Sweet Jesus, this is addictive. Has anyone picked it up? Tons of brain-busting puzzle goodness for only two sawbucks!

I picked up the Japanese version months ago because I wasn't sure if they'd ever release it in the US. Of course, they have, and at a significantly lower price than I paid to import >_<

Love the touch screen controls in Picross DS, but Picross 2 for the original GB remains my sentimental favorite -- it's not Picross without Archaeologist Mario!

Yea, that and the lack of an actually punishing time limit makes me prefer the original. Also I find Picross DS' music to be far too much on the generic side. Which is sad since I loved the original's chip music.

Wait, you LIKE the time limit punishing? Ugh.

Check out Nongraph for a nice timeless version http://kinkodev.free.fr/main.php?lang=ENG

-Joshua

Indeed I do. Playing through plenty Picross DS puzzles didn't give me the same sense of achievement I had in the original.

This is the first Picross game I've played, so I can't compare it to the GB and SFC ones, but holy cats is it awesome.  Probably the most addicting puzzle game I've ever played; I've put over eight hours into it just this week, and my neck was sore after being hunched over the DS last night from my inability to stop playing.  Talk about value for the money.  I can't recommend this highly enough.  Buy now.

Same here, XLord. I never got into Picross before, so it was a little confusing for me at first, but this game f'n rules.

I picked up the import European version a few months ago, and I love it to death - definitely one of my favorite DS puzzle games.  As luck would have it, I also managed to score a sealed copy of Mario`s Super Picross last week in Shinjuku, so I can't wait to fire that sucker up later in the week.

IGN gave it a very high score, and I've heard you can download the original Picross. Has anyone done so? Sounds like you basically get a free game with it (well, you just have to download it), and can also compete online.

cheers,

-avatar!

Well, I heard you could download classic stages from other Picross games, but I have no idea if it includes the entire original Picross or not.  I also don't know when the downloadable stages will become available since they weren't up as of last week.

Picked the game up today, and it's definitely planted its hooks in me.   But is it just me, or does the stylus work awful in the game?  I've opted for the button configuration, though I hope it's comfortable for when I tackle the larger grids.

Nope, I had trouble with the stylus, too. Using the buttons is a more accurate and fast way of playing. I've been up to the 15x15 grids and haven't had any trouble using the buttons. Using the stylus for the big guys is a pain because you have to zoom in and out and can't see the whole grid at once.

You can zoom in at which point the touch input is quite comfortable (the whole puzzle is still visible on the top screen then).

That's disappointing, because I thought of Picross pretty much immediately upon the DS's unveiling. But I haven't really enjoyed extensive stylus use anyway--late to the Brain Age party, it bugs me all the time when I get low scores solely because I lifted the stylus when writing a letter.

Even though I was used to the button setup from the previous games, I've found myself liking the D-Pad + Stylus combination more. Once you get used to it, it's much faster than having to move the cursor across the whole screen.

There's one part of the IGN review that I found a bit perplexing. He makes a big deal about the game not tracking how many mistakes you've made, but I don't get why anyone would want to keep track of that in the first place.

As for the downloads, according to Wikipedia all of the puzzles from the original Picross, Super Picross, and Picross NP are or will be available. The only exception is Picross 2 >_<

Has anyone tried the brutal Free Mode yet? It's sort of akin to the Wario Picross mode from Picross 2, where the game doesn't tell you if you've made a mistake. It's deliciously evil fun, but expect to waste lots of time if you make even a single error.

I played Mario's Picross for the Gameboy WAY back in the day and loved it so if I had a DS, I'd be sure to pick this up.

... I really need to get a DS, methinks.

Hi, guys. Been awhile, I know. It hasn't been a comfortable few months.
But I hope to finally get back into a sense of normalcy, and what better way to do so than by sharing a Friend Code or two on a game I've been waiting for forever?

Mine is: 232036 464797

I'll probably be on with the game later tonight (as well as getting into the swing of posting again); I want to see if I can design a decent puzzle first. Until then.

I started playing these recently, and I've had some trouble with the stylus as well.
And zooming in on the bigger puzzles is a pain, so I'm mainly using the D-pad.

Also, I miss the time limit of the original. This time, you can make as many mistakes as you want, so there's no real challenge anymore at all.

So, yeah, I'm less than excited :S

Then the puzzles must be pretty easy in and of themselves. Some of the ones I've seen online and in Games magazine are pretty damn tough and can easily take an hour...if you can do them at all.

-Joshua

There is a time limit of sorts. If you don't finish a puzzle in under an hour then it won't animate. More importantly, you must finish all 150 puzzles in under an hour each to unlock an 11th, extra stage. The 11th set of puzzles is very much worth it, too, as it comes with a new BGM tune that's a lot better than the default ones.

I'm a huge fan of Games' Paint-by-Numbers puzzles, but they can be messy affairs if you make a mistake (I've wasted many an eraser on them). Some of the really big ones do take quite a while to complete, too. In a way, I'm glad Picross DS puzzles top out at 25x20; any bigger and they'd take forever to finish.

Anybody know when Nintendo's actually going to release the classic puzzles via download?  I keep checking and it always says "coming soon."

Nintendo released the first two downloadable packs (both from Mario's Picross) on 9/3.  Good stuff.

If anyone checks into Japanese ROM's frequently, consider looking at this:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/snes/data/576709.html

Many expansion packs released through their Nintendo Power service too (GameFAQs reports 8).

A friend of mine has the SFC cart, but I've never played it.  Naturally, he doesn't have any of the expansion packs.

Just got it from Gamefly... this game is just too fun!

Not to mention insanely addicting.  I have never been so addicted to a puzzle game before.

Mario's Picross Packs 3 & 4 were added on 9/17 for download.

Mario's Picross Packs 5 & 6 were added on 10/1.  Looks like they're consistently putting out two new packs every other week.  The catch is that you can only save 10 packs to the card, so assuming they plan to upload more than 10 packs, you'll have to choose which ones to keep and which to delete.

I am afraid to put this cart back in my DS. I quit cold turkey a couple of weeks ago because I was staying up every night until about 2 or 3 in the morning playing Picross. I don't even want to think about the downloadable stuff right now...