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Virtual Chess 64

 
Games: Virtual Chess 64
 
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Game Description

The quintessential game of strategy is now available for play on the Nintendo 64, courtesy of Titus Software. Virtual Chess 64 features an award-winning chess engine (it once beat IBM's Deep Blue) as well an option to view light-hearted battle sequences with 3D characters. Once you capture a piece, a fighting animation will begin with two cartoon "pieces" displaying the results.

Of course, serious gamers can elect to turn this feature off if it becomes too bothersome. The main view of the game is from a 3D perspective set behind one side of the board. Since the default board and pieces are three-dimensional, players can also rotate the camera to view the board from the side of their opponent. Besides the 3D board, Virtual Chess 64 features seven different 2D boards with their own style of pieces.

Virtual Chess 64 includes several options to let you customize each game. There are a total of fourteen difficulty levels, ranging from two beginner settings that have the computer making mistakes to a setting where the computer calculates possible moves at the rate of 3,000 per second. Those who are new to the game need not worry, as an interactive tutorial covers seven different aspects of chess in detail: the board, the chessmen, rules of the game, the beginning, tactics and strategy, main mat scheme and endings.

In addition to the tutorial, beginners can select an optional display marker showing the possible moves for each piece. Advanced gamers can edit the board to practice certain situations, and the computer can be forced to move at the press of a button or set to think during the other player's turn. Preferences as well as games in progress can be saved directly to a Controller Pak accessory.
~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Roots & Influences

While chess games have dominated the computer market, very few have found their way onto home consoles. The first chess title on a console was 1979's Video Chess for the Atari 2600. At the time, it was considered a remarkable achievement in programming, as artificial intelligence was a major stumbling block for the relatively low memory capacity of home systems. Nevertheless, nearly every platform since then has seen at least one chess game to satisfy a small, but loyal niche of gamers.
~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Review: Overall

For some reason, chess games and consoles don't usually go together. Maybe it's the assumption by game publishers that the "console crowd" won't have the patience to sit down to play a game of chess when there's always that alluring fighter waiting in the wings. Or maybe it's that consoles have been limited in delivering an intelligent computer opponent, much less delving into the complex nuances of the game.

Throwing caution to the wind, Titus delivers an excellent chess program that will appeal to both beginners and veterans alike. While the game won't convert those who hate chess, those who have always wanted to learn will appreciate the excellent interactive tutorial system designed to grow with the user. Intermediate players may learn new strategies and tactics (such as Anastasia's Mate or the Square Rule) and experts can analyze the replays of three Grand-Master chess matches. If you love chess, there's something here for everyone.

That said, there are a few small problems with the overall package in terms of presentation. While you have a choice between a 3D and 2D board, the 2D or "flat" board is much easier to see. The actual 3D board is fine, but the pieces are intricately carved out of what looks like wood or stone -- making it difficult to quickly identify which piece is which. Unfortunately, you cannot change the style of pieces in this view, although you can alter the angles of the board and even rotate it to see your opponent's side.

Another option (which seems more like a gimmick) is to have the 3D pieces comically "battle" each other whenever a piece is taken, like a goofier version of Battle Chess. This quickly grows tiresome, however, and you will most likely shut it off after seeing it once. The 2D perspective, on the other hand, is much simpler and thus easier on the eyes. You can also change the style of the board and pieces in this view from traditional wood to marble, fantasy or a layout for children. It is rather disappointing that the 3D view wasn't given the same variety.

Twelve difficulty levels and two beginner modes (the latter allowing the computer to make opportunistic "mistakes") are at your disposal with an award-winning chess engine behind them. Each progressing level finds the computer thinking in longer intervals, up to a maximum 3,000 moves per second, but you can force it to move at any time with a simple button press.

If you would rather practice using certain pieces or formations, an excellent edit mode will allow you to position pieces anywhere on the chessboard. There is also an option to save games in progress to the Controller Pak, with each file taking three pages of space. In short, Virtual Chess 64 is an extremely thorough chess program that will accommodate anyone even remotely interested in the game.
~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Review: Enjoyment

If you love chess, you'll love this game. If it doesn't interest you, stay far, far away...
~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Review: Graphics

Graphics for the 3D board are nice, but there is only one board and one set of pieces in this mode. This game does not exactly tax the Nintendo 64's graphic capabilities.
~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Review: Sound

There are four tracks of music that all sound like variations of New Age. Sound effects are strange, to say the least.
~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Review: Replay Value

