nintendo's version is even better than the hudson soft illust logic that was released last year. the interface is a bit smoother with the ability to fill in blocks by dragging the stylus in any given direction (illust logic only allowed you to fill in squares in one direction [left/right, or up/down] before having to pick up the stylus and start again.
also back, is the time penalty for making incorrect moves
. picross ds definately brings back memorys of gameboy and snes version and the ability to create and send puzzles to your friends via wi-fi is a great addition. nintendo ftw!
here's a quick "how to play" for dark ramza and iamwhoiam:
the object is to "chip" blocks in the square to form a picture using the coded clues on the left and top. in addition to the tutorial with 15 puzzles (5 ea of 5x5, 10x10 and 15x15), this should help you.
the numbers indicate the number of sequential squares that should be blackened in that row/column (numbers on the left indicate for that row, numbers on the top for that column). when there is more than one number in a row, that indicates that mulitple sections need to be blackened, but at least one space needs to exist between the blackened sections (a minimum of one space, but potentially more).
Code:
2 2
1 3 2 3 1
1 1[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
2 2[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
3[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
3[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
1 1[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
given the example above, the easiest line to start with in the 2nd row (2 2). since the puzzle is 5x5, this row needs to be 2 squares, a space and then another 2 squares like such. the 'x' signifies a space that will definately be left blank:
Code:
2 2
1 3 2 3 1
1 1[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
2 2[*][*][x][*][*]
3[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
3[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
1 1[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
looking at the top numbers, we can see that columns 2 and 4 should contain sequences of 3 continuous squares darkened. however, we don't know if it should be the top 3 squares or the middle ones (but we
do know that it has to contain the following squares if we were to go in either direction based on the first move that we made, and that it
can't be the bottom squares), which makes our puzzle now look like this:
note: the ? marks denote the squares which possibly be darkened one way or another and the x's indicate squares that we definately know can not be darkened (because both of these columns call for a sequence of 3 squares.
Code:
2 2
1 3 2 3 1
1 1[ ][?][ ][?][ ]
2 2[*][*][x][*][*]
3[ ][*][ ][*][ ]
3[ ][?][ ][?][ ]
1 1[ ][x][ ][x][ ]
moving back to the rows again, we can determine that the middle row can be completed as such:
Code:
2 2
1 3 2 3 1
1 1[ ][?][ ][?][ ]
2 2[*][*][x][*][*]
3[x][*][*][*][x]
3[ ][?][ ][?][ ]
1 1[ ][x][ ][x][ ]
and by completing that row, we now know that the first and last column's value of 2 occupies the positions in the top and 2nd rows. this also solves the top row values (1 1) allowing us to x off the 3 center squares like this:
Code:
2 2
1 3 2 3 1
1 1[*][x][x][x][*]
2 2[*][*][x][*][*]
3[x][*][*][*][x]
3[ ][?][ ][?][ ]
1 1[ ][x][ ][x][ ]
and by solving the first three row's numbers, we now know that our remaining ?s can be darkened to fulfill the numbers in columns 2 and 4 like this:
Code:
2 2
1 3 2 3 1
1 1[*][x][x][x][*]
2 2[*][*][x][*][*]
3[x][*][*][*][x]
3[ ][*][ ][*][ ]
1 1[ ][x][ ][x][ ]
since row 4 has to have a sequence of 3 squares filled, its obvious that the center square needs to be filled to complete that row, giving us this:
Code:
2 2
1 3 2 3 1
1 1[*][x][x][x][*]
2 2[*][*][x][*][*]
3[x][*][*][*][x]
3[x][*][*][*][x]
1 1[ ][x][ ][x][ ]
and this pretty much leaves little question as to where the remaining blocks need to be darkened. but we'll take it one step at a time. the 3rd column has a value of 2 (which we've already fulfulled), so let's x out that center square in the bottom row.
Code:
2 2
1 3 2 3 1
1 1[*][x][x][x][*]
2 2[*][*][x][*][*]
3[x][*][*][*][x]
3[x][*][*][*][x]
1 1[ ][x][x][x][ ]
that leaves two squares in the bottom row, which as you can see fulfulls the numbers for both the bottom row (1 1) as well as the second set of values for columns 1 and 5 (both of which are (2 1)), giving us a solution of this:
Code:
2 2
1 3 2 3 1
1 1[*][x][x][x][*]
2 2[*][*][x][*][*]
3[x][*][*][*][x]
3[x][*][*][*][x]
1 1[*][x][x][x][*]
note: you don't need to "x" out all of the positions that are not darkened to solve the puzzle, but it
does help in a visual sense. also, in the nintendo version of picross, when you meet the requirements of one of the numbers (either by column or row), that number will change from black to gray.
I hope that this helps those still a little unclear about how to play picross!