Sudoku may be the latest puzzle craze, but it isn’t the only addictive puzzle to come out of the Japanese. Picross, short for “picture crossword,” was destined to have worldwide appeal and Nintendo was quick to capitalize on that. Still, despite the fact that roughly a dozen titles have been released, we’ve only seen one Picross game in the US. Nintendo’s latest entry, Picross DS, is one of their best yet.

The concept behind Picross is simple, but hides an incredible amount of strategy. You re presented with a grid (5×5, 10×10, 15×15) with numbers accompanying each row and column. These numbers tell you how many blocks to chisel. Ultimately, you should end up with some sort of picture. You may have seen this before as “Paint-by-Numbers.” As you could probably guess, this gets difficult quickly.

Picross DS presents you with several play modes. Basic Picross is broken down by difficulty level. You’ll blow through the easy puzzles; normal mode is where most of the meat of the game is. The hardest puzzles are in the “free” mode. In the easy and normal modes, you’ll be docked time when you make a mistake. However, you’ll know not to choose that spot again. In free mode, you won’t be told if you chose the wrong spot. It takes some more trial and error to pull off. Between these modes, there are probably a couple hundred puzzles with several dozen unlockable ones. The second mode, My Picross, lets you design your own. Creative types will spend hours here. Even cooler, you can share your creations over the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Daily Picross is a new addition that should remind you of Brain Age. Each day, you can go through a series of tasks (such as a time trial) and track your progress as time passes.

You are allowed to use either the buttons or the stylus for control. I gave the stylus method a try first, but I had to switch back to buttons eventually. The stylus controls aren’t bad, but they are not even nearly as accurate as the buttons. You’ll get frustrated after losing time because your stylus input was read incorrectly. Just use the buttons from the beginning and you’ll be a happy camper.

As this is a puzzle game, you shouldn’t expect it to push the graphical limits of the DS. Still, Picross DS is very nice looking. They also do some neat little animation when you complete puzzles. It all feels very polished. The music is also fairly catchy. The entire presentation gets props; it’s very clean and straight forward. As a Touch Generations game, that’s exactly how it should be.

Picross DS features one of the best implementations of the Wi-Fi Connection yet. In addition to sharing your own puzzles, Nintendo is releasing free downloadable content each week. This includes classic puzzles from Mario’s Picross and Super Picross, but they will probably include new content eventually. You have space on the cartridge for one hundred puzzles, which is plenty. You can delete old downloads at any time. You can also compete in head-to-head multiplayer, an incredibly fun experience.

Picross DS is another worthy addition to the Picross series. If you have any appreciation of puzzle games, especially Sudoku or the daily crossword, you should give this a try. If Nintendo gave this much attention to the online modes of their other games, people wouldn’t complain nearly as much about the WFC. All-in-all, Picross DS is another fantastic addition to the Touch Generations series and a title worth owning for any fan of casual games.

Score - 9/10

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Interactive Tutorial

Picross DS is out now in Japan and Europe. Although Nintendo has not confirmed a US release, Gamestop has it listed for a July 30th release at the low price of $19.99.