Pokémon Picross

Pokémon Picross (Japanese: ポケモンピクロス Pokémon Picross) is a freemium Nintendo 3DS game that was released in Japan on December 2, 2015, in North America and Europe on December 3, 2015, and in Australia on December 4, 2015.

The game features at least 300 puzzles featuring many species of Pokémon available at the time of release, including all Legendary Pokémon, Mythical Pokémon, and Mega-Evolved Pokémon as of Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.

Gameplay
For the tutorial area and for some puzzles later on, Professor Tetra is there to guide the player; players can opt to skip the tutorials and just solve the puzzles without help.

Pokémon are acquired as a puzzle is successfully completed, and captured Pokémon can be used to reveal clues in later puzzles using one of 12 different skills; after doing this, they become tired and must recharge over time. Mega Evolution is also confirmed to be an element of gameplay.

Squirtle and Eevee are not presented immediately as puzzles, but instead are given to the player upon leaving the tutorial area for the first time. The player is required to use their skills as a tutorial for Stage 01-01. Their puzzles are shown later.

Picrites
Picrites are rare stones with magical power that can be obtained in-game or purchased in the Nintendo eShop. Picrites allow players to access new areas and can speed up the recovery of any tired non-Legendary and non-Mythical Pokémon's skill. Up to 5,000 Picrites can be purchased (equivalent to ¥3,750). Eventually, infinite Picrites are unlocked; after this, the player only needs to wait for their Pokémon skills to recharge and other than that they won't have to wait for anything in the game. This method of using in-game currency is similar to the format used by Pokémon Rumble World in that Diamonds are used in that game to access new areas, and that game is also programmed with a Diamonds purchasing cap.

Picrites are rewarded in-game by completing a stage; many stages offers a first time clear reward of 30 Picrites. Players may also earn additional Picrites by completing goals with each successful solve. For instance, a puzzle may need to be solved in five minutes or less; doing so earns the player bonus Picrites. There may also be multiple missions on a single puzzle; completing them all at the same time can earn more Picrites. Each goal has a specific number of Picrites as a bonus, which is indicated next to that goal.

It is possible to obtain Picrites through the Nintendo eShop for varying costs. Similar to Pokémon Rumble World, there are two options that are one-time use packages. The different options for purchase are as follows:

Energy
Energy controls how many squares players are able to paint in puzzles. When encountering a Pokémon in the field, painting a square black uses one piece of energy. If a player runs out of energy, no more squares can be painted, and therefore no puzzles solved. Each piece of energy takes a period of 1 minute to regenerate, meaning that it would take three hours and twenty minutes to regenerate 200 pieces of energy, an expansion which Tetra forces the player to buy after clearing S01-02 for the first time to show it off. Energy can be refilled by pressing Y on the map screen and selecting to refill the energy gauge, but this costs the player 10 Picrites per refill. Players may instead opt to upgrade their energy meters:

Skills
Each species of Pokémon has one of 12 skills, depending on its type.

Puzzles
The main game features 312 puzzles divided into 31 areas (including the tutorial). In regular play, a Pokémon whose puzzle is completed is automatically caught.

Main Game
The first area in the game, Area 00, serves as a tutorial area and has puzzles featuring various items in the Pokémon games. The first four puzzles are mainly tutorial-driven, whereas the fifth puzzle is the first puzzle the player can really solve on his or her own. Stage 01-01 makes the player use Pokémon skills to show them off. Throughout the tutorial and for the first two Pokémon stages, the player can earn Picrites as a reward; after this, there are no Picrites given for puzzle solving and the player must earn bonus Picrites through challenges or purchase them directly.

Passwords
There is a password function built into the game. Passwords can be entered using one of two methods: players can either tap a stage requiring a password to enter it, or players can tap the first icon on the bottom of the screen and click the password button.

There are four passwords in the game, all of which are region-locked: Once a player has entered all four passwords for his or her region, the password button is removed as the player is informed that all passwords have been entered. This means there are currently no passwords to unlock bonus Picrites or for any other purposes.

