Nintendo Details 3D Picross

February 21st, 2009, 00:16 Posted By: wraggster

In typical fashion, Nintendo Japan has waited until pretty much the last minute to share details on what will probably be one of next month's biggest DS games over in Japan. 3D Picross (or, as it's known in proper Japanese, Rittai Picross) hits Japan on March 12, and at long last received an official website today.

3D Picross is, as the name would suggest, a 3D version of the classic Picross DS puzzle game, itself a DS version of Nonogram or Paint by Numbers. The basic 2D Picross game has players mark off squares, eventually revealing a hidden picture. The new 3D version adds another dimension, replacing squares with blocks. Using hints, you break blocks and eventually reveal a hidden shape.

The game is controlled with a combination of the stylus and buttons. To destroy a block, you tap it with the stylus while pressing up (or x, for lefties). You can mark a block by tapping it while pressing right (or y). These controls can be previewed in advance through some movies at this section of the official site. The movies can be accessed by pressing the orange buttons towards the bottom of the page.

Nintendo appears to be packing the game full of content, with 350 default puzzles ranging from simple to super difficult. Video footage of some of the puzzles can be seen on this page of the official site.

But the fun won't end even if you've cleared all those. Nintendo will be offering downloadable puzzles via Wi-Fi. It plans on offering weekly puzzle packs consisting of five puzzles each. You can store a total of 300 download puzzles on your system, although this space is shared with puzzles that you've created yourself using the game's puzzle creation mode.

That creation mode fits into the game's online plans as well. Nintendo will be holding contests asking players to create puzzles around certain themes. Winning puzzles will be included in the weekly puzzle pack downloads.

With the Wi-Fi download packs and the user generated content possibilities of the puzzle creation mode, 3D Picross looks like it has the potential to be Nintendo's next big thing in Japan following Rhythm Heaven. Expect to hear a whole lot more following the Japanese release next month.

http://uk.ds.ign.com/articles/955/955913p1.html

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