Jongbou

a.k.a. ジャンボウ / 雀棒

published by K Amusement Leasing in 1987-07-18, developed by Micronics, running on Nintendo Entertainment System

type: action/reflex
genre: Mahjong, Breakout-like
perspective: bird's-eye
player options: single player

languages: jpn

Personal review

Jongbou is a mix of breakout-style action game and mahjong game. It is a port of an arcade game which was released in the same year in Japan. Mixing these two games is very interesting and it could have been a cool game. You can win a level by completing a mahjong or clear the screen from all blocks. Most blocks are mahjong stones which you can grab with your paddle to build a mahjong row. As I said this is a very interesting concept. But there is so too much wrong with it. The ball moves much too fast too soon. You won't have time to complete a mahjong. The ball also bounces of very strangely from the blocks. Generally it is much too difficult. And there is no variety. After three levels you have seen everything the game has to offer. No point in playing through all the 36 stages. The arcade version had some pictures of cute semi-erotic anime-girls as a bonus after finishing a level. Understandably this didn't make it into the Famicom version, but that only adds to the dullness after a while.