Mega Pencil
There are 48 puzzles for all Pokémon capable of Mega Evolution. These puzzles require the Mega Pencil. Upon tapping any of these puzzles, Professor Tetra points out her ability to manufacture one at the cost of 500 Picrites. The player can opt to decline or accept this proposition and whether to play the puzzles at that time or not. Once the player has a Mega Pencil, it is not necessary to obtain another one to do additional puzzles involving Mega Evolution. Once the Mega Pencil is obtained, clicking a Mega Evolution puzzle results in Tetra appearing to prompt the player, saying, "Pokémon can Mega Evolve! Let's have it undergo Mega Evolution." Players can also tap and drag on a puzzle location and drag (with or without the Mega Pencil) to bypass Tetra's comments.

All Mega Evolution puzzles have missions like every other puzzle, which provide 288 Picrites total as rewards. Additionally, 21 puzzles require Mega Evolved Pokémon, 16 of which are different puzzles, meaning even more Picrites can be earned on those puzzles. Additionally, six medals pertain to Mega Evolution while seven others involve certain teams or full completion in some fashion, at a value of 3 Picrites apiece. In total, it's possible to earn 381 Picrites with the Mega Pencil that cannot otherwise be earned in any way, making the purchase value of the Mega Pencil about 119 Picrites after completing the game.

Once a Pokémon's Mega Evolution is obtained, the icons for both the regular form and the Mega Evolution appear in the Pokémon list. Players can choose either to be in the party; however, the party is limited to a single Mega Evolution. Dragging a second Mega Evolution to the party results in all slots except the existing Mega Evolution slot turning red, allowing a player to swap that Pokémon only. Naturally, when a Mega Evolution is in the party, the regular form is forbidden to be in the party, and the same is true for trying to add a Mega to a party with the regular form already present; the only slot available for dragging either form in that situation is the same slot as the other form. It's interesting to note that there is no mechanic for Mega Evolution during the puzzle, and that a Pokémon that Mega Evolves (or before its Mega Evolution) can be used while its other form is resting.

Mythical Pokémon
Mythical Pokémon have a special mechanic at play in Pokémon Picross. With the exception of Mega Diancie (which is available after catching Diancie itself), Mew (which is locked by a password as noted above), and Phione (which does not appear at all), all Mythical Pokémon will appear after a countdown timer has expired. Players do not get to see this countdown timer, and this timer continues to count while the game is not running.

When the timer expires, the player will be greeted by Professor Tetra informing of "big news". At this point, a Mythical Pokémon becomes available in one of the various areas of the game. These Pokémon stages have a red exclamation mark icon over them and a timer counting underneath; this timer represents the amount of time before the Pokémon is gone. These Pokémon must have their stages accessed within a set time period or they will disappear. If the Pokémon does vanish, the player will see another notification from Tetra and the countdown will begin again for the next random appearance; if the player is on that map, the map will then reload with the stage removed. If a Pokémon is allowed to vanish, it does not necessarily reappear immediately and another may appear first. In the event a player is not in the game, the notification may not be given immediately, but after a brief time the appearance will be triggered. If the 3DS is closed when the appearance countdown timer expires, the Pokémon will not appear nor will its availability countdown begin until the player has the game active again, with the notification appearing immediately upon opening the 3DS with the game running. The player will therefore always have the full time available to access the stage, though returning the game to an inactive state will not stop the timer at this point.

Once a Mythical Pokémon's stage is accessed, players can finish the puzzle regardless of the appearance timer and catch as normal; this means a player can pause and close the 3DS right after entering the stage (such as if low on energy) and come back with a full energy meter three hours later to finish the stage, if need be. If the player quits and the appearance timer still has time on it, the player can try again (this may be done to equip Pokémon with certain skills). If the player quits the puzzle after the appearance timer expires, the player will lose the chance to catch that Pokémon and have to try again a day or two later, based on the appearance rate. Once a Mythical Pokémon's stage is completed, it stays permanently and can be visited at any time to complete challenges.

Most Mythical Pokémon are available in their areas for an hour, though Genesect, Diancie, Hoopa Unbound, and Arceus, all from the last five areas of the game, stay for shorter varying lengths of time if their stages are not accessed. All Mythical Pokémon stages are the largest size available in the game, 20x15.

