If there was one game genre that fit on the game boy, it was puzzle games hands down. The system launched into the public mainstream with Nintendo's port of Tetris, and it remained its strongest seller for the handheld's life span. So, naturally Nintendo constantly wanted to reinvent the wheel, find other games that would scratch the puzzler's itch. And in 1995, they dropped Mario's Picross to the Game Boy. It makes sense. Slap the plumber's face on a game and it's sure to be a success. But can the plumber bring interest to picture puzzles? The answer is a bit mixed.
The object of Mario's Picross is simple. You have a wall with a number of horizontal and vertical squares, and you have to chisel away to reveal the hidden picture within. Everything from game boys to hamburgers and more. Each border has a series of numbers you have to use to chisel away the right amount. Say like 2 and 5 meaning there's a spot on the line that you have to chisel a section of two and a section of five. Paying attention to the numbers above and below are the key to correctly revealing the hidden image.
Pressing A can chisel a block (and erase if there's an error, which seems foolish to add if the game demerits you minutes) while B can set markers as to where no to chisel. Each level has 30 minutes to complete, but the more mistakes you make can demerit minutes from your overall remaining time. From two to four to ultimately eight, which feels the most unfair. But for how tough the game is, and how hard it is to understand out of the gate, Mario's Picross does at least offer a tutorial mode, along with easy courses to get your bearings on the chiseling action. Plus each level offers an opening hint for those without the... ahem... sharpness for puzzle solving.
Despite that, after a few puzzles, you can get the hang of the game quite easily and it proves to be pretty addictive as you'll likely want to continue to the next picross immediately. And the game offers plenty of puzzles to solve with 64 each inside three courses. The easy course, the Kinoko course (mushroom) and the tougher star course. And even after beating that you have the even harder time trial mode. So, if you have a yen for the chisel, the game has plenty to offer.
In terms of cons for Mario's Picross, however, I will say there really isn't much Mario involvement other than his pith helmet donning self above each level and some of the puzzles being references to items in the game. The sound is pretty generic, not really feeling like Mario music. Can't really fault graphics, as they look pretty simplistic, which works fine for a puzzle game of this caliber. Plus, if you use the Super Game Boy, by holding the D-Pad in certain directions and pressing start at the title screen you will be rewarded with special custom color borders similar to the recently released colored game boy shells. You can even get the oh-so-nice transparent variant.
Overall, Mario's Picross doesn't exactly set the world on fire as this incredible Tetris killer for the Game Boy, but it still stands as a well built puzzler with a lot of content and some addictive gameplay. It usually goes for quite cheap nowadays, so if you come across a copy, it's a definite pick up that's worth your time.