My Nintendo Picross: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Genre: Picross Puzzle

Players: 1

.

Review:

My Nintendo Picross: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, released on Nintendo 3DS in 2016, is an odd game in many respects. Much as with Flipnote Studio 3D, this game is only obtainable through the My Nintendo rewards program, costing 1000 “Platinum Points” on the My Nintendo Website. Because of this odd way of obtaining the game, it is technically free, but requires jumping through some hoops to obtain. As such, it’s hard to judge this game’s content against its value. What exactly does 1000 “Platinum Points” equate to in terms of dollars and cents, anyway?

In addition to that, making a Picross Puzzle game based exclusively on not just the Zelda franchise, but based on one specific game, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, seems like a strange choice. Certainly there is crossover between those who enjoy Picross puzzle games and those who like The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, but it’s still something of a non sequitir that I don’t think anyone was asking for.

Still, as unusual as it may be, My Nintendo Picross works surprisingly well. This game starts by presenting players with an interactive tutorial given to players by Midna (complete with her odd, echo-y, unintelligible voice backing her written instructions). This frustrated me a little as I didn’t see any way to skip this tutorial, but those less familiar with Picross will undoubtedly be thankful for the assistance.

Once you get into the game proper, you have 45 standard Picross puzzles, 45 “Mega Picross” puzzles with hints that span across two rows or columns, and then 1 “Micross” Puzzle consisting of 57 small “Clip Picross” levels that combine into one larger picture. Most of the game’s puzzles directly reference The Legend of Zelda, and at times Twilight Princess specifically. All of this seems like a hefty amount of content for a free game… though again, that depends on what you consider “free”.

Players can use standard gamepad controls or touchscreen controls to fill in puzzles – the latter are good, though a little inhibited by the small size of the Nintendo 3DS screen. Those who played Pokemon Picross will find the control setup to be similar here, though this game’s options settings are more straightforward and traditional, allowing them to individually turn on and off different helpful features like row/column hints, error notifications, and “hint roulette”. Honestly, this is pretty ideal, and I would say that the controls and options here place this among the best Picross games I’ve played.

The presentation is pretty good too, at least for a Picross game. The puzzles are bordered by 3D locales from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, 2D art for Midna pops up on occasion, and the gameplay is backed by music from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. It’s nothing mind-blowing, but it’s far more polished and in-depth a presentation than you would expect for a free-to-play licensed tie-in Picross game.

As strange as its mere existence is, My Nintendo Picross: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is a really excellent Picross game, and one that makes good use of its license. If you have a Nintendo 3DS and don’t mind going through a bit of effort to get the “platinum points” needed to get this game, it’s well worth doing so, especially if you enjoy Picross Puzzles, as this is a surprisingly good take on the genre. It’s just a bit bizarre that we’d get such a great Picross game… only available via a special promotion… with such an oddly specific licensed property attached.

tl;dr – My Nintendo Picross: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is a Picross Puzzle game that is only obtainable through the My Nintendo Rewards program. As strange as the method for obtaining this game is, as well as its oddly-specific license, this is actually a really well-crafted Picross game with a good amount of content, good controls, good options, and that makes good use of the license. If you don’t mind jumping through the hoops to get the “platinum points” needed to obtain this game, it’s well worth your while, especially if you’re a fan of Picross games.

Grade: B+

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