The Gal Mahjong Guide - Version 1.00 - 14 January 2011 - barticle at hotmail.com _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ /________/|/________/|/________/| /________/|/________/| | || || || | || || _____________ | || || || | || ||/____________/| | _____ || _ _ || _____ || | _____ || ___ || _ || | |_ _| || | |_| | || | ___| || | | ___| || / . \ || | | || | | | || | _ | || | _|_ || | | |__ | || | _ | || | |___ || | |_| || |_| |_| || |_____| || | |_____| || |_| |_| || |_____| || |_________||_________||_________|| |_________||_________||_____________|/ S I M P L E D S S E R I E S - V O L U M E 4 4 _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ /________/|/________/|/________/|/________/|/________/|/________/|/________/| | _ _ || ___ || _ _ || _____ || ___ || _ _ || _____ || | | \ / | || / _ \ || | | | | || |_ _| || / _ \ || | \ | | || | ___| || | | V | || | |_| | || | |_| | || | | || | | | | || | \| | || | | || | | | || | _ | || | _ | || | | || | | | | || | | || | | _ || | | |V| | || | | | | || | | | | || _| | || | |_| | || | |\ | || | |_| | || | |_| |_| || |_| |_| || |_| |_| || |___/ || \___/ || |_| \_| || |_____| || |_________||_________||_________||_________||_________||_________||_________|/ .----------------------.--------------------------.-----------------------. | C O N T E N T S | 07 MINIGAMES | 08 OPTIONS | | | o Banana Boat | o Gallery | | 01 INTRODUCTION | o Body-Boarding | o Rule Settings | | 02 FEATURE LIST | o Mosquito Swatting | o Play Setings | | 03 MAIN MENU | o Parasailing | o Sound Settings | | 04 PLAYING MAHJONG | o Beach Sand Bath | 09 MANUAL REFERENCE | | 05 STORY MODE | o Beach Flags | 10 CONTACT | | 06 FREE PLAY | o Beach Toss Relay | 11 THANKS | '----------------------'--------------------------'-----------------------' ------< INTRODUCTION >-------------------------------------------- [Section 01] This is a guide to the 2008 Japanese Nintendo DS game The Gal Mahjong, volume 44 in D3's Simple DS series. With the exception of titles made specifically for the DSi and Chinese regions, games for the DS are all region-free so you should have no trouble running this on a European or American DS. (I'm using a UK DSi XL) Obviously if you can read Japanese you'll be able to read the instruction manual and the menus in the game so this guide is aimed primarily at English speakers. You shouldn't be daunted by the Japanese text as there are only a few short menus and options pages. The layout of these is mirrored in this guide so you should be able to find your way around the game without any difficulty. 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 74-page, illustrated, linked 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) 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 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. ------< FEATURE LIST >-------------------------------------------- [Section 02] 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 Story Mode and Free Play options (see Sections 05 and 06) o single-player only o modern Japanese mahjong rules including Riichi, Dora and red fives o six basic mahjong rule options (see Section 08) o no Dora or Furiten alerts o no wait or Tsumogiri indicators o no statistical log o eight optional cheat items for mahjong o cute grrlz o excessive breast jiggling* o seven random non-mahjong minigames (see Section 07) o Japanese language only *That's an understatement. ------< MAIN MENU >----------------------------------------------- [Section 03] Load up the DS game cartridge and you'll see the (ahem) titular gals on the top screen and a (cough) stunningly realistic wave effect on the touchscreen. The text on the flashing pink lozenge says Game Start so tap that or press the Start button and you'll get the main menu which has the following four choices... .-----------------. | Story Mode | - see Section 05 '-----------------' .-----------------. | Free Play | - see Section 06 '-----------------' .-----------------. | Minigames | - see Section 07 '-----------------' .-----------------. | Options | - see Section 08 '-----------------' As usual you can tap the screen to pick an option, or use the d-pad to select, the A button to accept and the B button to skip back to the previous screen. ------< PLAYING MAHJONG >----------------------------------------- [Section 04] This section describes the process, controls and displays for playing mahjong in The Gal Mahjong, both in Story Mode and Free Play. You always play against three of the gals. The one you selected will sit on the opposite side of the table and will be displayed prominently on the touchscreen. The other two will be shown in small square frames on either side. You'll see them all react appropriately when they win or lose a hand. If you get a blue pop-up menu appear at the start of a game it's because you've got one or more cheat items that can be used (see Section 05). You can deploy the Dora Bomb, Super Loading and Hyper Loading items at the start of any hand during a match. If your starting hand ever contains nine or more unique Terminals and Honours you'll be given the option to declare the Kyuu Shu Kyuu Hai abortive draw and demand a re-deal. You'll get a green pop-up box with two responses - pick the option on the *right* if you want to refuse the draw (and go for Kokushi). At the