Shanghai II: Dragon’s Eye
Introduction
Shanghai II: Dragon’s Eye was developed and published by Activision, originally released for home computers in 1990 before reaching the Genesis in 1991 through a Japan-exclusive port by Home Data and a separate North American port by Activision itself in 1994, as the sequel to the original 1986 Shanghai. The game is built around Mahjong solitaire, tasking players with clearing a pyramid-shaped stack of Mahjong tiles by matching identical pairs of exposed tiles, with the sequel adding new tile layouts, an expanded scoring system, and options to customize board shape and difficulty beyond the fixed structure of the original game. Its slower, more contemplative pace stood in sharp contrast to the fast-paced action and platforming games that dominated most of the Genesis library, offering a genuinely different kind of puzzle experience built around pattern recognition and careful planning rather than reflexes. Shanghai II: Dragon’s Eye helped establish Mahjong solitaire as a recognizable puzzle genre for Western console audiences, and it remains a respected, if quieter, entry in the Genesis’s puzzle game catalog.
↑ = up
→ = right
↓ = down
← = left
Z = A Button
X = B Button
A = X Button
S = Y Button
Q = L Button
E = R Button
Shift = Select
Enter = Start
