Shanghai (Lynx)

Shanghai

Lynx - USA - 1st edition.

Developer Activision Publisher Atari Published 1990-??-?? Platforms Lynx Genres Cards, Casual, Match-finding, Passive puzzle, Puzzle, Single-screen Series Shanghai Multiplayer Alternating co-op, Alternating versus, Simultaneous versus Distribution Commercial

Shanghai is a mahjong solitaire puzzle video game developed by Activision and published by Atari for the Lynx in 1990. This game is a port of Shanghai, the first game in the Shanghai series, but it's different enough to be treated as a unique game.

The Lynx port adds several new layouts, unique music, new art, and different forms of multi-player, both versus and co-op.

Personal

Own?	No.
Won?	Yes. All layouts.
Finished	2023-09-17.

I started playing this game because I wanted to finish more ports of the original game. As I played it, I realized that it was different enough from the original to treat it as a unique game. I don't own it, but I beat all of the layouts. I found a wide variety in the difficulty. I finished the spider layout on my first attempt, but needed several dozen attempts to beat the new turtle layout.

Review

4	5	5	5	7

Best Version: Lynx

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

• The game competently enforces the rules of mahjong solitaire.
• In addition to the original layout, the Lynx port adds six new layouts: hawk, butterfly, bear, spider, fish, and turtle (which is different from the original which is now called the "dragon").
• The graphics, sound, and music are quite impressive for a portable console of the time, but only passable for a home console.
• The music by Alex Rudis and Bruce Coleman has a fitting Chinese-inspired sound, and I like being able to easily switch between tracks.
• This port adds three multi-player modes: cooperative, alternating competitive (where each player has only a limited time to find a match), and simultaneous competitive, where each player tries to finish the tableau as fast as possible.
• I like how, when the cursor goes past the edge of the screen, it appears on the other side.

Bad

• The game deals the tiles out randomly. While this is true to the original game, it results in a large percentage of games being impossible to win. Later adaptions take advantage of using a computer to deal the tiles in matched pairs ensuring that every game is beatable (provided you make all the right moves).
• The low resolution of the Lynx makes it very difficult to display the complex art of the tiles. To address this problem, the game offers two different graphic sets for the tiles; one tries to cram the while image into a few pixels, which is much harder to identify, the other uses highly simplified images to keep them legible, but loses the mystique of the traditional art.

Ugly

• Nothing.

Media

Box Art

If it weren't for the tiles, one might mistake this for a fantasy action game. Roger Loveless has painted a fantastic cover, but the dragon is closer to a Western style than the Eastern style.

• 

  Lynx - USA.

Documents

• 

  Manual - USA.

Screenshots

• 

  Title screen.

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  New game.

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  Dragon layout - default tile set.

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  Hawk layout.

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  Butterfly layout.

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  Fish layout - alternate tile set.

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  Beat layout.

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  Spider layout.

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  Turtle layout.

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  Last two tiles stacked.

Videos

Longplay - Lynx.

Play Online

Lynx

Representation

Strong female character?	Fail	There are no characters.
Bechdel test?	Fail	There are no characters.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	There are no characters.
Queer character?	Fail	There are no characters.

Links