top-left corner of the touchscreen is the hand counter which indicates how far through the game you are. It will always have three kanji characters - the first will be the current round-wind (either east or south) and the second will show the number 1, 2, 3 or 4 (using the same characters that appear on the tiles of the Manzu (Craks) suit). Over in the top-right corner are two counters with scoring-stick icons. The one on the left shows the number of 1000-point Riichi sticks currently on the table - these will go to the next player to win a hand. The one on the right is the number of dealer's 100-point sticks on the table acting as Honba counters - one is added for each consecutive preceding hand that results in either a dealer win or a draw and an amount equal to the Honba count multiplied by 300 pts will be added to the value of any winning hand. The heart icon on the left with the word "AUTO" will illuminate when you employ the autopilot. You can toggle this mode on/off by tapping the on-screen icon or pressing the Y button Tap the "MENU" icon on the other side of the screen (or press Select) to open a menu (quelle surprise). Here you can adjust the game speed and the tile colour. Once you've played with a gal for a little while you can also switch between her two main outfits here - A for street clothes and B for swimwear. Also if you buy the Enforced Draw cheat item then the option to use it will appear here. Press B to close the menu. Obviously that row of tiles at the bottom of the touchscreen is your hand. You can pick a tile to discard by tapping it or selecting it with d-pad let/right, then tap it a second time or press A to confirm. Up on the top screen you can see the gal's hands and all four players' discard tiles (any discarded tiles stolen by calling will be shown greyed-out here). In the centre is a row of five tiles which represent the Dora indicators on the Dead Wall. Beneath this is a counter showing how many tiles remain available for drawing from the Live Wall. The square marker shows the current round-wind and sits next to the player who was east in the first hand of the match/round. The pair of dice will be sitting in front of the current dealer. There's no explicit indication of your current seat-wind but you can work it out a couple of ways. The player with the dice will be east and in counterclockwise order from their position the others will be south, west and north. You can also use the round-wind indicator in combination with the hand counter on the touch- screen. If the counter shows 1 then the player with the round-wind marker will be east, or if it's showing 2 then the player to their right will be east, etc. Press the L button to show the players' names and score on the top screen; this will suspend the game. Press L again to resume play. When you have the option to perform one or more actions the game will present you with a little grey menu on the right side of the screen. The selected action will be marked with a little heart icon - you can change this either by tapping on the menu or using the d-pad up/down. Your selection will be shown just above your tiles. To commit to the action either tap on this or press the A button. The game uses the following commands. The default action for calls is Kyanseru (cancel) so you have to press A to reject a call (you can't use the B button to do this, although it doesn't stop me trying repeatedly...). If you've declared Riichi and you draw your winning tile then the game will automatically take the Tsumo win for you (passing such a win would leave you Furiten). ----- __|__ _____ CHII | - call Chow (steal a discard tile to complete a Chow set) / __|__o \ | / PON / | \ / - call Pung (steal a discard tile to complete a Pung set) .' / _|___ \ | | / KAN | | / - call Kong (steal a discard tile to make a Kong set) / | / - declare a Kong using a self-drawn tile | | ----- | | ____ __|__ RIICHI / | - declare Riichi (make a ready bet) / / .-----. \ | | / RON | | / - declare Ron (announce a win on an opponent's discarded tile) |_____| / \\ / ------- / | TSUMO / --+-- - declare Tsumo (announce a win on a self-drawn tile) / |__ \/ \ | | | /\/ _|__ / --+--. | | KYANSERU /\ | _) / | | | / - literally "cancel" (dismiss the pop-up) \ | / '-- \| |/ When you pick the option to reach, the game will highlight the tile/s which you can discard for a valid Riichi declaration (i.e. those that would leave you with a Tenpai hand). If you discard one of the other tiles then it's processed as a normal discard and the reaching is effectively cancelled. After a win is declared the score display will be shown on the top screen - this is represented in the diagram below. This uses Japanese text for the Yaku names and limits so if you're unfamiliar with these then use my PDF guide (see Section 01) for reference. .-------------------. .