Mahjong Fun Club: Idol Saizensen (ARC)

Mahjong Fun Club: Idol Saizensen

Platform: Arcade Year: 1989 Developer: Video System

Mahjong Fun Club: Idol Saizensen is an adult-themed mahjong game developed and published by Video System. It was one of many by the company, who later stopped making them due to ethical and business reasons, though they did make a family friendly version for the PC Engine. Though the game's title could also be read as Mahjong Fan Club, the game spells it in English as Mahjong Fun Club.

Unlike traditional mahjong which is played among four players, this game is played solely head-to-head, in which the player must beat seven different Japanese idol singers. The goal of the game is to get the opponent into Dobon, the state in mahjong in which the player has no points left. Before each stage, the player can use their accumulated points to buy powerups such as an ability to see the opponent's tiles, as well as powerups to increase your score, increased luck, etc.

The opponents are as follows: Shizuka Kudo (工藤静香), Yui Asaka (浅香唯), Miki Imai (今井美樹), Noriko Sakai (酒井法子), Kumiko Goto (後藤久美子), Sayuri Kokushō (国生さゆり), and finally Atsuko Asano (浅野温子).

Screenshots

The title screen. The item shop before each stage. Stage 1. Stage 3. Stage 5. Stage 7.

Music

Mahjong Fun Club has a decent amount of tracks for a game of its time. Each stage has its own theme, as well as the item shop. Each of the stages is a song from the idol singer you're playing against. However, it is unknown if this is true for the final stage. Like the rest of Video System's mahjong games, there's also a tune when the player is about to lose, usually when the computer player declares Riichi (one tile away from a winning hand.) The Item Shop music plays in the style of traditional Japanese music, but the rest of the songs are in the style of rock. Oddly, the final stage's music is shorter than the rest.

The music is identical in style to Mahjong Natsu Monogatari, which was released around the same time as this game.

Track names are taken from the VGM rip, which was logged in the game's sound test in the service mode.

Recording

#	Title	Composer	Arranger	Length	Listen	Download
01	Item Shop	Kenji Okuda, Naoki Itamura, Tetsuya Oguri	Kenji Okuda, Naoki Itamura, Tetsuya Oguri	0:36		Download
02	Stage 1	Shizuka Kudo	Kenji Okuda, Naoki Itamura, Tetsuya Oguri	2:31		Download
03	Stage 2	Yui Asaka	Kenji Okuda, Naoki Itamura, Tetsuya Oguri	2:12		Download
04	Stage 3	Miki Imai	Kenji Okuda, Naoki Itamura, Tetsuya Oguri	2:35		Download
05	Stage 4	Noriko Sakai	Kenji Okuda, Naoki Itamura, Tetsuya Oguri	2:26		Download
06	Stage 5	Kumiko Goto	Kenji Okuda, Naoki Itamura, Tetsuya Oguri	1:58		Download
07	Stage 6	Kenji Okuda, Naoki Itamura, Tetsuya Oguri	Kenji Okuda, Naoki Itamura, Tetsuya Oguri	3:34		Download
08	Stage 7	Kenji Okuda, Naoki Itamura, Tetsuya Oguri	Kenji Okuda, Naoki Itamura, Tetsuya Oguri	1:17		Download
09	Losing	Kenji Okuda, Naoki Itamura, Tetsuya Oguri	Kenji Okuda, Naoki Itamura, Tetsuya Oguri	0:36		Download

Credits

• Ripper: MusicFox
• Recorder: Doommaster1994
• Game Credits:
  • Uncredited Composer: Kenji Okuda
  • Uncredited Composer: Naoki Itamura
  • Uncredited Composer: Tetsuya Oguri
  • Uncredited Composer: Shizuka Kudo
  • Uncredited Composer: Yui Asaka
  • Uncredited Composer: Miki Imai
  • Uncredited Composer: Noriko Sakai
  • Uncredited Composer: Kumiko Goto

(Mahjong Natsu Monogatari credits, musical comparison; Game lacks credits.)

There are no credits in the game; beating the game rewards the player with the ending cutscene, but there is no staff roll here. Neither are the developers' names hidden in the high scores; instead, Video System is written in hiragana throughout. Video System released Mahjong Natsu Monogatari the same year which features identical music and sound, and so it is most likely the same sound team worked on the two games. Mahjong Natsu Monogatari has a staff roll after the game is finished.

Game Rip

Format	Conversion	Download

The VGM files were logged in the game's test mode, in which music and sound effects can be cycled through.

Audio Devices

The game uses the YM2413 for music.

Releases

Japan Title: 麻雀ファンクラブ アイドル最前線 (Mahjong Fun Club: Idol Frontline) Platform: Arcade Released: 1989-??-?? Publisher: Video System