What do you know, another Picross game. I’m always up for those.

This is the first example of a themed Picross game from Jupiter whose theme I wasn’t too keen on. Sanrio’s characters are cute and all but I never felt much of a connection to them. This game helped turn that around somewhat and introduce me to a bunch, although it only covers a selection of their most popular mascots with several characters popping up multiple times. There’s no Gudetama or Aggretsuko for example, oh well.

The usual modes are here: normal Picross, Mega Picross using the same pictures, and a few Micross (which now have to be unlocked gradually by playing the other modes). The key new feature in this release is the sticker collection: each puzzle you complete gives you some little pieces of artwork for that character. A nice thing to look at, which can also then be arranged into collages to be used as backgrounds in other parts of the game. With the demise of Miiverse it’s merely something to entertain oneself, and I’m a little too old to play much with it.

Because the puzzles are exclusively depicting cute characters, there isn’t the kind of variety you get in most other Picross games, which mix things up with objects, landscapes, etc. That’s the whole point of this game though; it’s right there in the name after all and the presentation leans into it with cuteness spilling out everywhere. At the end of the day it was a worthwhile collection of puzzles to unwind with or kill time.