CrossConnect

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Overview

CrossConnect is a puzzle game by Quinn Painter based on the classic game Numberlink, written in a mixture of C and assembly using GBSDK. It is intended for the Game Boy Color, but is also playable on the regular Game Boy.

Each puzzle is a square grid containing several pairs of nodes sharing the same colour, number or shape. Your goal is to draw lines so that every node is connected to its pair and the entire board is filled with lines.

To draw, move the cursor over a node or the end of a line, hold A, then move the cursor again. The B button deletes lines, and a line segment that isn't connected to any node is deleted automatically. The puzzles were generated with Thomas Ahle's Numberlink generator, and the font is WitchFont8 by Lavenfurr.

Made by: quinnp
Released: 2022

Controls guide

Solving a puzzle

Button and key	Action
D-pad`Arrows`	Move the cursor; hold a direction to keep moving
A`X`	Hold on a node or the end of a line, then move to draw
B`Z`	Hold to erase the line under the cursor; move while holding to erase more
Start`Enter`	Open the pause menu

Pause and solved menus

Button and key	Action
Left/Right	Pick Reset, Skip or Menu (Next or Menu once solved)
A`X`	Confirm
Start`Enter`/B`Z`	Close the pause menu and carry on

Level select

Button and key	Action
D-pad`Arrows`	Choose a puzzle; walking off the side turns the page
Select`Shift`+Left/Right	Jump a whole page at a time
A`X`/Start`Enter`	Play the chosen puzzle
B`Z`	Back to the main menu

Main menu

Button and key	Action
Up/Down	Choose Play, Style, How To or Credits
A`X`/Start`Enter`	Open the choice; on Style, switch between numbers and shapes
Left/Right	On Style, switch between numbers and shapes
B`Z`	Leave the How To and Credits pages

Cheatsheet

Level packs (90 puzzles each, three pages of 30)

Novice: 5 to 6 squares a side
Student: 6 to 7
Apprentice: 7 to 8
Graduate: 8 to 9
Professor: 9 to 10
Expert: 10 to 11
Guru: 11 to 12
Master: 12 to 13
Grandmaster: 13 to 14
Wizard: 14 to 16
Bonus Easy: 5 to 8, including non-square boards
Bonus Medium: 7 to 12
Bonus Hard: 11 to 16

Pause menu

Reset: Wipe every line on the board
Skip: Go to the next puzzle without solving this one
Menu: Back to the main menu

Tips

Connecting every pair is not enough: the puzzle only counts as solved once every square is covered, so if a board looks finished but nothing happens, look for an empty pocket and reroute a line through it.
While A is held the cursor refuses to move into a square that would break the rules, such as another colour's line, so if it stops dead you know that path is blocked.
A line can only be extended from a node or a loose end. Once a node is joined, or a square already has a line passing through it, start drawing from the other end instead.
Erasing one square in the middle of a line also removes the part that is left hanging, because unconnected segments are cleared automatically. Use that to redo half a line in one go.
Solved puzzles show their numbers in inverted colours on the level select, and 13 packs of 90 is 1,170 puzzles, so Select + Left / Right is the quick way to find the next unsolved page.
If pairs are hard to tell apart, switch Style on the main menu between numbered nodes and shaped nodes.