Mah Jong is a game based on the popular Chinese table game of the same name. It was released by Nintendo for the Famicom and Famicom Disk System, and was one of the earliest titles for both systems. The game allows for two players to play at once, which is two less than the regular Mahjong game. The game was released for the NES in Hong Kong only, featuring an English manual.
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Attempting to seriously review every game I've played #6:
Mah Jong is the first of two Japan-exclusive games released for the Famicom a few months after it launched. The choice not to bring this game to the west makes a lot of sense, as Mahjong is a game with fairly niche appeal outside of East Asia.
This is a competent Riichi Mahjong sim, though it only pits you against a single computer controlled opponent, as opposed to the traditional 3 and 4 player games. The lack of multiplayer is a shame but makes sense given how impractical it would be.
My biggest complaint with this game is how slow it feels compared to other Riichi Mahjong games I've played. Ironically, this is a result of how short rounds are, with the number of tiles you can discard before the round ends being so low that over half of your rounds will likely end in a draw, which results in the round being entirely pointless. This means games can stretch on for upwards of 30 minutes or more, and I've seen the round counter go as high as 12 in a single game. I imagine the game would've benefited from adapting the ruleset more to fit the 2 player format, as in 3 player Mahjong where some tiles are removed from play.
Otherwise though this is a serviceable enough sim for the time, though there really isn't much reason for anyone to return to it. Just play Mahjong Soul or Tenhou.
Mah Jong is the first of two Japan-exclusive games released for the Famicom a few months after it launched. The choice not to bring this game to the west makes a lot of sense, as Mahjong is a game with fairly niche appeal outside of East Asia.
This is a competent Riichi Mahjong sim, though it only pits you against a single computer controlled opponent, as opposed to the traditional 3 and 4 player games. The lack of multiplayer is a shame but makes sense given how impractical it would be.
My biggest complaint with this game is how slow it feels compared to other Riichi Mahjong games I've played. Ironically, this is a result of how short rounds are, with the number of tiles you can discard before the round ends being so low that over half of your rounds will likely end in a draw, which results in the round being entirely pointless. This means games can stretch on for upwards of 30 minutes or more, and I've seen the round counter go as high as 12 in a single game. I imagine the game would've benefited from adapting the ruleset more to fit the 2 player format, as in 3 player Mahjong where some tiles are removed from play.
Otherwise though this is a serviceable enough sim for the time, though there really isn't much reason for anyone to return to it. Just play Mahjong Soul or Tenhou.
I am not even going to pretend to understand this game. Even if I did though, I probably still wish I was playing something else.