Taisen Hot Gimmick 3 Service Mode
What appears below is an English translation of the service menus of Psikyo’s Taisen Hot Gimmick 3 Digital Surfing (彩京の「対戦ホットギミック３デジタ ルサーフィン」), running on a Psikyo 4 arcade amusement system. These translations are made available in the hope that they will be useful. I make no representations about accuracy or fitness for any purpose. No responsibility is accepted for any damage caused directly or indirectly by these translations.
Test Mode
To start fiddling with settings, hit the test button while the game is in attract mode. You don’t need to reset – it should immediately display the test mode menu shown to the right. In English, it would say:
– Test Mode –
Display Test
Input Test
Sound Test
Hardware Settings
Game Settings
Initialise Settings
Leave Test
A=Down B=Up Start=Select
Most of the menus are pretty good – there’s a sensible title at the top, a set of obvious choices, and a line at the bottom telling you what controls to use. The only difference between from the previous iteration is that someone decided a touch of colour would be nice.
Display Test
Selecting Display Test (画面のテスト) will take you straight to the first display test, shown to the right. The text on this screen says:
– Display Test –
If these circles appear as ovals,
please adjust the monitor controls.
A=Next Display
Start=Return to Menu
The title and controls don’t change for the three displays (circles, crosshatch and colour bars, all pictured to the right). Interestingly, according to the test pattern, the hardware is expecting pixels to be square, despite the aspect ratio not being 4:3.
Input Test
Are you worried that the buttons might not be working, or that some wires might be flipped? If so, select Input Test (入力のテスト) from the main test mode menu. This will take you to the screen shown to the right. When you push a button, its corresponding indicator should become highlighted. The coin inputs have indicators as well. If it doesn’t, light up, there’s probably something that needs fixing. Now half of this screen is in English anyway, and what little Japanses is there is mainly imported words in katakana, so you should be able to figure it out. But I’m nice, so here’s the complete translation:
– Input Test – 1P A B C D E F G H I J K L M N Start Kan Pon Chi Reach Ron Coin Service 2P A B C D E F G H I J K L M N Start Kan Pon Chi Reach Ron Coin Service Test A+B=Return to Menu
Sound Test
Shown to the right is what you see when you select Sound Test (音響テスト) on the test mode menu. This lets you listen to music and sound effects. The English equivalent is:
– Sound Test –
Tune Number
0000
A=Next Code
B=Previous Code
M=Switch Between Sound Effects and Tunes
N=Play Sound
Start=Return to Menu
0000 is obviously the selected tune/effect number. When you press M, the label above the number toggles between 曲番号 (Tune Number) and 効果音番号 (Sound Effect Number). Pressing N starts and tunes and sound effects (or restarts them if they’re already playing).
Hardware Settings
To the right you can see the hardware settings menu, where you set up things related to the machine in general, as opposed to things related to the game running on it. The setting is on the left, and the current value is on the right. I believe the image shows the default settings. You get to this menu by selecting Hardware Settings (ハードの設定) from the main test mode menu. Here’s the translation:
– Hardware Settings – Invert 1P Display Don’t Invert 2P Display Don’t Coin Setting 1 Coin = 1 Credit Play Mode 2-machine operation with competition Demo Sound On Return to Menu A=Down B=Up Start=Select
Selecting any item here will take you to a submenu where you can select between possible alternatives.
Invert 1P Display
Select Invert 1P Display (１Ｐ画面反転) from the hardware settings menu to get the menu shown to the right. This lets you choose whether you want the player 1 display inverted (as in turned upside-down, as opposed to reversing the colours). It says:
– Hardware Settings – Invert 1P Display Don’t Do Cancel A=Down B=Up Start=Select
Selecting an option will take you back to the hardware settings menu. Cancel (キャンセル) takes you back without changing anything.
Invert 2P Display
Select Invert 2P Display (２Ｐ画面反転) from the hardware settings menu to get the menu shown to the right. This lets you choose whether you want the player 2 display inverted. It looks a lot like the player 1 equivalend, doesn’t it? It says:
– Hardware Settings – Invert 2P Display Don’t Do Cancel A=Down B=Up Start=Select
As with the previous one, selecting an item takes you back to the hardware settings menu, and Cancel (キャンセル) does so without changing anything.
Coin Setting
Select Coin Setting (コイン設定) from the hardware settings menu to get the menu shown to the right. This lets you decide how badly you want to rip off the punters. You can probably guess what it says, but here goes:
– Hardware Settings – Coin Setting 1 Coin = 1 Credit 2 Coins = 1 Credit 3 Coins = 1 Credit 1 Coin = 2 Credits 1 Coin = 3 Credits Free Play Cancel A=Down B=Up Start=Select
Once again, selecting an item takes you back to the hardware settings menu, and Cancel (キャンセル) does so without changing anything.
Play Mode
Select Play Mode (プレイモード) from the hardware settings menu to get the menu shown to the right. You’d probably set this up according to the type of cabinet you have the board in. You can control whether two-player versus mode is allowed, or even disable the second video/audio output altogether. Your options are (in English):
– Hardware Settings – Play Mode 2-machine operation with competition 2-machine operation without competition 1-machine operation Cancel A=Down B=Up Start=Select
As usual, selecting an item takes you back to the hardware settings menu, and Cancel (キャンセル) doesn’t change anything.