----------. "score calculation" --> | Tokuten Keisan | |[][][][][]| <-- Dora indicators :===================: |[][][][][]| hand counter --> | #=# ## 1## | '----------' winner's seat-wind -------------' | '------------. Yaku & Dora awarded --> | ## ## ## | | | :--------------------- Honba count | | ## ## | <-- limit applied Riichi stick count -----------. | ## ## | (if any) | | | | Han count --> | 3# === x 1 === x 1 ## 7100# | <-- total hand value :================================: | _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ | winning hand --> | |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_||_| [][][]| <-- open set '--------------------------------' concealed tiles --' '-- winning tile If a hand ends in an exhaustive draw (when the supply of tiles in the Live Wall is depleted, or exhausted) this will be indicated by two large blue/green kanji on the top screen. Each player will then declare if their hand is Tenpai (ready, yellow text) or No-ten (unready, blue text) and the No-ten players pay their share of the 3000 points No-ten Bappu to the Tenpai players. When four green kanji appear on the top screen the match has ended. The final scores will then be shown - yours will always be given first. If you want to quit during a match press the Start button - pick the top option to end the game (or the bottom one to continue playing). ------< STORY MODE >---------------------------------------------- [Section 05] The top (green) option on the game's main menu is used to start Story Mode where you play mahjong and minigames with the gals and unlock content. Pick this and you'll be asked to choose one of the five gals to hang out with. They're shown in the following order from left to right (see also pages 10-14 of the manual for profiles on each with their names conveniently given in English). Riho Futaba / Reiko Mizusaki / Kanie Mia Anderson / Teruko Tsuin / Genki Itsumo Then you're shown a map of the resort where everyone lives (apparently) - it looks a bit like this, but a little more colourful. .---.-------------------. .---. .---------------------. | 1 | Big Wave Area | | 1 | ( R E S O R T M A P ) .---. :---:-------------------: '---' _/'---------------------'\ | 8 | | 2 | Paradise Beach | .---./ \.---.'---' :---:-------------------: _| 2 | .---. | 7 |_ | 3 | Shop | / '---' | 6 | '---' '-._ :---:-------------------: ( .---. '---' ) | 4 | Jungle Dome | \ | 3 | .---. / :---:-------------------: / '---' | 4 | / | 5 | Ocean Spa | | '---' \ :---:-------------------: | __\ | 6 | Hotel | \ .--.____.----' :---:-------------------: \___ .---. / .---. | 7 | Mermaid Beach | '---'\____.^._| 5 |__/ | 9 | :---:-------------------: '---' '---' | 8 | Thrill Ride Area | .---------------------------------------------. :---:-------------------: ( Four locations will be unavailable initially! ) | 9 | Marine Ride Area | '---------------------------------------------' '---'-------------------' .------------------------------< Activities >-----------------------------. | 1. Body-Boarding 4. Mosquito Swatting 7. Beach Toss Relay | | 2. Beach Flags 5. Beach Sand Bath 8. Banana Boat Ride | | 3. Shopping (duh) 6. Costume Change 9. Parasailing | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------' Each of the gals has what I like to call her "special activities" (more on those later). The four special activities vary from one gal to the next and crucially they will be locked at the start of the game. The shop and hotel don't offer "proper" activities (with minigames) so that leaves three activities that will be available when you start out. Pick one to continue. Before you can begin that you'll get a succession of dual-screen images of all five gals. You can use the shoulder buttons L/R when prompted to scroll up and down and press X to toggle the text boxes on/off for unobstructed ogling. You have to cycle through the gals several times while they say stuff, get angry and then get happy... sorry, I hope you weren't expecting a translation of the "story" here! I can kinda translate odd words and sentences in Japanese text but it's a very slow process so I'm skipping all the dialogue. :9 After much clicking of the A button you finally find yourself playing mahjong, sitting opposite your selected gal and with two of the others occupying the remaining seats. See Section 04 for more info on playing mahjong. With the default rule settings (see Section 08), the match is played over only a single round. Once the game has concluded you finally get to do the activity minigame which you selected from the map, but before it begins you're given the option to change the gal's outfit in the hotel view (which you can also access directly from the Story Mode map between matches). The hotel room is shown at the top-left of the upper screen, and to the right of this is your current points total (orange window) and the number of swimming costumes you've bought for the gals (blue window) - since there are one hundred different outfits this will say something like "5/100". Meanwhile down on the touchscreen you can scroll through the current gal's costumes using up/down, or the R/L buttons or by tapping the little green arrows. The pink heart icon in the corner indicates the swimwear that's currently equipped. To pick another you can press A or double-tap the screen, then pick the left option to confirm. That's all FYI for now because the first time you see this you won't have bought any new costumes so just press Y to continue to the minigame. The controls and/or timing for the minigames can be a little tricky the first time you play but don't worry - after doing a certain activity with a specific gal that combo will become available in Minigames mode (option 3 off the main menu). Here you can practise the activities freely, with no pressure