Janshin Densetsu - Quest of Jongmaster © 1994 Aicom.
A mahjong game with Role-Playing-Game elements and selectable items.
Runs on the SNK "Neo-Geo MVS" hardware.
Game ID: NGM-048
[SNK MVS Neo-Geo Controls]
2 players - 4 buttons per player (2 usables).
Released in June 1994.
The title of this game translates from Japanese as 'Jong God Legend'.
Janshin Densetsu appears to be a complete ripoff of 1991's "Mahjong Quest" by Taito. The basic premise is the same : a girl in an RPG-style format walking along a world map and encountering enemies which are battled through mahjong matches. The enemy encounter screens have identical borders and the enemies are drawn in the same comic-anime style. Before each mahjong match, there are selectable spells that can be bought with stored MP, the screen and spells being identical in both cases. The player also has a Sword and Shield which can be activated during a match which give the player special abilities. The in-game text is virtually identical. The mahjong tiles themselves look almost exactly the same save for the backs; the mahjong game screen itself is almost exactly the same. Even upon defeating an enemy, they are turned into a scantily-clad woman as does your character when she is defeated. The only major difference between the two seems to be that "Mahjong Quest" is controlled with a mahjong control panel and Jyanshin Densetsu is controlled with the MVS Neo-Geo joystick. The next Aicom game on SNK Neo-Geo MVS is 1995's "Pulstar", shares lots of similarities with "R*Type" as well.
CONSOLES:
SNK Neo-Geo CD (1995)
NEC PC-Engine Arcade CD (1995)
Game's ROM.
Machine's picture.