which picross 3d game is the best?

introduction

i am quite a fan of the picross series of puzzle games published by nintendo, though i don't own any (all i've played has been emulated). while there are notable entries in this series (e.g., the mario picross games, of which i've only played the snes one lol) and some entries that are less notable, one pair of games that stick out (aside from the licensed stuff: did any of you sanrio fans know theres an official sanrio characters picross for 3ds?) is the two 3d picrosses; picross 3d and picross 3d:round 2.

for those unfamiliar with the picross games, the games are usually set up like this

(this is from picross ds, image courtesy of mobygames)

as you can see, the gameplay involves columns and rows and to beat a level you have to fill in the correct squares to make an image. the numbers indicate how many squares need to be filled, as well as how the squares are grouped together (e.g., in the very bottom row, the numbers mean that you need to fill in 10 squares, and then 1 square)

mean, the picross 3d's look like this

(picross 3d, image courtesy of nintendo life)

and this

(picross 3d round 2, henceforth referring to as round 2, image courtesy of outcyders)

comparison time!

in these games, the picross gameplay is translated to a 3d environment, so instead of highlighting squares on a 2d plane to make a picture, you instead break blocks in a 3d one to make a model. you can also see that the numbers indicating how many squares to keep are directly on the model, instead of being outside of it, and the circle and squares around them. the circles indicate that the blocks are to be split in two groups totaling to the number, while the square means that three or more groups of blocks totaling the number are in that row/column.

there is one major difference in the gameplay between picross 3d and round 2, and that is how the paint bucket tool is used. in picross 3d, you can use the paint tool to highlight blocks and make it so you can't accidentally break them, but you don't have to use it. however, not only do you have to colour in the blocks in round 2, but you have two colours! blue to make cubes in the model and orange for more rounded shapes in the model. this change in the paint bucket tool, i would say, makes the gameplay for round 2 a lot slower; i think if you got the same model and put it in both games it would take longer to do it in round 2.

another difference in the gameplay is the addition of the bomb and hint button in round 2. the bomb button allows you to automatically remove the blocks in columns and row labelled with 0, meaning it has no blocks to keep. meanwhile, the hint button highlights an area that you can remove blocks in rather easily. these features are not present in picross 3d, so i'd argue that it can get more challenging in that game than round 2.

thats all the main differences in the puzzle gameplay, but there are other present, and one notable one is how each individual puzzle is grouped, as well as unlocks. in picross 3d, the puzzles are presented in levels based on difficulty, and after you beat a level, it gets added to a themed collection. meanwhile, the puzzles in round 2 are already primarily organised by theme, so you'll often start off with something easy in one and a few minutes later you get hit with a pretty difficult one. therefore, the difficulty curve in this game is kinda weird.

both games go for something different in terms of presentation. now, as a disclaimer, i don't usually play these games with the sound on (as i primarily play round 2 while watching/listening to youtube stuffs and picross 3d with delta emulator on my phone that i don't use to listen to things because it's one of those stupid newer ones without a headphone jack so you either have to plug the doohickey into the charger port or use BLUETOOTH but i don't WANT to use my headphones WIRELESSLY but i Digress). therefore, i will not be comparing these aspects, thought i will say that what i have heard of these games soundtracks and stuff is pretty good.

graphically, i'd say the games presentation is relatively reflective of the presentation of some games by nintendo on the ds and 3ds. this is especially noticeable in round 2; the warm wood tones and cafe theming is pretty similar in vibe to nintendogs plus cats. personally, i prefer round 2's visuals overall (though that's partly because i have a soft spot for the 3ds' vibe), BUT i will say the little guy in picross 3d (the yellow cube in the screenshot above) is very charming i like them.

conclusion

i'd say that, in my opinion, i like round 2 more graphically, and i think it's a bit more relaxing than picross 3d. however, there's a lot to like with 3d; hell, that game has a custom puzzle creator that round 2 doesn't have, though i've not gotten much use out of it. also that little yellow guy is my friend real no fake