It’s another Picross game. The distribution method for it is the main story, with it being made available with the launch of Nintendo’s new loyalty program and costing not money but points gained through engagement with Nintendo’s services and apps. But that’s big time news fodder, let’s talk about the game.
The presentation is like a traditional “e-series” Picross game as opposed to Pokemon Picross, but with fantasy-ish themed UI, and backgrounds and music ripped from Twilight Princess. The puzzles represent characters, items, or scenes from the game, and it’s quite nice to see Oocoo or Midna as a solution; it’s been so long since franchise themed Picross puzzles have been a thing.
Perhaps because it doesn’t cost any real money, this is a much smaller offering than any of the “e” games. It has only 3 pages of puzzles compared to, say, e6’s 10. This is much like Japan’s Club Nintendo Picross. Like e6 though (and indeed Pokemon Picross) the pixel images are recycled for normal and Mega modes, which is a bit of a letdown with so few images. There’s also 1 Micross image, and the scene it presents isn’t super impressive.
There’s been one minor change to the controls that had a significant impact on my ability to play and enjoy the game. In all previous Picross iterations, the stylus controls primarily involve you holding up or down on the D-pad (or X and B) to engage the fill or erase function respectively while the button is held. In this one, the buttons instead toggle the fill or erase mode when they’re pressed once. This makes it much harder to slip into a groove, as you have to constantly check or remind yourself what mode you’re in (null mode is also useful for pondering your next move or counting). Having the stylus state tied directly to the current action or inaction of my off hand made for a much smoother and more intuitive experience, and I’m very disappointed by this change. I hope it doesn’t continue to future instalments or can at least be changed as a setting.
But apart from the inexplicable change to the controls and “dearth of content” as they say, it’s easy to recommend this game. It’s not terribly hard to get the necessary points through My Nintendo, but WarioWare Touched may present better value all the same. However, the exclusive nature of this game and the quite well-done Twilight Princess theming make it a pleasing bonus for Nintendo loyalists. Plus it has Midna as a tutorial guide, which is fun and makes this totally canon to the Zelda series. Trust me.
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