Super Mario Mahjong!
Yakuman DS is a Japan-only Super Mario Bros. game (made by the same people at Nintendo who make the Mario Kart and Mario Party games) that released on the Nintendo DS on March 31th, 2005, then released again on September 14th, 2006, to have Wi-Fi support.
The premise is that you choose between Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, and Toad to play various rounds of Riichi Mahjong with numerous opponents with different playstyles over the course of 23 stages from four courses of rising difficulty.
A full playthrough can be found on YouTube here
.
Tropes:
- Attack! Attack! Attack!: Koopa Troopa is said to be highly aggressive for an opponent and focus on winning as fast as possible with chii and pon.
- The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: The tougher computer opponents have ridiculously good luck. The AI performs Double Reach (only possible when your opening draw is one away from a winning hand) numerous times, often multiple times in a single match, not to mention a suspiciously high rate of Tenhou/Chiihou hands (i.e. when your opening draw is a winning hand. Tenhou and Chiihou are basically the equivalent of being dealt a Royal Flush in poker). More details on Double Reach, Tenhou, and Chiihou here.
- Difficulty Levels: Of the four courses: Elementary, Intermediate, Advanced, and Expert (initally locked).
- Final Boss: Surprisngly, while Bowser does serve as a formidable rival, it is Toadsworth who serves as the final opponent to be unlocked in the Expert levels.
- Foil: Princess Peach and Princess Daisy; while Peach will go on defense to prevent losing and never declare riichi, Daisy on the contrary will use riichi to try and win if possible.
- Glass Cannon: Toad has stats in every place but Defense.
- The Goomba: Goomba, natch, given that it's said he doesn't understand mahjong very well as well has having the lowest states of any opponent.
- Guide Dang It!: If you aren't too well versed in higher-scoring mahjong hands, winning all 23 levels will not be easy.
- Helpful Mook: Lakitu serves as your Mahjong guide.
- Jack of All Stats:
- Mario is shown to have the most balanced stats if you're not playing as him.
- Downplayed with Birdo; while her stats are balanced, she puts a little more effort on Skill.
- Lightning Bruiser: Waluigi, Yoshi, and Toadette are very speedy, and the latter puts all of her efforts on winning.
- Luck-Based Mission: Given that winning a round of Mahjong does already require an aspect of luck, passing the tougher courses may be a difficult task.
- Mighty Glacier: Bowser Jr. has high Skill with his lowest stat being his Speed, appropriate given that his gimmick is to wait for someone to throw out an unexpected tile.
- Poor, Predictable Rock: Diddy Kong's and Donkey Kong's primary focuses are to try to find any way to respectfully achieve Chiitoitsu (Seven Pairs) and Honiisou (Half Flush) or Chinitsu (Flush).
- Smarter Than You Look: Despite having a Dumb Muscle reputation as a boss in the other Mario games, Petey Pirhana here is actually quite skilled at Mahjong and will attempt to boost his yaku score as high as it can go.
- Sore Loser: The characters will visibly moan and grow upset upon losing.Luigi: I'm-a surprise myself!Mario: Mamma mia!Princess Daisy: Ohhh, brutal!Princess Peach: I can't believe I lost!Toadette: Poor me!Toadsworth: Oh no!Wario: I'll get you next time!
