The Software Toolworks' Star Wars Chess

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The Software Toolworks' Star Wars Chess
System(s): Sega Mega-CD
Publisher: The Software Toolworks (US), Mindscape (Europe)
Developer: The Software Toolworks, LucasArts
Supporting companies: DMP Entertainment (voice-over production)
Distributor: Tec Toy (BR)
Genre: Simulation
Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code US 1994-05 T-87035 EU 1994 T-158025-50 UK 1994-08-19 £44.9944.99 T-158025-50 BR 199x 062150
Non-Sega versions IBM PC Windows PC

The Software Toolworks' Star Wars Chess is a Sega Mega-CD chess game based on the Star Wars movie franchise.

Story

“	A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... It is a time of great competition in the Galaxy. An uneasy state of peace has been established between the weakened forces of the Galactic Empire and the growing Rebel Alliance. During this uncertain period of truce, the old adversaries settle their differences through the ancient, eternal game of CHESS. With their greatest heroes as champions, the Empire and the Rebels fight battles of the mind. It is a new kind of warfare. One that will decide the fate of planets, civilizations and the future...	„
— Opening crawl

Gameplay

Chessboards

Draw

The game follows the rules of chess, with characters from the Rebel Alliance portraying the white pieces and characters from the Imperial Army portraying the black pieces on an isometric chessboard. It can be played by one or two players.

Similar to Battle Chess, a popular PC game of the time, a short animated battle plays when one piece captures another. The object of the game is to checkmate the opponent's king, where the king is immediately threatened (in "check") with no way to escape. The king is considered checkmated if the player cannot capture the threatening piece, move another piece in between the attacker and the king, or move the king out of the attack. The game calls a draw if the same board position happens three times in the same game or the game goes 50 moves without a capture or a pawn move.

The player moves the cursor around the board with the D-Pad and picks up and places pieces by pressing . The player can receive a hint by pressing or switch between the "3D" (isometric) view and a conventional 2D view of the chessboard by pressing . The 2D chessboard has additional options, such as the ability to replay or undo moves, switch control of each faction, or add or remove pieces.

Options

Options

Set Up Board

In the options (accessible from the main menu before starting the game or from side menu on the 2D chessboard), the player can choose between four color schemes for the chessboard, whether the pieces face each other or the player, and whether the board is oriented with white or black on the top. The first two options only affect the 3D view. The player can set whether each faction is controlled by a human or a computer player. The game can be played by a human versus the computer, by two human players against each other, or by two computer players against each other. The computer players have four different difficulty levels (represented by Star Wars characters), which determines how long the computer considers each move before making it.

The 2D chessboard has additional options in its side menu that are not accessible in the 3D view:

• Battle: Switches back to the 3D (or "battle") view.
• Move!: Forces the computer player to make a move.
• Replay: Replays the last move if it was taken back with the Undo command.
• Undo: Takes back the last move. This can be done for either player.
• Switch: Switches control of the two factions. By default, the player is white and the computer is black.
• Resign: Ends the game in defeat.
• Captured Pieces: Shows all the pieces that have been captured so far in an inset below the menu.
• Set Up: Enters an editing mode where the player can add or remove any pieces from the game. The kings cannot be removed.

Options and up to four games in progress can be saved or loaded from the console's internal memory.

Pieces

Piece	Rebel Alliance	Imperial Army	Description
Pawns	R2-D2	Stormtrooper	Pawns move straight ahead but capture diagonally. On its first move, a pawn can move one or two squares forward. Players have eight pawns each.
Rooks	Yoda	AT-ST	Rooks can move any number of squares in a horizontal or vertical direction (unless they are blocked by another piece). Players have two rooks each.
Knights	Chewbacca	Tusken Raider	Knights move in an L shape: two squares horizontally or vertically, then one square at a right angle. The knight is the only piece that can jump over other pieces. It only captures pieces on squares on which it lands. Players have two knights each.
Bishops	C-3PO	Boba Fett	Bishops can move any number of squares in a diagonal direction (unless they are blocked by another piece). Players have two bishops each.
Queen	Princess Leia	Darth Vader	The queen can move any number of squares in any direction (unless it is blocked by another piece). Each player has a single queen, but a pawn can be promoted to a queen if it makes it to the other side of the board.
King	Luke Skywalker	Emperor Palpatine	The king can move a single square in any direction. Each player has a single king. The king is the most important piece in the game as the player is defeated if the king is trapped in a position from which it cannot escape (checkmate).

Captures

There are 72 different animated sequences for pieces being captured. Animated sequences can be skipped with  START .

