Game:

Tokimeki Memorial (1994)

Duration: 12:32

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One game in the once-upon-a-time popular "Graduation" series from Headroom and NEC Avenue (and Tenky/others, etc). The main series is a teaching sim, though you train girls and happen to be a male high school teacher...so it's still sorta a girl-pleasing game. This game, however, is one of many miscelaneous titles and spin-offs. Published by the good folks at KSS and developed by Headroom in 1994, "Sotsugyou Bangai Hen: Nee Mahjong Shiyo!" (translated as "Graduation Extra Volume: Hey, It's Mahjong!") takes four player mahjong and integrates it with lighter breeding/raisng aspects of the main franchise.

Featuring the five main ladies of the series, the game has your standard Mahjong game options (Free Play, Various Options, Main Campaign). You go through three years of high school while playing Mahjong and witnessing events. The catch is that, as you are still their teacher, you are still in charge of raising character attributes on the side and the girls who grow most must be chosen to play Mahjong. At the beginning of each month, you choose three of the five girls and what activities they'll participate in which alter their stats in different ways, while the other two characters partake in more passive activites. As the object is to improve the overall statistics of as many of your students as possible, you will have to cycle through the characters so you don't neglect any girl too much.

While this sounds good in theory, the game is really drawn-out as a result. Four player Mahjong can be a considerably more slow-paced game than two player Mahjong and as the game never changes throughout the months (except for the music, which is nice and changes occasionally) and it can take half an hour or more just to clear a single month, this game is for those that really love both Mahjong and the Graduation franchise. The game does feature pretty good/audio visuals for this type of game on the system (complete with each girl having their own unique voices) and the ability to resume your progress from three different points does improve the game's prospects considerably as you can play leisurely in small doses, but those looking for a Mahjong game with a faster pace will not find it here and the game seems to cheat a little when it comes to drawing (since it can't be outright proven however, this is merely speculation). SBH:NMS does feature automatic hints.

A few more minor tips for today; this footage shows a few more things you can do in Mahjong besides basic Chi/Pon calls and dual set Riichi. Riichi can be obtained in many other ways with different suits. For example, you can also create a winning hand by having four Chi, Pon, Kan, or combination of said matches, provided you attempt to form a two tile pair to declare Riichi. Winning in this fashion is easier by taking advantage of opponent's discarded tiles, but requires you to "open your hand", showing what pairs you have but increasing your odds of getting what you need. Skilled players can calculate your moves in this fashion and attempt to limit what tiles they put in their discard, but this also lowers their odds of getting what they need. Making moves based on your initial hand is important in getting a winning hand or minimizing your loses if things don't go as planned.

Enjoy.