Piczle Puzzle & Watch Collection

Genre: Compilation / Picross Puzzle / Puzzle / Simulation

Players: 1

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Review:

Piczle Puzzle & Watch Collection, released on Nintendo Switch in 2021, is a family-friendly Compilation of three Puzzle games presented in a way designed to mimic the appearance of the classic Game & Watch LCD handheld devices (although to my knowledge no such actual Piczle devices exist). In fact, the design of this game is so uncanny, I think it would be fair to call this a Simulation as well as a Puzzle game Compilation.

There is some amazing dedication here to this core concept of being a Simulation of three nonexistent old-school handhelds. Players begin each game by “unboxing” its respective handheld and inspecting it in three dimensions, can peruse its included instruction manual (which includes instructions on not just how to play the game, but how to install the batteries and other such information), and each of the games includes a display of the time, true to the name.

And while these devices aren’t graphically impressive on a technical level, they are wonderfully rendered with a surprising level of realism. The way the metallic finish reflects the light (with that light optionally being controlled by your gyroscopic input), the dimples where you’d insert a pin to set the clock and alarm (apparently non-functioning here), the way the internal cardboard of the box is designed in the same way real packaging would look, and while players can opt to use the touchscreen to press the on-screen buttons if they like, pressing on the simulated device’s actual screen acts in much the same way doing this to a real LCD device would have done, revealing all of the ITO electrodes under the screen.

And as these devices would have had in real life, each has some irritating beeps as its only sound, although you can thankfully adjust the volume of these independent from the rest of the game. I actually found I preferred the sound effects here either at the lowest level or off. However, while the sound is both accurate and annoying, the music here is delightful, with each of the games accompanied by a soft piano theme playing in the background (undoubtedly not from the device itself, but from the dark void in which you’re playing the device) that I found to be really relaxing.

As for the games themselves, you have Piczle Cross, Piczle Pattern, and Piczle Loops.

Piczle Cross is a solid albeit simple Picross game with 200 puzzles on a 10-by-10 grid. The 200 puzzles are evenly divided between two game modes – one where you only have three mistakes before you lose, and one where you can make as many mistakes as you want, but only complete the puzzle when you’ve gotten everything correct. As Picross games go, the limited grid size is a bit disappointing, but otherwise this is an all-around solid Picross game.

Piczle Pattern is one of those Puzzle games where you turn on/off the box you’re selecting on a grid as well as all adjacent boxes, with the goal of trying to get them all turned on. This game also has two game modes – one where you try to turn all boxes on starting from a completely empty grid, and one where a random assortment of boxes are turned on and you must solve for the remainder.

Finally, Piczle Loops has players trying to create a single continuous loop on a grid with numbers on it, making sure that each number is bordered by exactly that number of lines. This game also has two “modes”, although this is mainly the game’s way of separating the beginner 36 puzzle from the intermediate and difficult 32 puzzles.

All in all, this is a pretty sizable amount of content for an $8 game, and while I’ve never been overly fond of the sort of puzzle seen in Piczle Pattern, the other two are solid classic Puzzle games that are well-represented here and have a fair amount of gameplay to offer. However, the real surprise of this package is just how thorough developer Score Studios has been in Simulating the look and interactivity of classic Game & Watch-style old-school LCD handheld devices. If you’re a fan of Puzzle games, this is a solid Compilation, but if you’re a fan of retro-style nostalgia, you should consider this game a must-buy.

tl;dr – Piczle Puzzle & Watch Collection is a Compilation of three Puzzle games presented as a Simulation of classic Game & Watch-style handheld LCD devices. The Puzzle games are solid, if a bit simple, and have a good amount of content for the $8 price tag. But what’s really surprising here is just how extensive a Simulation this is, going to some extraordinary lengths to make the LCD devices within the game as realistic as possible. If you’re a Puzzle game fan, this is a solid Compilation for you, but if you’re a fan of retro-style nostalgia, you should absolutely give this game a look.

Grade: B+

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2021 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Most Overlooked, The “Wow, this game was way better than I expected!” Award, Best Graphical Style, Best Puzzle Game

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