Pokemon Picross has a number of ways to get people to play every day, or at the very least load up the application once a week. The game incentivized legendaries and special Pokemon. Jupiter and Nintendo cleverly arranged it so these bonus characters, which are so rare in regular releases, maintain that same allure in the puzzle game.
Picrites are a draw, of course. And people are going to be logging in daily for Professor Tetra’s challenges. After all, you can reach a point where you’re earning 13 Picrites per challenge by around the 25th area. That does make a difference. But knowing special Pokemon await is even better.
Legendaries appear seemingly randomly in Pokemon Picross. Once you’ve unlocked an area in which one could appear, there’s a chance of some of them showing up for an hour. There is a definite and easy to exploit pattern here.
First, the legendaries always appear in order. You’ll always start with Manaphy in 2-5, followed by Celebi in 4-8 and Jirachi in 7-7. These specific characters will stick around for an hour. The way to “unlock” these is to reach their areas, then wait 20 hours. The next time you open the game when the 20 hours are up, Professor Tetra will say that a mythical Pokemon has stopped by. That’s your cue.
These legendaries make their homes in almost every area, so unfortunately it isn’t like I could say, “Pay this amount of Picrites to open areas 4, 7, 8, and 11.” To help avoid spoilers, I’ll only day that you’ll want to make sure you reach areas 4, 7, 8, 9, 11, 16, 18, 21, 24, 26, 27, 29, and 30.
Finally, there are four password Pokemon. You enter a code, which is region specific, and you get access to the Mew, Ash’s Greninja, Zygarde 10% Forme, and Zygarde Complete Forme puzzles. Despite not being officially released online, all four passwords are already out there. For North America, enter “34111425” for Mew, “75603372” for Greninja, “72005601” for Zygarde 10%, and “96734255” for Zygarde Complete Forme. You’ll find all of them in areas 2, 4, and 5. If you’re in Europe or Australia, use codes, “89907383,” “18587211,” “74326715,” and “77742314.” You’ll need to catch the Zygarde 50% Forme at 5-6 to access the other two Zygarde puzzles.
The legendary Pokemon puzzles in Pokemon Picross are most appealing, so I strongly suggest trying at least one. They’ll challenge you and reward you with a Pokemon with one of the game’s most powerful skills.
