On the Subject of Pair ’em

This Mario 64 DS minigame did come with an endless version. Is it really too much to bear?

This module consists of a 5×5 grid of face-up cards, with some cards missing from the 5×5 grid. To disarm the module, match ALL the cards together to clear them from the grid. Selecting a card will turn that card’s border white until another card is selected or the currently selected card is deselected.

Cards can only be matched if they are adjacent to another card that is exactly the same as the currently selected card. Adjacency from each card refers to orthogonally, or diagonally adjacent to itself, and does NOT wrap around. The diamond display on the left indicates how many possible moves there are on the given board. If any remaining cards can not be matched, the module will strike.

When a pair is cleared, all the cards will move in reverse reading order to an empty space, until reaching the top-left.

To reset the puzzle, hold the bottom-left button until the button turns red. This will not incur a strike if no cards can be matched from the current state, or if this is the initial state.

Upon disarming this module, the reset button can be held and released without penalty, in addition to all further strikes from this module being negated. This button can be used to generate new puzzles to practice soloing this module.