Nintendo’s Pictonico! Is A Chaotic And Unexpectedly Good Time

I’ll admit that I was a bit put off when I learned that Nintendo’s new WarioWare-like mobile game, Pictonico!, would need to use pictures from my phone’s gallery. I’m pretty selective when it comes to giving apps access to my photos, and the idea of a game possibly being filled with pictures of my own face just didn’t really appeal to me. But weird little games are kind of my thing here, and if Pictonico! is anything, it’s weird. So, I gave it a go — and to my surprise, it won me over pretty fast.

While Pictonico! is free to download, the game itself is not actually free beyond the short demo it offers. Once you complete that, you have to purchase game packs (or volumes, as Nintendo is calling them). Vol. 1 contains 20 stages and costs $8, and Vol. 2 costs $6, with 12 stages. These stages are made up of rapid-fire microgames, each stage requiring you succeed at 10 of these games before you can move on. And the games are wild. You might be shown a picture of yourself or a loved one with a nutcracker-style jaw, which you then need to use to rapidly chomp a bunch of items coming down the line. Or maybe you’re a flower whose petals must be plucked. Or a grumpy banana waiting to be peeled.

You’re informed upon setup that your photos are not sent to Nintendo or shared in any way, which is somewhat reassuring, since you really need to use photos that include faces for it to work. Local storage seems especially important in this case, as Pictonico! would be a fun game to play with your kids.

The game gives you the option to choose a specific album so you can ensure that only pictures you approve are used in the game. You could make an album just for that purpose, and fill it with whatever you want. (It doesn’t do well with pet photos, but it did work with a picture I took of a potato that I thought looked like Strega Nona). You can also choose “Snap & Play” to take photos right within the app to use. If it can’t find enough usable photos in your album, it’ll pop in sample photos of things like a snowman or stuffed monkey.

There is a lot happening in this game; bright colors, arcade sounds and chaotically upbeat music are coming at you from all angles. While this is going on, you have to try and do whatever is being asked of you on screen in a matter of seconds, or you’ll fail the round. There’s no time for thinking, just roll with the nonsense. Once you get started, it kind of sucks you in. There are multiple game modes under the Score Attack tab if you want more of a challenge: Normal (difficulty ramps up as you go), High-Speed (self-explanatory) and Danger Zone, where you’re done after one fail.

Pictonico! is ridiculous, for sure, but it’s an undeniably joyful experience, and I had a lot of laughs seeing what it did with my photos. I can’t see myself coming back to play it just to pass the time if I’m alone, but in the right social setting, it could make for a really silly, really wholesome time. It’s nice to laugh at yourself sometimes!