1. This looks insane. Picross DS's 15x15 puzzles are hard enough.

Posted at 12:19PM on Aug 17th 2007 by DKong

2. Heh, I think that any puzzle with less than 20 squares on a side is ridiculously easy, so I'm all for harder puzzles!! Does anybody have any challenging imports to recommend? The puzzles are so much easier to do electronically, but I guess the DS screen is just never going to effectively accommodate big puzzles, so I should give up searching.

(Note to poster: once you learn the ropes, colored picross are often easier than B&W ones! You can X out whole rows when they don't have the necessary color in them, etc.)

If you want your brain to hurt, go to conceptispuzzles.com and try one of their Picross puzzles (known as Pic-A-Pix or PAP). Even with 15 years experience, my completion rate on their PAPs is less than 50%. Right now they've got a 60x40 B&W puzzle posted.

Every week Conceptis posts new puzzles, in a whole bunch of number logic (boo) and picture logic (yay!) varieties. Just be aware that they *replace* the selection every week, so there is no archive. While you're there, try an FAP puzzle -- I think they're awesome, and much easier than the PAP.

Posted at 12:46PM on Aug 17th 2007 by ambient

3. You really want some challenging picross puzzles?
Go here:
http://www.griddlers.net

Site is free and if you love picross, you'll love this place. I'm totally addicted hehe

They have "multi-griddlers" that are several parts long. You solve each part and when you're done, it makes one big picture. Tons in color or just plain black n' white :) The harder ones are like... 50x50 (color and B&W)

Have fun!

When will Hudsons Illustlogic be released? I can't wait! hehe ;)

Posted at 12:57PM on Aug 17th 2007 by SK

4. There are several picross-like puzzle games out there for the DS. I've been playing the European import "Essential Sudoku" (this version is in English). It's got multi-colored puzzles unlike Picross. It's fun and challenging, but I do prefer the Picross button controls over this one's.

Here's a link to a web page comparing Picross, Essential Sudoku, and a couple of others.

They're all addicting... !

http://worldofstuart.excellentcontent.com/dsrev/roundup3.htm

Posted at 1:43PM on Aug 17th 2007 by strider

5. Sounds cool. But, depending on how the color is handled, I wonder if it could actually make the game easier, since you would have one more criteria on which to rule certain possibilities out.

Any word on whether or not this game ALSO has B&W puzzles and downloadable user-made puzzles? If so, I may get this instead of the Picross DS that (in the US) just came out.

Posted at 3:23PM on Aug 17th 2007 by Abscissa

6. Another question: In that screenshot, it looks like there's no vertical clues. What's up with that?

Posted at 3:24PM on Aug 17th 2007 by Abscissa

7. Great link strider. But unfortunately, another case of a reviewer missing the option to play Picross DS with the D-Pad and buttons, avoiding the annoying zoom and general clunkiness of stylus controls.

Posted at 4:18PM on Aug 17th 2007 by xenon

8. xenon-

True enough, but keep in mind that he was reviewing a Japanese version and apparently didn't find the control scheme switch until later.

"However, take a few random stabs at the menu options and you'll find that you can both get a locked full-screen view of the scrolling grids, and play with the d-pad and buttons, which for the larger puzzles is much easier."

I totally agree that using the stylus is an adventure in aggravation on the standard puzzles. It's only on the speed puzzles or mini-games that I use the stylus at all.

D-pad & buttons all the way!

Posted at 4:59PM on Aug 17th 2007 by strider

9. xenon - True enough, but keep in mind that he was reviewing a Japanese version and apparently didn't find the control scheme switch until later.

"However, take a few random stabs at the menu options and you'll find that you can both get a locked full-screen view of the scrolling grids, and play with the d-pad and buttons, which for the larger puzzles is much easier."

I totally agree that using the stylus is an adventure in aggravation on the standard puzzles. It's only on the speed puzzles or mini-games that I use the stylus at all.

D-pad & buttons all the way!

Posted at 5:07PM on Aug 17th 2007 by strider

10. The only reason Picross DS's 15x15 puzzles are hard is because of its horrible scrolling/zooming system. I've got a Picross game with 25x25 grids on my Treo, and honestly, even those aren't challenging, just time consuming. Once you play it enough, you kind of get used to the techniques to solve it and you're set. This sounds really difficult though, I'd at least want to try it out.

Posted at 6:42PM on Aug 18th 2007 by Joe