80/100
Players19 ratings: 83/100
Critics4 reviews

Where to get it

Nintendo eShop

2009 · HAL Laboratory · Nonogram · Puzzle

Picross 3D

Nintendo exclusive

Picross 3D is the sequel to the popular Picross DS puzzle game. The original game was a number-based grid puzzle that challenged players to reveal a hidden picture. Picross 3D moves the action into three dimensions. Picross 3D blends the logical challenge of a sudoku puzzle with the excitement of discovering the hidden images within.

Released: 12 March 2009
Platforms: Nintendo DS Wii U
Genres: Nonogram Puzzle
Developers: HAL Laboratory
Publishers: Nintendo
Series: Picross
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: Text
Country: Japan
Age ratings: CERO A ESRB E CLASS_IND L PEGI 3
Languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish (Spain)

About

Picross 3D is a puzzle video game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld system. It was released in Japan in March 2009, in Europe in March 2010, and in North America in May 2010. It uses similar nonogram mechanics to Picross DS, but adapted to a three-dimensional environment by adding an extra axis blocks can go on. Outside Japan, the game is part of Nintendo's Touch!

Generations brand. It was also released for the Wii U's Virtual Console in Europe and Japan in 2016 and North America in 2017. A sequel, Picross 3D: Round 2, was released for the Nintendo 3DS in Japan in October 2015, in North America in September 2016, and in Europe and Australia in December 2016.

Keywords

mascot
time limit
online
abstract
dog
sequel
user generated content
digital distribution
countdown timer
pictographic level design
ranking system
polygonal 3d

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

While regular nonogram puzzles presents a rectangular grid of squares, which must be filled in to create a picture, Picross 3D uses a rectangular prism made of a number of smaller cubes, and must be chipped away in order to construct an image in three dimensions. Each row or column has at most one number corresponding to it, and many do not have any numbers at all; the number indicates how many cubes the row/column should contain when the picture is complete. Generally each row of cubes will be in one group. If a number has a circle around it, it means that, while that number of cubes is the total amount in the row/column, they will be split up into two groups (for example, a 4 with a circle around it will be in two groups of either 1 and 3, or 2 and 2).

If a number has a square around it, the cubes will be split up into three or more groups. If there are no numbers on a row or column, there are no rules regarding the cubes in that row.

Reception

Picross 3D received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. Ryan Lambie of Nintendo Life gave the game a 7/10; while he suggested that the game failed to match Picross DS in terms of gameplay, it was "a diverting and addictive game" that offered hours worth of content. Nathan Meunier of GameSpot ranked the game at 8.5/10, praising the gameplay but criticizing what he considered to be a "disappointing presentation".

The game was the third best-selling game during the week of its release in Japan at 38,000 copies. It sold an additional 24,000 copies and 16,000 copies its second and third weeks respectively.

Legacy

Scott Baird of Screen Rant retrospectively considered Picross 3D to be one of the best DS games in 2017. In March of that same year, the game was added to the Wii U Virtual Console through the Nintendo eShop.

A sequel for the successor Nintendo 3DS system was announced by Nintendo in August 2015. Titled Picross 3D: Round 2, the game was released in Japan in October 2015 and in North America in September the following year.