2-Player Mahjong Guide - Version 1.00 - 13 Dec 2014 - by Barticle at hotmail.com ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ | || || || | | || | | || || || || || || | ======== | 1 || 5 || 0 || 0 | | D || S | | S || P || I || R || I || T || S | VOL. 9 |___||___||___||___| |___||___| |___||___||___||___||___||___||___| ======== _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ /________/| /________/|/________/|/________/|/________/|/________/|/________/| | _____ || | ____ || _ || ___ || _ _ || _____ || ____ || | (___ | || | | _ \ || | | || / _ \ || | | | | || | ___) || | _ \ || | ___| | || | | |_) ) || | | || | |_| | || | |_| | || | |__ || | |_) ) || | | ___| || | | __/ || | | || | _ | || |___ | || | __) || | / || | | |___ || | | | || | |___ || | | | | || ___| | || | |___ || | |\ \ || | |_____) || | |_| || |_____) || |_| |_| || (_____| || |_____) || |_| \_| || |_________|/ |_________||_________||_________||_________||_________||_________|/ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ /________/|/________/|/________/|/________/|/________/|/________/|/________/| | _ _ || ___ || _ _ || _____ || ___ || _ _ || _____ || | | \ / | || / _ \ || | | | | || (_ _) || / _ \ || | \ | | || | ___) || | | V | || | |_| | || | |_| | || | | || | | | | || | \| | || | | || | | | || | _ | || | _ | || | | || | | | | || | | || | | _ || | | |V| | || | | | | || | | | | || _| | || | |_| | || | |\ | || | |_| | || | |_| |_| || |_| |_| || |_| |_| || (___/ || \___/ || |_| \_| || |_____| || |_________||_________||_________||_________||_________||_________||_________|/ 01 INTRODUCTION 04 GAMEPLAY 07 SCORING LESSONS 10 CHEATING 02 FEATURE LIST 05 FREE PLAY 08 DOWNLOAD PLAY 11 CONTACT 03 MAIN MENU 06 STORY 09 RULE OPTIONS 12 THANKS .------------.-----------------------------------------------------------------. | Section 01 | INTRODUCTION s01 | '------------'-----------------------------------------------------------------' This is a guide to the 2007 Japanese Nintendo DS game "1500 DS Spirits Vol. 9 Futari-Uchi Maajan" (Two-Player Mahjong) published by Tasuke.* As usual I've used both Japanese and English mahjong terminology throughout this guide, generally with the Japanese term first and the common English equivalent afterwards in brackets. Following ninety years of tradition in English-language mahjong texts I refer to the three types of set as Chow (a "run" or sequence of three consecutive tiles in the same suit), Pung (a "triplet" of three identical tiles) and Kong (a "quad" of four identical tiles). To limit the length of this document I've decided to omit full details of the rules and equipment of mahjong on the assumption that anyone buying this game will probably already be familiar with them. If you are new to the game, or you play a version other than the modern Japanese "Riichi" rules that appear in this game, then you might like to read my complete guide to the terminology and rules of Japanese mahjong. It's available as a 78-page, illustrated, hyperlinked PDF and can be accessed from the United States Pro Mahjong League download page. http://www.uspml.com/site/downloads.htm (Barticle's Japanese Mahjong Guide) As with any Japanese mahjong game, you'll need to be able to read the Japanese kanji characters for the numbers 1 to 9 and the four winds (compass directions) plus the katakana words Chii, Pon, Kan, Riichi, Tsumo and Ron. If you want to discuss Japanese mahjong then join the international community of enthusiasts on Reach Mahjong's English forums. Hope to see you there. :) http://www.reachmahjong.com/en/forum To jump to any section of this document use your browser's Find function (with Ctrl+F on a PC or Cmd+F on a Mac probably) and search for the letter S followed by the two-digit section number, for example "s04" to find Section 04. This guide is designed to be viewed using a monospaced (non-proportional or fixed-width) font, preferably Courier New. Some sections of the document will display incorrectly if you are using a proportional font like Times New Roman. *The first game in the 1500 DS Spirits budget series was a mahjong title too and my 2011 guide for Vol. 1 is also available on this site. .------------.