to perform, and no need to play a round of mahjong each time. The Minigames mode and all seven activities are explained in detail in Section 07 later in this guide. After your first mahjong/activity event you're free to proceed as you wish. You can pick a different minigame from the map - or the same one - but each time you have to play a game of mahjong first. You can also switch to a different gal if you want - just press B from the map view to return to the usual suspects. The next thing to explain is the shop. I'm not sure what bizarre economic model they use on this island but it's pretty favourable! At the shop you can spend the points from the mahjong games. Not just your profit, but *all* the points! Each time you play another game of mahjong (starting with the standard 25,000 points) your final score at the end of the match will be added to your running total. Say you play two games and only manage to break-even - you've just earned yourself another 50 grand to spend in the shop! Consequently you'll never have to worry about running out of "money". Your points total (shop credit) always carries over if you switch between gals too. So what can you buy in the shop? Well mostly it's swimwear, obviously! Each gal has four different outfits and each of those is available in a range of colours (with a frankly alarming disparity in prices). Buy these to unlock activities. At the bottom of the shop inventory there are also eight magic/cheat items which can be used in the mahjong game. ;) Yellow numerals next to the item names show how many of each you currently own (maximum five each). Some items (for example Enforced Draw) can be activated at any time during play from the lower end of the menu that appears when you press the Select button. Others must be selected from a big blue menu box that pops up in the appropriate context, for example Special Riichi becomes available when declaring Riichi and the Ippatsu items can be used at the point of drawing your first tile after reaching. | Name | Cost | Effect --+----------------+--------+------------------------------------------------- 1 | Special Riichi | 3,000 | Effectively adds one Han to the value of Riichi* --+----------------+--------+------------------------------------------------- 2 | Enforced Draw | 4,000 | Forces an abortive draw (and seat-winds rotate) --+----------------+--------+------------------------------------------------- 3 | Ippatsu Devil | 10,000 | Reach and win the hand with Tsumo (if possible) --+----------------+--------+------------------------------------------------- 4 | Ippatsu Angel | 40,000 | Reach and win the hand with Ippatsu and Tsumo --+----------------+--------+------------------------------------------------- 5 | Extinguish Ron | 2,000 | Nullify an opponent's Ron win on your discard --+----------------+--------+------------------------------------------------- 6 | Dora Bomb | 5,000 | Replaces three of your initial tiles with Dora --+----------------+--------+------------------------------------------------- 7 | Super Loading**| 25,000 | Stacks the tiles in your favour (Tsumikomi) --+----------------+--------+------------------------------------------------- 8 | Hyper Loading**| 50,000 | As above but even more awesome! Now remember I mentioned that each gal has a set of four "special activities" which are locked at first? Well once you've gained enough points from playing mahjong and you've bought all her outfits you'll find that these will unlock. When you compete in these you'll get a little heart rating at the end which is a measure of how well you did and generally how awesome you are. (I'm not sure exactly how it fits into all this but you also get +10 heart when- ever your gal declares a Ron win off one of your discarded mahjong tiles.) Without further ado here's a list of each gal's special activities, although it will be quite evident which these are when you play because they're the ones which you cannot access at first. Riho | Body-Boarding, Mosquito Swatting, Banana Boat, Parasailing -----------+----------------------------------------------------------------- Reiko | Parasailing, Beach Sand Bath, Beach Flags, Beach Toss Relay -----------+----------------------------------------------------------------- Kanie Mia | Banana Boat, Beach Toss Relay, Body-Boarding, Beach Sand Bath -----------+----------------------------------------------------------------- Teruko | Parasailing, Banana Boat, Beach Sand Flags, Mosquito Swatting -----------+----------------------------------------------------------------- Genki | Mosquito Swatting, Beach Toss Relay, Beach Flags, Body-Boarding If you score 100 heart for one of the gal's listed activities then you unlock a picture (featuring that gal and that activity) which you can then view at your leisure in the gallery (see Section 08). Even if you're pretty competent in the minigame it'll probably take a couple of attempts to accumulate a heart total of 100. Once you have all four pics for a gal you've completed her and you can move on to your next conquest! Initially there will be four colour variants of each costume available in the shop, labelled A to D and priced 10k, 20k, 30k and 50k, but keep checking back. After some time (after completing special activities?) a fifth colour will show up, labelled E and priced at 