Paint It, Picross

One of the Pokémon games I still have on my 3DS that I enjoy is Pokémon Picross. For those uninitiated, Picross is a kind of paper puzzle that mixes logical puzzle skills and art; it's like a crossword, but you make a picture instead of filling in letters, hence the name (pic + cross). If you read puzzle periodicals from the U.S. - and I do, and one of these is GAMES World of Puzzles - you may know this puzzle under a different name: Paint by Numbers. So if you've already played it on paper, this is an electronic version of that. Now, many electronic implementations of Picross/PbN exist, but in the past, I've always wished that there would be one that's entirely Pokémon-themed. My prayers were answered when this game came along.

I haven't played this game in a while, but that's for a good reason: I've completed it, the whole nine yards. I've solved all the puzzles and completed all the secondary goals. And all without paying a single cent. This game is designed to let you be able to spend eShop credits for the in-game currency, which is called Picrites, but I didn't do that. Instead, all the Picrites I earned and spent came from two features in the game: Daily Training (a series of mini-Picross puzzles to be solved quickly) and achievements for doing certain things in certain ways. Had I spent money for extra Picrites, I would have completed the game much quicker; from start to finish, it took me over a year to earn and spend the necessary Picrites to fully complete the game.

What are Picrites used for? They are used to open up new areas of the game for new puzzles, recover your puzzle energy and Pokémon energy, and upgrade your feature sets. Now, each puzzle represents the image of a Pokémon; complete that puzzle for the first time and you'll "catch" that Pokémon. For later puzzles, you can then use that Pokémon to aid you in solving puzzles. Sure, you can solve all the puzzles the old-fashioned way without aids, but if you want the Picrites for the achievements, and certainly to do all the things above, you'll have to solve them with their help. Personally, I don't mind doing that. Oh yes, this game features Mega Evolutions too, but before you can use any of them, you'll need the Mega Pencil, a feature that costs a whopping 500 Picrites. Good luck with that.

This game does not only have traditional Picross puzzles, however. For 300 Picrites, you can unlock an alternate mode of play with Mega Picross puzzles (not just for the Mega Evolutions) that feature multiple neighboring rows and columns with chunks of black spaces, which also necessitate a slightly different logic. This is where the Pokémon assists really come in handy if you're already too used to the traditional puzzles, though I'm sure you'll eventually figure them out with some extremely good logic.

If you cannot get enough of Picross/PbN puzzles and you cannot get enough of Pokémon, this game is perfect to satisfy both of those. If you're impatient, then you'll want to spend for some Picrites to help quickly complete the game. Whatever you do, just enjoy all the puzzles and all the features of the game. Picross/PbN is "a unique blend of art and logic"; throw in Pokémon, and you've got a truly unique experience, one that I'm extremely pleased to have played.