Originally posted September 4th 2014 on the Seafoam Gaming Forums

Title: Tappingo 2

System: 3DS (eShop)

Price: $2.99

Release date: 9/3/2014

The main game/story

The sequel to the surprisingly fun game Tappingo, released earlier this year on the 3DS eShop by CIRCLE, this is a puzzle game similar to Picross where you draw lines in a certain number of spaces, in order to make a picture, simple, but fun!

Graphics

The menus are nice and simple, with more color to them than the previous game. Easy to navigate, just like before, and unlike Picross E, both Tappingo games actually shows what the heck you are supposed to be making while you are doing it, instead of making it a mesh of random things like Picross E did.

Music and sound effects:

Like in the first game, it uses varying music tracks that are mostly upbeat and happy. None of them hurt your ears, and they are nice to listen to. None that are “Ipod worthy”, but they are still good. The only sound effect is a brush sound whenever you make a line. It works, but I recommend turning it off.

Gameplay

As mentioned a little bit earlier, this is a game where you make lines that go as long as the numbers tell you to. After doing so, it’ll make a picture. The core concept is simple, but the game itself is done in such a way that it’s just so fun! You can control using the stylus or the circle pad, though sadly the option I used the most in the original game, the D-Pad is completely absent. Only a minor complaint however.

Once you clear a few simple puzzles, you get the hang of it and then clear them with ease, seeing nice little designs on the way (Including super neat cameos of Toki Tori and Max from Mutant Mudds!), until you finally see the puzzles get bigger. These huge puzzles thankfully aren’t the disaster of the puzzles in Picross E, instead they can be done with patience and practice. Tappingo 2 introduces a Zoom feature, which is especially helpful if you want to focus on a particular segment.

With just over 100 puzzles to do, there is a lot of content for a $3 game. The difficulty is perfect with easy puzzles in the beginning that gradually get harder and harder. Never did I feel a sudden difficulty spike, even when the puzzles became big. The sad part is once it’s over, it’s over. You pretty much only can just beat your best times at that point. But it’s still a great game, and miiverse support can help you show off your best times. I really hope Hugo adds DLC to this in the future (Maybe a TurboGrafx 16 cameo?)

Conclusion

In the end, Tappingo 2 deserved being my most anticipated indie game this summer. From the first day I began indie reviews on here, I always dreamed of reviewing this game, and after reviewing so many games along the way, this was finally available for me to review, and it takes so many minor improvements over the first game that it makes it a must buy. Even if you don’t get the first game, it’s still a good enough game by itself, with a better interface, better design, and just overall great fun for a great price (Yeah, I know there are a ton of “Greats” and “better” in this but it’s really that good!).

It even did something I thought was impossible at first. It CRUSHED Picross E completely as the best picture puzzle game on the eShop. You heard me. And if you know me well, you know I HATE the Picross E series due to how they ditched the simple and fun design of Mario Picross in favor of paper styled puzzles with overly frustrating controls, bland designs and music, and a overall decrease in quality. It’s outstanding how Tappingo 2 blew me away after finding the first game “Decent fun”. This is the Mega Man 2 of the Tappingo series, and I’m not kidding about that. It’s that big of an improvement, getting all of the little things just right to present an enjoyable experience. In my opinion, it’s better than Picross E1, E2, E3, and E4, and is even quite a bit better than the amazing Mario’s Picross.

At a price of $2.99, I cannot stress this enough. GO BUY THIS GAME RIGHT NOW. If you are in Europe, EAGERLY AWAIT THIS GAME. It’s that great, and I hope it doesn’t become a hidden gem on the eShop, but rather a wonderful example of puzzle design for a new generation. I give Tappingo 2 a 10 out of 10, making it the September game of the month in a way. So everyone, if you aren’t sure which Tappingo game to buy, or if you are sick of the Picross E series going into it’s FIFTH installment, buy it now!

Thanks SO MUCH to Goodbye Galaxy Games for the review code.