Game:

Princess Quest (1998)

Duration: 39:55

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Whoopee... a mildly ecchi mahjong "RPG"... why is this rated 18+? "Mahjong Sword: Princess Quest Gaiden" is fairly rare and one of the late PC Engine CD titles, developed and published by Naxat Soft in 1995. It is a port of the PC-98 game, "Mahjong Sword: Princess Quest" which was released a few months prior and the game is an off-shoot to the quirky PC-98 Board / Card RPG, "KuruKuru Party: Princess Quest" (くるくる☆Party ～プリンセス・クエスト～ -- it takes place in the same land of Audores) which, in turn, is based off TOMBOY's somewhat obscure early 90s TRPG "Princess Quest". The games are not related to the later-released "Princess Quest" for Sega Saturn. For what it's worth, the game is a great adaptation of the PC-98 game but is censored and removes the more risque "humiliation" scenes, which is A-OK by me. However, as the title is advertised as 18+, the video is age-restricted.

The story is fairly simple: A travelling warrior princess from a far-off land named Rutia has come to the kingdom of Audores after her father tells her the tale of a legendary blade known as the "Mahjong Sword" which is housed somewhere in the region and said to grant the owner any wish they desire. Upon her arrival, she discovers that there is some truth to this story but learns that she has to do battle with other princesses from other lands before she can uncover the secret of the sword. Each lady's latent powers can only be fully portrayed through Mahjong battles, and the blade is only passed down to women. Why? Because... it's a video game! Between a kung-fu priestess, chibi magical girl, haughty rich princess who thinks money solves everything and more, the cast is a varied (if not stereotypical) bunch.

MS:PQG is one of the few Super CD-ROM titles that also requires the "Arcade Card" to run AND utilizes a six button controller, and the game uses this extra processing power to cut down on load times and also illustrate high resolution images that actually have the ability to scroll in different directions. The in-game graphics are also, surprisingly, very nice for this type of game with detailed, well-animated sprites and clean mahjong tiles (each character has their own tile designs) and the music, what little there is, is also pretty nice. While it's not the prettiest game to grace the system, it does at least show signs of being a late release for the system. It makes me wonder how cool an SD fighter would've been for this system using this game's designs and fluid sprite animations.

The gameplay itself is your typical Mahjong but with several quest-worthy caveats and it is NOT the most user-friendly title. Players can randomly pick up gold while exploring the small hub map and buy items from Rize that randomly pop up in the shop to give you an edge against the computer. These items range from increasing your attack / defense for a hand to healing, key items, raising your max HP to even lowering your opponent's level... you can also rarely come across a secret item which gives you a one-time "benefit" of seeing Rize leave little to the imagination (you can also challenge her to battle to get some "customer service", but she is as hard if not harder to beat than the final boss... at least you only need to win one hand against her). You're going to need these items too, especially the level altering one... it's not very often when Japanese players call a game very difficult, but that applies to this one and the RNG is nearly unbearable if you don't utilize some items after the first or second opponent.

The game has a few more surprises as well such as two unlockable mini-games, an art gallery, a game-clear Karaoke Box and a hidden character (Este Lord, a demon who can also be considered an alternative final boss). You can also use a code to change your hand to whatever you want, which is a surefire way to win if you can't be bothered to play the game as intended. The actual gameplay is challenging not just because of the RNG, but because you have to manually make your own declarations between dropping and evaluating (standby) which is allocated to different buttons (Tsumo, Ron, Kan, Reach, etc.). You also don't lose from running out of money, but by taking all an opponent's HP (which increases as you advance... they can heal too) with damage dealt by different hands -- each character has three "dress" pieces which are destroyed every 1/3 damage or so you deal, and Rutia's attack animations are random. Most characters have conversations in-between which can impact gameplay with choices, new destinations, hints to secrets, or more... though they can be skipped if you deal powerful blows to a character (illustrated in this video).

Be sure to get a gold key right away to open any treasure drops! This is a vid showing different things. Enjoy.

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