Rebel Alliance

Rebel Pawn takes Imperial Pawn

Rebel Pawn takes Imperial Knight

Rebel Pawn takes Imperial Bishop

Rebel Pawn takes Imperial Queen

Rebel Knight takes Imperial Pawn

Rebel Knight takes Imperial Knight

Rebel Rook takes Imperial Pawn

Rebel Rook takes Imperial Rook

Rebel Rook takes Imperial Bishop

Rebel Bishop takes Imperial Knight

Rebel Bishop takes Imperial Bishop

Rebel Queen takes Imperial Pawn

Rebel Queen takes Imperial Knight

Rebel Queen takes Imperial Bishop

Rebel Queen takes Imperial Queen

Rebel Queen takes Imperial King

Imperial Army

Imperial Pawn takes Rebel Pawn

Imperial Pawn takes Rebel Knight

Imperial Pawn takes Rebel Rook

Imperial Pawn takes Rebel Bishop

Imperial Pawn takes Rebel Queen

Imperial Knight takes Rebel Pawn

Imperial Knight takes Rebel Knight

Imperial Knight takes Rebel Bishop

Imperial Rook takes Rebel Pawn

Imperial Rook takes Rebel Rook

Imperial Bishop takes Rebel Pawn

Imperial Bishop takes Rebel Knight

Imperial Bishop takes Rebel Bishop

Imperial Bishop takes Rebel Queen

Imperial Queen takes Rebel Pawn

Imperial Queen takes Rebel Rook

Imperial Queen takes Rebel Bishop

Imperial Queen takes Rebel Queen

Imperial Queen takes Rebel King

Imperial King takes Rebel Pawn

Production credits

• Project Manager/Programming: Peter Lipson
• Art Direction: Becca Martinson
• Producer: Steve Hutchins
• Quality Assurance: Buck Irving, Craig Brisgell, Scott Van Schoick
• Capture Scripts: David K. Goodman, Steve Hutchins, Don Laabs, Vicki Sidley
• Technical Art Assistance: Chris Kosel
• Storyboard and Character Art: Erica Benson, Tansy Brooks, Cesar de Castro, Jeff Griffeath, Dan Guerra
• Background Art: Dan Guerra
• Principal Animation: CARTOONLAND
• Animation Director: Kevin Coffey
• Animators: Arnie Wong, Steven Lee, Steward Lee, Mike Smith, J. Garrett Sheldrew, Robbin Atherley
• Additional 3D Animation: John 'underground' Root
• Effects/Touch-up Artists: John Root, Peter Davis, David Gale, Duncan Knarr, Armen Petrosian, Wendy Piuck, Brad Reynolds, Jose A. Scarpitta, Stefanie Smith, David Weisman
• Intro Sequence By: Armen Petrosian
• VP Software Development: Don Laabs
• Documentation: Anne O'Brien
• Package Design: Julie Lippold, Ruth Weston
• Music Arrangement & Original Music: Peter Stone, Indescribable Creations
• Principal Music Composed By: John Williams
• Voice-over Production: DMP Entertainment
• Additional Character Voices: Dave Goodman, Becca 'Take That' Martinson, Andy Iverson, Bob Cooper
• Film Sound Effects Courtesy of: Lucasfilm Ltd.
• Audio Production: Steve 'wav' Hutchins, Zachary Fuller
• Chess Consultant: Don Laabs
• Star Wars Characters licensed from: Lucasfilm Ltd.
• Special Thanks to: Mike Duffy, Linda Norton, Julia Russo, Stacy Mollema, David Platshon, Joy Schneer, Rob Powers, Don Bies, George Lucas

Source:

In-game credits

---

"STAR WARS"

(John Williams)

© 1977 WARNER-TAMERLANE PUBLISHING CORP. & BANTHA MUSIC. All rights administered by WARNER-TAMBERLANE PUBLISHING CORP. All Rights Reserved. Used By Permission.

"EMPEROR THEME"

from Main Title, "RETURN OF THE JEDI"

(John Williams)

© 1983 BANTHA MUSIC. All rights administered by WARNER-TAMBERLANE PUBLISHING CORP. All Rights Reserved. Used By Permission.

"YODA THEME"

from Main Title, "THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK"

(John Williams)

© 1980 WARNER-TAMERLANE PUBLISHING CORP. & BANTHA MUSIC. All Rights Reserved. Used By Permission.

Source:

In-game credits

Magazine articles

Main article: The Software Toolworks' Star Wars Chess/Magazine articles.

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score Computer & Video Games (UK) 30 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 88 Games World: The Magazine (UK) PAL 62 MAN!AC (DE) PAL 34 Mega (UK) PAL 60 Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL 66 Play Time (DE) PAL 35 Sega Magazine (UK) PAL 44 Sega Power (UK) PAL 72 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 42 VideoGames (US) 50

	53
Based on 11 reviews

The Software Toolworks' Star Wars Chess

Mega-CD, US
Cover
Disc Manual

Mega-CD, EU
Cover
Spinecard Disc Manual

Mega-CD, BR
Cover
Disc

Technical information

Main article: The Software Toolworks' Star Wars Chess/Technical information.