History VideoGame / Picross

** It marks the return of ''Picross'' to what can be considered home consoles (the Switch can be officially connected to a television set, but can also be used as a handheld) in 17 years after having spent some time being released on handhelds only, with the last home console game being the ''Picross NP'' series that ran until 2000.

* NoGearLevel: Every fifth puzzle in ''Picross-e'' (i.e. the end of every row) and every 15th puzzle in ''Picross S'' (i.e. the end of every page) disables the use of assist features.

** It lacks a mode where filling in incorrect cells will apply a penalty to the player's completion time or give any sort of immediate feedback on mistakes, instead running only on "Free"/Wario's Picross rules. While there is the "Autocorrect Mistakes" assist that notifies the player if they misfill a cell, the only penalty is the loss of the "No Assist" star, and that's if the player has not lost it through using other assists yet.

* LaterInstallmentWeirdness: For the ''Picross S'' series in particular:
** It lacks a mode where filling in incorrect cells will apply a penalty to the player's completion time or give any sort of immediate feedback on mistakes, instead running only on "Free"/Wario's Picross rules. While there is the "Autocorrect Mistakes" assist that notifies the player if they misfill a cell, the only penalty is the loss of the "No Assist" star, and that's if the player has not lost it through using other assists yet.
** Despite being released on the Nintendo Switch, which has a touchscreen, there were originally no touchscreen controls available unlike ''Picross DS'' and the ''Picross e'' series, which were also released on systems with touchscreens (Nintendo DS for ''DS'' and Nintendo 3DS for ''e'').[[note]]Likely due to the Switch's touchscreen being capacitive instead of resistive and thus is designed to be operated with fingers which are less precise than styluses, and the Switch does not come with a specialized capacitive touchscreen stylus; one has to be obtained separately.[[/note]] However, ''Picross S9'' brings back touch controls, which were also backported to previous ''Picross S'' games via software updates.
** Pausing doesn't completely hide the current puzzle anymore; you can still see the parts that aren't obscured by the pause window. In fact, you even get a preview of the puzzle when selecting it from the puzzle select, on a screen where time doesn't start counting up just yet.

** Despite being released on the Nintendo Switch, which has a touchscreen, there were originally no touchscreen controls available unlike ''Picross DS'' and the ''Picross e'' series, which were released on systems with touchscreens (Nintendo DS for ''DS'' and Nintendo 3DS for ''e'').[[note]]Likely due to the Switch's touchscreen being capacitive instead of resistive and thus is designed to be operated with fingers which are less precise than styluses, and the Switch does not come with a specialized capacitive touchscreen stylus; one has to be obtained separately.[[/note]] However, ''Picross S9'' brings back touch controls, which were also backported to previous ''Picross S'' games via software updates.

** Pausing doesn't completely hide the current puzzle anymore; you can still see the parts that aren't obscured by the pause window. In fact, you even get a preview of the puzzle when selecting it, on a screen where time doesn't start counting up just yet.

** "Wario's Picross" in the original ''Mario's Picross'' is similar to the original Mario set of puzzles, but you do not get docked time for mistakes...but you also don't get any immediate feedback for mistakes either, so you're responsible for finding and correcting your errors. Later ''Picross'' games without the Mario branding call this "Free" mode. ''Picross S'' makes Free mode the default; "Mario mode" can be simulated by turning on the "Autocorrect Mistakes" assist, but you don't get time penalties for mistakes, instead losing the "No Assist" star the first time the game corrects a mistake for you (if other assists have not been activated yet).

** "Wario's Picross" in the original ''Mario's Picross'' is similar to the original Mario set of puzzles, but you do not get docked time for mistakes...but you also don't get any immediate feedback for mistakes either, so you're responsible for finding and correcting your errors. Later ''Picross'' games without the Mario branding call this mode "Free" mode. ''Picross S'' makes Free mode the default; "Mario mode" can be simulated by turning on the "Autocorrect Mistakes" assist, but you don't get time penalties for mistakes, instead losing the "No Assist" star the first time the game corrects a mistake for you (if other assists have not been activated yet).

