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TAISEN HOT GIMMICK
- KAIRAKUTEN |
PSIKYO 1998 |



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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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. |
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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.
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