How to play Janken Disk Shiro on Mac
Game summary
The sixth and final game featured as the coverdisk of the Japanese Famimaga magazine. Janken Disk Shiro is a block-pushing puzzle game based on the playground game Janken (Rock, Paper, Scissors).
Janken Disk Shiro, or Famimaga Disk Vol. 6 Janken Disk Shiro, is a puzzle game in which the protagonist (who looks uncannily like Disk-kun, the mascot of the Famicom Disk System) must brave a labyrinth of puzzles. In each room there are three variants of hand-shaped blocks between the hero and the exit: each one either making the "scissors" gesture, the "rock" gesture or the "paper" gesture. Pushing a block adjacent to another of a different type causes whichever was the inferior (e.g. with paper and rock, rock is the inferior) to vanish. In addition, each block has a "strength" which is signified by its color: green is level 1, yellow is level 2 and red is level 3. If a green block is pushed next to an inferior red block, the red block will instead become yellow instead of vanishing (and then green with a subsequent superior block, and then will vanish after a third).
Gameplay revolves around finding the right blocks to push together to clear a way to the exit. Not every block needs to be eliminated: just those that are direct obstacles between the player and the end of the stage.
The game adopts a familiar veneer of the typical 8-bit fantasy RPG: The player starts in a small town in which they can talk to NPCs and purchase power-ups, they can visit the King in his castle to begin their quest and they can visit the dungeons in which the puzzles are found (after receiving permission from the King).
Janken Disk Shiro has the distinction of being the very last game ever produced for the Famicom Disk System. The peripheral had been effectively retired by the 90s due to advancements in NES cart technology.
First released: Jan 1993
Play Janken Disk Shiro on Mac with Parallels (virtualized)
The easiest way to play Janken Disk Shiro on a Mac is through Parallels, which allows you to virtualize a Windows machine on Macs. The setup is very easy and it works for Apple Silicon Macs as well as for older Intel-based Macs.
Parallels supports the latest version of DirectX and OpenGL, allowing you to play the latest PC games on any Mac. The latest version of DirectX is up to 20% faster.
Our favorite feature of Parallels Desktop is that when you turn off your virtual machine, all the unused disk space gets returned to your main OS, thus minimizing resource waste (which used to be a problem with virtualization).
Janken Disk Shiro installation steps for Mac
Step 1
Go to Parallels.com and download the latest version of the software.
Step 2
Follow the installation process and make sure you allow Parallels in your Mac’s security preferences (it will prompt you to do so).
Step 3
When prompted, download and install Windows 10. The download is around 5.7GB. Make sure you give it all the permissions that it asks for.
Step 4
Once Windows is done installing, you are ready to go. All that’s left to do is install Janken Disk Shiro like you would on any PC.
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