Just in time for its 30th anniversary, Nintendo added the Game Boy game, Mario's Picross, to its Switch Online Expansion Pack. The portmanteau "picross" refers to the fact that each puzzle is solved by cross -referencing both vertical and horizontal numeric clues on a grid, creating a picture . The game is barely known in the States, though it led to several Japanese sequels. Each puzzle is made up of columns and rows of boxes, somewhat like Sudoku, either 5x5, 10x10, or 15x15. Each row and each column is labeled with one or more numbers. These show how many consecutive boxes in that column or row must be filled in. When all the right boxes have been filled in, a simple picture, like a cactus or frog, will have been formed. Before you fill any boxes, you can accept a "hint," meaning one column and one row are filled in for you—a significant headstart, which I enjoy. To solve these puzzles, you have to use logic to deduce which boxes are the targets. For example...

My lifelong love of role-playing games began with a free copy of Dragon Warrior—part of a promotion by Nintendo Power. The game was primitive, as Western ports of Japanese RPGs lagged years behind. Dragon Quest III came out in early 1988, just three months after Final Fantasy , but we didn't get Dragon Warrior III until four years later . (The name had to be altered because someone had trademarked "Dragon Quest" in the U.S.) By then the Super Nintendo was already out; Dragon Warrior III made almost no impact. Enix declined to localize V and VI. (Fortunately, Squaresoft and Enix merged in 2003, and the new company ported both to the DS for international release!)  Dragon Warrior III and IV are easily the best RPGs on the NES. DW3 does everything Final Fantasy does and more. Instead of choosing your party of four only at the beginning, you control a central hero or heroine (you choose the gender, although they are called Ortega's "son" either way), who can re...