Twelve difficulty levels ensure the computer will always remain a challenge. The tutorial system will also help you improve your game!
~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Review: Documentation

A little more background on some of the included chess matches would have been nice, but the instructions explain the menu options and all of the controls in detail.
~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Production Credits

Chess Program and Libraries: Marc Francois Baudot, Jean Cristophe Weill
~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide
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Wikipedia: Virtual Chess 64
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Virtual Chess 64
The boxart for Virtual Chess 64
Developer(s) Titus Software
Publisher(s) Titus Software
Platform(s) Nintendo 64
Release date(s) Japan Cancelled
North America June 10, 1998
European Union June 10, 1998
Genre(s) Strategy Board
Mode(s) Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s) ESRB: K-A (Kids to Adults)
Media 32.0MBit Cartridge
Input methods Game controller

Virtual Chess 64 is a chess simulation game for the Nintendo 64. It was first released in 1997. It was also considered to be very difficult. The game featured no true "completion" in the form of a goal or a score, so one could theoretically play an endless number of matches. One feature that made the game interesting is that when a piece was captured, a short animated cutscene would play back depicting the battle, as in 1988's Battle Chess.

Contents

Features

Virtual Chess 64 came with a basic text and visual tutorial written for beginners and novices about how to play chess. In the third section the tutorial continues explaining how to play using simple chess positions in which you learn from by finding the best move each time. The short fourth section is analysis of two badly played well-known games titled "Fool's Mate" and "Scholar's Checkmate". In the fifth and sixth sections these chess problems become increasingly complicated, and the player is expected to, by some means, find the solution and understand it. The seventh section is about basic endgame checkmating approaches and patterns, and just one basic endgame concept for beginners: the square of the promoting pawn. The last three sections focus on improving opening, middlegame, and endgame chess play by using example games for analysis.

The tutorial does not extend enough to teach how to win a game against the chess engine featured in this game, but it is enough to inspire some to learn more through other sources. The only spoken part of the tutorial are the comments on the chosen correct moves listed (below) in order of first-to-last spoken as you answer tutorial challenges. (In a few cases the comment is randomly chosen, so the order is approximate.)

  • "Well Done!"
  • "Great!"
  • "Brilliant!"
  • "Wonderful!"
  • "Fantastic!"

In disregard to the unrecorded completion of the tutorial you could play a full game yourself using either a 2D or 3D board. There was a "Rotate Board" option for the 2D and 3D boards, although the C-left and C-right buttons could be used to rotate the 3D board by a greater variety of angle measures. On the 3D board every time a piece was captured you would have a short cut scene depicting the capture of said piece unless this is disabled or only limited to one-time only scene play per piece capture combination via configuration. The idea was to amuse the player. There were no cut scenes on the 2D board for captures, but you could change the design of the pieces and board by pressing the C-left or C-right button and use the "flash think" and last move square lights. There were four 2D chess sets to select from: standard white and black icons, arctic and jungle animals, silver and gold pieces, and heroic and demonic characters. You could also play as either white or black pieces and you could even make situations of your own by adding or removing pieces from the board and placing them in different positions, but there is a bug removing the option to castle in games starting from positions customized through this feature. Like most board games, you had the option of 2 human players instead of 1 but also the option of seeing the chess engine play itself.

The game also had a "Level" option in which you could set the time taken for the chess engine to respond based on the complexity of the position. "Beginner #1" is the top and default setting of the list, and "Level 12" is the bottom setting. Time is the only real factor behind the quality of the engine's moves, and while the default difficulty level setting resulted in analyzation in a matter of few seconds (seldom more than 10), the "Level 12" setting resulted in waiting times greatly variant based on the position. (The longest time might be no more than 30 minutes in any reachable chess position, most such instances subject to see in replay of certain correspondence chess games.) There is a "Meditation" setting by which, if enabled, the chess engine will think on your time except usually during the opening phase of the game in which predefined moves are played. Again based on the complexity of the position, analyzation will continue for a matter of hours or days until either a forced checkmate is found or you make your move.

Cutscenes

When a piece was captured a cutscene would play. The cutscenes depicted characters representing the characters fighting.

Characters

White and Black sets have different character models.

White

  • King
  • Queen
    • The queen is wearing a dress that covers most of her body, purple gloves, a matching backwards-facing shoe, an oversized hat pin, and a purse.
  • Rook
  • Bishop
    • The bishop is depicted as a stereotypical wizard. He has a tall hat, long robe, mirror, and magic staff.
  • Knight
    • The night is depicted as the mythical unicorn with a blue tail and eyes and a black mane.
  • Pawn
    • The pawn is an overweight knave. He is armed with a two pronged pitchfork, an axe, and a feather.

