Hatris (PC-9801)

Hatris
Developer(s)	Bullet-Proof Software
Publisher(s)	Bullet-Proof Software
Platform(s)	PC-9801
Release	JP: 1991
Gameplay info
Next pieces	1
Playfield size	6 × ?
Hard drop	Yes

Gameplay

See also: Hatris series gameplay overview

Delayed AutoShift is implemented via the system's built-in keyboard repeat rate. This means that swapping or dropping hats cancels horizontal autorepeat. (This also means that swapping, dropping, or selling hats can be done rapidly by holding the respective keys, although it would not generally be desirable to do so.)

This version follows a standard structure of six Rounds of ten Stages each (generally called Shops and Stages in other home releases). Completing a Round awards a 20000 point bonus instead of the usual end-of-stage/Sale bonus. Unlike other home releases, the game loops endlessly; completing Round 5 Stage 9 brings the player back to Round 5 Stage 0. An end credit sequence plays after the game is over if the player has cleared all stages from Round 0 Stage 0 through Round 5 Stage 9.

The score counter has seven digits, and maxes out at 9,999,999 points.

Hat Types

		First Round + Stage
Name	Score	Low	Med	High
Bowler Hat	50	0	0	0
Sun Hat?	80	0	0	0
Sombrero	120	0	0	0
Top Hat	150	2	0	0
Wizard Hat	200	4	2	0
Crown	300	6	4	2

Hats to appear are determined by the sum of the current Round and Stage. For instance, when playing with the difficulty level set to Low, the Top Hat will first appear on Stage 2 of Round 0, on Stage 1 of Round 1, and will always appear on Rounds 2+.

Stage Norms

The number of hat sets that must be completed per stage varies depending on the chosen difficulty level.

Level	Hats
Low	16
Med	20
High	24

Sale

At the end of each stage, Alexey and Vladimir descend from the top of the playfield and can assist the player by removing hats from the top or bottom of each stack. The number of hats that can be removed depends on the difficulty level chosen, the number of stages completed, as well as how many hats were removed on previous stages. The Sale stock is set to $min(max(MinimumStock,PreviousSaleStock+5),50)$. The Sale stock is also reset to the minimum after completing a full round of ten stages.

Sale Stock by Difficulty
Level	Min. Stock
Low	20
Med	10
High	10

Pressing Left or Right moves Alexey and Vladimir to select a column. Pressing Down or Up will make Alexey or Vladimir will remove a hat from the bottom or top of the selected column respectively. If the player is finished removing hats, they may exit the Sale screen by moving the pair of helpers to the Pass sign to the right of the playfield and pressing Spacebar.

Bonus

The base value for the end-of-stage bonus is 3000 points. If the player selects Pass without removing any hats during a Sale, the end-of-stage bonus is increased by $SaleStock*200$ points.

Configuration

Upon clearing High level, the end screen of the credits displays a message reading: "CONGRATULATIONS! PUSH [F1] KEY 8 TIMES AT MENU." Entering this code at the menu screen gives a confirmation by sounding a beep and changing the font color of "MENU" to red. This adds a "CONF" option to the Level selection. Selecting "CONF" brings up an interim configuration screen with various game difficulty adjustments:

• SELECT: Allows removing up to three hats from the selection set for randomization.
  • HANDY: If the hat selection set was adjusted, this option allows setting how long the randomization handicap should persist. Options are 1 Stage, 2 Stage, 4 Stage, 1 Round, and Forever.
• SPEED: Determines how fast the hats will fall. Options range from 1 to 5, indicating slower to faster speeds respectively.
• NORM: Determines how many hat sets must be cleared on each stage to advance. Options are 12, 16, 20, 24, and 28.
• SALE: Determines the type of assistance available on the Sale screen. Options are Kick and Erase. Kick is the usual PC-98 Sale behavior, where hats can be removed from the top or bottom of each stack. Erase is the traditional Sale behavior seen in the Arcade, Famicom, PC-98, and Game Boy versions, where all of a selected hat are removed from the playfield.
  • CHANCE (Kick): Sets the stock minimum if Kick Sale is selected. Options are 10, 15, and 20. As usual, stock increments by 5 after each Sale screen and is raised to the stock minimum if it is less.
  • CHANCE (Erase): Sets the stock minimum if Erase Sale is selected. Options are 1, 2 and 3. Stock increments by 1 after each Sale screen and is raised to the stock minimum if it is less.
    • RECOVER: Determines how long the player must wait before a hat type will be available in the Erase Sale selection again after it is chosen. Options are 1 Stage, 2 Stage, 4 Stage, and 1 Round.

Erase Sale Bonus

As usual, base value for the end-of-stage bonus is 3000 points. However, unlike Kick Sale, if the player selects Pass without removing any hats during a Sale, the end-of-stage bonus is increased by $(SaleStock+1)*1000$ points.

Clearing 6+ hat sets

As Configuration mode provides an Erase Sale setting, it is possible to form oversized hat sets as in other games with this Sale behavior. A scoring multiplier of $ExtraHats+1$ is applied when clearing oversized sets.