2009 · skip Ltd. · Puzzle

Pictobits

Nintendo exclusive

2009 video game

Released: 28 January 2009
Platforms: Nintendo DS
Genres: Puzzle
Developers: skip Ltd.
Publishers: Nintendo
Series: Art Style
Modes: Single-player
Country: Japan
Composers: YMCK

About

Pictobits, known as Picopict in Europe and Pictopict in Australia, is a puzzle video game developed by Skip Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DSi's DSiWare digital distribution service. It is one of seven games released for the DSi's Art Style series of video games. It was announced on January 26, 2009, was released two days later alongside Somnium, another Art Style game, and was released in North America and PAL regions in the same year, on May 18 and May 22 respectively.

In Pictobits, players use the touchscreen to move coloured blocks into a formation, such as a four-block line or a 2x2 square. This contributes to an 8-bit image, which consist of various Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) characters, such as Mario, Link, and Bowser.

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The objective of Pictobits is to move coloured blocks from the bottom of the touchscreen under falling blocks of corresponding colors. If a shape is made using the added block, the blocks add to an image on the top screen. For example, if players form a red block sequence, the image will gain as many red blocks as has been cleared, assuming that any blocks of that colour remain to be added. If blocks fall as a result of clearing blocks that were attached to it, they are added to the blocks at the bottom and can be used, though a special variety of block exists that cannot be picked up, forcing players to either clear them before they land or wait for the right blocks to fall on them.

As players clear more blocks, they will eventually form an image. These images are of 8-bit renditions of characters from NES games, such as Mario, Link, and Bowser.

Development

Pictobits was developed by Skip Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DSi's DSiWare service. It was revealed in a display of DSiWare titles by Satoru Iwata on January 26, 2009, alongside Decode, Aquario, and Somnium (known as Code, Aquite, and Nemrem in PAL regions, Base 10, Aquia, and Zengage in North America). Both it and Somnium were released two days later in Japan.

The North American release came on May 18, 2009. It was later released in PAL regions on May 22, 2009. While the European release of Picopict retained the Japanese name, the Australian and North American releases changed the name to Pictobits and Pictopict respectively.

Reception

Pictobits has received a positive reception. 64% from Metacritic and GameRankings respectively. This made it the 37th best Nintendo DS game and the 1,201st best video game on GameRankings. For the weeks ending June 10 and June 17, Pictobits was the 10th best-selling DSiWare game.

It was the 15th best-selling DSiWare game for the week ending June 24, and 18th for the week ending July 2. It ranked 20th the next week, falling off the charts the week afterward. Nintendo Life's Brody Olimar called Pictobits one of the first great title on the DSiWare service, commenting that it was a good value and had nothing to complain about. Nintendo Life also named it the best Nintendo DSiWare game of the year.