100k. Once you've bought all one hundred costumes (five gals each with four outfits in five colours) you'll unlock a group pic showing all the gals. Unlock all four pictures for each gal and the group pic and you've completed the Story Mode. Yay! *Since each Han doubles the value of a winning hand and the Special Riichi item gives one extra Han at a cost of 3000 pts, it's not cost-effective to use it on any hand which has a natural value of 3000 pts or less. Save it for a big hand and use it when you're dealer for best effect! Equally there's no point using it if it wouldn't change the limit applied to the hand. For example the Haneman limit is applied to any hand worth 6 or 7 Han, so if you had a 6-Han hand it would still be capped at Haneman if you added 1 Han. It's a nice little item, but if you want to cause some serious damage then you need to be using the Loading items! **I've found that both Loading items are usually more powerful if you make the sensible choice of using them when you're dealer/east (you can tell easily when you're east because the dice will be sitting in front of you on the top screen). Here's a summary of some typical outcomes... Super Loading (dealer) - Tenhou (Heavenly Win) with attractive hand Super Loading (non-dealer) - Tenpai (ready) on high value Yaku (e.g. flush) Hyper Loading (dealer) - Tenhou plus Dai San Gen (Big Three Dragons) Hyper Loading (non-dealer) - Tenpai on Shou Suu Shii (Little Four Winds) I have got a *quadruple* Yakuman a few times with Hyper Loading on east though! Get yourself a few of these bad-boys and you'll soon discover that your points total has a limit of six digits so it maxes out at 999,999. Remember to ensure that the Double Yakuman option is Ari (see Section 08) if you want to get the full benefit of these items. ------< FREE PLAY >----------------------------------------------- [Section 06] The second (yellow) choice off the main menu is for Free Play. You can use this to play quick one-off mahjong games without having to do the minigames. Pick one of the gals to play opposite you, or tap the red/orange button to have the game pick one at random. After that the game begins and is played just like in Story Mode - you can even use the cheat items you've bought there. ------< MINIGAMES >----------------------------------------------- [Section 07] The third (orange) option on the main menu is for Minigames. This mode lets you repeat/practise the various activities from Story Mode (see Section 05). This option will be locked at first but it becomes available as soon as you've attempted one of the activities in Story Mode. Although there are five gals and seven minigames in total you can only select here activities you've undertaken in Story Mode and gals you've done them with, and specifically those combinations so, for example, if you haven't done Beach Flags with Genki in Story Mode then you can't do it with her here either. From left to right the minigames are listed in the following order, using the same icons as the Story Mode map. Beach Toss Body- Beach Beach Mosquito Parasailing Banana Relay Boarding Flags Sand Bath Swatting Boat After picking these you're required to select a swimming costume from the ones you've bought for the gal from the shop. Pick the left button to confirm and then press Y to start the minigame. After you've played a minigame you get two options on dark pink buttons. The one on the left is Retry, the one on the right is Return (to the menu). = Banana Boat = The banana boat ride is available at the Thrill Ride Area (location 8) in Story Mode. Your chosen gal is bouncing (there's a surprise) on a towed inflatable and it's your job to prevent her from disappearing off the side of the screen. Use the steering wheel (touchscreen control only) to respond to her movements, so if she starts bouncing over to the right you'll need to correct this by steering to the right. The touchscreen input is a little odd. Any horizontal stroke on the left side of the screen will be interpreted as steering to the right regardless of whether you stroke from left to right or from right to left; a longer stroke will apply a sharper turn of the wheel. Basically when she veers to one side of the screen you need to stroke the *opposite* side of the screen. A vertical stroke on any part of the screen will adjust the speed lever up or down as appropriate. The yellow numbers on the left count down the time and distance remaining. You need to cover 1000 meters in 60 seconds. You'll need to increase the speed from the default setting otherwise you'll be left with over 250 metres remaining when the timer reaches zero. At top speed you can cover the kilometre with almost 20 seconds to spare. This is a pretty trivial reaction-test once you figure out the controls. You can hold the steering wheel in a turn if you want but I prefer to use a series of short strokes to give more subtle control. Ignore any minor fluctuations and try not to get distracted by all the jiggling and grunting! = Body-Boarding = You play this game at the Big Wave Area (location 1 at the top-left of the map). It's a bit like the banana boat but this time the gal's riding a body-board. Use the yellow-green chevrons on the left and right to steer - when she veers to one side you need to use rapid upward strokes on the chevrons on