Black

  • King
    • The king is an overly-muscled warrior with torn brown clothes. He also has a seldom-used sword.
  • Queen
    • The queen is obese and bald except for two braids on top of her head.
  • Rook
    • The rook is a sentient catapult often hauling a rock.
  • Bishop
    • The bishop is a flying imp with the tail of a dragon. The bishop also has a mirror and a scepter.
  • Knight
  • Pawn
    • The pawn is shown as a barbarian with a hammer and a less elegant two pronged pitchfork than the white pawn.

Cutscene Overview

There are a total of 60 capturing cutscenes and 2 cutscenes for the end result.

White

King captures...
  • Queen - The queen looks sweetly at the opposing king. She proceeds to blow a kiss to the king. The king sniffles, runs forward, jumps and smacks her into the chessboard with the end of his toy horse.
  • Rook - The king "gallops" forward on his toy horse. In response, the rook retreats and picks up a rock. The rook throws the rock at the king. The king deflects the rock with his shield back at the rook, crushing it.
  • Bishop - The bishop buzzes around the king, annoying him. The king takes off his crown, hurls it at the bishop, killing the bishop. The crown returns much like a boomerang.
  • Knight - The king and knight are at opposite sides of the board. The joust, colliding in the center. The king gets the upper hand and throws the knight into the air. The knight lands on its side, rendering it useless.
  • Pawn - The king and pawn have a standoff. The king taunts the pawn, whom proceeds to swing his hammer at the king. The king dodges, runs behind the pawn and smacks him in the arse with his spear.

Queen captures...
  • Queen - The white queen repeatedly stabs at the black queen with an oversized hat pin. The white queen eventually stabs the black queen. The black queen flies away comically like a balloon that has an air leak.
  • Rook - The rook runs up to the queen, stands on its front wheels and screeches at the queen. The queen repeatedly hits the rook in the arm (where the ammo goes) with her purse. The rook falls onto the board with its wheels broken.
  • Bishop - The bishop dances around the queen. On the bishop's third pass the queen smacks the bishop with her purse. The queen then picks up the bishop by the left wing and throws him off the board.
  • Knight - The knight charges toward the queen. The queen jumps out of the way, pulls out her hat pin and stabs the knight, knocking it over.
  • Pawn - The queen strikes a voluptuous pose and whistles to the pawn. The pawn runs to the queen and stretches out his arms. The queen nods and the pawn nods back. The queen then strikes the pawn in the head with her purse, knocking him down.

Rook captures...
  • Queen - The rook bounces back and forth causing the queen to become dizzy. The queen falls over and the rook jumps onto her stomach and then jumps off.
  • Rook - The black rook backs up and fires its rock at the white rook. The white rook backs up, jumps in the air, and hits the rock back to the black rook with its spire. The black rook is crushed by the rock.
  • Bishop - The bishop flies around the rook. The rook opens its drawbridge. The bishop stops, walks onto the drawbridge and looks inside. The rook jumps forward closing the drawbridge, leaving the bishop inside. The rook belches by opening its drawbridge.
  • Knight - The knight runs backwards, then towards the rook. The rook jumps on the ram part of the battering ram, knocking it over.
  • Pawn - The pawn holds his pitchfork. The rook bounces forward and hits the pawn in the head with its spire. The pawn falls down and cartoon birds fly around his head.

Bishop captures...
  • Queen - The bishop taps his staff against the chessboard twice to get the queen's attention. He then holds up a mirror to the queen's face. The queen shrieks and faints.
  • Rook - The bishop casts a spell that circles around the rook. The rook always faces the spell. The spell gradually makes the rook smaller. Once the spell ends, the rook bounces away.
  • Bishop - The black bishop flies around the white bishop. The white bishop casts two fireballs that miss. The third fireball hits the black bishop in the back of his pants. The black bishop flies away with himself alight.
  • Knight - The bishop and knight have a long standoff. The bishop says some magic words. The knight then charges. A blue spell then lifts the knight into the air while the spell circles around the knight. The knight then turns into a ball. The bishop then smacks the ball away with a golf swing with his staff.
  • Pawn - The pawn charges at the bishop. The bishop stops the pawn dead in his tracks. The bishop then says some magic words, after which he holds his staff horizontally and puts it closer to the chessboard, thus altering the pawn's height. The pawn then runs away at his new stature.

