Dragon's Eye Plus: Shanghai III (SMD)
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- For other games in the series, see Shanghai. For PC Engine CD version, see Shanghai III: Dragon's Eye (PCCD).
Dragon's Eye Plus: Shanghai III is a puzzle game developed and published by Home Data. It is a continuation of the popular puzzle game Shanghai, and has two game modes. The game is one of two Mega Drive games by Home Data, the other being Shougi no Hoshi (SMD). Though the game was only released in Japan, it is completely in English.
In Shanghai, Chinese mahjong tiles are stacked and the player must match all 144 tiles to clear the stage. To do this, the player must match "open" tiles; tiles which are not blocked by other tiles. This mode has two modes; Free and Tournament. Free mode allows you to select your preferred layout, as well as a hint option to help the player if they're stuck. The Tournament mode removes the help feature, as well as requiring the player to beat the stages in a certain order.
Dragon's Eye plays similar to Shanghai, but with a twist. The game is played by two players; the Dragon Slayer, and the Dragonmaster, and there is a "well" called the Dragon Display. The Dragonmaster attempts to summon a powerful dragon, and does this by trying to fill the Dragon Display of mahjong tiles. There are a few tiles placed on the board before the game starts, which the game's manual explains are the heart and limbs of the dragon. The Dragon Slayer is to stop the summoning, and does this by trying to clear the well of mahjong tiles, though they also need to aim for destroying the heart and limbs of the dragon. At the end of the game, both the Dragon Slayer and Dragonmaster's scores are compared, and whoever has the highest score wins. The end of the game is determined by the player getting rid of all 144 tiles with space left in the Dragon Display.
The game has some extra features such as hints and tile graphics. This game can also be played by two players by both two controllers, as well as both players huddling around a single controller.
Dragon's Eye Plus: Shanghai III was made by a small development team; it was produced by Kenshin Nii (also featured on the back of the game's packaging), programmed by Takashi "Organ" Ogawa, graphics by Yoshihiro Jinnai and Miki Kiyota, and the audio by three members of Home Data's Eurythm sound team (see below).
The game was slated for a North American release by Activision (who goes by Mediagenic in this game), but Tom Sloper and Bill Swarz had a negative reaction to the game, and instead contracted Brian A. Rice Inc. to make a new game for the Genesis, Shanghai II: Dragon's Eye (GEN).
Contents
Screenshots
Music
Dragon's Eye Plus: Shanghai III has a soundtrack by Yoshihiko Atarashi, which appears to be his only credit in a video game. However, since Home Data rarely put credits in their games, it is possible he worked on more titles for the company. The PC Engine CD version of the game uses the soundtrack, albeit in higher fidelity.
The musical genres vary, but most of it is rock-based, with a few floaty-sounding themes. Each mode of the game has two pieces of selectable background music, as well as one unique theme that can be chosen. However, most of the in-game tunes tend to get annoying rather quickly, as they each span around 30 to 40 seconds, and each game of Shanghai and Dragon's Eye take a while to complete.
Like Shougi no Hoshi, the game's music was arranged on the Mega Drive by Junichi Ueda, and used Sega's SMPS sound engine for the music. However, this game uses the 68000 version of the driver, while Shougi no Hoshi used the Z80 version. The music was most likely entered in assembly macros on a PC-9801.
The track names come from the VGM rip. The last track, "Unknown Track", may have possibly been used in the Dragon's Eye mode if both players score the same amount of points resulting in a tie, but no jingle is played there.
Recording
| # | Title | Composer | Arranger | Length | Listen | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Opening Theme | Yoshihiko Atarashi | Junichi Ueda | 0:27 | Download | |
| 02 | Game Start | Yoshihiko Atarashi | Junichi Ueda | 0:04 | Download | |
| 03 | Main BGM (Shanghai) | Yoshihiko Atarashi | Junichi Ueda | 1:14 | Download | |
| 04 | BGM 2 | Yoshihiko Atarashi | Junichi Ueda | 1:45 | Download | |
| 05 | BGM 3 | Yoshihiko Atarashi | Junichi Ueda | 1:16 | Download | |
| 06 | Game Clear | Yoshihiko Atarashi | Junichi Ueda | 0:18 | Download | |
| 07 | Main BGM (Dragon's Eye) | Yoshihiko Atarashi | Junichi Ueda | 3:23 | Download | |
| 08 | Dragon Master Wins | Yoshihiko Atarashi | Junichi Ueda | 0:09 | Download | |
| 09 | Dragon Slayer Wins | Yoshihiko Atarashi | Junichi Ueda | 0:11 | Download | |
| 10 | Unknown Track | Yoshihiko Atarashi | Junichi Ueda | 0:12 | Download |
Credits
- Ripper: MusicFox
- Recorder: Doommaster1994
- Game Credits:
- Music: Eurythm
- Music Direction: Hiroshi Endo credited as 遠藤 宏
- Music Compose: Yoshihiko Atarashi credited as 新 嘉彦
- Music Program: Junichi Ueda credited as 上田 順一
(Source)
The game's credits are interesting; the game's ROM has a full staff list where the developers all use aliases. Because the game does not appear to have an actual ending sequence, these credits are inaccessible in-game. The game's ROM credits the music to Eurythm, which was the name of Home Data's in-house sound team, which would eventually leave the company.
The game's manual not only has credits, but it also credits the real names of the developers. Among the manual's credits are specific audio credits for direction, composition, and sound programming. The manual's credits also have a few developer portraits, although sadly, none of them are the audio staff.
Game Rip
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Audio Devices
The game uses the YM2612 for music and sound effects. The game uses the 68000 version of Sega's SMPS sound driver.
Releases
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