Difference between revisions of "Shanghai"

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Shanghai

System(s): Sega Master System

Publisher: Sega

Developer: Sega

Licensor: Activision

Peripherals supported: FM Sound Unit

Genre: Family^[1]

Number of players: 2

Release	Date	RRP	Code
US	1988-10^[2]		5110
EU	1988		5110
UK	1988-11^[3]	£22.9522.95^[4]	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

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.

Production credits

Designed by: Brodie Lockhard (Activision)

Source:

Title screen^[5]

Programmer: Mark Cerny (Sega)

Source:

Uncredited

Magazine articles

Main article: Shanghai/Magazine articles.

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average

Publication

Version

Score

ACE (UK)

PAL

80

^[6]

Complete Guide to Consoles (UK)

PAL

81

^[7]

Complete Guide to Consoles (UK)

88

^[8]

The Complete Guide to Sega (UK)

PAL

88

^[9]

Console XS (UK)

PAL

85

^[10]

Computer & Video Games (UK)

PAL

48

^[4]

Game Mania (UK)

PAL

88

^[11]

Hobby Consolas (ES)

PAL

70

^[12]

Micromanía (segunda época) (ES)

80

^[13]

Mean Machines Sega (UK)

88

^[14]

Power Play (DE)

PAL

82

^[15]

S: The Sega Magazine (UK)

PAL

91

^[16]

Sega Power (UK)

PAL

100

^[17]

Sega Pro (UK)

96

^[18]

Sega Pro (UK)

PAL

85

^[19]

User (GR)

PAL

91

^[20]

	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
	Main page \| Comparisons \| Hidden content \| Magazine articles \| Reception No results

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)

[:File:Shanghai_EU_cover.jpg_p-1] File:Shanghai EU cover.jpg

[:File:ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.7_07.pdf_p08-2] Computer Entertainer, "October 1988" (US; 1988-10-15), page 08

[:File:1988_89_SMS_UK_Catalogue.pdf_p2-3] File:1988 89 SMS UK Catalogue.pdf, page 2

[:File:CVG_UK_087.pdf_p140-4] 4.0 ^4.1 Computer & Video Games, "January 1989" (UK; 1988-12-16), page 140

[:File:Shanghai_title.png_p-5] File:Shanghai title.png

[:File:ACE_UK_14.pdf_p58-6] ACE, "November 1988" (UK; 1988-xx-xx), page 58

[:File:CompleteGuideToConsoles_UK_01.pdf_p70-7] Complete Guide to Consoles, "" (UK; 1989-10-16), page 70

[:File:CGtC_UK_04.pdf_p106-8] Complete Guide to Consoles, "Volume IV" (UK; 1990-11-xx), page 106

[:File:TheCompleteGuideToSega_UK.pdf_p61-9] The Complete Guide to Sega, "" (UK; 1991-05-xx), page 61

[:File:Console_XS_UK_01.pdf_p144-10] Console XS, "June/July 1992" (UK; 1992-04-23), page 144

[:File:GameMania_UK_05.pdf_p81-11] Game Mania, "May 1993" (UK; 1993-xx-xx), page 81

[:File:HobbyConsolas_ES_001.pdf_p79-12] Hobby Consolas, "Octubre 1991" (ES; 1991-xx-xx), page 79

[:File:Micromania2_ES_022.pdf_p44-13] Micromanía (segunda época), "Marzo 1990" (ES; 1990-0x-xx), page 44

[:File:MeanMachinesSega01UK.pdf_p136-14] Mean Machines Sega, "October 1992" (UK; 1992-09-xx), page 136

[:File:PowerPlay_DE_1988-11.pdf_p53-15] Power Play, "11/88" (DE; 1988-10-10), page 53

[:File:StheSegaMagazine_UK_11.pdf_p21-16] S: The Sega Magazine, "October 1990" (UK; 1990-09-06), page 21

[:File:SegaPower_UK_23.pdf_p59-17] Sega Power, "October 1991" (UK; 1991-09-05), page 59

[:File:SegaPro_UK_06.pdf_p28-18] Sega Pro, "April 1992" (UK; 1992-03-19), page 28

[:File:SegaPro_UK_18.pdf_p72-19] Sega Pro, "April 1993" (UK; 1993-03-11), page 72

[:File:User_GR_20.pdf_p90-20] User, "Dekémvrios 1991" (GR; 1991-1x-xx), page 90

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@@ Line 29: / Line 29: @@
 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 {{2}} or cancel a selection with {{1}}. Tiles can only be selected if they have no other tiles on top of them. When one tile has been selected, a second tile can only be selected if it is a valid match. Pressing {{2}} again when two tiles are selected confirms the match and removes the tiles.
+The game uses a cursor, which is moved using the D-Pad. The player can select a tile with {{2}} or cancel a selection with {{1}}. 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 {{2}} 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.
@@ Line 36: / Line 36: @@
 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. 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.
+*'''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. 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. Players use separate control pads.
+*'''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.