12th April 2012, 7:30 PM
Game Boy/Color
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Shanghai Mini - beat the main 1p game mode. For anyone who doesn't know it, Shanghai is a series of puzzle games which is basically a matching game using the Mahjong tileset, where you have to clear a board of stacked tiles by matching identical tiles and removing them. In the main mode in this version, you have to beat 12 puzzles (one for each of the zodiac animals) in succession, and there's no saving or passwords, it either means leaving your GB on for a long time, playing a long session, or using a Super Game Boy/GB Player and playing it that way, to be able to leave it on longer -- because each game takes a good while, and playing twelve in one sitting isn't something I would want to do. I ended up going with the SGB approach; sure, that meant no full GBC color (it's a black-cart game), but the game does have decent preselected palettes, and a nice border, so it is SGB enhanced.
Also, because this is the GB, the tiles are quite small. It was often hard to tell exactly which one was which... definitely have to look closely with this one. Still, the base game is solid and great fun, as always for Shanghai/Mahjong Tiles, so I had a lot of fun with this. The game has one more feature to make it harder, too -- a timer. Now, you can set the timer length in the options menu, so you don't have to play with the default 7 minutes per game timer, but I did anyway in order to make the game tougher. And make it tougher it does; with that strict time limit, Shanghai games get pretty tough and tense. Good stuff. The game is challenging but fun, with as good graphics as a game like this could have on the GBC, good music, and more.
On the note of the music, the music is EXTREMELY repetitive, with only a couple of songs that loop constantly, but I found it so addictively good that I didn't mind that... sure, it looped all the time and there are only like 2 or 3 songs, but I'd say that the game has good music. Such catchy stuff. :)
Once you beat all 12 puzzles, the game has a decent ending and credits. Past that, the only other reasons to keep playing is to try it with different timer settings, or to play the versus modes. On the note of the versus modes, there are two. Both are either 1p vs. CPU (with a choice of an easy, medium, or hard opponent), or 2p via link cable (sadly I only have one copy of the game). In one of the games, the goal is to be the first to uncover and match with a special tile buried low in the pile. You compete with the computer to get to it first. You can't see the computer play, but you can see how many tiles they have remaining. The first player to win three rounds wins the game. The other mode is more of a versus fight. In this mode, special Shield, Sword, and Flask tiles are added, and each does a special function. Sword tiles send tiles to your opponent, for instance, and Shield ones protect you from incoming attacks. The goal is to be the first player to clear your board. In this mode, you see your field on the left, and a wall representing how many rows the enemy has on the right. Yeah, the two modes display how well your opponent is doing in entirely different ways, for some odd reason... I don't know why, but it does. I believe a single win wins this. Anyway, I beat a match in Normal in both games, but there's no continuing game here, just single matches. Still, both modes are fun and redesigned fairly well for the small screen.
So yeah, this game has some limitations -- I really wish it had saving, for scores, good times, progress through the campaign, etc -- but it's a great game overall anyway.
--
Shanghai Mini - beat the main 1p game mode. For anyone who doesn't know it, Shanghai is a series of puzzle games which is basically a matching game using the Mahjong tileset, where you have to clear a board of stacked tiles by matching identical tiles and removing them. In the main mode in this version, you have to beat 12 puzzles (one for each of the zodiac animals) in succession, and there's no saving or passwords, it either means leaving your GB on for a long time, playing a long session, or using a Super Game Boy/GB Player and playing it that way, to be able to leave it on longer -- because each game takes a good while, and playing twelve in one sitting isn't something I would want to do. I ended up going with the SGB approach; sure, that meant no full GBC color (it's a black-cart game), but the game does have decent preselected palettes, and a nice border, so it is SGB enhanced.
Also, because this is the GB, the tiles are quite small. It was often hard to tell exactly which one was which... definitely have to look closely with this one. Still, the base game is solid and great fun, as always for Shanghai/Mahjong Tiles, so I had a lot of fun with this. The game has one more feature to make it harder, too -- a timer. Now, you can set the timer length in the options menu, so you don't have to play with the default 7 minutes per game timer, but I did anyway in order to make the game tougher. And make it tougher it does; with that strict time limit, Shanghai games get pretty tough and tense. Good stuff. The game is challenging but fun, with as good graphics as a game like this could have on the GBC, good music, and more.
On the note of the music, the music is EXTREMELY repetitive, with only a couple of songs that loop constantly, but I found it so addictively good that I didn't mind that... sure, it looped all the time and there are only like 2 or 3 songs, but I'd say that the game has good music. Such catchy stuff. :)
Once you beat all 12 puzzles, the game has a decent ending and credits. Past that, the only other reasons to keep playing is to try it with different timer settings, or to play the versus modes. On the note of the versus modes, there are two. Both are either 1p vs. CPU (with a choice of an easy, medium, or hard opponent), or 2p via link cable (sadly I only have one copy of the game). In one of the games, the goal is to be the first to uncover and match with a special tile buried low in the pile. You compete with the computer to get to it first. You can't see the computer play, but you can see how many tiles they have remaining. The first player to win three rounds wins the game. The other mode is more of a versus fight. In this mode, special Shield, Sword, and Flask tiles are added, and each does a special function. Sword tiles send tiles to your opponent, for instance, and Shield ones protect you from incoming attacks. The goal is to be the first player to clear your board. In this mode, you see your field on the left, and a wall representing how many rows the enemy has on the right. Yeah, the two modes display how well your opponent is doing in entirely different ways, for some odd reason... I don't know why, but it does. I believe a single win wins this. Anyway, I beat a match in Normal in both games, but there's no continuing game here, just single matches. Still, both modes are fun and redesigned fairly well for the small screen.
So yeah, this game has some limitations -- I really wish it had saving, for scores, good times, progress through the campaign, etc -- but it's a great game overall anyway.