Demo Sound
Does demo sound attract people to a machine, or just annoy people playing other games? Once you decide, select Demo Sound (デモサウンド) from the hardware settings menu to get the menu shown to the right. This one’s pretty straightforward: you can choose (in English):
– Hardware Settings – Demo Sound On Off Cancel A=Down B=Up Start=Select
You should know by now that an item takes you back to the hardware settings menu, and Cancel (キャンセル) doesn’t change anything.
And that wraps up the hardware settings.
Game Settings
Is the game too easy (or too difficult)? Do you need to run it in a family-friendly arcade? If you want to adjust the gameplay, choose Game Settings (ゲームの設定) from the test mode menu. The game settings menu is shown to the right. It’s a lot like the hardware settings menu (setting on the left, value on the right; defaults on display). In English it would say:
– Game Settings – Player Points 2000 Computer Points Normal Competition Points 15000 Difficulty Normal After Reach Auto Tsumo Undressing On Jong Power Technique On A=Down B=Up Start=Select
As with the hardware settings menu, selecting any item will take you to a submenu with available alternatives.
Player Points
How many points does a punter need to have an acceptable chance of beating the machine? Well, that’s for you to decide when you choose Player Points (プレイヤの持ち点) from the game settings menu. The options are shown to the right. You probably don’t need this translation:
– Game Settings – Player Points 1000 2000 3000 4000 Cancel A=Down B=Up Start=Select
The title makes sense here! This sets how many points the player gets at the beginning of each battle against the computer. No surprises here, in that selecting an item takes you back to the game settings menu, and Cancel (キャンセル) doesn’t change anything.
Computer Points
How much of a starting advantage does the computer need to have a chance of beating a human? Choose Computer Points (ＣＯＭの持ち点) from the game settings menu when you think you know. The options are shown to the right. This one doesn’t have numbers. Here’s the English:
– Game Settings – Computer Points Low Normal High Very High Cancel A=Down B=Up Start=Select
This sets how many points the computer gets at the beginning of each battle (of course, the actuall number increases throughout the game). Selecting an item takes you back to the game settings menu, and Cancel (キャンセル) does so without changing the setting.
Competition Points
You can decide how many points are enough for a fun two-player battle by choosing Competition Points (対戦時の持ち点) from the game settings menu. This sub-menu (shown to the right) is another one that doesn’t warrant translation, but here goes:
– Game Settings – Competition Points 10000 15000 20000 25000 Cancel A=Down B=Up Start=Select
This sets how many points each player gets at the beginning of a two-player battle. Yes, selecting an item takes you back to the game settings menu, and Cancel (キャンセル) does so without changing the setting.
Difficulty
What does difficulty actually control in a mahjong game? How unfairly the machine deals? Anyway, to set the difficulty, choose Difficulty (難易度) from the game settings menu. The sub-menu is shown to the right. In English, this one says:
– Game Settings – Difficulty Low Normal High Very High Cancel A=Down B=Up Start=Select
As always, selecting an option takes you back to the game settings menu, and Cancel (キャンセル) does so without changing the setting.
After Reach
These games have the capability to automatically draw tiles for the player after they declare “reach” until they have a chance to declare “tsumo” or “ron” (kind of dumbs it down). You can turn this on or off by choosing After Reach (リーチ後) from the game settings menu. Your options are shown to the right. In English, this would be:
– Game Settings – After Reach Auto Tsumo Manual Cancel A=Down B=Up Start=Select
Yes, Auto Tsumo (オートツモ) means automatically draw tiles, and Manual (手動) leaves it up to the player. Selecting an option takes you back to the game settings menu, and Cancel (キャンセル) does so without changing the setting.
Undressing
Are the “punnishment” sequences a bit too hot for your arcade? You can turn them off (or back on again) by choosing Undressing (脱衣) from the game settings menu. Your options are shown to the right. Yes, you’ve seen those words before. They are (in English):
– Game Settings – Undressing On Off Cancel A=Down B=Up Start=Select
No surprises – selecting an option takes you back to the game settings menu, and Cancel (キャンセル) does so without changing the setting.
Jong Power Technique
Do you want to allow the “Jong Power Technique” in two-player competition mode? Decide, then choose Jong Power Technique (雀パーワ技) from the game settings menu. Your options are shown to the right. In case you can’t guess the English, it says:
– Game Settings – Jong Power Technique On Off in Competition Cancel A=Down B=Up Start=Select
As usual, selecting an option takes you back to the game settings menu, and Cancel (キャンセル) does so without changing the setting.
And that wraps up the settings you can adjust for the game. It’s actually quite customisable.
Initialise Settings
If you choose Initialise Settings (設定の初期化), you will be asked if you really want to reset all the settings to their default values, as shown to the right. You know what it means in essence, but which choice is which? OK, here’s your translation:
Initialising settings.
Is this OK?
Initialise
Cancel
A=Down B=Up Start=Select
Selecting Cancel (キャンセル) will take you back to the test mode menu without changing anything. Selecting Initialise (初期化する) will briefly display the confirmation screen (also shown to the right), change all settings to their default values, and take you back to the test mode menu. Note that the default values are not actually written out to NVRAM – you still have to leave test mode and save for that to happen.
In case your interested, the confirmation screen says “Settings have been initialised to factory shipping state.” (which you could probably guess, anyway).
Leave Test
If you haven’t made any changes to the settings and you choose Leave Test (テスト終了), the machine will restart immediately. If, however, you have changed at least one setting, you will be prompted to save the change, as shown to the right. This screen says (in English):
Save modified settings?
Save and return to game
Don’t save and return to game
Cancel
A=Down B=Up Start=Select
No surprises here – Cancel (キャンセル) takes you back to the test mode menu, and the other two options do exactly what you’d expect.