As I grow older, I’m coming to appreciate specific gaming genres more and more. I was already a casual fan of Picross during my 3DS days thanks to Japanese developer Jupiter’s ‘Picross e’ series, but it’s only recently that I’ve started really diving deep into those with their recent crop of Switch releases. The latest entries in that system’s own ‘Picross S’ are focused on SNK and Capcom properties and are equally addictive, as they’re fed by my nostalgia for both companies’ retro history, which are lovingly explored in the form of hundreds of puzzles that make creative use of their sprites.
If you’re somehow unaware of picross, here’s a quick pick-me-up: picross is a portmanteau of “Picture Crossword”, and it’s exactly what comes into mind when you think of those two words, as it’s all about uncovering images as you would words, by crossing spaces on a board, either painting them or leaving them blank. It’s the perfect format for a picker-upper if you will for when you need to kill a few minutes, but it can also be extremely demanding if you decide to tackle some of the more elaborate designs.
In these newer entries in the ever-growing Picross catalog, developer Jupiter has further experimented introducing twists to the usual gameplay with some extra modes that could be considered hit and misses. Clip Pricross, where you solve smaller, differently-shaped puzzles in order to put together a gigantic mosaic, is a fun idea that doesn’t mess with what makes picross enjoyable, giving you an overall objective to go for outside of simply finishing a challenge.
Color Picross, on the other hand, which adds an extra layer of complexity to the proceedings by including the need to define a color to the blocks, can feel a bit too much unneeded complication to the near-perfect base formula, with Mega Picross following close behind with its megalines, that are similarly too much to wrap my head around. You’ll also find gigantic single board Picross levels in Extra that up the amount of lines and can potentially take hours to beat!
As mentioned before, the big draw with these two games are the rich tapestry of games that both companies have released over their long time in the business, and while you’d be right to expect Capcom’s to bask in Mega Man and Street Fighter as they’re wont to do in retro compilations, there are some neat nuggets that only the biggest fans will get with some of its later puzzles.
Another aspect of the presentation that should please those (like me) who had complaints about earlier entries’, like Namco, lack of music variation options will be glad to know that it’s now possible to toggle a ‘random’ shuffle to the in-game background music. So you won’t have to listen to the same song when moving on from one puzzle to the next. Even excellent tracks like Mega Man’s can grow stale when repeated over and over from the top, especially in quick succession.
Picross S Capcom Classics Edition and Picross S SNK Classics Edition are pure, distilled puzzle goodness for those looking to exercise their brains on the go, and I couldn’t think of a better system to have them on than the Switch, with its sizeable screen, touch controls, and relative ease of transport. Do me a favor and go for broke with these two if you are like me and appreciate smart, entertaining, and content-rich games.
