GGLOB

Since I’ve posted approximately 9 posts without much game-related content, it’s about time to get back on track here again. Today; some recent discoveries in the puzzle game genre.

I’ve come across two excellent logic puzzles (like Sudoku, Mine Sweeper, Kakuro etc.) lately. Both via implementations of them on my trusty DS. Both of them Japanese import games.

First out; Slitherlink. This is part five of the ongoing “Puzzle Series”-games released in Japan, but unfortunately not here in the west. The game is based on the pen and paper game by the same name by Nikoli (the company that put Sudoku on everybody’s lips). When you first fire up the cartridge the concept might seem a bit dull. The playing field is split into a number of squares. Your mission is to make one line, that loops, along the sides of them, touching the number of sides of each of the squares corresponding to the numbers (that might reside) inside them between 0 and 3. That’s all. But my oh my you get hooked after the 3 or 4 first levels. Great fun! I’ve found some flash/javascript versions of the game online, but it just doesn’t play as smoothly as on the DS… (As a bonus Wikipedia has an pointer to a paper on the NP-completeness of Slitherlink - in Japanese).

Next up; Picross. This is best know as Nonogram. (But also: Paint by Numbers, Griddlers, Pic-a-Pix, Pixel Puzzles, Crucipixel, Edel, FigurePic, Grafilogika, Hanjie, Illust-Logic, Japanese Crosswords, Japanese Puzzles, Kare Karala!, Logic Art, Logic Square, Logicolor, Logik-Puzzles, Logimage, Zakókodované obrázky, Maľované krížovky, Oekaki Logic, Oekaki-Mate, Paint Logic, Shchor Uftor and Tsunami, according to Wikipedia. We’re talking about a very dear child here, you see.) This is also played on a grid of squares. Your job is to find out which squares are filled and which are not. To help you sort this out you have clues in the form of numbers on each line and column stating the number of filled squares and their grouping on the corresponding line or column… So for example “7 4 2″ means that on that line one has first a group of seven, then four then two filled squares. The result is not too far from a cross between Sudoku and Mine Sweeper, perhaps… Very addictive.

So there you have it. Yet two highly recommended games for the DS. Although the versions tested were in Japanese this didn’t pose to much of a problem, even with no knowledge of the sushi-language at all… (Except a constant fear of hitting “Format All”, of course.) Besides Picross will be released upon us in Europe the 11th of May according to my sources, so then one should have no excuses at all.

Let the puzzling continue.

Links:

Flash version of Slitherlink.

JavaScript version of Slitherlink.