"Picross DS" got many great reviews. IGN gave it a 9.0/10 and an Editor's Choice Award. The magazine said the game was one of the most addictive games for the Nintendo DS. They liked it for its downloadable puzzles, create-a-puzzle mode, and the number of puzzles to play. They said that the game's biggest mistake was that it penalized the player for missing by adding time, but doesn't count how many times the player misses.