-----------------------------------------------------------------. | Section 02 | FEATURE LIST s02 | '------------'-----------------------------------------------------------------' Since it can be difficult to find any detailed information in English about the content of a foreign game I like to include a quick description of the gameplay features when I write a guide for a Japanese game - so here it is! o Free Play mode with thirteen customisable options (see Section 05) o basic Story (survival) mode (see Section 06) o supports local Download Play for two players but no online play o modern Japanese mahjong rules including Riichi, Dora and red fives o two-player format (you vs CPU/friend) instead of traditional four-player o nine optional cheating techniques (see Section 10) o no Dora, Tenpai, Tsumo or Furiten alerts o no wait or Tsumogiri indicators o no statistical log, rankings or gameplay options o budget price o Japanese language only It's pretty evident that this is a budget title. The content is quite minimal, with the Challenge mode and Scoring Quiz from 1500 DS Spirits Vol. 1 both absent this time. The range of cheating techniques in Vol. 9 is the main feature of the game and indeed the main feature of this guide. Once a staple of mahjong video-games, the two-player format is quite a novelty and has some advantages. With only two players the turn speed is very quick and there's plenty of screen space to display discarded tiles clearly. .------------.-----------------------------------------------------------------. | Section 03 | MAIN MENU s03 | '------------'-----------------------------------------------------------------' Load up the cartridge and you'll get some funny-looking cartoon characters who expect you to pick one of two options. The one on the left is for Single Play (i.e. the single-player modes) while that on the right is for Download Play (see Section 08). As you might expect, you can make your selection by either tapping on the screen or by picking an option with the d-pad and pressing A to confirm. 1) Single Play 2) Download Play (You can also tap the yellow bar below or press X to toggle between Normal mode (yellow text) and Silhouette mode (blue text). In Silhouette mode all the game characters will be depicted as solid blocks of pink. This seems an odd option to include; I can only assume it's something to do with religions that forbid the depiction of graven images...?) I'll be focusing on the single-player game in this guide so select the weird chick thing on the left* and you'll get the Mode Select menu with three options presented to you on the touchscreen as follows: 1) Free Play (see Section 05) 2) Story (see Section 06) 3) Scoring Lessons (see Section 07) (On this screen and pretty much every menu screen throughout the game you can press B to skip back to the previous one.) That's all there is to it... there are no config options or player stats. Each match is played as a one-off and there's no "career mode" but the game will at least save your rule settings and current Story mode progress. *The chick-type creature is named Tasuke - the name of the company that made the 1500 DS Spirits range. .------------.-----------------------------------------------------------------. | Section 04 | GAMEPLAY s04 | '------------'-----------------------------------------------------------------' This section describes the screen layout and controls of the game plus some of the unique aspects of two-player mahjong. Your opponent will be displayed in the top half of the top screen. At the bottom of the top screen are the names, seat-winds and scores of both players - you are always on the left and, because this is two-player mahjong, the seat-winds will only ever be east and south. Press the button or tap the screen to roll the dice and the game will determine the initial seat-winds for the first hand of play. This procedure is simplified by the two-player format - if the sum of the dice roll is odd you start the game as east and if it's even you start as south. Since there are only two seat-winds it takes only two hands for a full rotation and consequently a round consists of only two hands instead of the usual four, although extra hands (Renchan) can still be added. (The number of rounds can be set in the rule options - see Section 09.) The three blue boxes at the top of the touchscreen show respectively the hand count (e.g. East 1 or South 2), the number of Honba counters and Riichi stakes on the table and the number of tiles available to be drawn in the current hand. Remember there are only two players so you will get around half of those tiles. (The number of tiles available can be set in the rule options - see Section 09.) In the top-right corner of the touchscreen are the five stacks of tiles from the Wanpai (dead wall) that serve as indicators for the Dora bonus tiles. Initially only the standard Dora indicator is shown but indicators for any Kan Dora (see Section 09 again) can also be displayed here. Your hand of tiles is shown at the bottom of the touchscreen (with a gloved hand functioning as a cursor to highlight your currently selected tile) and your discarded tiles will be displayed on the empty table area on the