Battle Chess
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| Battle Chess | |
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| Developer(s) | Interplay |
| Publisher(s) | Interplay |
| Designer(s) | Todd Camasta, Michael Quarles, Jayesh J. Patel, Bruce Schlickbernd |
| Release date(s) | 1988, 1989, 1990, 1994 |
| Genre(s) | Board game |
| Mode(s) | Single player, two player |
| Platform(s) | 3DO, Amiga, Amiga CDTV, Amiga CD32, Apple IIGS, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, NES, Mac OS, Acorn Archimedes |
Battle Chess is a computer game version of chess released for the 3DO, PC, Apple IIGS, Commodore 64, Amiga, Amiga CDTV, CD32, Atari ST, Apple Macintosh, Acorn Archimedes and Nintendo Entertainment System in which the chess pieces came to life and battled one another when capturing.
There were 35 animations, including movement, prelude to battle, and the combinations of battle itself (though there was no animation for the King-takes-King battle). The rook, for example, would turn into a rock monster and kill a pawn by crushing him. Introducing this new twist to a classic game, Battle Chess reached out to a new audience.
At least one weakness was that the board could not be rotated. If the player wished to take the side of Black (the Blue pieces in the game), this meant playing down the board against White (the Red pieces) playing upwards. Also, the capturing piece was always in the top-right corner, while the captured piece was in the bottom-left, with only the colours reversed depending upon which side had moved, so there was no alternate "view" of a particular battle combination.
The Amiga CDTV version came with a fully-voiced introduction describing the movements of the pieces for the benefit of beginners.
The game itself was inspired by the 3D chess sequences from Star Wars and Future World, and helped launch Interplay as an independent computer game design house after it ended its relationship with Electronic Arts. In turn, Battle Chess spawned a horde of imitators, but none matched the humorous animations of artists Todd Camasta and Bruce Schlickbernd, and were never as successful. They won a Software Publishers Association (SPA) award for Best Graphics for their efforts. The game was programmed by Michael Quarles (lead programmer), and Jayesh Patel.
A sequel was later released based on the game of Xiangqi.
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[edit] Animation details
Several of the animations are worthy of particular comment:
- Pawn takes Knight - the Pawn kicks him in the genitals, and the Knight keels over with a moan;
- Bishop takes (anybody) - the Bishops would fight by whirling their staffs - which have retractable blades - like martial artists, and also use a limited form of magic;
- Queen takes (anyone) - uses magic to blast enemy pieces with bolts of energy, for example enveloping the Knight in an inferno or charring the Bishop into a disintegrating skeleton;
- Knight takes Queen - the Knight's shield reflects the energy bolt back to her, which turns her into a small dragon;
- Knight takes (anyone) - considered the most "heroic" and swashbucking with his sword, he decapitates the Bishop (suddenly, the robes collapse as if there was nothing underneath), breaks the lance of the Pawn (the blow presumably goes through to kill the latter in the chest), and he parries several blows from the Rook monster before delivering a swipe across the Rook's groin that causes it to crumble into rubble.
- Rook takes Queen - when the Rook - which turns into a large rock monster when on the move - attacks the Queen, he swallows her whole with her long legs sticking in the air;
- Rook takes Knight - the Rook just pounds on the latter's head, and the Knight is compressed down to a helmet with two feet;
- Pawn takes Bishop - hits the ground with the butt of his lance, thus creating a large hole which swallows the Bishop;
- Pawn takes Queen - the Queen tries to femininely walk away from the duel but the Pawn grabs her robe from behind and she falls over, revealing her long legs.
The (old and doddery) King stands shorter than the Queen and used a variety of gadgets and dirty tricks, including a gun (against the Bishop), magical shrinking powder (against a Rook), a bomb (against the Knight), and his sceptre conceals a retractable morning star (against a Pawn). When capturing the Queen, he would embrace her passionately before hitting her with his scepter when she tries to stab him in the back with a knife. On the other hand, when he is defeated, he ends up like this:
- Queen - the King is blasted; only his robe remains
- Bishop - he swings his spear-staff three times, cutting the King in three
- Knight - the Knight shatters the King's scepter and then cuts open the King's robe - under which the King wears nothing, and the latter turns red in embarrassment
- Rook - the King is pounded into a two-dimensional version of himself, much like a cartoon character run over by a steam roller
- Pawn - with a flip of his lance, he takes the King's (oversized) crown for himself, and the King is reduced to pounding the ground in frustration.
The most recognisable animation was the Knight-takes-Knight sequence, which was strongly influenced by a similar sequence in the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, in which two Knights fight a duel with swords. One continually chops limbs off the other one, who only gets angrier and more defiant. Eventually, he has no limbs left to fight with.
The game could be played in a straight, 2D version with no animations.
[edit] Trivia
In the film Knight Moves, Christopher Lambert's character Peter Sanderson, a chess grandmaster, is seen beating Battle Chess in one scene.
[edit] See also
Brutal Chess - A 3D Chess game inspired by Battle Chess
