Picross S7 Review (Switch eShop)

If there’s one Nintendo franchise that has desperately needed a new entry in modern times, it’s Picross. Just nine months on from S6, barely five months since the SEGA-flavoured Picross S Genesis & Master System edition, and after the thrilling cliffhanger ending, we’ve been eager to see how Jupiter would tie up this epic ‘S’ saga it’s been building for the past few years. The plot has taken some very bizarre turns along the way—that arc where Shigeru Miyamoto and the crew split off from the main party to join the neighborhood soapland was as disturbing as it was entertaining—but we’re happy to report that Picross S7 is packed full of callbacks to all your favorite characters from the Picross universe. Newcomers like “Sponge Cake” and “Wheat” add a lot to the cast, too, while mainstays like “Scuba” and “Euphonium” get the payoff they always deserved…

This is complete nonsense, of course. Every Picross game up till now has been nothing more than a new pack of a few hundred more nonogram puzzles to add to the massive pile of existing ones from previous games that you keep telling yourself you’ll ‘get around to’ one of these days. Let’s be real, you’ll never go back to those previous entries, and you can be just as sure that still isn’t going to stop you from buying this new entry. Why, you ask? Simple. Because this is more Picross, but with touch controls!

Feel free to return to our Picross S review for the lowdown on the basic nonogram gameplay and various modes — we’re not going over them again. For years now, fans of the Picross S series have been suffering as they’ve had to battle with Joy-Con drift day after day just to play their favorite number puzzler. It’s never been a dealbreaker, but Jupiter has finally deigned to throw fans a bone by letting them get up close and intimate with their favorite puzzles. You can now drag your greasy fingers (or a stylus if you’ve got a compatible one) all over your poor Switch’s screen and revel in the sensation of hands-on solving puzzles. Different tools, like the distinct colors in Color Picross or the “X” symbol that covers most puzzles, are all assigned to onscreen buttons that you tap on or off, and these can also correspond to the face buttons if the idea of going completely buttonless makes you nervous and uncomfortable.

Other than the touch controls, this is pretty much the same game you’ve played countless times before and we can assure you it’s the same one that will come out in yet another few months. Some other notable changes can be found in the chilly winter theming of the menus you navigate and the new foray into *checks notes* Drum and Bass music for the main menu theme.

Other than that, it’s another few hundred nonogram puzzles just like the last several hundred nonogram puzzles. But who are we kidding, at least this one is, er, innovative in how it boldly introduces an all-new control scheme — one which, admittedly, returns from the (3)DS era of the long-running series. At this rate, we might even get HD rumble support in another four years when we get Picross S15. Imagine what that would feel like!

Anyways, you should buy this game.