Shanghai (video game)

The Western PC box art.

Shanghai is a mahjong solitaire video game developed and published by Activision initially for the Macintosh Classic in July 1986, and then ported to 20 other platforms. However, since both the name "Shanghai" and the game of mahjong solitaire were public domain, several clones were released by different companies under the same title which don't directly relate to this release.

Personal

While perusing the Master System library, I saw this game. I knew it was a mahjong solitaire game from its title, and was curious to see what it had going for it. I played it until I beat it on 2022-02-10 and discovered, sadly, it had nothing more going for it than the basics.

Status

I don't own this game, but have beaten the Master System port.

Review


3	5	4	4	6

Best Version: FM Towns

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

The game competently enforces the rules of mahjong solitaire.
For the 16-bit ports, the graphics are attractive. For the some of the 8-bit ports, they're passable.
Several of the ports have nice Chinese-inspired music including the Lynx, Master System, NES, and PC Engine ports.
The better ports have enjoyable ending animations.

Bad

The game deals the tiles out randomly. While this is probably more true to the game, it results in a large percentage of games being impossible. Later games take advantage of the fact they're using a computer and deal the tiles in matched pairs ensuring that every game is beatable (provided you make all the right moves).
Some of the ports don't simulate the 3D raised effect of the tiles (Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, and NES ports), while others do it very poorly (Apple II, Commodore 64). Also, some ports have such a low resolution, the tiles are difficult to read.
Some ports don't feature background music while playing. A lot don't even feature music at all.

Ugly

For nearly every port, the game is just the most basic possible version of mahjong solitaire. It has only the standard layout with no other options. To make an American analogy, it would be like buying a solitaire game and having it only feature standard Klondike solitaire with no other styles.

Media

Box Art

This box features two Chinese peasants playing mahjong solitaire, which is odd since it's a single-player game. At least it accurately depicts what the game will be like. It was used on most Western PCs: Apple II, Apple IIgs, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Macintosh Classic, MS-DOS, TRS-80 CoCo. This is my favorite art.
The Famicom release recreated the original art, and brighter.
As did the PC Engine release, and more colorful.
The Japanese Game Boy port has an attractive Easter dragon with Chinese imagery.
The US Game Boy port has a plainer dragon with mahjong tiles around it.
This simplistic box is just the kanji for Shanghai with an Eastern dragon in an oval. It was used on most Japanese PCs, but each platform used a different color scheme. (PC88, PC98, X1, X68000)
The Master System release just focuses on the tiles. Both USA and European use this box.
The Lynx created completely unique art which makes the game look like a fantasy action game.
The FM Towns box is an hovering Eastern dragon.
The MSX2 release is a ink brush painting of a dragon with the Shanhai kanji on a green background.