After the failure of Mario's Picross in North America, Nintendo decided not to release this game in that region.

[1] This game was re-released for download on the Wii U's Virtual Console service in both Japan and the PAL regions on April 27, 2013.

After completing the first level the player may also play "as" Wario, who presents a different challenge due to changes in the gameplay.

Opposing the picross tradition of black and white squares, the puzzles are set in stone and are picked out by Mario with a hammer and chisel.

In Mario's puzzles, if the player marks an incorrect cell, they receive a time penalty.