Shanghai

n/a

Shanghai
System(s): Sega Master System
Publisher: Sega of America (US), Sega Enterprises, Ltd. (EU)
Developer: Sega Enterprises, Ltd.
Distributor: Tonka (US)
Licensor: Activision
Peripherals supported: FM Sound Unit
Genre: Family
Number of players: 2
Release Date RRP Code US 1988-10 5110 EU 1988 5110 UK 1988-11 £22.9522.95 5110 SE 19xx AU 19xx
Non-Sega versions Amiga Amstrad CPC Apple II Apple IIGS Arcade Atari 8-bit family Atari ST Commodore 64 FM Towns IBM PC Lynx Macintosh MSX2 Nintendo Entertainment System PC Engine PC-8800 series PC-9800 series TRS-80 Color Computer X1 X68000

Shanghai is a mahjong solitaire game developed by Activision for various home computer systems, and converted and published by Sega for the Sega Master System.

Gameplay

Gameplay

The object of the game is to remove all the tiles from the board by matching pairs. There are 144 tiles, which are arranged in a five-level pyramid called the "Dragon Formation" (also called a "turtle"). When two tiles are matched, they are removed from the board, exposing any tiles underneath for play. Any two seasons can form a pair, as can any two flowers, while other tiles must be matched with an identical counterpart.

Only tiles with at least one free vertical edge (meaning tiles with a free space to the left or right of them) may be matched on a turn. It is possible to remove the tiles in the wrong order and end up with an unwinnable game because there are no more matching pairs that meet this requirement. To be consistently successful, the player should strategize removing tiles that open more tiles for matching and avoid removing tiles that do not open anything (unless there are no other possible matches). The game is won when all pairs of tiles have been removed from the board or lost if no more valid moves can be made. A counter shows how many tiles are remaining, and a timer shows how long the player has taken on the current game or how much time is remaining (depending on the mode).

The game uses a cursor, which is moved using the D-Pad. The player can select a tile with or cancel a selection with . Tiles can only be selected if they have no other tiles on top of them and a free space to either side of them. When one tile has been selected, a second tile can only be selected if it is a valid match. Pressing again when two tiles are selected confirms the match and removes the tiles.

There are two menus at the top of the screen that can be selected by the cursor: Help and Game. The Help menu contains items to identify any tile, undo the last move, show all possible moves (one at a time), "peek" at covered tiles by removing tiles from the board (which requires ending the game), or change the music (between three tunes). The Game menu contains items to restart the current game or start a new game in one of the three game modes.

Modes

There are three game modes:

• Solitaire: A single-player mode. The player has the option of starting with a random pattern or loading one of a dozen predetermined patterns. The shape of the formation is the same for every pattern, but the arrangement of the tiles differs.
• Tournament: A mode for multiple players to compete, where each player takes turns playing a game, sharing the same control pad. After a player completes a game (either in victory or defeat), the next game starts using the same pattern (arrangement of tiles). In between games, the best five scores are shown. Players can choose a time limit of 5, 10, or 20 minutes or no time limit for each game.
• Challenge: A two-player mode, where each player takes turns making a move on the same board, using separate control pads. Each player has a limited amount of time (5, 10, 20, 30, or 60 seconds) to complete a turn and tries to remove more tiles than the other player. The number of tiles removed for each player is shown at the top of the screen.

The game starts in the Solitaire mode initially, but a new game can be started in one of the other modes through the Game menu at the top of the screen. The two multiplayer modes lack the menu options to undo moves, show all possible moves, peek at covered tiles, or restart the current game.

Tiles

	The Suit of Dots
	A suit using dots or coins to represent the numerals 1 through 9.
	The Suit of Bam
	A suit using a peacock to represent 1 and bamboo shoots to represent 2 through 9.
	The Suit of Crak
	A suit using Chinese numerals to represent 1 through 9. The character on the bottom is 萬, representing ten thousand.
	The Dragons
	The Red Dragon, the White Dragon, and the Green Dragon.
	The Winds
	The North Wind, the South Wind, the East Wind, and the West Wind.
	The Seasons
	Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. Any two seasons can form a pair.
	The Flowers
	Orchid, Plum, Mum, and Bamboo. Any two flowers can form a pair.

Production credits

• Designed by: Brodie Lockhard (Activision)

Source:

Title screen

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• Programmer: Mark Cerny (Sega)

Source:

Uncredited

Magazine articles

Main article: Shanghai/Magazine articles.

Promotional materials

File:SMS DE TVAdvert 1989.mp4

SMS DE TV advert (1989)

File:SMS DE TVAdvert 1989.mp4

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score ACE (UK) PAL 80 Complete Guide to Consoles (UK) PAL 81 Complete Guide to Consoles (UK) 88 The Complete Guide to Sega (UK) PAL 88 Console XS (UK) PAL 85 Computer & Video Games (UK) PAL 48 Game Mania (UK) PAL 88 Hobby Consolas (ES) PAL 70 Micromanía (segunda época) (ES) 80 Mean Machines Sega (UK) 88 Power Play (DE) PAL 82 S: The Sega Magazine (UK) PAL 91 Sega Power (UK) PAL 100 Sega Pro (UK) 96 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 85 User (GR) PAL 91

	84
Based on 16 reviews

Shanghai

Master System, US
Cover
Manual

Master System, EU
Cover

Master System, EU (Sega®)
Cover

Master System, EU ("No Limits")
Cover

Master System, SE

Master System, AU (Not for rental/hotline stickers)
Cover
Cart

Master System, AU (OziSoft sticker)
Cover

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
✔	CRC32 aab67ec3 MD5 f0595fbd334cb8e95c0486a588a24f7b SHA-1 58f01556d1f2da0af9dfcddcb3ac26cb299220d3	128kB		Cartridge (US/EU)

References

NEC Retro has more information related to Shanghai

Shanghai games for Sega systems
	Shanghai (1988)
	Shanghai II (1990)
	Dragon's Eye Plus: Shanghai III (1991) | Shanghai II: Dragon's Eye (1994)
	Shanghai: Triple-Threat (1995) | Game no Tetsujin The Shanghai (1995) | Shanghai Great Moments (1996)
	Shanghai Dynasty (2000)
	Super Shanghai 2005 (2005)