The Nintendo Switch has had its toes dipped in the sea of mahjong/mahjong solitaire games in Japan for a fair while now. In a surprise international release, however, D3 Publisher has thrown their hat into the ring with Enchanting Mahjong Match. The primary selling point of this one is that you can unlock pictures of gorgeous anime women as you progress through the game.
Graphics
Well, I suppose I can’t say there wasn’t any effort placed into the artwork. The anime-esque images are colorful and elaborate, for sure; what exactly is the point of any of this, though? I don’t recall using images of attractive women effectively lured guys into buying, say, Sexy Poker. Enchanting Mahjong Match doesn’t even go that far. None of the pictures are anything R-Rated. They’re just random characters with no familiar IP attached to them.
Audio
This is one of those games that has a very limited soundtrack. The bulk of your game time is to be spent listening to a stereotypical Chinese melody that gets tiresome after a while. Naturally, this would be bound to get tiresome after going through several levels. I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt to add a bit more music variety, especially given the huge amount of levels there are in the game itself.
Gameplay
Mahjong solitaire is a game in which you pick out tiles of matching symbols without there being any interrupting tiles in the way. In this particular title, you play levels that are each set under a time limit (with exceptions having you only perform a small amount of moves). Each level plays out as a quick game of mahjong solitaire, and you’re able to use either button controls or the Switch’s touchscreen to clear the tiles. The touchscreen is actually my preferred method since it’s more instant that way.
The overall execution of the gameplay is straightforward, but effective. There is also a lot of levels to play through considering the $4.99 price tag. That said, there are no multiplayer options nor does the game itself radically change up every so often. There are always different tile layouts, but no new mechanics are added to the mix with exceptions being tiles that need to be cleared through specific conditions.
Verdict
Fans of games like these may find something to like in Enchanted Mahjong Match, albeit it may not be the fact that you can unlock random images of anime women. The game has a lot of levels to play through, but it doesn’t feel like there’s enough to really entice players to keep at it. Sure, you could try to clear the levels faster to earn more stars and see the anime pictures more clearly…but they’re just pictures. Detailed pictures, but pictures nevertheless.