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Introduction

Welcome to another one of my FAQs. This particular FAQ covers Jangou. Jangou is a game based off of the once popular game known as mahjong. Mahjong is a very addictive game that involves number analysis and thinking ahead so you can create poker-like hands to take points away from your opponent. It is a bit complicated, but also quite fun.

It's been over twenty years since this game's initial launch back in 1990. And, since then, not a single FAQ has been written for it. Well, there's always a first time for everything, no? Ever since the start of the NES FAQ Completion Project on GameFAQs several years ago - a project designed to get a guide out for every single NES game out there - many people have now been helped because older, rarer, less popular games have gotten guides. So many games, in fact, that all of the North American games have been covered, as have the European games, leaving only those that are homebrews and mostly those released in Japan and the Koreas.

And so, that is how I came upon this game. Thanks for listening to my ramblin'; hope you enjoy!

Basics of the Game

Game Controls

Button	Resultant Effects
D-Pad	Move cursors.
A Button	Confirm decisions.
B Button	Call a "pre-mahjong"/mahjong; cancel decisions.
Start Button	Advance from title screen.
Select Button	See scores and dead-wall tiles.

Playing Mahjong

First, at the title screen, press Start on your controller. In the next menu, fill in whatever you want for what is presumably a date, then press the A Button to continue on to the main menu. There are four options along the bottom - choose the second one. Choose a five-letter name, an easy-to-remember four-digit password, then select "YES". You will appear as #6 in the character list. Then choose the first option of the menu, your character, and then input the four-digit password from before. Choose three other CPU players to play against, then select "YES", and begin the game.

^l3| Firstly, we'll discuss the field layout. Outlined in purple are the various "graveyards" for discarded tiles. In the intersection between these, in the very center of the board, you'll find where you can put the white "Tenpai" sticks to denote that you have Tenpai. More on that later. Finally, outlined in red are the players' hands. Mostly, they are not revealed, but they sometimes are after the game ends.

This will be a four-person mahjong game. In mahjong, your goal is to use the thirteen tiles in your hand, plus one that you can draw or your opponent can discard, to create some various hands. These will obviously be based on two things. First is the tile's value - whether it is "one", "two", whatever. With the Circle and Bamboo suits, this is easy - just count the number of figures on there! With the Chinese and Honor suits, it's a bit more difficult. Your best bet is to look up pictues of the tiles on-line. For example, use Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahjong) for general images. They won't line up exactly with those in the game, but the similarity is obvious enough - in addition to the fact that the game will automatically sort them by suit and value.

As for the various hands, there are four.

Hand Type	Definition	Examples
Pair	Any two tiles that are exactly alike.	Two Bamboo 4's, two blank tiles.
Pung	Any three tiles that are exactly alike.	Three Circle 2's, three Character 1's.
Kong	Any four tiles that are exactly alike.	Four Circle 5's, four Bamboo 4's.
Chow	Sequence of three tiles of same suit.	Bamboo 1-2-3, Circle 4-5-6.

When making the hands, there is but one condition: you are only allowed to use one or zero pairs. That's it, except in the possible case of seven pairs, but whether that's possible in this game is yet to be seen. It is exceedingly rare, after all.

Turns will go cyclically around the board. When you becomes your turn, there is a certain process that goes on.

^sr1|

• Firstly, if you're able to steal an opponent's last drawn tile, the text pictured to the right will appear, and the tiles that will be matched up will have their outlines flashing blue in your hand. If this is the case, then you'll be allowed to draw this hand into your own (confirm with the A Button, decline with the B Button) - however, note that this hand cannot be modified for the rest of the game! Additionally, this seems to nullify your ability to call a "pre-mahjong"; more on that later.
  • The only exception: If the tile you are about to steal will complete a mahjong hand, it will be done automatically - you'll have no choice in whether you want this tile or want to wait for a better one to come around.

• After that point, if you stole a tile, you'll need to discard one from your hand. Use the D-Pad to hover the cursor over one, and press the A Button to confirm.