As soon as Arceus is caught, the timers for all remaining Mythical Pokémon are cut in half.

The Mythical Pokémon, their areas, the length of their appearance timers, and the amount of time each Pokémon is available for are as follows:

Alt-World
After completing Stage 05-03, Professor Tetra will appear to tell the player about Mega Picross puzzles. These puzzles involve clue numbers that cover two rows or columns and apply to squares in both rows and columns. The player is then invited back to the lab and given three new puzzles to complete in turn; these puzzles do not give any Picrites as a reward and have no missions tied to them, but do use the player's energy. Upon completing these three puzzles, players can unlock access to Alt-World for 300 Picrites. After unlocking Alt-World, the player can freely travel between the two worlds. In the Alt-World, the player can solve Mega Picross puzzles and complete another set of missions for each stage; however, missions in the Alt-World offer no rewards.

Stage availability works differently in Alt-World than in the main world. While the player can catch Pokémon not yet caught in the main world, new areas cannot be unlocked in the Alt-World directly; they can only be unlocked from within the main world. Each area in the Alt-World initially has those stages available that are nearest to a neighboring area that is already unlocked in the main world: For instance, Area 12 will start with A12-01 (linked from Area 11), and might also have one or both of A12-03 (linked from Area 13) and A12-04 (linked from Area 14) available. Within one area, the Pokémon themselves appear in a different order than in the main world, though the stage access paths are the same. Once unlocked in the main world, Mythical Pokémon stages and password stages are available in the Alt-World as well. It is possible to catch Mythical Pokémon in the Alt-World before completing the stage in the main world.

Daily Training
Once a day, Tetra will allow the player to complete a challenge featuring random puzzles. These puzzles don't form any kind of picture, and only serve as speed challenges for players. A usual "workout" involves completing a group of 7x7 puzzles in a set amount of time. If a player can complete the challenge, the reward is a small number of Picrites (between 4-13 depending on progress). Pokémon cannot be used here; Tetra states puzzles must be solved on the player's own merits.

As players advance through the areas of the game, the base training prize increases. After starting at 4 Picrites, reaching Area 05 allows Tetra to finish "research", and the base reward increases to 5 Picrites. As the level reward increases, players get an additional number of bonus Picrites. An example is completing Daily Training while in Area 05 and with a Lv.2 bonus, which rewards 6 Picrites. There are 10 levels to this bonus; being at Lv.10 gives the biggest bonus on top of the challenge clear reward; combined with stage clear rewards, this makes it possible to earn enough Picrites to unlock the next area in a matter of days. The boost in the daily training reward occurs with every four areas unlocked, meaning a player with 25 areas unlocked has reached the highest possible daily training reward (10 Picrites), while a Lv.10 bonus (3 Picrites) and a prize for meeting the target time (2 Picrites) yields a possible daily 15 Picrites for Daily Training.

Daily Training is accessed by tapping the arrow at the bottom of the screen and selecting the sixth icon, which looks like Tetra.

Mural Mode
There are 128 Mural Tiles scattered throughout the game. These puzzles can be completed whenever a player chooses without using up any energy. As with Daily Training, Pokémon cannot be brought to these puzzles to aid in solving. Visiting every area in the game is required to complete the murals; however, no Mega Pokémon puzzles offer these tiles as rewards. Upon completing all the mural tiles in one mural the entire mural can be resetted and played again.

Mural Mode can be accessed by tapping the arrow at the bottom of the screen and choosing the third icon.

Trivia

 * A game titled Pokémon Picross was announced in various game magazines in spring 1999 for the Game Boy and Game Boy Color, but was never released. It was developed by Jupiter Corporation, the same developers of the Nintendo 3DS title.
 * Three medals are coded into the game but remain unused. These medals are:
 * Legendary Dream Team: Clear a puzzle with five Legendary Pokémon
 * The Reliables: Catch all fully evolved first partner Pokémon from each region
 * Mythical Dream Team: Obtain a mural tile