6 Best Picross Puzzle Games That You Have To Play

Picross is Nintendo‘s name for nonogram puzzles, which first came to popularity in 1995 after the company noticed how often people in Japan were playing the pen-and-paper version of the classic game. Using the numbers outside of a grid of squares, you have to fill in the squares to create a picture. While Nintendo owns the Picross name, there have been a few developers come through with their own takes on the formula to push the genre forward. So, while you’ll see Nintendo’s influence throughout the list below, don’t be surprised to see several non-Nintendo games pop up.

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Here are the best nonogram puzzlers that you need to try.

6) CiniCross

This one is technically cheated because CiniCross hasn’t released. It’s currently set to launch soon on PC, but the concept is so strong that I would highly recommend every Picross fan check out the demo that’s available now on Steam and Itch.

While not a finished product, the demo immediately shows why CiniCross is, even in this stage, a breath of fresh air. Developer Hydrobates is mixing nonogram puzzles with roguelike elements. You earn new artifacts and items as you work your way through the tree-like map, giving you new abilities to make subsequent puzzles a bit easier. It is a must-try demo that stands out even before CiniCross is fully available.

5) Picross Lord of the Nazarick

Lord of the Nazarick is a collaboration with the Overlord anime and Jupiter’s Picross S series. The spin-off is notable because it’s one of Jupiter’s only attempts to incorporate storytelling into its brand of puzzlers. We’ve seen that become popular with non-Jupiter games over the first few years, but it’s neat to see the masters explore new ideas.

It isn’t quite as successful on that front as some of the games I’ll talk about soon, but you can’t deny that Jupiter knows how to make a great puzzle game. There are over 500 Picross puzzles to solve and 10 different characters to meet. I’d love to see Jupiter go further into the storytelling side of things, but this is a solid effort.

4) Squeakross: Home Squeak Home

Squeakross mixes great nonogram-style puzzles and cute mice. What more could you want? The developers at Alblune have a robust rodent creator, and each puzzle you solve is then transformed into furniture or accessories that you can then use to decorate your mouse’s home.

It kind of feels like the Animal Crossing of Picross. Solving all 650 of Squeakross‘ puzzles will unlock tons of new options for your decoration purposes, letting you create the perfect home for your rodent friend. It doesn’t hurt that the puzzles themselves are some of the best in the genre.

3) Murder by Numbers

Remember when I mentioned that Jupiter tried to incorporate a story into Lord of the Nazarick, but didn’t quite make it work as well as other games? Murder by Numbers is that other game. Mediatonic’s nonogram-based murder mystery blends solid puzzles, a fun storyline, and a visual style that will remind you of Phoenix Wright and your favorite Saturday morning cartoon.

Speaking of Phoenix Wright, Murder by Numbers‘ soundtrack was made by Masakasu Sugimori, who also worked on Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and Viewtiful Joe. Oh, and those excellent character designs come from Hato Moa, who created Hatoful Boyfriend. It’s a shame we haven’t seen a sequel, but Murder by Numbers really did feel like it was pushing the genre forward in fun ways.

2) Picross S+

Jupiter’s Picross S is the best version of classic Picross. There aren’t many frills with the series outside of new styles of puzzle, but when the nonograms are this good, you don’t need much else. Since the first Picross S came out in 2017, Jupiter has released 10 different games in the series.

You’d be fine picking up any of them, but Picross S+ is the one to get at this stage. Most of the other games in the series have just under 500 puzzles to solve, but Picross S+ features nearly 2,000 puzzles via DLC. All of the games are worth playing for Picross fans, but S+ is the easiest way to get a ton of puzzles in one place.

1) Picross 3D

By adding a third dimension to the Picross board, those mad geniuses at Hal Labs created something truly special. Instead of simply plopping down black squares on a flat board, you are carving shapes out of a large square. It’s like the puzzle version of making a marble sculpture.

Picross 3D is the best Picross game of all time, and it’s frankly not even close. It can be tough to get your hands on the DS game these days, but there is some hope that Jupiter will eventually port it to the Switch. For now, it’s worth noting that games like Voxelgram have tried to toss their hat in the ring. It’s not quite the same, but if you’re looking for an easy-to-find 3D nonogram puzzler, it’s worth a try.

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