Knight captures...
  • Queen - The queen is lying down asleep. The knight gently puts its horn under the queen and lifts her onto its back. The queen then wakes up and the knight starts bucking trying to throw the queen off. The queen holds on, but is eventually bucked.
  • Rook - The rook readies its rock while the knight is not paying attention. The rook then launches the rock. As the rock approaches the knight kicks its back hooves at the rock. The rock lands on the rook, crushing it.
  • Bishop - The bishop dances around the knight. The knight gores the bishop on its horn. The knight then throws the bishop off the chessboard.
  • Knight - The two knights charge at each other from opposite sides of the board. The white knight picks the black knight up onto its horn. The white knight then throws the black knight onto its back.
  • Pawn - The pawn yells at the knight. The knight calmly turns around and kicks the pawn with its back two hooves.

Pawn captures...
  • Queen - The pawn slowly approaches with his pitchfork. He stabs the black queen in the stomach. The black queen flies away comically like a balloon that has an air leak.
  • Rook - The pawn sneaks up on the sleeping rook. The pawn pulls the pin that keeps the arm (where the ammo goes) down. The rook wakes up, releases the rock, runs forward, and crushes itself with the rock.
  • Bishop - The bishop dances around the pawn who tries to stab him. The pawn eventually succeeds and the bishop falls apart.
  • Knight - The pawn sneaks up with his axe on the sleeping knight. When the pawn is about to strike, the knight wakes up. The pawn then knocks over the knight.
  • Pawn - The white pawn sneaks up on the black pawn, whom is polishing his hammer. The white pawn strikes down the black pawn with his pitchfork in his left hand. The white pawn then runs around to the back of the black pawn and begins to tickle the black pawns right foot with the feather in his right hand. The black pawn begins to cry.

Wins

The white king is on top of his castle while the black king bangs on the door. Eventually the black king will try to kick the door in. The door falls on the black king.

Black

King captures...
  • Queen - The king walks threateningly to the queen. The queen is visibly uncomfortable. The king grabs the queen by the hair and drags her away.
  • Rook - The rook bounces forward, trying to hit the king with its spire. The king leans back and when the rook lands, the king knocks down the rook with his right hand.
  • Bishop - The bishop throws a fireball at the king with his magic staff. The king catches it in his hand. The bishop says some magic words and throws two bigger lightning balls at the king. The king catches the first one like he did the fireball. The king catches and throws back the second lightning ball at the bishop. The bishop explodes.
  • Knight - The king steps in front of the knight. The knight scratches its front right hoof against the chessboard repeatedly and lowers its head. The king throws a lightning ball at the knight knocking the knight onto its back.
  • Pawn - The king has his very large sword and the pawn has his pitchfork. The pawn raises his arms and pitchfork over his head to protect himself. The king hits his sword against the pitchfork, knocking over the pawn.

Queen captures...
  • Queen - The white queen bows before the black queen. In return, the black queen delivers an uppercut to the white queen and sends the white queen into the air. The white queen lands sprawled out on her back with her arms outstretched.
  • Rook - The queen pushes on the rook twice without knocking it over. The queen backs up and runs shoulder first into the rook, knocking it over.
  • Bishop - The queen runs to the bishop with arms outstretched while the bishop makes the universal "no" gesture with his arms. The queen squeezes him. The bishop turns into hearts and they float away.
  • Knight - The queen runs towards the knight whom is looking the other way. The queen jumps onto its spine crushing it. The queen then picks up the bishop's head and stokes it.
  • Pawn - The queen is running towards the pawn. The pawn is running away at equal speed. The queen jumps into the air and slams the pawn into the chessboard with her weight.

Rook captures...
  • Queen - The rook runs up to the queen, stands on its front wheels and screeches at the queen. The rook hits the queen in the head with its arm (where the ammo goes). The queen becomes tipsy and falls backwards.
  • Rook - The white rook bounces towards the black rook, trying to hit the latter with its spire. The black rook backs up and launches its rock towards the white rook. The white rook falls over.
  • Bishop - The rook fires a rock at the bishop. The bishop shrikes and catches the rock over his head. He proceeds to triumphantly raise the rock over his head. The bishop then falls into the chessboard below.
  • Knight - The rook backs up to its rock. The knight charges. The rook flings its rock. The rock lands on the knight's head.
  • Pawn - The pawn repeatedly tries to walk towards the rook. The rook charges into the pawn, knocking him down. The rook then backs up and flings the rock at the pawn. The pawn cowers and at the last moment tries to catch it, but fails and the rock implants him into the chessboard.

