"Hi, Kids!! It's time for us to solve the mystery of "Picross"!"
—Mario
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In this picture puzzle game for the Game Boy, the player helps Mario discover hidden pictures by filling in blocks in a grid. The numbers along the top and left side of the grid provide clues as to which blocks should be filled in.
The puzzles in this game are just like Conceptis' Pic-a-Pix puzzles, and are also called nonograms and other names.
The games in the overall Picross series are:
- Mario's Picross (1995, Game Boy)
- Mario's Super Picross (1995. SNES)
- Picross 2 (Game Boy)
- Picross NP (eight volumes for the "Nintendo Power Super Famicom Cartridge Writer", a rewritable SNES cart)
- Picross DS (Nintendo DS)
- Picross 3D (Nintendo DS)
- Picross-E (Nintendo 3DS)
Tropes Used in Mario's Picross:
- Console Cameo: Both Mario's Picross and DS include puzzles of Nintendo systems (Mario's just has one of the Game Boy, DS has a whole series of them).
- Grid Puzzle
- No Export for You: Super Picross was eventually released in the PAL regions via Wii's Virtual Console service, but Picross 2 and Picross NP were only in Japan.
- Spiritual Successor: Nintendo has recently made Picross games for the Nintendo DS without the Mario branding, but made Mario's Picross level packs available for download.
- Time Trial: Completing the Star course unlocks time trial mode, where you solve a random picross as quickly as possible. In this mode, you have unlimited time, but mistakes aren't revealed.