touchscreen. Similarly your opponent's hand is on the top screen (but you can only see open sets) and her discards are shown below them. You can select a tile with d-pad left/right then pressing A to discard it or with the touchscreen, tapping a tile once to select it and again to discard it. You can also use the A button to accept pop-up menu commands. The three buttons at the bottom of the touchscreen are as follows: [ RETURN ] [ CHEATING ] [ ACTION ] o Tap RETURN (or B button) to exit a pop-up command menu This rejects any options available there (e.g. Chii, Pon, Kan, etc). You can also use this to close the cheats menu. o Tap CHEATING (or Y button) to access cheating techniques The full range of cheat techs is described in Section 10. If the cheating option is disabled (see Section 09) or you have spent all your cheat credits this button will be greyed-out and unavailable. o Tap ACTION (or X button or d-pad down) to open the pop-up command menu The pop-up menu will display automatically when you can perform any of the following actions on your opponent's most recently discarded tile. - Chii (take tile to make a Chow set)* - Pon (take tile to make a Pung set) - Kan (take tile to make a Kong set) - Ron (take tile to declare a win) However you need to open it manually for the following actions: - Kan (declare a Kong set using your own tile/s) - Riichi (make a ready bet) - Tsumo (declare a win using your most recently drawn tile) When declaring Riichi you will need to select which tile to discard unless there is only one possibility in which case the game will automatically discard it. After reaching, any non-winning tiles are also discarded automatically although of course the game will stop to give you the opportunity to claim a Tsumo win or declare a concealed Kong using a drawn tile. The pop-up menu commands will always be given in katakana script as follows. The top option will always be Cancel. ----- __|__ _____ CHII | - call Chow / __|__o \ | / PON / | \ / - call Pung .' / _|___ \ | | / KAN | | / - call Kong / | / - declare a Kong using a self-drawn tile | | ----- | | ____ __|__ RIICHI / | - declare Riichi / / .-----. \ | | / RON | | / - declare Ron win |_____| / \\ / ------- / | TSUMO / --+-- - declare Tsumo win / |__ \/ \ | | | /\/ _|__ / --+--. | | KYANSERU /\ | _) / | | | / - literally "cancel" \ | / '-- \| |/ You can also press the Start button to pause the game. This will show the button functions on the top screen and the following options on the touchscreen: 1) Help (see Section 07) 2) Return to Game 3) Rules Selection 4) Character Selection 5) Title Screen (NB options 3, 4 and 5 will all quit the current match!) When a player declares a win the game will switch to the score screens. The changes to both players' scores are shown on the top screen. The touchscreen then displays (from top to bottom) the hand with the winning tile on the right, all active Dora bonus tile/s (the actual Dora now, not the indicators) and the Yaku (scoring elements) that were present. Below that on the left will be either the Fu (minipoints) and Han (doubles) or the limit applied (e.g. Mangan, Haneman, etc) and on the right the flat value of the hand (not including any additions for Riichi sticks or Honba). Since there are only two players there is no need to differentiate between a Ron or Tsumo win when reckoning payments - the opponent always pays. Obviously there is no Double Ron and certainly no Triple Ron! *8^) If a hand ends in an exhaustive draw (when the supply of tiles is exhausted) the No-ten Bappu payments are still made but the total is 1000 pts instead of the usual 3000 pts. If only one of the players has a Tenpai (ready) hand in a draw then they receive 1000 pts from the other. *The ability to Chii (call Chow) can be disabled in the rule options. .------------.-----------------------------------------------------------------. | Section 05 | FREE PLAY s05 | '------------'-----------------------------------------------------------------' The first option off the main menu takes you to the Free Play mode where you can play a normal match against one computer-controlled character. You need to pick two female characters from the following roster of nine - the first is for you (1P) and the second will be your opponent (2P). For each person their "Mahjong Power" (skill level) as an opponent is also shown. Kaede [C-] Meru Meru [C-] Rachel [C+] Puri-Chan [C+] Naho* [B-] Haruka* [B+] Isharisa [B+] Reika* [A] QUEEN [S] After that you get the option to configure the rule-set for the match. Use the d-pad up/down to select a rule and right/left to modify it, use the shoulder buttons R/L to cycle through the four pages and A to confirm your selection. If you're happy to play with the current settings just press A. The thirteen rule options available are explained in Section 09 below; the final one (the only one on the fourth page) lets you toggle cheating on/off. At the end of a match you're shown the following five blue buttons: 1) Play again with same settings 2) Rule Selection 3) Character Selection 4) Mode Selection 5) Title Screen *These three characters have names spelt in kanji characters which can be read as several different names. I've picked whichever sounded most likely. YMMV. .