• If you didn't get the chance to steal a tile (normally your first turn), a tile will be drawn for you. This tile will be found in the lower-rightmost part of the screen, in the rightmost portion of your hand, barring any stolen hands.

^sr2|

• Prior to discarding the tile, there is one more thing you can do. If you press the B Button, you can attempt to call a "pre-mahjong" - to denote this, a string of text like that to the right will appear. This will only work if you have "Tenpai" and have not "stolen" a hand. Tenpai mens that you lack only one tile from having a true mahjong. For example, you have four Pung hands and one other tile; a tile pairing with that other tile should complete a mahjong. When you do this successfully, a white stick, also pictured to the right, will appear next to your discarded tiles.

• If you did not successfully call a "pre-mahjong", or one at all, you will simply loop through this cycle.

• When you successfully do so, you will continue to draw tiles and then discard that same tile on your hand every turn, until one of the tiles you draw or a tile your opponent discards completes your mahjong, if that happens during the rest of the game.

After a match successfully ends, the scores are calculated appropriately. The main basises for this are the rarity of the hands you've gotten, and the "Dora" tiles. If you press Select during the match, you'll get to see it. That tile is one below the value of a bonus tile - for example, if the "Dora" tile is a Bamboo 5, then the bonus tile is a Bamboo 6. Got it?

^sr4| Hands will generally end with everyone has discarded twenty tiles, or someone successfully calls mahjong. If you win a hand, you'll end up having a red string of text in front of your tiles; if you lose, you'll find blue text. These generally indicate a net gain or loss or points, respectively. Gaining points is good, and losing them is bad. You'll begin with 27,000 points each, and they'll be altered as the game goes on.

After enough matches, an overall winner will be determined, and you'll be allowed to continue along with the other players or switch to some others. You'll win if your score is the highest; you lose if your score is the lowest, or, presumably, hits zero.

Strategies/Tips

• Tiles in the suits (Bamboo, Characters, and Circles) tend to be best used for Pungs, Chows, and Kongs, whereas your other "Honor" suit characters are better left for Pairs, if anything.

• Leave yourself with as many options as possible. For example, let's say you're trying to make a Chow. You have the Circles 3, 4, and 6. Instead of hoping, for some arbitrary reason, for a Circle 5 to come down and make an excessively long Chow, look at the hand. We already have 2/3 of the Chow in Circle 3 and 4, but only 1/3 in Circle 6. You may as well toss out the Circle 6 and let the other Circles get completed with Circle 2 or Circle 5, generally twice as likely to happen than just Circle 5.

• Again, leave yourself with plenty of options! This is extremely, extremely important! The AI will never just hand over a win. You need to leave a lot of flexibility in your strategies! In this way, you can open up your "pre-mahjong" call and more easily win the matchesbecause the penalties against your opponent will be steeper.

• You may as well try forming your pairs as early as possible. Don't use suited ones for this, but try to use the "Honor" tile set, which seem to just feature the large Japanese character. This also ties in to discarding tiles that are the least likely to form melds. Sure, it may not always work, but it's better than tarrying over which tile to remove from a more-likely meld!

Credits

In no particular order...

• GForce645:
  • He told me how exactly to access the game from the title menus. >_>

• GameFAQs, Neoseeker, and Supercheats:
  • For being the most amazing FAQ-hosting sites I know.

• CJayC, SBAllen, and Devin Morgan:
  • General sucking up to the GameFAQs admins. =P

• Me (KeyBlade999):
  • For making this FAQ. =P

• You, the reader:
  • For hopefully enjoying this FAQ.

Version History

• Final:
  • First, and likely only, version of this FAQ.
  • Time: 10:03 PM 3/9/2013.

Legalities

This FAQ may not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright.

All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders.

ｩ 2013 Daniel Chaviers (a.k.a. KeyBlade999).

If you would wish to contact me concerning this or my other FAQs, use this e-mail: keyblade999.faqs@gmail.com, or PM (Private Message) me on the GameFAQs message boards.

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