Mario's Picross

"An interesting alternative to Tetris...."

Mario's Picross was a game released for the Game Boy in 1995. It's tough to explain, but I'll try. It's a video game version of Picross, which is a big game in Japan. It basically combines crossword puzzles with pictures (Hence "Picross"). Across the top of each row and to the left of each column, is a number that tells you how many blocks are in that particular row/column. When you unlock all the squares (By using these clues and some logic), a picture is formed. Mario was just put in there to give the game broader appeal, I believe. Interesting concept, but let's see how the game fares. Graphics: 5/10- Mario is well done, if you look away from the playing field. He holds a chisel and hammer in each hand, and he makes a face when you fail to solve the puzzle in time. You can tell where there is and isn't a block, and if you decide you made a mistake "X"ing something out (Where you think there ISN'T a block), a hand comes and wipes it off. I've never played the game on GB Color, but on the normal Game Boy the graphics are kind of smallish and hurt your eyes after awhile. That's more a problem with the Game Boy itself more than the game, but still, play it on a Super Game Boy if you have one.

Sound: 7/10- The sound effects are alright. You get effects when you mess up, when you chisel out a block, or when you "X" something out. Music wise, the title theme is cool, as is the theme for when you go to select a course in Easy Picross. There are one of 5 different background musics (Bad grammar, I know)that you can select for play during the game, and you can change them whenever you wish. Number 5 is my personal favorite, but you can turn it off altogether if you wish. The game will also select a different theme for each difficulty level, which is pretty cool.

Control: 10/10- It's done very well, mainly because it's so simple. You have a control pad to move you around, the A button for chiseling out things, and the B button for deciding where you shouldn't chisel out. As you hold a button down and hit the control pad, you can rapidly chisel out or "X" a whole row very quickly. But this leads to mistakes, and so I dont recommend doing it often. However, other than that one minor quirk, everything is done really well. There's also a how to play mode that explains the game better than I ever could.

Story: N/A/10- "Chisel out blocks to reveal pictures." About as simple as "Drop pieces to make lines." As it should be...

Challenge: 6/10- There's a nice learning curve to the game. Easy Picross starts off simple with 5X5 puzzles. Towards the end you're doing full fledged 15X15 monsters. But there are only a finite number of puzzles, and when you beat them all, you go to a Time Trial mode, where you race to complete pictures as fast as you can--but you don't know when you messed up. According to the instruction manual, it's possible to solve all the puzzles using logic, but I find myself having to guess occasionally. And the penalty for guessing wrong is harsh--2 minutes off your 30-minute time limit the first time, 4 minutes the second time, 8 minutes subsequent times. Thankfully you can save your game mid-puzzle.

Replay Value: 6/10- The replay value is only average, because as stated before, there are only a limited number of puzzles. Also, you can't erase saved games to my knowledge. However, time trial mode will keep you entertained for awhile, and you can always try to beat your best time in any of the other puzzles.

Overall: 8/10- It's unlike any other game ever released--And that's a good thing. Buy it if you're a fan of puzzle games, especially those that require logical thinking. Action gamers will be turned off, but everyone else should enjoy this rather captivating game. The Time Trial Mode, if nothing else, will entertain once you've finally beaten everything else.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99