------------.-----------------------------------------------------------------. | Section 06 | STORY s06 | '------------'-----------------------------------------------------------------' The second option on the main menu is the Story mode, although really it's just a basic survival mode. You begin by picking a character for yourself from the roster of nine and then setting the rule options (see Section 09). Option 3.2 (game length) is locked so you're forced to play a full game of two rounds, although with the two-player format that match could potentially last for only four hands. The game will select your first opponent and display them on the touchscreen; the number of the current stage will be shown in the text above her. Your aim is simply to win the match. If you win you go on to face another opponent and then further opponents as long as your match-winning streak continues. If you lose a match then it's game over! If you exit Story mode during a match in Stage 2 or later (from the pause menu pick the bottom-right option to return to the title screen) then the game will save your progress and you can resume your campaign at a later date. If you launch Story mode when you have save data for a streak in progress you'll get a prompt asking if you wish to resume using your save data. 1) Yes - start playing from the beginning of the current stage 2) No - reject the current save data If you pick No then you'll get another question, this time asking you to confirm that you wish to delete/overwrite your save. 1) Yes - delete save data and start a new campaign 2) No - cancel deletion and return to previous question After losing a match you get the following two options on blue buttons: 1) Title Screen 2) Mode Selection That's right, there's no option to continue playing! If you want to effectively use a "continue" you need to identify when you're heading for a match loss, quit out of the match before the end and then re-start Story mode and load the save. You'll resume at the same stage - although you'll usually be playing against a different girl - and your pool of cheat credits will reset to 500. The sixth and final match will usually be against QUEEN and she's pretty cheap. Don't be surprised when she repeatedly drops Double Riichi on you! :6 Story mode ends after winning the sixth consecutive match. This unlocks the alternate costume for whichever girl you selected as your character (yes, even Puri-Chan!) - this can then be used in both Story and Free Play modes. .------------.-----------------------------------------------------------------. | Section 07 | SCORING LESSONS s07 | '------------'-----------------------------------------------------------------' The third option on the main menu is a tutorial on the principles of Japanese mahjong scoring; it's not playable - it's just pages of text with occasional illustrations and tables of figures. Use the L and R buttons to skip between sections of the guide and d-pad up/down to page through each section. These pages can also be accessed by picking the top option (Help) off the pause menu during mahjong play. The game will calculate scores for you (and the Scoring Quiz from Volume 1 is absent this time) so you don't need to learn any of this. However if you want to understand scoring rules check out my mahjong PDF guide (see Section 01). .------------.-----------------------------------------------------------------. | Section 08 | DOWNLOAD PLAY s08 | '------------'-----------------------------------------------------------------' 1500 DS Spirits Vol. 9 lets you play with a friend locally using just the one cartridge (plus one DS each!) thanks to the miracle of Download Play. I've not had the opportunity to try it but I assume it works the "normal" way. Pick the (green) option on the right side of the title screen and then press A to continue. You'll become the host* for the local game and your buddy should now be able to connect to your DS using the Download Play option from the main menu of their own console. They'll need to have wireless comms enabled too. The dirty brown box on the touchscreen shows your DS username at the top and I assume your friend will appear there once they've connected to your session. *Interestingly on Japanese DS games the host is referred to as the Oya (parent) and the other players are Ko (children) - the same terms are used in Japanese mahjong to denote the dealer (east) and non-dealers. .