Picross e

Picross e is the first entry in the e series, Jupiter's follow-up to Picross DS from 2007. It's a small budget title and one of *9* nearly identical entries so for those who'd like the short of it- it's 150 puzzles of classic (and only classic) picross that plays pretty well for like $5. It brings some new QOL tweaks and has multiple comfortable control schemes, though it is certainly a LOW budget title and that comes across in its presentation, lack of variety, and odd difficulty implementations. For those who want more detail, here you go.

There are 3 modes here, Normal, Free, and Extra, all of which play like standard picross puzzles. In Free and Extra, the difficulty is a bit higher because the game doesn't tell you if you misplace a tile, making you retrace your steps and occasionally even start over. This is a bit like the Wario puzzles from Picross 2, and it's a welcome step above in difficulty, because guessing is guaranteed to get you in trouble. I will say that I'm disappointed in how the difficulty in the Normal puzzles works, however. In the original Mario's Picross, the timer counted down from 30 minutes, with each mistake taking more time off the clock. In e, the timer increases, making the punishments for mistakes almost nonexistent. There's also no star system like in Picross 3D, so there's essentially no reward for performance whatsoever, and certainly no risk of failing the puzzle. You technically time out at 60 minutes, but that number is so impossibly high that I think it's hardly worth worrying about.

The hint system from the original Mario's Picross is now back, which is weird. It optionally fills in a cross-section of the board for you, which IMO completely destroys the point of the puzzle: working it out with what you're given. Some of the ways the puzzles develop are particularly interesting should you discover their solutions naturally. For those that struggle, I'm not sure this actually helps them much, because it prevents them from learning how to play better. Picross e's OTHER solution, more planted in the background, does precisely this. You can toggle "Navigation mode" with the R button, which simply highlights rows and columns that have some bit of logic you can use to fill or cross a square. This feature is brilliant, because it guides the player without outright giving the answer - it reminds you to cross extra squares when a row is completed, it reminds you to update the "window" of a shape if new information arises, and on multiple occasions in tougher puzzles it pushed me to sit down and do the counting to find information I didn't realize was possible to attain for certain configurations. This is a massively preferable hint system and it pretty much makes the classic cross-section filling obsolete by comparison. Like everything else in this game, though, it's not all gold and glitter - in the more devious Free puzzles I found the constant lighting up of the row numbers to distract me from completing a train of thought, kneecapping me at the end of rather lengthy puzzles. It is a welcome addition to the series, but its utility is still mixed.

Picross e has a very minimalist, white-space oriented presentation, and its hard to say that it felt considered in its implementation. This is okay in my eyes in theory, because Picross is a pretty abstract mathy concept to begin with, but the overall look and feel of it does come across as cheap. In addition, the lack of music to differentiate each puzzle really adds up. There's only one BGM for the puzzles themselves in the game, and while it does give some Noki Bay vibes and is decently arranged, it wears on you quickly, especially in the longer puzzles which can near 15 minutes to complete. Variety is the only solution here, and it's not present. The puzzle reward pictures themselves also don't really have any threading theme in this one, which is not particularly a problem but it doesn't help the feeling of blandness the rest of the game eminates.

Finally, I quite liked the control scheme options. You can pick between using the buttons and D-pad like in the classic titles or a scheme similar to Picross 3D, wherein touching with the stylus while holding up or down on the d-pad draws tiles or crosses, respectively. Both were great for me and I switched often depending on my mood. Both modes don't overwrite your existing work for any given row which is great and helps you fill squares more quickly. Compared with the weird sliding window of Picross DS or the stiffer controls of the GBC titles, Picross e plays like a dream.

Picross e overall is a step in the right direction for the series, and while it does have some faults it's not too far behind the others in the e series - while it is comparatively lacking in variety and polish, it is still Nintendo-published picross. It's not going to push you, and it's also not a particularly good introduction to the series or even the puzzle genre, but it does exist as a set of official puzzles you may not have tried before. For that, it's worth a look for the enthusiasts.