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Picross DS for Europe

More fiddly puzzling in May.

It's only logical for us to tell you that Nintendo has today confirmed Picross for Europe, and aims to pop it in our DS slots on 11th May.

The basic idea and main game mode revolves around gradually filling in a grid to reveal a hidden picture. You do this by using the numbers at the beginning of the row and column to tell you how many unbroken lines of filled-in squares there are in that area. Which has us confused already.

Anyway, these "nonograms" are apparently massive fun, so Nintendo's lumped in 300 of them in, ranging from five by five grids up to the enormous 20 by 20 beasts.

You'll be able to tackle these all at once, or by using the Daily Picross mode. This lets you take on several quick puzzles each day, and charts your ongoing progress. And don't panic if you think your brain is much too big and special to be held down for long with hundreds of puzzles, as you will be able to make your own to give to friends - possibly making them unsolvable or something, but we wouldn't want to put ideas in your head.

An online Picross hub will also make available a nearly endless supply of brain teasers, ensuring you'll never have a train journey without a fresh grid to face.

On top of all this is a bunch of quick-fix mini-games to test your reactions and skills, as well as multiplayer head-to-head for up to five people, each racing against the clock to complete the puzzle.

It all sounds like it's going to be rather addictive.

Still, we'll have to wait and see if it can climb to the dizzying heights of Hudson's puzzler Slitherlink, which we awarded the top marks possible. Solve the clues on this page to find our recent review of Slitherlink.

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