------------.-----------------------------------------------------------------. | Section 09 | RULE OPTIONS s09 | '------------'-----------------------------------------------------------------' The game has thirteen rule options which can be configured before play. The rules are spread over four pages. Use the shoulder buttons L/R to navigate between pages and the d-pad to select and amend options. Press A to accept. Many of the options here use the following two words to indicate if it's used: __|___ | _ _|___ |/ \ ARI / |/ \ | | describes a rule that's applied (on) \_/ _/ ' / __/__ _ | / | | NASHI / _|_ | describes a rule that's not applied (off) / (_| |__. (Since I bought the game pre-owned and there is no option to reset the defaults, I can't confirm the default settings for these rules as I usually would!) ________________________________________________________________________________ 1.1 Name: Mochiten (starting score) Options: 25,000 pts / 27,000 pts / 30,000 pts Info: This is simply the number of points that each player holds at the start of the match. An Oka (winner's bonus) is not paid with any of these options. 1.2 Name: Nakitan (open Tanyao) Options: Ari (on) / Nashi (off) Info: When Nakitan is Ari the game allows the scoring element Tanyao (All Simples) on an open hand. The Nakitan rule is more commonly known as Kuitan. 1.3 Name: Pinzumo (Pinfu Tsumo) Options: Ari (on) / Nashi (off) Info: When Pinfu Tsumo is Ari you can claim the scoring element Pinfu on a Tsumo (self-draw) win. Pinfu is defined as a "no points" hand, with no Fu (minipoints) other than the basic 20 or 30 for going out. A Tsumo win is normally worth an extra two Fu but with this rule you waive the two Fu and take the extra Han (double) for Pinfu instead. 1.4 Name: Ippatsu ("one-shot" win) Options: Ari (on) / Nashi (off) Info: This simply turns on/off the Ippatsu scoring element. ________________________________________________________________________________ 2.1 Name: Dobon (bankruptcy) Options: Ari (on) / Nashi (off) Info: When Dobon is Ari the game ends if someone's score drops below zero. 2.2 Name: Ura Dora (under-Dora) Options: Ari (on) / Nashi (off) Info: The Ura Dora indicator is the tile under the standard Omote Dora indicator and is applied when someone wins with Riichi. 2.3 Name: Kan Dora (Kong Dora) Options: Ari (on) / Nashi (off) Info: An indicator tile for a Kan Dora is revealed on the top row of the Wanpai (dead wall) each time someone declares a Kong (quad) set. If both the Ura Dora and Kan Dora options are Ari then the game will also apply Kan Ura Dora using indicators on the bottom row of the dead wall under any active Kan Dora indicators. 2.4 Name: Aka Dora (red fives) Options: Ari (on) / Nashi (off) Info: When this option is in use the game will replace one 5 tile in each of the suits with a red version. Each red 5 tile in a winning hand gives one additional Han (double) just like a normal Dora tile. ________________________________________________________________________________ 3.1 Name: Renchan Jouken (continuance conditions) Options: Tenpai (two kanji) / No-ten (three kanji) Info: A Renchan is a continuance - an extra hand played without the seat- winds moving so the dealer "stays on". This is counted in addition to the standard two hands which make up a round in 2P mahjong. In this game a continuance always occurs if either the dealer wins a hand or if the hand ends in an exhaustive draw in which the dealer has a Tenpai (ready) hand. With the No-ten option selected the dealer will also stay on even if they have an unready hand in a draw. The game automatically applies the Agari Yame rule - if east wins the final hand (i.e. East 2 or South 2) and is leading on points then the match ends instead of playing a continuance. 