the *same* side of the screen to re-centre her. Once she's back in the middle you can switch to stroking the central red chevrons to go faster and earn points. Repeat to fade. You have 60 seconds to build your score. If the gal disappears off either side of the screen then you fail. = Mosquito Swatting = This activity is available at the Jungle Dome (location 4 in the centre of the map). When you see a mosquito on the touchscreen you must tap it to swat it. If you're too slow the gal will be bitten - this will be visible as a small red dot which gradually swells. When this happens you need to tap on the pot of lotion and then tap the bite to heal it; you can heal several bites if necessary. Tap the pot again to switch back to swatting mode. Each swollen bite will fill the gal's red stress meter on the left of the upper screen. Your objective is to swat the mozzies (and heal bites as appropriate) to prevent the meter from reaching the top within the 60 seconds. I like to use a rapid-fire technique, tapping the screen really quickly. Don't wait for the insects to settle on the gal - you can swat them in mid-air too but take care not to hit the lotion otherwise your swatter will stop working. Keep an eye out for mosquitoes on the top screen too, of course you can't swat them there but you can anticipate their arrival on the touchscreen. It's not too hard to get a perfect round with zero bites. = Parasailing = In Story Mode this activity can be found at the Marine Ride Area (location 9 off the south-east coast of the island). This plays and looks a lot like the banana boat ride but now the gal is hanging off a parachute and instead of a distance counter you get a speedometer. Steering works just like the banana boat minigame (see above) and you'll need to put the speed up to stop the gal from falling off the bottom of the screen (and presumably into the ocean). Survive for 60 seconds to pass the mission. = Beach Sand Bath* = This minigame can be found in Story Mode at the Ocean Spa (location 5 set on the south side of the island). It's basically a simulation of a spa treatment where you're required to cover the gal in sand while she lays on the beach. You need to cover her entire body apart from her face. You can flick sand onto her by using a sliding motion on the touchscreen from the sand at the sides to the body part you want to cover. The display will scroll up/down automatically so that different sections of her body are on the touchscreen. There's a stress meter on the upper screen and this seems to fill when you add sand to an area that's already been covered - I guess she's in a hurry and doesn't want you wasting time! A full meter equals insta-fail. You have 60 seconds in which to leave no part of her body exposed. *The Japanese name for this minigame is "Biichi de Esute". Biichi means "beach" and Esute is short for the Japanese form of the English word "aesthetic" which is used to refer to salons offering beauty treatments, spa therapies, etc. = Beach Flags = This one takes place at Paradise Beach (location 2 on the north-west part of the resort) and it's basically a running game. You run along the beach towards a flag - which explains the minigame's name, although it's still rather opaque. Your job is to tap the blue panels that appear alternately on the left and right sides of the screen. It's kinda like a much less intense version of the old skool classic Track & Field. The heart on the progress bar represents the gal's position and you need to keep the box centred on it, thus keeping pace with her. You don't need to go nuts on this - just use an easy speed and keep an eye on the heart icon. I find it most comfortable to hold the DS with both hands and use my thumbs for this one. You will fail if the gal escapes the box or if she beats you to the finish line. = Beach Toss Relay = The seventh and final minigame is volleyball on Mermaid Beach (location 7 on the north-east coast of the island). Successfully return the ball to the gal thirty times to win. Get four misses and you fail. Your hands will automatically move from left to right so that they're in line with the incoming ball but you need to use a vertical stroke on the touchscreen to hit it. The timing for this takes a little getting used to - your hands are really slow to react so you need to get in the habit of stroking the screen when the ball is at the peak of its trajectory on the top screen. The other thing to remember is that you need to return the ball to the gal each time, so your upwards stroke should be aimed towards her current position. ------< OPTIONS >------------------------------------------------- [Section 08] The final (red) choice off the main menu accesses the Options. This part has the following four sections... .---------------------. | Gallery | '---------------------' .---------------------. | Rule Settings | '---------------------' .---------------------. | Play Settings | '---------------------' .