Overview
Picross DS is one of several Picross games released by Nintendo, and the first to be released on the Nintendo DS. The developer, Jupiter, also made Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and the DS RPG, The World Ends With You. Its North American release was on July 30, 2007. It is part of Nintendo's casual DS line, Touch! Generations.
Gameplay
Picross DS follows the conventional rules of Picross: you're given a grid with a number at the end of each column and row indicating how many squares are filled therein. It's up to you to compare different rows' and columns' values against each other and intuit where the filled squares are located. As the squares are solved, a hidden picture is revealed and becomes colored and animated. There are several different game modes in Picross DS.
Single Player Modes
Picross
The main mode is simply called "Picross." It features several dozen puzzles ranging from easy to very hard. A tutorial of how to play can also be accessed in this mode. There are two rule sets in this mode, normal mode rules and free mode rules. With normal rules, when a mistake is made, you are notified and time is added to your total time. In free rules, there is no time limit. Mistakes are not shown, making completion of the puzzle much harder.
Daily Picross
The Daily Picross mode is similar to daily modes in other DS games such as Brain Age and Planet Puzzle League. You are only allowed to try each type of puzzle in the mode once a day. Your times are tracked from day to day to show your improvement. There are a few types of puzzles in this mode.
- Nonstop Time Attack is similar to regular Picross, you must complete several small puzzles as fast as you can.
- In Error Search, you must find the mistakes in an already filled in puzzle in the shortest amount of time possible.
- No X Marks challenges you to complete small puzzles without using X's.
- In Memory, you are given twenty seconds to memorize the numbers around the grid and then try to complete the puzzle once they are taken away.
- A similar puzzle type is Secret, in which you must try to solve a puzzle with some of the numbers missing.
My Picross
In this mode you can create your own puzzles or play those you have downloaded or exchanged over Nintendo WiFi. Downloadable puzzles were provided for some time after release, though players were provided with a limited number of slots in which to store them.
Multiplayer Modes
Picross DS has local and online multiplayer modes.
Word Picross
In this local mode, the host picks a word and the guest players complete a puzzle of each letter. The first guest to send the host the correct guess of the word wins.
Picture Picross
Similar to Word Picross, the host draws a picture. This picture is the puzzle the guests must complete and attempt to guess what was drawn.
Multiplayer Match
All players rush to solve two puzzles the quickest in this local multiplayer mode.
Picross Challenge
The player can challenge anyone or someone from their friends roster to complete two puzzles as fast as possible over Nintendo WiFi.
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