3.2 Name: Gemu no Shurui (game type) Options: Tonnansen (two rounds) / Tonpuusen (one round) Info: A Tonnansen (literally "east-south match") has two rounds. A Tonpuusen (literally "east wind match") has one round. NB This option is locked to two-round matches in Story mode. 3.3 Name: Chii (calling Chow) Options: Ari (on) / Nashi (off) Info: In conventional four-player Japanese mahjong you can call Chii to take a tile discarded by your Kamicha (the player sat to your left) to complete an open Chow set. Of course in two-player mahjong you have only one opponent so you have the potential to Chii any discards. Since the Chii option is so much more powerful here this setting allows you to disable it. 3.4 Name: Tsumo Suu (tile count) Options: 36 / 40 / 48 Info: In a normal four-player game a total of 69 tiles are available to be drawn from the live wall (after the players have taken their starting hands). This is too many to be shared between two players so this option allows you to specify a smaller number of tiles to be drawn. In four-player mahjong you will typically draw around 17-18 tiles in any given hand so picking the 36 option here will give you a similar number but remember that 2P rules give you far fewer opportunities to win by Ron because you have only one opponent instead of three! (You also get fewer chances to call tiles so it's that much harder to complete open sets/hands.) ________________________________________________________________________________ 4.1 Name: Ikasama (cheating) Options: Ari (on) / Nashi (off) Info: This final setting can be used to toggle on/off the cheating options which are described in the following section. .------------.-----------------------------------------------------------------. | Section 10 | CHEATING s10 | '------------'-----------------------------------------------------------------' The game includes a range of cheating techniques which can be enabled/disabled using the final rule option. They're available in both play modes. Each time you use a cheat it will cost a certain amount of credits. Every cheat has different versions - higher "levels" are more powerful but cost you more credits. I've listed the cost for each level of each cheat in square brackets, e.g. [400]. Only cheats that you can afford will be displayed and once you've spent all your credits for the current game the cheats menu will be unavailable. In Free Play you always start with 1000 credits. In Story mode you begin with 500 credits, any unused credits carry over into the next match plus you earn some from each match you win based on your final score (you get 100 credits for each 10k points or part thereof). If you quit out of Story mode and reload you always resume with your original 500 credits, even if you had more! The cheat techniques are divided into three categories. On the cheats menu use the d-pad to navigate between the groups (at the top), techniques and levels. The two numbers near the bottom of the cheats menu are your credits total (on the left) and the cost of the currently selected cheat (on the right). At the start of each hand a prompt will appear on the touchscreen asking if you want to use a cheat. Pick the left option (or press A) for Yes or the right option (or press B) for No. Also during play you can tap the centre button at the bottom of the touchscreen (or press Y) to access the cheats menu. Most cheat techs can only be used at certain stages of a match. Remember that there are only two seat-winds so half the time you will be playing as east and scoring 50% extra points. This is the best time to use techniques from the first and third groups. Starting Hand Group (first tab) ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ These three techniques are only available at the start of a hand (before you draw your initial tiles from the wall). They can all be used to improve your starting hand, giving you a head start to completing a winning hand. 1. Hand Tiles Exchange This technique lets you swap out a number of tiles from your starting hand and replace them with new ones (chosen at random). The cheat is purchased in advance and can then be activated at the start of a hand (after taking your starting hand but before looking at the tiles). In this situation the game will ask if you want to activate the cheat - tap the left button (or press A) to accept. Use d-pad left/right to pick tiles, the A button to select/deselect tiles and then the X button to confirm your choices. o Level 1 [100] Exchange two tiles from your starting hand o Level 2 [200] Exchange four tiles from your starting hand o Level 3 [300] Exchange six tiles from your starting hand After the cheat has been used it can be purchased again if desired. One disadvantage of this cheat is you can only use it before you've seen your hand when you don't know if your tile selection is good or bad. 2. Tsumi Training Tsumi[komi] means "loading". In mahjong it refers to cheating techniques where you "load" the wall with certain tiles which you can then draw later. This technique loads your hand with a large proportion of tiles that will allow you to claim Yaku (scoring elements) of various values, for example at Level 1 you might get several complete Chows which gives you a good chance of making Pinfu which is worth one Han (double). o Level 1 [200] Load tiles for an incomplete random one-Han Yaku (e.g. Pinfu, Iipeikou (Pure Double Chow) or Yakuhai) o Level 2 [400] Load tiles for an incomplete random two-Han Yaku (e.g. Ittsuu (Pure Straight) or San Shoku Doujun (Mixed Triple Chow)) o Level 3 [600] Load tiles for an incomplete random three-Han Yaku (e.g. Junchan (Pure Outside Hand) or Honitsu (Half Flush)) o Level 4 [800] Load tiles for an incomplete Chinitsu (Full Flush) hand (i.e. a Yaku worth five or six Han) Sometimes you may get additional benefits, for example your Honitsu hand may also qualify for Toi-Toi (All Pungs) and Yakuhai (dragon Pungs) or you might get a Tenpai hand that lets you reach on your first turn for Double Riichi. 