Bishop captures...
  • Queen - The bishop dances around the queen. The queen turns and follows the bishop and tries to smack the bishop with her purse. The bishop flies in tight circles, close to the queens head. The queen holds her head while a dizzy sound effect plays. The queen then falls down.
  • Rook - The bishop flies far above the rook. The rook tries to jump up to the Bishop. The bishop drops a bomb onto the rook, making it explode.
  • Bishop - The white bishop casts two fireballs that miss. The third fireball hits a mirror that the black bishop had just pulled out. The fireball hits the white bishop.
  • Knight - The bishop buzzes around the knight's head, making it dizzy. After stumbling, the knight then falls down.
  • Pawn - The bishop passes the pawn twice and smacks the pawn with his scepter on both passes. The bishop then rams the pawn off the board from behind.

Knight captures...
  • Queen - The queen cowers while the knight rams into her, sending her off the board.
  • Rook - The rams the rook thrice. The third strike knocks down the rook.
  • Bishop - The bishop says some magic words. The knight then rams the bishop and bounces him into the air and knocks him off on the fourth bounce.
  • Knight - The two knights charge at each other from opposite sides of the board. When they meet the black knight then throws the white knight onto its back.
  • Pawn - the pawn, with his axe, cowers at the knight. The knight rams the pawn, sending him flying to the opposite corner. The knight approaches the pawn whom is now lying on his stomach. The knight aims and sends the pawn flying off the board.

Pawn captures...
  • Queen - The queen looks amorously at the pawn. The pawn approches and smack his hammer down close to the queen. The queen then screams and faints.
  • Rook - The pawn approaches, looks at the rook and hits it thrice with his hammer, breaking the rook in half.
  • Bishop - The pawn screams at the bishop. The bishop covers his ears but nonetheless explodes.
  • Knight - The pawn pulls a lever on the board that activates a trapdoor where the knight is standing. The knight falls through the hole. The pawn walks over to the hole, looks down, and waves goodbye.
  • Pawn - The black pawn, with his hammer raised above his head, approaches the white pawn. The white pawn backs away with his pitchfork. The black pawn then smack his hammer onto the head of the white pawn, implanting him into the chess board.

Wins

The black king sails away from the white king which has been strand on a rock in the ocean. The dorsal fin of a shark protrudes from the surface of the water.

There are also winning scenes for both colors when one checkmates the other, but it does not show if the side that won was a human player. It is also possible that a winning scene can only be seen for one side or the other if both sides playing against each other are computer players.

Critical reaction

IGN gave Virtual Chess 64 a score of 7.7 out of 10, saying: "Virtual Chess 64 is a great chess game. The AI is excellent, the options are all there, and if you don't mind the lack of variety in boards (alternate 3D boards would have been nice), it's everything a chess player could hope for. If you think playing board games on a console or the PC is a waste of time and you rather play against a human opponent, Virtual Chess is not for you. While Titus has made considerable efforts to attract a broader audience, Virtual Chess 64 won't sway the opinions of those out for action and graphic splendor. But if you are looking for a strong chess computer for a low price or you have always wanted to learn chess and are looking for a patient teacher, Virtual Chess 64 is as good as it gets."[1]

GameSpot gave the game a score of 6.1 out of 10, saying: "Play in Virtual Chess is plain hard to see. The pieces are difficult to tell apart from any angle, so you've got to be extra careful to avoid stupid mistakes. To this end, plan on spending a lot of time rotating the board, which turns a full 360 degrees horizontally or vertically. ... Thankfully, a 2D version is also included, but that removes the whole point of the game: the fight animations. The game would be better off without them anyway. Had they occurred on the regular playing screen, that would have been one thing. Such is not the case. ... Unless the fighting actually occurs fully rendered using the same engine as the rest of the game, rather than as an annoyingly distracting cutscene, the novelty will always fade fast. Masters and novices alike will probably quickly strip Virtual Chess down to its clearer, more practical 2D mode after a minimum of laughs are achieved from the fights. Even in this mode, the game provides a great tool for fans of the 'real thing' of any skill level."[2]

References

  1. ^ Virtual Chess 64 Review Peer Schneider, IGN, June 17, 1998
  2. ^ Virtual Chess 64 for Nintendo 64 Review Josh Smith, GameSpot, Aug 19, 1998

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