There is also a “Daily Picross” mode which offers five different exercises to hone your skills with each day. Of most interest would probably be “Quick Solve” and “No X Allowed” where you are given five puzzles to solve one after the other. Unlike the puzzles given in the main Picross mode, the squares you find don’t actually make up a picture but other random objects instead such as Kana characters. Other exercises include one where you must correct any mistakes you spot in pictures and, one where you must memorise all the number clues within 20 seconds before they disappear. Your results are then recorded once only each day pretty much like Brain Age and are presented in a handy monthly graph.


Sharpen your Picross skills with the “Daily Picross” mode.
Apart from the replayability value, you might be wondering why you would want any training. Well, the fact is you can also compete against other players too on Wi-Fi to see who can solve two puzzles the fastest, whether it’s a friend or a stranger. Once you have an opponent, the top screen shows two progress bars, one that is your own and the other your opponent’s. You can then see how close either side is to solving the current puzzle. There are penalties for making mistakes just like in the main Picross mode but instead of simply making the timer jump forward a little, you can’t touch your screen for five seconds. It’s really fun playing against another human player and there are titles to be earned depending on how many matches you win in a row.

On the presentation side of Picross DS, the interface is simple, clean and easy to navigate. Buttons have a nice glossy look to them and slow choices of Jazz, Reggae or Bossa Nova BGMs doesn’t disturb your thinking during puzzles. Or if it does, you can completely turn the tunes off.

Various grid effects are used while you are trying to find those squares. To name a few of the effects, there’s the crunchy apple, cutting grass and bubbly water. A cool little touch to the selection of themed pictures you end up uncovering! And speaking of pictures, there are all sorts of daily things you’ll come across such as animals, food and pieces of furniture. Of course, we can’t miss out Nintendo’s little trademark franchises such as objects from the Mario games. As a reward for clearing the puzzles, all these pictures even come to life with simple animations! They’re not exactly high quality graphics but look great all the same!


Sounds like you’re poking a crunchy apple here!
With the fairly large number of puzzles that come with Picross DS, the game will keep you occupied for quite some time. But with the addition of Wi-Fi features, you could find yourself picking up the game very often even after completing all puzzles. I don’t know how long Nintendo is planning to release weekly puzzles for but at the time of writing this, Nintendo is holding the very first Picross event via Wi-Fi accepting puzzle submissions with a “spring theme”. Selected puzzles are going to appear in future downloads so I presume the service will still continue for a while to come. In the meantime, both puzzle and Picross fans will still have plenty to enjoy – especially Wi-Fi versus mode.


Shouldn’t take you long to figure out what few menus there are in the game and the Picross puzzles don’t involve a lot of text reading.

• Nice touch of grid effects to match the puzzle themes.
  
• Cool little animation rewards.
  
• “Daily Picross” mode.
  
• More downloadable puzzle packs via Wi-Fi.
  
• Versus Wi-Fi play against strangers or friends.
  
• Titles to be earned on Wi-Fi depending on number of successive wins.

• Can’t think of any.