---------------------. | Sound Settings | '---------------------' Each of these is described below. Default settings are marked with an asterisk. = Gallery = This section is home to a gallery (geddit? "gal-lery"!) where you can view pics of the gals once you've unlocked them in Story Mode. There are four pictures for each gal - one for each of their four costumes (and each related to one of their four "special activities" - see Section 05). There is also one group shot showing all five gals, so twenty-one pics in total. To unlock the images here you'll need to play through Story Mode with all five gals. Use the points from the mahjong games to buy outfits from the shop. Once you have a lot of her costumes the "special activities" will become available. Do well at these to earn heart points. Once you get 100 heart points for one of the activities the pic will unlock - it will be displayed on the top screen with the word "GOT" on it. It will then be added to the gallery. To unlock the final image showing all five gals you need to buy all one hundred outfits from the shop. You can select a picture with the d-pad and use either the d/pad left/right or the shoulder buttons L/R to page through the gallery. Press A to view one of your unlocked images on the lower screen. Tap the pic to make it talk! = Rule Settings = The game has six rule options for mahjong play. Use the d-pad up/down to navigate between them and left/right to amend. Press B to exit and confirm any changes. Most of the rule options use the following two terms:- __|___ | _ _|___ |/ \ ARI [on the left] / |/ \ | | denotes "existence" and describes a rule that's applied (on) \_/ _/ ' / __/__ _ | / | | NASHI [on the right] / _|_ | means "without" and describes a rule that's not applied (off) / (_| |__. The six available mahjong rule options are explained below. 1. Name: Game Length Options: One round* / Two rounds Info: The standard length for a game in modern Japanese Mahjong is two wind-rounds, but sometimes you will play for only one and this is the default in The Gal Mahjong. The game calls the two-round match a Ton Nan Sen ("east south match") although this is also known as a Hanchan - meaning a "half-game" - because the traditional game duration under the original classical Chinese rules is four rounds. The one-round option is given as Ton Puu Sen ("east wind match") but is sometimes referred to as a "quarter-game" for the same reason. 2. Name: Dobon (bankruptcy) Options: Ari* (on) / Nashi (off) Info: When Dobon is Ari the game ends if someone's score drops below zero. This rule is also known as Buttobi, or Tobi for short. 3. Name: Tenpai Renchan (continuance conditions) Options: Ari* / Nashi 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 four hands which make up a round. In the game a continuance is always played if the dealer wins a hand. If this rule option is set to Ari then a continuance also occurs if a hand ends in an exhaustive draw in which the dealer has a Tenpai hand (one that is "ready" - needing only one more tile to win). 4. Name: Double Ron Options: Ari* / Nashi Info: Sometimes two players will simultaneously declare a Ron win on the same discard tile; this is known as Double Ron - in Japanese "Daburu Ron" or "Daburon" for short. When this rule is Ari both wins will be valid and the poor hapless discarder must pay both winners. If the rule is Nashi then the Atama Hane (head bump) rule is applied and of the two players only the one siting closest to the discarder's right gets the win (and they receive only the points for their own winning hand, not both of them). 5. Name: Double Yakuman Options: Ari* / Nashi Info: A Yakuman (usually "limit hand" in English) doesn't come around very often, but it is possible to get two or more at the same time. B) Although very rare, the most likely combination would be Tsuuiisou (All Honours) stacked with either Dai San Gen (Big Three Dragons) or Dai/Shou Suu Shii (Big/Little Four Winds). When this option is Ari such a hand would be paid at double the Yakuman limit. When Nashi the normal top limit of single Yakuman would be applied. Triple and quadruple Yakuman :o are also recognised under this rule. These are almost impossible in real life but a lot more likely in this game if you invest in the right items... (see Section 05). 6. Name: Red Fives Options: Ari* / Nashi 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 five tile in a winning hand gives one additional Han (double) just like a normal Dora tile. While I'm talking about rules, here's a summary of a few fixed rule settings evident in the game... o Kuitan Ari Kuitan is the common rule that allows the Yaku (scoring element) of Tanyao (All Simples) to be claimed on an open hand. This is permitted in The Gal Mahjong - and a favourite with the gals! o Kuikae Nashi Kuikae is when you have a complete set (Chow or Pung) in your hand, you make a call (Chii or Pon respectively) using two of those tiles and then immediately discard the third tile from the original set. This is disallowed - the game will block you from making such a discard. o Agari Yame Nashi The optional Agari Yame rule permits the dealer in the final hand of the game to end the match early if they are leading on points and they win a hand (thus avoiding the risk of losing the match in the extra hand that would usually be played after their won hand). This option is not available in the game. o Abortive Draws The Gal Mahjong certainly recognises at least some of the five situations that can cause an abortive draw in Japanese mahjong. I've seen two during play - Kyuu Shu Kyuu Hai where the player has the option to request a re-deal if their starting hand contains nine or