Let's get this one thing out of the way first. This game does not relate to Mario at all and is more so used for marketing purposes. But after you play this, I doubt you'll care, because Mario's Picross is a great puzzle game
Picross (otherwise known as Nonograms) are picture logic puzzles in which squares on a grid are filled in or left blank to match numeric clues at the side of the grid to reveal a hidden picture. Let's take a 5 x 5 grid for example. There's a 5 on top of the left side of the grid and another 5 on the top left; these can easily be filled in as that is the maximum length and width of the grid. With me so far? Let's say there's a 3 1 on the left side of the grid for instance; you must fill in 3, skip 1 and then fill in the one on the end. This may seem a bit complex, but the game offers an excellent tutorial showing you the ropes of how to play picross
Once you clear the tutorial, you'll be thrown into the main attraction containing three courses which are Easy Picross, Kinoko, and Star course. Each course will ramp up in difficulty and the difficulty curve is not that bad. The game has three sets of grids; 5x5, 10x10, and 15x15. The main game has a time limit of 30 minutes, which may not seem all too bad if you don't screw up. If you chisel in the wrong tile, you'll lose time, and if it hits 0, it's game over and you have to start again. You can use a hint that'll give you the correct tile from one column and row, but personally, I think it's fun without using the hints, but there's no shame in using one if you get stuck. Figuring out a tricky puzzle on your own and chiseling in the right squares is oh-so-satisfying. Sure, you can say that for a lot of puzzle games, but picross is different. Once I cleared 10+ puzzles, I was instantly hooked and wanted to do more
If you dig the mechanics, you'll get a lot of mileage with Mario's Picross. There are 192 main puzzles, and while I enjoyed clearing them all, it does get a bit exhausting when you're halfway done with the Star Course. There is also an additional 64 puzzles for the Time Trial mode, which makes it a total of 256. In this mode, you have no timer, no penalties for your mistakes, and no hints available. I haven't done much of these, and while I like the change of pace after doing the timed ones, it can be stressful figuring out which one is correct without any penalties, at least in my opinion
Mario's Picross is a great puzzle game that more people should experience. It's really addictive, and it's a shame that it sold poorly outside of Japan. Since the 3DS eShop is about to close and Nintendo is slowly offering Game Boy games to the Nintendo Switch Online service, I think it'll be great to add this game to the service since they added Mario's Super Picross, a game that was never released outside of Japan until much later. If you have this game on a Game Boy, 3DS, or an emulator, I highly recommend you try this game out
Picross (otherwise known as Nonograms) are picture logic puzzles in which squares on a grid are filled in or left blank to match numeric clues at the side of the grid to reveal a hidden picture. Let's take a 5 x 5 grid for example. There's a 5 on top of the left side of the grid and another 5 on the top left; these can easily be filled in as that is the maximum length and width of the grid. With me so far? Let's say there's a 3 1 on the left side of the grid for instance; you must fill in 3, skip 1 and then fill in the one on the end. This may seem a bit complex, but the game offers an excellent tutorial showing you the ropes of how to play picross
Once you clear the tutorial, you'll be thrown into the main attraction containing three courses which are Easy Picross, Kinoko, and Star course. Each course will ramp up in difficulty and the difficulty curve is not that bad. The game has three sets of grids; 5x5, 10x10, and 15x15. The main game has a time limit of 30 minutes, which may not seem all too bad if you don't screw up. If you chisel in the wrong tile, you'll lose time, and if it hits 0, it's game over and you have to start again. You can use a hint that'll give you the correct tile from one column and row, but personally, I think it's fun without using the hints, but there's no shame in using one if you get stuck. Figuring out a tricky puzzle on your own and chiseling in the right squares is oh-so-satisfying. Sure, you can say that for a lot of puzzle games, but picross is different. Once I cleared 10+ puzzles, I was instantly hooked and wanted to do more
If you dig the mechanics, you'll get a lot of mileage with Mario's Picross. There are 192 main puzzles, and while I enjoyed clearing them all, it does get a bit exhausting when you're halfway done with the Star Course. There is also an additional 64 puzzles for the Time Trial mode, which makes it a total of 256. In this mode, you have no timer, no penalties for your mistakes, and no hints available. I haven't done much of these, and while I like the change of pace after doing the timed ones, it can be stressful figuring out which one is correct without any penalties, at least in my opinion
Mario's Picross is a great puzzle game that more people should experience. It's really addictive, and it's a shame that it sold poorly outside of Japan. Since the 3DS eShop is about to close and Nintendo is slowly offering Game Boy games to the Nintendo Switch Online service, I think it'll be great to add this game to the service since they added Mario's Super Picross, a game that was never released outside of Japan until much later. If you have this game on a Game Boy, 3DS, or an emulator, I highly recommend you try this game out