Hong Kong(FDS) FAQ/Walkthrough version 1.0.0 by schultz.andrew@sbcglobal.net Please do not reproduce for profit without my consent. You won't be getting much profit anyway, but that's not the point. This took time and effort, and I just wanted to save a memory of an old game and the odd solutions any way I could. Please send me an email referring to me and this guide by name if you'd like to post it on your site. ================================ OUTLINE 1. INTRODUCTION 2. CONTROLS AND POINTS 3. VERSIONS AND STRATEGIES 4. CHEATS 5. VERSIONS 6. CREDITS ================================ 1. INTRODUCTION Hong Kong is a solitaire game consisting of 7 different tiles on a variety of different boards. You have 26*26*26 possibilities and can pick the seed number for the board you wish to play. You can even construct your own boards. The tiles are placed like bricks, each one potentially half touching two tiles below. If both bottom tiles/squares are removed before the top one, a piece falls and you lose the game. You get points based on how many pieces surround any piece you pull, and you must pull tile types in a certain cyclical order. So there is a touch of strategy about the game and enough randomness to make it interesting. I don't know how the game creates levels, and whether it works from the bottom up to ensure there is a solution. I suspect that every level has a solution because of the way the save states get populated as I start a game-- the map area of memory fills up from bottom to top, and the squares filled branch off. You, however, can write programs to solve the various games, or if you know disassembly to figure the algorithms, I'd be interested. You could even write a program, based on the cheats below. But the game's point scheme often allows for someone to calculate whether it would be better to grab the points now or later. I would like to thank the site http://www.delphiforfun.org/programs/knights_tour.htm for informing me about the Warnsdorf's Heuristic(play the most restrictive move and see what happens) and how it can be effective in looking practically into situations such as what we have here. I didn't write a program to see how to do this, but I planned it out, and it added a level of interest to the game. 2. CONTROLS AND POINTS CONTROLS: A sends you through the menus and B backs you up. You have options such as time(no limit, 10/5/3 minutes) and board style. Select kills the game. Move the hand around until it is over a piece. Then hit A. If the move is invalid, the game will buzz, and if you push A again, the structure will collapse, and it is game over. Move the hand to "back" to take back a move. You have 10 of them at first. Move the hand to "hint" and push A to see all moves. This is a handy way to check if, indeed, you have any moves left. POINTS: Let x=the number of tiles around a piece. Add 2 if the piece is in the bottom row. Then points = 5 * (2^x) unless x=1, then points = 20. You get a picture of a dragon bird if you win, but no bonus, so you can just play for points. Construction is not too difficult. You can get a variety of starting formations, and you cannot place or remove any tiles such that you would have an illegal structure. Button A toggles if a piece is there, and the game tracks the total number of tiles. x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x Maximum tiles = 137 3. VERSIONS AND STRATEGIES In general, you want to play directly for points instead of trying to complete the board. In fact, even if you are about to complete the board, it is worthwhile to pick off tiles on the bottom when you can, for the extra points they give you. It helps to write down/remember the order of the pieces. And it helps to look, after each round of 6, to see which pieces are endangered or only have one solution. You can use the hint feature to see how many moves you have left. Then figure a way to get to another piece that is in trouble, because if you put too many pieces of one type under unstable towers, that is your roadblock. Retrograde analysis(ie building something up) works well too. You can tell this by the first seven moves. However, you will also need to take into account how many tiles there are to know what the final tile--the one that starts the retrograde analysis--is. One sample game might have the tiles 1) --+-- | --+-- | + / \ / \ 2) ----+---- | +---+---+ | | | | +-+ | 3) ----- | | ------- | | | | ------- 4) \ || / \||/ || / \ / \ 5) blank 6) shock headed thing 7) red box and line There may be a different starting piece, but this is the order. Game 1: x x x x y x x x x x x y x y x x x x x x x x y x y x y x x x x x x x x x x y x y x y x y x x x x x x x x x x x x y x y x y x y x y x x x x x x x x x x x x x x y x y x y x y x y x y x Total tiles = 91 You can get 21 at most of the 320-point tiles if you start at the bottom row, identify what you can pick off, and move up. This probably won't be the case, but you can tackle a lot along the way. In fact, the best strategy is probably to start as high up as you can and work your way down. Hit the y's when you can, but move to the left or right when necessary. Once you've picked off the top y, start working your way down. From then on you have a lot of 160's you can pick off. Do so. I get about 7000 with picking stuff off top to bottom and up to 8000 trying for a balanced approach of solving the game and getting a few 320's. But the best-square approach nets ~9000. You may wind up with a lot of the board left, but you got a lot of points per piece. If you wish to extend the game, try to leave tall towers when you can and just concentrate on the small bundles. you will never hack through the tall towers, and it won't get many points anyway, but if you manage to pick off stuff on the sides, you're