Taisen Hot Gimmick Kairakuten

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TAISEN HOT GIMMICK - KAIRAKUTEN

PSIKYO 1998

Description:

Kairakuten, while being the second installment of the Hot Gimmick series, is also the name of a popular Japanese comic magazine for men, which this game is loosely based upon. As a result, all the illustration and artwork in this game are drawn by the various artists that also draw for Kairakuten the magazine. One of these artist includes a guy by the name of Range Murata who drew the very nice promo art that appears on one of the flyers below as well as on my main page :)

Mahjong-wise, the game is fairly identical to part one: same rules, same items, same difficulty, even the hidden characters are exactly the same. Punishment by continuous hits after defeating each opponent, which is what the series is best known for, also makes the return as well.

The only difference is your opponents. This time around there are more opponents to challenge as well as a new look visually. Unlike the first game, each character is drawn in a more cartoonist and anime manner, to reflect the art found in the actually magazine. I, for one, don't like it too much. Maybe its just me. It would have been nicer if they used the same artist as in part one, Jun Tsukasa.

One thing that should be noted about the Hot Gimmick series is it's scoring. Winning by Tsumo only multiplies your hand score by 2x. This is half as much as you would get if you won by Ron as non-dealer and 1/3 as much if you won by Ron as dealer. It pains me each time when I have to win by Tsumo. Trying to avoid Tsumo can be even worse because you can end up with Furiten tiles that can screw up your game and it can also not allow you to declare Ron at all. Tsumo in this game sucks. It's annoying but tolerable. Just one flaw in an otherwise great series.

Difficulty: 2/5
Artwork: 3/5

TAISEN HOT GIMMICK - KAIRAKUTEN
MINI FAQ

Who Starts First?

Dices are rolled at the start of each match. If the dices add up to an odd number, you are dealer. If it adds up to an even number, the opponent is dealer.

How to Win/Lose a Match?

To defeat one opponent, you need to either win 3 rounds against her or decrease the opponent's score to zero or less. Whichever comes first.

The only way you can lose the match is if your score goes to zero or less first.

Number of Opponents:

12.

Your Score at Opening Round:

1000.

Points Gain/Lose when Tenpai/No-Ten:

1000.

You gain 1000 points as well as win the round if you have Tenpai, and the opponent has No-Ten at the end of the round.

Points Lose when Reach:

1000.

When you Reach and discard your unwanted tile, the game automatically takes over and draws and discards for you. It does so until there is a tile for you to go out. You can go out at that time or ignore it and wait for another tile if you want or get the chance.

Scoring Multiplier:

Type B.

Number of turns per player per round:

18.

Are there Items?

Yes, 6 total.

What does Each Item Do?

Item A. This item lets you discard any tiles in your opening hand and replace them with other random tiles. This item can only be used at the start of the round.

Item B. This item changes your opening hand into a more complete and rarer hand. This item can only be used at the start of the round.

Item C. This item changes your opening hand into a more complete and rarer hand. This item is better than Item B. This item can only be used at the start of the round.

Item D. This item changes your opening hand into a more complete and rarer hand. This item is better than Item C. This item can only be used at the start of the round.

Item E. This item changes your opening hand into a more complete and rarer hand. This item is better than Item D. This item can only be used at the start of the round.

Item F. This item makes the next tile, after declaring Reach, into the winning tile you need to go out. This item can only be used after declaring Reach.

Points for Items are not received by what you score for your hand but by the +400 POW bonus that you receive randomly when drawing tiles during the round. Each POW you get gives you 400 pts that can be used to buy items. You also get an additional 1000 pts if you continue the game after losing a match.

Can you Bet?

No.

Are there any Secrets?

Yes. There are 3 hidden opponents in the game. Each are characters from previous Psikyo titles.

	Miko from Sengoku Blade To play against Miko, beat the 3 opponents in the 1st character selection screen without punishing them. When the second character selection screen shows up, type M, then K. Miko should show up on screen after for you to challenge her.
	Marion from Gunbird I and II To play against Marion, beat the 3 opponents in the 2nd character selection screen without punishing them. When the third character selection screen shows up, type M, then G. Marion should show up on screen after for you to challenge her.
	Kain from Sengoku Blade To play against Kain, beat the 3 opponents in the 3rd character selection screen without punishing them. When the fourth character selection screen shows up, type M, then D. Kain should show up on screen after for you to challenge him.

To my knowledge, she is not a challengeable opponent. I know she appears in the opening and on flyers, but she still does not appear to be challengeable. There are only 3 hidden opponents and those are the 3 mentioned above. She basically seems to be a promotional type character that does not appear in the actual game.

Dip Switch:

To access the dip switch, or Test mode as the game calls it, press F2.

Press A to move the cursor down, B to move it up, and Start to select.

Test Mode Screen	Setting Description
Screen Test	Test Screen
Input Test	Test Control Buttons
Acoustics Test	Test Sound Effects, Voices, and Music
Hard's Initial Set-Up	Adjust Hard Settings
Game's Initial Set-Up	Adjust Game Settings
Initial Set-Up Default	Restore back to default settings. Note that the default settings in MAME is slightly different from the actual default setting of the game.
Test End	Exit Test Mode

Hard's Initial Set-Up Screen	Setting Description
1P Monitor Screen Flip	Flip screen
2P Monitor Screen Flip	Flip screen
Credits	Adjust Coins per Credit. Default is 1/1. 1 coin for 1 credit.
Monitors and Link-Up	Adjust monitor display and link-up. Default is 2 monitors display and link-up, allowing for versus battle between the two monitors. Second option is 2 monitor display but no link-up. The third options turns off the second monitor. Note that the game runs much smoother with this option selected as you get a big boast in FPS. Plus game speed is not slowed down at all.
Demo Sound	Adjust demo sound. Default is on.
Menu Return	Return to Test Mode menu.

Game's Initial Set-Up Screen	Setting Description
Player's Starting Pts.	Adjust the amount of points that you start off with at the beginning of every match. Default in MAME is 1000 points. Actual default setting is 2000 points.
Computer's Starting Pts.	Adjust the amount of points that the opponent starts off with at the beginning of every match. Can choose from Few, Normal, Lots, or Whole Lot. Default in MAME is Few. Actual default setting is Normal.
Vs. Battle Starting Pts.	Adjust the amount of points that each player starts off with at the beginning of a Vs. match. Default in MAME is 10000 points. Actual default setting is 20000 points.
Difficulty Level	Adjust game difficulty. Can choose from Easy, Normal, Hard, or Very Hard. Default in MAME is Easy. Actual default setting is Normal.
Richi After	On default, tiles are drawn and discarded automatically by the computer after declaring Reach until you receive a tile that you can go out with.. If the 2nd option is chosen, you must manually draw and discard after Reaching.
Undressing	Choose Yes for nudity or No for none. You can't punish the opponent if you choose No. Default is Yes.
Sparrow Power Technique	??? Default is Yes.
Menu Return	Return to Test Mode menu.

Dual Screen to Single Screen:

If you want to get rid of the dual screen display, play the game using MAME32 Plus. It can be found at their homepage which is located by the following link:

http://mameplus.emu-france.com

In this version of MAME, dual screen support is disabled within the Psikyo driver. As a result, only one screen is displayed when playing the game. There may also be other MAME builts that eliminates the dual screen problem as well.

There is also an option in the dip switch, as mentioned above, that allows you to turn off the 2nd screen. Though that doesn't get rid of the 2nd screen as it is still displayed, except that now the screen is blank.