Saki Portable

If you buy this game expecting a vanilla Mahjong simulation with cute Anime girls you're going to be very disappointed. Sure, the girls are cute (captain!!!) but its next to impossible to play a straight up game of Mahjong with Saki Portable.

Why? The game cheats.

And I don't mean cheats like I'm whining that the players are too good... I mean some of the players have literal in-game super-powers that can radically alter the flow of play. Saki herself is all but guaranteed to Rinshan Kaiho every time she calls a Kan that would put her in tenpai. The meganekko from her team can see all the "safe" discards sometimes, while the imoto character gets insane draws whenever she's east/east round. Shadow Momo literally doesn't have to announce her Riichis and a Ron off her disappears if you don't grab it within a couple seconds.

If you're a big fan of the anime all of this will make perfect sense. If you aren't it will drive you nuts.

But still and all, its not a bad game by any means. I wouldn't recommend it for someone just learning Mahjong, however, because it encourages some bad habits (like playing for ridiculously big impossible hands that happen all too often in the super-powered world of Saki).

If you're already comfortable in your game, however, and are familiar with the show, Saki can be great fun. The super-powers make it pretty lop-sided but they also make for some interesting challenges (especially if you play as one of the girls that doesn't come with a power).

I would never recommend it over Jan Sangoku Musou for a fledgling player, but its kept me occupied for a couple days trying to free up the hidden girls like Fujita-pro and it seems to offer a lot of unique scenarios.

This is a good game!

Love the anime, Love the game!! Mahjong is the best!! The characters are awfully cute at times!!

Saki is for fun and fans, if you love in the anime or manga, please try this game in once.

Looking at this game from a hardcore players standpoint, it is pretty bad. The characters powers are just so overwhelming that playing standard just doesn't work. But I like to think of it as "Arcade Mahjong" Fast paced with crazy action. Some of the challanges are overly luck based and can take multiple tries, but it is still a very short game and you will unlock everything in a short amount of time. If you do plan to buy it, you need to be a fan of the show and already having knowledge of mahjong is recommended.