3. Hyper! Tsumikomi Technique This technique is a superior version of the previous one, however you will still require several tiles in order to complete a winning hand. For example with Iipeikou you could only receive the two complete sets. o Level 1 [400] Load tiles for a random one-Han Yaku (e.g. Pinfu, Iipeikou (Pure Double Chow) or Yakuhai) o Level 2 [600] Load tiles for a random two-Han Yaku (e.g. Ittsuu (Pure Straight) or San Shoku Doujun (Mixed Triple Chow)) o Level 3 [800] Load tiles for a random three-Han Yaku (e.g. Yakuhai x 3) o Level 4 [1000] Load tiles for a random type of Yakuman (limit hand) (e.g. Shou Suu Shii (Little Four Winds) or Dai San Gen (Big Three Dragons)) Again you might get a bonus. For example the Level 3 technique usually gives some combination of dragon/wind sets but you might get three complete dragon sets that allow you to complete Dai San Gen! Although not named separately, the game does allow Double Yakuman hands such as Suu Ankou Tanki Machi (Four Concealed Pungs with pair wait). Offensive Group (second tab) ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ These cheats help you complete your hand and get a win with it. 1. Discard Tile Getter This technique lets you swap a tile from your hand for one from the table. Select the discard tile with d-pad left/right and press A to confirm then pick the hand tile with d-pad left/right and press X to confirm. As long as you have sufficient credits to pay for it you can use this cheat several times during the same hand or even in the same turn. o Level 1 [200] Exchange one hand tile for one of your own discards o Level 2 [300] Exchange one hand tile for one of your opponent's discards Obviously the Level 1 technique will be unavailable on your first turn and the Level 2 technique will be unavailable on your first turn if you're east. The cheat will fail if you try to take a tile that would complete your hand. 2. "More the Chance" This technique gives you one final chance to pick a winning tile in a draw. The cheat is purchased in advance and can then be activated when a hand ends in an exhaustive draw. In this situation the game will ask if you want to activate the cheat - tap the left button (or press A) to accept. You will then be shown six inverted tiles and you can pick one and confirm with A. You would usually activate the cheat when you have a Tenpai (ready) hand - it gives one more opportunity to complete the hand. Paying for a higher level of the cheat gives you better odds of picking a winning tile. If you successfully select a winning tile you get a Tsumo win and if your hand is concealed (with no open sets) you qualify for Menzen Tsumo (Concealed Self-Draw) worth one extra Han (double). o Level 1 [100] One of the six tiles will be a winning tile o Level 2 [200] Two of the six tiles will be winning tiles o Level 3 [300] Three of the six tiles will be winning tiles o Level 4 [400] Four of the six tiles will be winning tiles After the cheat has been used it can be purchased again if desired. 3. Super Riichi-Stick This technique gives a guaranteed win after reaching, with the higher levels giving a short timescale for this to occur. The cheat is only available when you can declare Riichi - when you have a concealed Tenpai (ready) hand. Use the cheats menu to activate one of these cheats instead of selecting Riichi from the commands pop-up menu. o Level 1 [400] Tsumo win within nine turns after reaching o Level 2 [600] Tsumo win within six turns after reaching o Level 3 [800] Tsumo Ippatsu win after reaching Since you get a Tsumo win with a concealed hand you will always qualify for Menzen Tsumo (Concealed Self-Draw). With Level 3 you win on your next turn so you also qualify for Ippatsu ("one-shot" win).