more unique Terminal and Honour tiles and Suu Fon Renda where the hand is aborted if all four players discard the same wind tile on their first turn. In the latter case the hand was not replayed, instead the hand counter was incremented (actually ending the match). o Oka Nashi It's common for players to buy into a match with 30,000 pts and then, if they all start with either 25k or 27k, the difference (20k or 12k), forms a jackpot called the Oka which is paid to the match winner. This rule is not applied. o Uma Nashi Another rule that affects the end scores is Uma, a type of "spread" where the player in 3rd place pays a specified amount to the player in 2nd and the 4th place person pays a larger amount to the one in 1st. This rule is unused too. = Play Settings = There are just two options here, both relating to mahjong. You can also access them during a match by either tapping MENU on the touchscreen or pressing the Select button (then B to confirm and resume the game). 1. Name: Game Speed Options: 1 / 2 / 3* / 4 / 5 Info: This sets the speed at which the game is played by your opponents. 5 is slowest and 1 is fastest. 2. Name: Tile Colour Options: Blue* / Yellow / Green / Red Info: You can use this option to change the colour of the tile backs. The yellow looks most like the butterscotch colour which is used on modern plastic tiles to recreate the look of the traditional bamboo backs found on vintage (or expensive) tile-sets. = Sound Settings = This one's very simple - you can turn on or off each of the following components of the game's audio: 1. Background Music (BGM) 2. Sound Effects (SE) 3. Voice The two settings are Ari* and Nashi again, just like the rule options above. *This is the default setting for the option. ------< MANUAL REFERENCE >---------------------------------------- [Section 09] The 22-page game manual has full colour printing throughout and several pages of information about the game. Pages 10 to 14 have individual profiles on each gal. These list their name, date of birth, height, vital statistics* (metric), cup size (Japanese scale), blood group, hobbies, occupation, likes & dislikes and aspirations. Pages 16 to 19 illustrate the Yaku (scoring elements) and Yakuman (limit hands) that are permitted in the game. Page 16 - Riichi (ready bet) Ippatsu ("one-shot" win after Riichi) Menzen Tsumo (Concealed Self-Draw) (Dora bonus tiles - not technically a Yaku) Yakuhai (Pung of dragons, seat-wind or round-wind) Pinfu ("no points" hand) Tanyao (All Simples) Iipeikou (Pure Double Chow) Rinshan Kaihou (After a Kong) Chankan (Robbing the Kong) Haitei (Last-Tile Tsumo) Houtei (Last-Tile Ron) Daburu Riichi (Double Riichi) Ittsuu (Pure Straight) Page 17 - Chanta (Mixed Outside Hand) San Shoku Doujun (Mixed Triple Chow) San Shoku Doukou (Triple Pung) Chii-Toitsu (Seven Pairs) Toi-Toi (All Pungs) San Ankou (Three Concealed Pungs) San Kantsu (Three Kongs) Honroutou (All Terminals & Honours) Shou San Gen (Little Three Dragons) Honitsu (Half Flush) Page 18 - Ryanpeikou (Twice Pure Double Chow) Junchan (Pure Outside Hand) Chinitsu (Full Flush) Nagashi Mangan (All Terminal & Honour Discards) Renhou (Human Win) Dai San Gen (Big Three Dragons) Dai Suu Shii (Big Four Winds) Shou Suu Shii (Little Four Winds) Suu Ankou (Four Concealed Pungs) Page 19 - Suu Kantsu (Four Kongs) Kokushimusou (Thirteen Orphans) Ryuuiisou (All Green) Tsuuiisou (All Honours) Chinroutou (All Terminals) Chuurenpoutou (Nine Gates) Dai Sharin (Big Wheels) Tenhou (Heavenly Win) Chiihou (Earthly Win) Finally page 20 defines some mahjong terminology and lists the eight cheat items that are available for purchase in Story Mode (see Section 05). *In Japan the vital statistics - bust, waist and hip measurements - are known as Surii Saizu, a Japanese rendering of the English "three size(s)". ------< CONTACT >------------------------------------------------- [Section 10] 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, or about gals. *8^) 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. ------< THANKS >-------------------------------------------------- [Section 11] I would like to thank... o tanakahouji and DemonOnPot for posting minigame info o USPML for hosting my PDF mahjong guide (and GameFAQs for hosting this one!) o Tuttle, Nintendo and (especially) tangorin.com for great language resources o jgamers (eBay trader) for their excellent worldwide games sales service o GSH for Savath y Savalas I will be happy to give credit and thanks to anyone who makes a contribution. ___________ ___ \______ / ___ / / / / __ \_/ / / / \___ ________ _________/ \__ ___ ______ / / ________ .-------o / __ / \___ // ___/\_ ___// // ___// / / __ / | ANOTHER / / / /_____/ // / / / / // / / / / \/ / '---------/ /-/ // __ // /-----/ /---/ // /---/ /--/ _____/---------. / / / // / / // / / / / // / / / / / GUIDE | / \/ // \/ // / / \_ / // \_ / \ / \________ o-----' \______/ \______/ \_/ \____/ \_/ \____/ \___/ \___________/ -- The Gal Mahjong Guide Copyright 2011 James R. Barton Initial version 1.00 completed 14 January 2011 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. The only websites with the author's consent to publish this guide are GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com) and its affiliates (i.e. Gamespot). 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!