In a series as focused on multiplayer as Picross S, it’s always seemed odd that Nintendo and Jupiter haven't allowed more than two players to be playing at the same time. We’ve lost track of how many times we’ve played Picross on our Switch during a major social event and could only have one other person participating, while everyone else in the room simply had to stare on wistfully and wait their turn. Lucky for us, the technology has finally been developed to allow for up to four players to play at once. This means that Picross S8 is at least twice as good as the last several games.
The basic premise this time around follows blue and red cursor who discover that their parents, green and yellow cursor, have broken out of prison and are dead set on getting revenge for being framed by their children. See, there are even four characters! You do have to fill in all of the gaps yourself—there isn't a single line of written or spoken dialogue anywhere nor are there any cutscenes after all. We're entirely joking, of course--but with four players, there's plenty of opportunity for gut-wrenching plot twists and payoffs that have been years in the making with your friends and family.
Otherwise, in the gameplay department, this is certainly Picross. Where else can you spend five minutes parsing a confusing, but completely logical set of numbers to painstakingly craft a pixel art recreation of a urinal? But now that there can be up to four simultaneous players, you can almost certainly blame someone else for making a mistake when you get thirty minutes into a puzzle and realize all the progress you’ve collectively made in the last twenty minutes was a lie. That alone is worth the price of admission.
Playing with four characters can be a cumbersome mess—a moving cursor always stops dead in its tracks if it meets another one—but there’s something about the chaos that’s quite alluring. Even if you are all technically working toward a common goal, there’s certainly little cooperation going on here, as every player’s filled-in squares are tallied and added to their point total in real-time. Most importantly, if you erase someone else’s square and fill it back in yourself, their score goes down and yours goes up. We thus experienced a few puzzles that quickly devolved into seizing and defending real estate, the actual puzzle solution be damned. It’s like an extremely primitive version of Splatoon.
If you’re looking for a few hundred more puzzles to add to the collection of what must be over a thousand by now, then Picross S8 is the game for you. If a good entry point is what you're after, Picross S8 is a decent spot, but we’d recommend you at least watch the first two seasons of the anime to get a somewhat decent grasp of the premise. Anyway, this game radiates so much power that it made the preceding seven games (or ten, if you count the spin-offs) better through updates that added universal touch support and four-player multiplayer. So go buy it. Now.
Comments 29
"Why are there so many of these" - because people like me find it relaxing to do the same kinds of puzzle over and over, I play it to get to sleep, and yes I've done every puzzle in every entry in the series (spinoffs included now, while I was waiting for this one), as well as the 3DS ones and the even older games. I would personally appreciate if Nintendo put out one of these a month tbh.
I love Picross, and maybe if they ever release some sort of collection of these for cheap I might cave, but I just can't get myself to buy any of these when there are so many ways to play Picross-type puzzles for free online if I ever get the hankering.
Eh, I'll wait until Picross Battle Royale personally.
It’s really weird how Nintendo Life complains about how many of these there are. I’m halfway through S6. I just play Picross when I need to chill. I got through all 8 of them on 3DS as well.
@Fizza I'm waiting for the movie.
I have plenty of Picross games on my 3ds still, and even though I've completed them all on the toughest settings and challenged my best times and such, replaying them randomly does kind of give the same challenge and mental reward. I'd much rather see Picross 3D round 3, but that would definitely require a physical release with some kind of precision pen.
But there's no such thing as too much Picross if you're a fan of it, and I know I am, I'm just not willing to pay that price every time again.
More and more reviews here have, let's be honest, made up cons just for the sake of it.
These picross games are great. I wish we would get more themed ones though, the Sega master system / megadrive one was a delight. Even the Twilight Princess one from them on the 3DS was good fun.
I eagerly await the review for S9 where Vogel will publish a video of him taping squares to himself in an act of interpretative dance.
Ah, but it’s nothing compared to Picrossy Road coming out in 2040. You solve picross puzzles while dodging real life traffic. Bonus points if it’s in a crowded highway.
“ We’ve lost track of how many times we’ve played Picross on our Switch during a major social event”
You guys are real party animals, sounds like the social event of the year
I’ve played a few including the Z:TP on 3DS, but have played all mainline Picross S games, it’s just a chill time until you get to the mega extra puzzles, some are a breeze and some make me get out a pen & paper to keep track xD
I’ve taken a lengthy break from Picross after completing every single instalment on 3DS (including the GB game, and Twilight Princess, and yes, even the Hello Kitty one). I’m not counting Mario’s Super Picross on SNES as I completed that on Wii U instead.
And after completing the first three on Switch (S1, S2. Kemono Friends), I was totally burned out...
Until I bought the Sega crossover a few days ago...
And then I went crazy and bought S3, S4, and S5.
They tried to make me go to rehab, but I said “No, no, no...”
I'm just already so excited to see what happens in season 9. With this new plot twist the world of picross is really opening up!
On a side note, I've been playing picross 3d 2 on 3ds and I feel like it's way more interesting than 2D picross. I wish they would finally announce the end of the trilogy.
I'm not sure if "Open world exploration" is a joke or not.
Will buy this just to be sure
I wish Nintendo would release more themed ones. The Zelda and Pokemon ones were great.
Hello Picross fans! I just bought 7, since it went on sale, I don't have them all, but I do like them.
First: Picross 3D rules, I would double dip if it comes on Switch.
Second: Travel Mosaics is, I think, a better nonagram game and there are several on Switch, please tell me someone here has played Travel Mosaics.
Last year’s Genesis/Master System edition was my 1st Picross experience and I enjoyed it immensely. Its very relaxing I will definitely be picking this up.
@Cheez Definitely agree, I'd love more Picross 3D. I don't know if they could make it work with Switch, though, unless they went handheld only. Seems like the kind of thing that would be super awkward with motion controls.
These all should be like 10/10. Yeah I know they don't bring nothing new. But they are Picross.
Hijacking this rollercoaster of a post to rally the troops and request Picross 3D and its sequel be ported to Switch.
I'd be looking at 100 hours of playtime, no sweat.
"We’ve lost track of how many times we’ve played Picross on our Switch during a major social event and could only have one other person participating, while everyone else in the room simply had to stare on wistfully and wait their turn."
I lol'd. Not sure if I was meant to.
I think starting with Picross S3 is just fine.
"Open world exploration feels weird, but welcome"
....What?
"Picross is Life"
The updates on previous games have cleared the 'No Assist' markers from all puzzles played before the update ):
" We thus experienced a few puzzles that quickly devolved into seizing and defending real estate, the actual puzzle solution be damned." Delightful xD I wanna try this one!
@SwitchVogel Not sure if you've seen it, but there is a 3D Picross game on Switch called Voxelgram. It has a decent number of puzzles (plus a random puzzle making option), and is a decent-ish game. Be forewarned, though: the game crashes every so often, and the controls can be a bit finicky. That said, I've played through the handcrafted levels twice, so it's not that bad when you get used to it.
Still wish we could get a sequel to the 3DS version of 3D picross. I'd snap that up in a heartbeat.
The staggering popularity of Picross is one of the most oddly endearing facets of the Nintendo fanbase. Everyone's just really bloody nice about it and that's lovely.
Ha ha, funny review. Thanks for that. I am a picross fan since the ds days.
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