** "Wario's Picross" in the original ''Mario's Picross'' is similar to the original Mario set of puzzles, but you do not get docked time for mistakes...but you also don't get any immediate feedback for mistakes either, so you're responsible for finding and correcting your errors. Later ''Picross'' games without the Mario branding call this mode "Free" mode. ''Picross S'' makes Free mode the default; "Mario mode" can be simulated by turning on the "Autocorrect Mistakes" assist, but you don't get time penalties for mistakes, instead losing the "No Assist" star the first time the game corrects a mistake for you.

* AdvancingBossOfDoom: In ''Picross X'', you and your party of Picbits spend each stage running from the [[SnakesAreSinister Uzboross]], solving 5 x 5 puzzles in order to outrun it and avoid having your Picbits eaten by it. At the end of the stage, you and the remaning Picbits launch a counterattack on it, with the amount of damage equalling the number of treasures you found, the amount of {{power|Up}}s you got, and the number of Picbits in tow.

** ''Picross X'' has the occasional Erase puzzle, where instead of filling in squares, you start with a completely filled puzzle and have to X out incorrect fills. This means one has to completely rewire their logic, and avoid instictively X'ing '5' lines among other things.

* StalkedByTheBell: In ''Picross X'', if you have a [[BonusLevel between-round bonus puzzle]] in progress when the timer before the next round starts ends, or a non-bonus puzzle from the previous round even, you ''must'' finish it before you can start the next round, ''while'' that new round's timer is now ticking away.

* DamnYouMuscleMemory: ''3D'' only has options to destroy blocks or mark them to prevent them from being destroyed by accident; marking was optional and didn't yield any penalty if you marked a block that's supposed to be broken. ''Round 2'' spices things up a bit by having two colors of paint, and this time marking them with the right color is mandatory; it's easy to forget about it and mark a block with the wrong color by accident, thus earning a penalty, until you get used to it.

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: ''3D Round 2'' introduces a few:
** There's a hint function that tells you what row or column you should work on next, with no penalty to your score.
** The bomb automatically removes all rows and columns marked with a 0, saving quite a bit of time and the hassle of removing them yourself.
** Unlike the first game where puzzles were sorted by difficulty, they're now sorted by themes and you can adjust the difficulty yourself, allowing you to play the game at your own pace.
** There's no five-strike system anymore; you can mess up as often as you need without fear of losing (one-chance challenges notwithstanding).
** Whereas the first game used stars to rank your performance in a puzzle (one for completing the level, one for doing it with no penalty, and one for doing it quick enough), the second uses plain points and jewels. In addition to making some puzzles easier to access, it removes a lot of stress when solving a puzzle, as you don't necessarily need to do a NoDamageRun to get the best jewels anymore.

* HardModePerks: In ''3D Round 2'', changing the puzzle difficulty affects the multiplier you get on top of your points. Clearing a puzzle on Normal or Hard will get you 50% or 100% more points than on Easy, respectively.

* ActionizedSequel: ''Picross X''. Unlike traditional ''Picross'' games, which are focused around meticulously solving large puzzles, ''X'' is focused on rapidly solving waves of 5 x 5 puzzles in order to outrun the Uzobross and then defeat it.

* ''Picross S'' series (2017-20, UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch)

* CoOpMultiplayer: ''Picross S'' allows two players to work on the same puzzle together.

* ''Picross [[LightNovel/{{Overlord2012}} Lord of the Nazarick]]'' (2019, UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch)

* ConsoleCameo: Both ''Mario's Picross'' and ''DS'' include puzzles of Nintendo systems (''Mario's'' just has one of the UsefulNotes/GameBoy, ''DS'' has a whole series of them).

** Since ''DS'', the 2D installments have included "Daily Picross", where once a day you're challenged to solve a series of 7x7 puzzles in the lowest time possible. In ''Pokémon Picross'', this mode awards Picrites and is the only reliable way to farm them without paying real money.