If you’re a long-time Nintendo DS owner, there’s a good chance you’ve played Picross DS or Picross 3D. You might even have played the lesser-known (and, let’s face it, less entertaining) Color Cross or Animal Color Cross. But you might not have played Mario’s Picross, the 1995 Game Boy puzzler that started the craze.

Picross puzzles, also known as nonograms, start out as a blank grid surrounded by numbered clues on the left and top sides. The aim is to use these clues to methodically fill in the grid, revealing a blocky picture. The clues on the left tell you what’s supposed to be in each row, while the clues on the top tell you what’s supposed to be in each column. Look at the top clues of the puzzle we’ve included here. “15″ means the column needs 15 filled-in squares. “1, 2″ means you need one filled-in square, followed by at least one blank square, followed by two filled-in squares.

It may sound complicated, but in practice it’s easy to grasp. That’s not to say the puzzles themselves are easy — you’re bound to get stuck on some of Mario Picross’s later levels, but the game eases you in gently so when the time comes you’ll be able to get back on track.

Mario’s Picross has four levels called Easy Picross, Kinoko Course, Star Course, and Time Trial, with 64 puzzles in each. That means there’s plenty to get your teeth into, but experienced Picrossers might find the game too easy at first. You’ll have 30 minutes to complete each puzzle, which is plenty even with the game dishing out time penalties for wrongly filled-in squares. The optional hint feature makes you even less likely to lose, by filling in a random column and row to get you started. Many of the earlier puzzles are symmetrical, too, so it’s too tempting to complete them with guesswork instead of logic. Thankfully, this becomes less frequent over time.

Probably the best thing about the game is its control scheme. Modern Picross games have suffered from crummy controls, with enormous game grids that required a mixture of touch-screen scrolling, stylus taps, and button presses. But Mario’s Picross limits grids to 15 × 15 squares, and the controls are wonderfully simple. The D-pad moves your cursor, the A button fills in squares, and the B button marks squares with a cross so you’ll remember to avoid them.

The game also makes good use of the Virtual Console’s restore points feature. Unless you specifically want to save mid-game, you can just hit the HOME button when you’re done with a puzzle. Next time you tap the icon, the game picks up exactly where you left off. It’s another small touch that means the oldest Picross game comes off looking moderner and more polished than the new ones.

The Verdict

 4 ½ – Great

This is a well-packaged, addictive game that, like its successors, will give you hours of enjoyment. But what makes Mario’s Picross special is its simplicity, something that hasn’t been replicated since. The Game Boy version didn’t sell very well, so I urge you to give this title the recognition it deserves by downloading it from the Nintendo eShop. I promise you won’t regret it.