* Potentially you may not get the win if your opponent declares a win or the hand ends in a draw before the cheat takes effect. *Ippatsu can be enabled/disabled with rule option 1.4 (see Section 09). Defensive Group (third tab) ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ These cheats let you spy on your opponent's hand and block her wins. 1. Opponent Tiles Clairvoyance This technique reveals your opponent's hand tiles for about five seconds. If the cheat is activated after she has reached you should have just enough time to determine the wait/s of her Tenpai (ready) hand. o Level 1 [100] Two tiles will remain hidden o Level 2 [200] One tile will remain hidden o Level 3 [300] All tiles will be visible If your opponent has a Hadakatanki wait (a "naked pair wait" where all four sets are open) the Level 1 and 2 cheats will have no effect because the hand has only one tile that is not already visible on the virtual table. 2. Destruction Hammer This technique can negate a Ron win by your opponent. The cheat is purchased in advance (think of it as "Ron insurance") and can then be activated when your opponent declares a win off your discarded tile. In this situation the game will ask if you want to activate the cheat - tap the left button (or press A) to accept. o Level 1 [200] 25% chance the winning tile will be destroyed o Level 2 [300] 50% chance the winning tile will be destroyed o Level 3 [400] 75% chance the winning tile will be destroyed o Level 4 [500] 100% chance the winning tile will be destroyed If successful the tile will literally be destroyed by a little hammer! Play in the current hand then resumes. After the cheat has been used it can be purchased again if desired. 3. Lasergun This technique can negate a Tsumo win by your opponent. It works in exactly the same way as the previous one although there are only two levels. The cheat is purchased in advance (think of it as "Tsumo insurance") and can then be activated when your opponent declares a win off a self-drawn tile. In this situation the game will ask if you want to activate the cheat - tap the left button (or press A) to accept. o Level 1 [300] 50% chance the winning tile will be destroyed o Level 2 [500] 100% chance the winning tile will be destroyed If successful the tile will literally be destroyed by a laser beam! Play in the current hand then resumes. After the cheat has been used it can be purchased again if desired. .------------.-----------------------------------------------------------------. | Section 11 | CONTACT s11 | '------------'-----------------------------------------------------------------' I welcome all feedback on this guide and any contributions you'd like to make. I'm also happy to receive questions about this or any other mahjong game, or about the rules and terminology of Japanese mahjong. You can email me at barticle at hotmail.com - obviously changing the "at" to an @ and removing the spaces. It would be helpful if you include the word "mahjong" in the subject line and tell me which game you're playing. .------------.-----------------------------------------------------------------. | Section 12 | THANKS s12 | '------------'-----------------------------------------------------------------' I would like to thank the following:- o solarisjapan (eBay ID) for a smooth transaction o Tangorin.com and Tuttle (as always) for great language resources o Yagya, Steve Roach, As If and A Strangely Isolated Place for super sounds I will be happy to give credit and thanks to anyone who makes a contribution. ___________ ___ \______ / ___ / / / / __ \_/ / / / \___ ________ _________/ \__ ___ ______ / / ________ .-------o / __ / \___ // ___/\_ ___// // ___// / / __ / | ANOTHER / / / /_____/ // / / / / // / / / / \/ / '---------/ /-/ // __ // /-----/ /---/ // /---/ /--/ _____/---------. / / / // / / // / / / / // / / / / / GUIDE | / \/ // \/ // / / \_ / // \_ / \ / \________ o-----' \______/ \______/ \_/ \____/ \_/ \____/ \___/ \___________/ -- 1500 DS Spirits Vol. 9 Two-Player Mahjong Guide Copyright 2014 James R. Barton Initial version 1.00 completed 13 December 2014 All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. This guide may be downloaded and printed for personal, private, non-commercial use only. This work is subject to copyright. It may not be hosted online or otherwise distributed publically or reproduced either in whole or in part without the advance written consent of the author. Any violation would constitute an infringement of copyright and is strictly prohibited. I would encourage you to boycott the site cheatcodes.com which uses (steals) game guides without the author's consent and then ignores removal requests. The only websites with the author's consent to publish this guide are GameFAQs (gamefaqs.com) and its affiliates, i.e. Gamespot (gamespot.com). If you find this file hosted on any other site I would be grateful if you would inform me at the email address given at the top. Thanks!