Where to get it

1988 · Interplay Entertainment · Board game · Chess

Battle Chess

Nintendo console exclusive

Battle Chess was developed by Interplay as their first project after severing ties with Electronic Arts. They designed it for the Amiga in 1988, and it was released on the majority of the other systems in the late 1980s and early 1990s as well. It was widely successful, and resulted in two follow-ups, many copy-cat games, and a remake for Steam on PC. The only significant criticism the game received was the weak chess AI, as it was not until the mid 1990s that chess ai began to consistently win against strong opponents.

Released: 1988
Platforms: 3DO 3DO Interactive Multiplayer Acorn Archimedes Amiga Amiga CD32 Apple II Apple IIGS Atari ST Atari ST/STE CDTV Commodore 64 Commodore C64/128/MAX Commodore CDTV FM Towns Linux MS-DOS NES PC-9800 Series Sharp X68000 Windows macOS
Genres: Board game Chess Strategy Turn-based strategy
Developers: Interplay Entertainment
Publishers: Interplay Entertainment
Modes: Multiplayer Single-player
Perspective: Third person Bird view / Isometric
Themes: Fantasy Historical
Country: United States
Languages: English
Time to beat: 1.5hmain story18hcompletionist

About

Battle Chess is a 1988 chess video game developed and published by Interplay Productions for the Amiga. It was ported to many other systems, including the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, Acorn Archimedes, Amiga CD32, Amiga CDTV, Apple IIGS, Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, FM Towns, Nintendo Entertainment System, MacOS, PC-98, X68000, and Microsoft Windows. In 1991, Battle Chess Enhanced was released by Interplay for IBM PC compatibles and Macintosh with improved VGA graphics and a symphonic musical score played from the CD-ROM.

Battle Chess was critically acclaimed and commercially successful, resulting in two official follow-ups as well as several inspired games. A remake, Battle Chess: Game of Kings, was released on Steam on December 11, 2015.

›Story

The basic gameplay of Battle Chess remains true to the board game, with the added feature of unique battle animations for each capture. These animations varied for every combination of attack vs defender, making part of the enjoyment of Battle Chess in simply discovering the various animations.

Players say

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Battle Chess follows the same rules as traditional chess, with pieces moving in an animated fashion and battles playing out so that the capturing piece defeats its target. Furthermore, when checkmate is delivered, the checkmating piece fights and defeats the king. Since there are six types of pieces for each color, and a king cannot check (let alone capture) another king, there are a total of 35 different battle animations. The rook, for example, turns into a rock monster and kills a pawn by smashing its head, and the rook kills the queen by eating her. There are some pop-culture homages; the knight versus knight animation references the black knight fight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and the king versus bishop fight pastiches the short battle between Indiana Jones and a swordsman in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

The game can be also played in a 2D version with no animations, and the Amiga CDTV version has a fully voiced introduction describing the movements of the pieces for the benefit of beginners. Digitized sound is used in the MS-DOS version for all battle sound effects and is played through the PC speaker, without the need for a sound card, using a technique akin to RealSound.

Development

Battle Chess was the first title developed and published by Interplay Entertainment themselves after ending their relationship with Electronic Arts, besides Neuromancer.

Battle Chess producer and Interplay's founder Brian Fargo expressed his fondness for the game in a 2006 interview, although he added that he did not think there would be much of an audience for it today.

Reception

Battle Chess sold 250,000 copies by February 1993.

Ken St. Andre reviewed the game for Computer Gaming World, and stated that "Quibbles aside, every chess player will want a copy of this program, and every Amiga owner owes it to him/herself to see Battlechess in action. Highly recommended."

Legacy

International Master Anna Rudolf credits Battle Chess with helping introduce her to chess at a young age.

The game was featured in the 1992 film Knight Moves about a chess grandmaster who is accused of several murders.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

Platform	Released	Regions
Amiga	1 October 1988	North America · Europe 31 December 1988
MS-DOS	1 January 1989	North America · Europe 31 December 1993
Atari ST/STE	1 June 1989	North America · Europe 30 September 1989
Apple IIGS	1 October 1989	North America
Commodore C64/128/MAX	1 November 1989	North America · Europe 31 December 1989
Sharp X68000	10 December 1989	Japan
PC-9800 Series	21 June 1990	Japan
FM Towns	31 December 1990	Europe · Japan 1 September 1991
Apple II	31 December 1990	North America
Windows	31 December 1991	North America · Worldwide 20 April 2017
Commodore CDTV	31 December 1992	North America
Acorn Archimedes	31 December 1993	Europe
3DO Interactive Multiplayer	16 September 1994	North America · Japan 16 September 1994 · Europe 31 December 1994
Amiga CD32	31 December 1994	Europe