Overview of current mahjong video-games

[or2az]

Saiko no mahjong 3D (is there a link to download this game?).

did not see a reply to this, maybe there isn't one, thought I'd try again.

[or2az]

Found another android game I don't recall seeing before, also called Mahjong Grand Prix.
Has some interesting features, like a button to replay the hand (no changes allowed) for review, but overall, I'm not impressed. It has a nice large play screen and a button to grey-shade tiles you draw and discard (tsumogiri?) along with a few sound effects but it doesn't seem to state on the screen what round and hand you are playing, at least I can't find it. Won't make it into my Top 5.

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[Barticle]

Yakuza Zero - the localised edition of the 80's prequel RGG Zero - released on PS4 this week.

It's been getting excellent coverage and reviews, currently enjoying an 84% score on Metacritic.

[Ignatius]

Yakuza Zero - the localised edition of the 80's prequel RGG Zero - released on PS4 this week.

It's been getting excellent coverage and reviews, currently enjoying an 84% score on Metacritic.

Hell yeah!

This goes to my mental wishlist of PS4 games, wich includes Odin Sphere Leifthrasir, the new Valkyria Chronicles Azure Revolution (another SEGA game), the remake of The Witch and The Hundred Knight (I think a second game is in developement, heard that in japanese radio program), and Gravity Rush 2, just because the first one is so cool...

[Barticle]

Hopefully with this first PS4 game offering mahjong with an English interface some new players will get hooked on Japanese mahjong.

In other news, after updating some links at the top of this thread this morning, I'm sad to see that Kaga Create closed at the end of 2015. They made three of the mahjong games for the Playstation Vita and previously as Naxat Soft they released numerous mahjong games on various formats between 1992 and 2001.

[Ignatius]

Hopefully with this first PS4 game offering mahjong with an English interface some new players will get hooked on Japanese mahjong.

In other news, after updating some links at the top of this thread this morning, I'm sad to see that Kaga Create closed at the end of 2015. They made three of the mahjong games for the Playstation Vita and previously as Naxat Soft they released numerous mahjong games on various formats between 1992 and 2001.

So no new Saki mahjong game from them?

[Barticle]

No, but I see now that Entergram have picked up the Saki brand.

They released Saki Zenkoku-Hen Plus (on Playstation Vita) as a download in December, with a physical release out later this month.

[Ignatius]

No, but I see now that Entergram have picked up the Saki brand.

They released Saki Zenkoku-Hen Plus (on Playstation Vita) as a download in December, with a physical release out later this month.

Well, that's a relief. Better than nothing, I suppose...

Maybe someday we see a Saki or Akagi game in platforms different than handhelds...

[Moah]

random question about Yakuza 0: has anyone else felt that the mahjong game was harder than in either 4 or 5?

[Barticle]

I must admit I've barely touched mahjong in the latest Yakuza games. Standalone mahjong games offer superior options, presentation, controls and stats.

I assume you're referring more to opponent skill/luck, but I know from supporting many mahjong novices on the GameFAQs forums that a lot of players have struggled with the extended completion requirements that were introduced in Zero. Previously there was usually just a target high score (50k or 40k) but now you need to get Ippatsu, a full straight, five Mangan and one Haneman as well as grinding out 10 million Yen profit.

(BTW just recently I've been updating my mahjong beginners guide for Yakuza players and I'll be posting a request for feedback soon.)

[Moah]

I assume you're referring more to opponent skill/luck, but I know from supporting many mahjong novices on the GameFAQs forums that a lot of players have struggled with the extended completion requirements that were introduced in Zero. Previously there was usually just a target high score (50k or 40k) but now you need to get Ippatsu, a full straight, five Mangan and one Haneman as well as grinding out 10 million Yen profit.

I think I got them all except the 10 millions, because the game is slow, but it seems to me the opponents are playing better at high level. Could be confirmation bias, though.

[Ignatius]

Today Mahjong Tengokuhai ended a big maintenance period, with a major update (3.0.1, now 3.0.2) in the whole client, which actually looks pretty different. Introducing Gacha to obtain characters to play as, and other changes, like new music and visuals...

It became a full online game client with no offline games whatsoever.

I'll look more into it later.

[or2az]

Another riichi mahjong game recently showed up on both Android and IOS, although it goes by 2 different names to find it.
On Android, it's Mahjong Free by Cross Field Inc.

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On IOS, it's called Dragon Mahjong games for beginners by Cross Field INC.

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Seems like a decent game, completely in Japanese, and lots of it.
Some sound effects but no voice animations.
There are 3 CPU levels and a choice of horizontal or vertical mode, or both.
You can enable many optional rules, yaku, and double yakuman, I think.
Thankfully, you can also turn off the music.
The scoring part is decent and has a button for an itemized fu count.
The ? button at the bottom is a large section of illustrated rules for beginners.

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I have managed to navigate my way through most of the settings and the game portion of the app but there are still buttons that lead to the unknown, due to the language barrier.
The 2 buttons with the red bar underneath are especially troublesome. The bottom one seems to be automated hands illustrating a particular yaku or condition. The middle one has a fixed ruleset at CPU level 2 no red fives which uses tickets to play, which you can buy, after your initial supply of 3 free games per day runs out. Not sure why. The top button has unlimited free play according to the rules you saved in the settings.
If anyone has downloaded this app, and can provide more info, it will be appreciated.

This app is "severely in need of an english translation"

[Ignatius]

The second button is 月例会 /Monthly Meeting, some kind of fixed competition between all the players owning the game, with fixed rules. You can play up to three times a day, and they will calculate who's the best based on average position.You always play against the AI. You'll be asked to write a name for you in the competition.

The third button is 雀TV/Mahjong TV, to see how to play through videos, or something...

[Ignatius]

This game has three types of stats (notebook page symbol, on the left of the question mark), basic stats like:
Types of games played and amount of them, average position, average score, and all...

Detailed stats:
More detailed and specific stats as, your percentage of wins above 3900 points, the amount of dora you use to win, and even weirder stats...

And Yaku stats (how many times you obtained them).

Looks like the 雀TV/Mahjong TV save most recent videos from players, and you have two different categories to choose from, Yaku Shape videos (left), where you can see examples of hands containing a specific Yaku (note that each wind/dragon is considered as a different Yaku), and Total Highest Obtained Points videos (right), in which you can see some Baiman, Sanbaiman, and (Kazoe) Yakuman hands. Always above Haneman videos.