The Chessmaster 2000
| Developer: N/A | Graphics: |
 | |
| Publisher: The Software Toolworks | Sound: |
 | |
| Year: 1986 | Difficulty: |
| |
| Genre: Chess | Lastability: |
| |
| Number of players: 2 simultaneous | Rating: |
8/10 | |
The most famous chess video game, and the first version of a true franchise, known on just about every platform (computers, consoles, even mobile phones).
The Chessmaster 2000 includes all imaginable options (colour choice, stylized 3D representation, voices, legal move highlighting, saving, analysis…). The game engine was decent for its time (and for a home computer), but the machine’s thinking time increases considerably after the “beginner” levels, to the point where you’d have to leave it running for several days and nights to calculate a single move. I doubt that a club-level player, in 1986, would have used it for anything other than storing and viewing games. I also wonder if the “analysis” mode was taken seriously? Probably. I’ve been told that in the ’90s, Game Boys were seen at tournaments, connected to the cartridge version of Chessmaster!
Countless updated versions followed over three decades, starting with Chessmaster 2100 (Apple II, 1988), ported to Amiga in 1990.
It must be said that the hardworking folks of Cape Town really give chess a boost.
Huh? I didn’t say anything.
[And another saucy spoonerism you’re missing. Too bad! – Ed.]
|
