{"id":264,"date":"2019-02-11T01:21:11","date_gmt":"2019-02-11T01:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mahjong.wtf\/?p=264"},"modified":"2019-02-13T08:02:47","modified_gmt":"2019-02-13T08:02:47","slug":"the-mahjong-lite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mahjong.wtf\/?p=264","title":{"rendered":"The Mahjong Lite"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Mahjong Lite (The\u9ebb\u96c0Lite) is a cost-reduced version of The Mahjong for the Nintendo Switch. Unfortunately, I don’t have the full version, only the 200\u5186 Lite version, so I can’t speak to its full feature set and experience. Before I get into the specifics of this game, let’s talk about the history of the franchise a little bit. Back on the original PlayStation, D3 Publisher had a software lineup called the Simple Series, which was all budget software, usually priced at 1500\u5186. One of those releases was The \u9ebb\u96c0, but also included games, such as shogi, go, chess, and rudimentary action, RPG, and sports games, some of which included licensed characters from Bandai and Sanrio. In addition to games, they also released software outside of gaming under the Simple Series brand, such as one title on how to drive, and another on acupuncture. 1<\/a><\/sup>Wikipedia<\/span> New games continue to be released in Japan for the PlayStation 4, Vita, and mobile devices. I’ve got at least a few of these, so I’ll try to get some additional photos and reviews up soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve included a guide to navigating the menus at the bottom of the article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In this version you’ll mostly be sticking to freeplay mode (\u30d5\u30ea\u30fc\u5bfe\u6226). The rule variants are basic but allow for most of the ‘house rule’ variants you may wish to play with. Selecting each option opens a sub-menu that shows you all the available options, which is nicer than the typical scroll-until-you-find-right-option-maybe system. With the rules set how you want them, select the option at the bottom-center, inside the gold circle. The next screen should be the player select. I don’t have the Switch with me, but I think the ‘Y’ button starts the game from here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gameplay here is more on the ‘simulation’ end of the spectrum, rather than the ‘arcade’ side. Hands feel like they come together more often than pure simulation games, like Pro Mahjong Kiwame or Mahjong Fight Club, and the AI isn’t particularly difficult. It’s a good choice if you just want to play a fun, relaxing game of mahjong after a stressful day where you don’t want to feel bullied by game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One unique feature of the game is that each call (pon, chii, ron, etc.) are all mapped to different buttons. I think this is to help prevent accidental button presses, but if you’re not paying attention, you might accidentally make a call you didn’t mean to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I had the most fun playing the tournament mode, which is similar to Mahjong Fight Club. In M1 League, you start at the bottom of the ladder in C3. Depending on how you do in each game, you’ll win or lose points. After accumulating enough points you’ll move onto C2, C1, then up to B3, and so on. Unfortunately, all you can do in the Lite version is C3. Once you move onto C2 you’re told to upgrade to the full version to unlock the rest of the ladder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The full version also has online play, I believe, but since I don’t have the full version or a Switch Online account, I wasn’t able to test that out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you already have a few hundred yen kicking around in your Japanese eShop account, it’s not a bad deal. I certainly wouldn’t go through the hassle of adding money to a Japanese account just for the Lite version. I can’t say for sure if the full version is worth the 2000\u5186, but they do give you the option to upgrade from the Lite version to the full release for 1800\u5186, which is nice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n