Shanghai
Game Boy
Developer: HAL Laboratories Publisher: HAL Laboratories
By: GammaBetaAlpha
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Table of Contents
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How to Play [HOWT]
Passwords [PASS]
Donations/Amazon [DONT]
Contact Info [CONT]
Credits [CRED]
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How to Play
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[HOWT]
Shanghai is a video game based upon the classic Mahjong Solitaire game.
For those who do not know how it works, Mahjong Solitaire has 144 tiles.
The tiles are specially arranged, with most of the tiles on the bottom, with
three more layers of tiles piled up towards the center. Shanghai uses a specific
Mahjong Solitaire formation called the 'Turtle formation'. Each mahjong tile is
face up.
The goal of the game is to clear out every tile from the stack. To do
so, you need to select a face-up tile, and then select another tile with the
exact same face to 'clear' the two off the stack. However, there is a formidable
restriction that applies: a tile first needs to be visible (it cannot be
directly under a tile on a higher layer), and it needs to be able to move either
left or right (it is irrelevant as to whether it can move 'up' or 'down'). If it
does not satisfy both of these conditions, it cannot be cleared until it does.
Hence, to win the game, you must slowly clear out the higher layers of
tiles and the outer tiles on the lowest stack. This will cause the tile layers
to slowly recede to the lowest layer and the center of the tiles.
Gameplay ends either when you run out of tiles to match or when you have
cleared out all the tiles.
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Mahjong Solitaire in Shanghai
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Given its early release on a fairly primitive system, Shanghai does not
have the points system that many Mahjong Solitaire software programs have. What
it does offer is the ability to play both with the original Mahjong tiles
(Chinese characters) or use tiles that have the Roman Alphabet, numbers, and a
few other characters (arrow, #, star), the latter of which may be far easier to
handle than the former.
Shanghai also uses only the Turtle formation in the game, with no option
for any other formation. There is also no 'free tile' option. If you run out of
tiles to match while there are still tiles on the board, there is _no_ option to
shuffle them until you finally clear the board.
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Controls
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Select - Call up the Options Screen
A - Confirm a Choice
B - Cancel a Choice
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Options
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New Game - Start a new game
Hint - Highlights a pair of tiles you can clear
Playback - Undo the last turn
Face - Change between traditional Chinese characters and Roman letters
BGM - Change between one of three sound tracks
When starting a new game, you have the option to input a three letter
name. HAL is the default, after HAL Laboratories, who developed and published
the game. Certain names, however, will give you certain effects.
ZAP - Adds a new sound effect
MAN - Reduces the number of tile faces down to 9
REV - Flips all tiles over to the blank side. You can flip a tile over to see
what it has on it and memorise it.
STF - View Credits
I don't really care too much about donations, but if you are feeling
generous, feel free to send one via PayPal to gammabetaalphafaqs AT gmail DOT
com
Alternatively, if you ever order any items from Amazon.com, go to the
link below. You do not have to buy anything right away, but (if you do not clear
browser cookies often) any items you buy within the next 90 days will count as a
'referral order' to me, meaning I get anywhere from 4-6% as a referral/affiliate
payment of what you ordered (ie. order $100 worth of stuff, I get $4-6 from
Amazon.com)
Other than that, considering this FAQ is for an obscure old game, if you
have any other obscure old games that you do not play anymore, consider sending
them to me (I will even pay the shipping cost!). I write FAQs for plenty of
obscure old games with no FAQs, and having a physical copy of the game (and even
better, a manual) is superior to not. You can email me if interested at
gammabetaalphafaqs AT gmail DOT com
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Contact Info
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[CONT]
Although I believe I have found everything there is to find in this
game, there is occasionally the possibility of some super secret level in an
obscure game that was never found because it was too obscure, or the like. If
you have anything that you feel needs to be includes, feel free to email me at
gammabetaalphafaqs AT gmail DOT com
If you have any other information to contribute or notice any errors,
again, shoot me a notice at gammabetaalphafaqs AT gmail DOT com
If you wish to host this guide, or use information from it, consider the
FAQ semi-public domain: you can host it without asking and derive information
from it word-for-word if you wish, but keep the document unchanged if hosting it
and give credit where due if using information
