Picross S Is Back With The 'Namco Legendary Edition' Later This Month

I've never played Picross as I'm not much of a puzzle guy and don't know that it would be for me, but there's a million of these things, so they must be pretty popular. I was always curious about the Zelda Picross on 3DS you could get by redeeming Club Nintendo Points--if nothing else, to see Twilight Princess assets running in a 3DS game, but I never got it. I guess it would be impossible now that the eShop is shut down, even if someone had an unreleased code.

All these different crossovers with other companies make me wonder, though: is Picross a Nintendo-owned thing? Or is it just a generic thing that doesn't really have a copyright holder like sudoku or something? I'm just curious whether Nintendo had a hand in the SEGA and Namco ones. And I feel like there are a lot of other ones on the eShop that use the Picross moniker. So like, who makes these?

I love Pac-Man, so anything with my circular yellow homie piques my interest. But the only puzzle games that have ever really grabbed me are Tetris and Dr. Mario, which both get pretty frantic and also have a multiplayer element. I don't know if something slow and methodical like this would captivate me. Is there, like... a definitive Picross game to start with? Is- is there a... like, a... tier list of best Picross games? D-Do they have varying Metacritic scores? Someone help me understand. 😂

@Not_Soos Picross is easily one of the most chill puzzle games out there. No frantic block placing, just relaxing logic puzzles.

I love this stuff. Sega one was great. I wish another Nintendo based one from Jupiter came out, and not as a freemium game.

So stoked. The MD/Master System picross was my favorite themed Picross game. Unless reviewers report their Switch’s exploding upon booting this up, i’ll buy it.

@Not_Soos : Picross is a Nintendo IP/trademark, but the game itself (nonograms) is public domain/generic, like sudoku, crosswords etc., hence why you'll also find plenty of knock-offs in the eShop (I call them knock-offs as most of them are named very similarly to "Picross").

The developer, Jupiter, is independent from Nintendo, but they almost exclusively develop for them.

There were also Pokémon and Sanrio (Hello Kitty and Friends) Picross games on 3DS, and it's a little surprising that they have yet to surface on the Switch, especially after they had recently brought over the generic 3DS instalments.

I love Picross but will only buy these crossover ones. And yet this one seems relatively uncompelling. Probably on a sale.

And finally! A Picross game to get excited about (after the Sega crossover, and the Zelda/Pokémon/Sanrio crossovers on 3DS back in the day). Weirdly enough, I'm not terribly familiar with most of Namco's vintage IP, but I'll grab this for Pac-Man, if nothing else.

This looks great! I loved the Sega version so I’ll probably pick this one up at some point. I find Picross more fun when it’s partnered with another company like this.

I'm not all that deep into Namco except for Ridge Racer, but the Sega Picross game was so good that I'm 100% in for this day one.

So, I'm probably gonna get it anyway since I'm a big Picross nut, but looking at that list, it shows me just how... thin... the Namco Bandai library is when you strip away the licensed IPs like Gundam, Dragon Ball, and One Piece. Which is a shame for a company boasting Pac-Man, Tales of, and Galaga (look, I like Galaga, okay?). I'm happy they found something they're good at, leveraging popular anime into at least decent games, but... I dunno. For a company so ubiquitous with the games industry, there's so little that's their own, it feels like.

Awesome! Retro-game themed picross is my favorite, so this is a real pleasant surprise. Would be really cool if Jupiter and Nintendo team up to make a NES/Famicom Picross. Also, with Sunsoft back in the scene, maybe they could get together to make a new O-Chan's Logic. Whatever the case, the more picross the better.

I enjoyed the Sega one, but I was never a Sega kid. Namco is much more up my alley! 😊

no Mr. Driller puzzles? 0/10 /j

@Not_Soos If you want to understand, there's multiple demos on the Eshop and Mario Picross is "free" with NSO via the NES/Famicom app

As for the brand, is mostly a Nintendo thing, but the concept dates back to japanese newspapers somewhere in the 60s-70s time frame. So they don't own the gameplay, per se. just the naming scheme

Looks cool! I've been dying to get back into Picross and the SEGA set has also piqued my interest. Gonna have to keep an eye out for this one as well!

I just wish this and the Sega one were released on the 3DS, still cant get my head around Mega Picross however much i try

“-if nothing else, to see Twilight Princess assets running in a 3DS game”

@Not_Soos I might be misunderstanding you but there are no assets from the original game in the Picross. It’s all pixel art based on the game delivered through puzzles. It’s a great little instalment in the series though!

I always get to the super giant puzzles and run out of steam on them. I don't think I've ever fully finished a Picross game. 🥵

@Not_Soos
You seem to have a weird idea of what Picross is.

It's just nonograms. It's just like playing a crossword or a sudoku or any other pen-on-paper puzzle. There aren't any Twilight Princess "assets" running on the 3DS, it's just some nonogram puzzles themed around Twilight Princess, with a Midna jpeg on the menus saying tutorials and hints with speech bubbles.

There is no "definitive" "game" to start with because all of them are the exact same thing. You figure out which squares to click on based on the numbers on the sides, and the squares make a little pixel picture when it's completed. That's literally it. The reason there are so many releases is because, once you solve all the included puzzles, then there's not much to do until some new puzzles come out.

Throbs in nonograms

Hecc yes moar picross, moar retro game references, bring it on.

I've been playing the Game Boy game Picross 2 (with unofficial English translation) lately, coming to the end of that then I'll be back on uh whatever the Switch game is called that has all the puzzles from the 3DS picross games. This Namco one will add some nice variation.

@hippydave that would be Picross S+. Keep in mind that each "3DS game" is actually DLC. The initial purchase only nets you Picross e1, you have to buy the rest.

I'm starting to get a little lost on the total number of Picross-branded games on Switch. Let me calculate it again.
There's Picross S1-9, S+ (this is another 9 games or not, depending on how you look at it), X: Picbits vs. Uzboros, Logiart Grimoire, Kemono Friends, Lord of the Nazarik (Overlord themed), Genesis/Mega Drive & Master System/Mark III Edition (the SEGA themed) and NAMCO Legendary Edition. Not forgetting about Mario's Super Picross on the SNES NSO app.

That's 16 games (17 counting Mario's Super Picross and 25 if we count the DLC of Picross S+), we finally got past the record held by the 3DS of Picross releases.

There's no such thing as enough Picross, but my wallet disagrees.

I enjoyed the Sega Picross trial version enough to want to buy, but never seem to catch it on sale. It's nice to see another of these classic game-themed Picross titles! Namco has tons of iconic, nostalgic characters to uncover in a Picross game.

Taito Picross and NES Picross when?

Yay, this is great news! I loved the Sega Picross.

Themed Picross is my kryptonite. I can't resist buying. I"ll be getting it Day 1.

I just wish that they'd bring back the larger puzzles and 'try it out' mode of PIcross DS: Kind of disappointing that that they never brought those back.

Maybe we see Picross 3D: Round 3 on Switch 2. 🤞

I buy and finish all these Picross games quickly and I'll be getting this on day 1, but between S+, Logiarts Grimoire, and this, they'll have put out around 500-600 hours of puzzles since February. I prefer this glit over some of previous droughts.

I love Picross, though I don't get EVERY version. But this? Sigh... looks like I'll be scooping it.