely played a huge role in my love for the series. While the free-to-start model has some obvious drawbacks, it's likely the only reason I was willing to pick Pokémon Picross up in the first place, so it paid off. If you max out on purchasable picrites, the otherwise drip-fed premium currency, then most of the free-to-start influences are nullified, significantly improving the experience. That's how I played this time around, and I think it became my favorite entry in the entire Picross franchise. Around a decade and a half after the announcement and subsequent cancellation of Pokémon Picross for the Game Boy Color, Jupiter Corporation was given a chance to redeem their lost game with a successor on the 3DS. While its price-point and its Pokémon branding surely garnered it plenty of extra attention, Pokémon Picross for the 3DS also had a distinct gameplay advantage compared to it's 20+ predecessor...

Pokémon Picross is a strange one. Not to be confused with the free-to-start 3DS  release of the same name, this Gameboy Color game was never actually released. It was almost entirely finished, and the leaked and translated version that I played felt like it was nearly ready to go, but it never actually made it out to the world in any official capacity. While it may have a few quirks, Pokémon Picross feels like it fills the roles of both a  Pokémon game and a  Picross game pretty well, making it a good time for fans of both franchises, such as myself. When it comes to Picross games, this is a fairly standard affair, feeling very similar to the likes of Mario's Picross , save for two Pokémon -focused features. The first is your partner Pokémon . Every few pages of puzzles, the game will show a mini interaction between you and a Pokémon  who can then appear on the puzzle screen as your partner. The difference partners don't change the gameplay at all, but it's a c...

As it was the first game available to redeem with My Nintendo points, Twilight Princess Picross gave me a lot of hope. I had already gotten hundreds of dollars of free games (and merch) from the previous rewards service, Club Nintendo , and I wasn't sure what to expect from its replacement. An exclusive game like this was definitely a good way to boost my confidence, and the expiration date it originally mentioned on the redemption page hinted that this was only the first in a line of My Nintendo branded titles. Fast forward five years and the redemption page still hasn't expired, we haven't seen even a hint of another original title, and My Nintendo  lives in the shadow of its predecessor. Luckily, this was still a fantastic game for Picross fans like me, so at least we have that. Twilight Princess Picross is a pretty standard affair for a Jupiter -developed  Picross game. It's shorter, with just two sets of 45 puzzles and one enormous "Micross" puzzle,...

As the first Picross game to make it to the west, this title didn't do nearly as well as Nintendo was hoping, leading us to be without a new Picross game until the DS . Although the franchise was doing well in Japan, westerners just weren't ready for these clever logic games. I think part of the issue was that this was advertised as a Mario title, but that aspect of the game boiled down to his face in the corner of the screen and a small number of related puzzles. Despite the poor reaction upon release, I found this to be a really enjoyable title. Some of the rules implemented in future entries, such as the inability to fill in a space that you've marked with an X, are sorely missed here. However, complaints like those don't really undermine the fact that this game is loaded with solid puzzles and is a delight to play. If you're familiar with other Picross  titles, you'll be right at home here. If not, the game does a great job of easing you into the nonogra...

Picross is a prolific series of nonogram puzzle games, and I'm constantly surprised that they're able to come up with hundreds of new puzzles for each title. Although it's not the first entry in the series, Picross DS can be credited with bringing the series back to the West after Mario's Picross flopped, and I'm grateful that it did! Picross has become a go-to series for me thanks to the simple pick-up-and-play style, and the addicting buzz from solving each puzzle. Picross DS is loaded with cute grid-based drawings to uncover, and it has enough content to last for ages. I think part of it's success can be attributed to it's accessibility. The game guides players from easier puzzles to harder ones, allowing them to learn the ropes and develop strategies as they progress. It also allows play via the buttons or the touch screen, depending on player preference. As I prefer using buttons, I'm glad that touch screen play wasn't forced as it was with...