doing okay. When you get these long tendrils, try to keep different pieces on top of them. Game 2: x y x y x y x x x x x x x x y x y x x x x x x y x x x x x x x y x x x x x x y x y x x x x x x x x y x y x y x Total tiles = 55 This is a hard one with the hourglass in the center, and as I see it you have very little chance of making it all the way down. So again, capture the 320's and do what you can. Game 3: x x x x x x x x x x x x y x y x y x x x x x x x x x x y x y x y x y x x x x x x x x x x x x x y x y x y x y x y x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x y x y x y x y x y x y x x x x x x x x x x x x x x y x y x y x y x y x y x x x x x x x x x x x x x x y x y x y x y x y x y x Total tiles = 133 The pieces sticking out on the edges will help you survive for a while, but until then you have a great opportunity to keep picking off y's. You can also pick stuff off the top waiting for the right square to appear in a y. Game 4: x x x x x x x x x x x x x x y x y x x x x x x x x x x y x x x x y x x x x y x x x x x x x x x x x y x y x x x x y x y x x x x x x x x x x x y x x x x y x x x x y x x x x x x x x x x x x y x y x x x Total tiles = 99 Lots of side areas to work at here and obviously there are some tiles you can save for emergencies. You probably can't take out the top funnel, and again, you aren't trying for completion here. Note that although you have an extra row for getting 320s, there is no real advantage to clearing out the lower as opposed to the upper. Game 5: x x x x y x x x x x x y x y x x x x x x x x y x y x y x x x x x x x x y x y x x x x x x y x x x x Total tiles = 49 Nothing too fancy here. Again, you will probably wind up with a bottleneck at the bottom, and things will get impossible in the end, but until then you can pick off 320s and create long winding towers. Game 6: x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x y x y x Total tiles = 84 You have a bunch of linchpins every other row, so it is probably best to play as before, taking out the 320's when you can and then picking off tiles to make narrow tendrils upwards. Game 7: x x y x x x x x x x x x x y x x y x x x x x x x x x x x y x x y x x x x x x x x x x y x x y x x x y x x y x x y x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x Total tiles = 79 Not many nexuses here for 320 so you have to settle for the 160's. Unfortunately you also have to recognize that, even though you can get a bunch of long towers that you can pick from, you will probably eventually get trapped where you can't move out of them, so you might as well grab what points you can early on, since you won't get many picking off towers. Game 8: x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x Total tiles = 71 The best strategy here is probably to try and solve the thing. You don't have chances for big points with any one tile. You also need to be careful about what is left at the tops of the towers, and you also need to use the crisscross bits(the 2 tiles together linking long UL or UR diagonals that you can pull and not collapse what's above) carefully. A good way to work through this is to picture how you would rebuild this structure with the moves given to you and go backwards from there. Always keep a good variety of tiles at the top of the towers and it is possible to win. Game 9: x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x Total tiles = 85 More of the same. You have a few mulligans with the pairs of tiles down the center and to the near side, but it is best to work on the top as soon as possible. You have 13 squares for when the center/side bits are unavailable, and that should be good enough. However, you may not even be able to afford the luxury of a 320 at the start. You want to keep the sides as balanced as possible so that you have one more square to choose from as you work your way down. Game 10: x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x Total tiles = 65 The only way to work down is to make sure that you do not have 2 of the same type of tile visible at the same time, or if you do, you can work around it quickly. You may need to work from the bottom up to get through this level, and then there may be no solution. If you use save games, use them where you have a choice between 2 tiles to choose. Most of the time you will probably only have one. Some planning ahead may work here, but you can also work back from the bottom and maybe meet your plans in the middle. 4. CHEATS The board in Hong Kong is set up as follows: 00 = used space that had tile 01-07 = pieces ff = unused tile 1st row (13 wide) starts at 0x423 2nd row (12 wide) starts at 0x432 ... 13th row 0x441 13th row 0x450 13th row 0x45f 13th row 0x46e 13th row 0x47d 13th row 0x48c 13th row 0x49b 13th row 0x4aa 13th row 0x4b9 13th row 0x4c8 13th row 0x4d7 0xf spacing all the way down to the 13th row. 0x40a/0x40b = low/high bytes of your score 0x7e4 = minutes used 0x7e5 = seconds used 0x7b2 = takebacks End of FAQ Proper ================================ 5. VERSIONS 1.0.0: sent to GameFAQs 12/24/2007, complete 6. CREDITS Thanks to the usual GameFAQs gang, current and emeritus. They know who they are, and you should, too, because they get/got some SERIOUS writing done. Good people too--bloomer, falsehead, Sashanan, Masters, Retro, Snow Dragon/Brui5ed Ego, ZoopSoul, War Doc, Brian Sulpher, AdamL, odino, JDog and others I forgot. OK, even Hydrophant in his current not-yet-banned message board incarnation. I am not part of his gang, but I want him to be part of mine. Thanks to odino for suggesting this game to me. It was fun to play and analyze. Thanks to the NES completion project people for keeping it going strong enough that I could explore these side passages like the FDS and still know there was a project to go back to.