Chessmaster - Nintendo Gameboy

Review comments

The armies are prepared, so let the battle begin! The latest strategy cartridge to arrive on the Gameboy is one of the oldest games known to man - chess. Believed to come from the Middle East, it is a stylised form of armed conflict that has become the most sophisticated mental challenge in the world.
Chessmaster includes a host of options to determine the skill of the computer opponent and the speed of its reactions. A head-to-head link allows the ultimate conflict, against another human. If things are really badly, changing sides with the computer can help to rescue the game. A takeback option means that a silly blunder isn't automatically (as it would be in a real game), so amateurs and professionals alike can get benefit from this simulation.

Staff comments

Clear graphics, superb presentation, a tutor mode and skill levels ranging from hopeless idiot to Grand Master make this a stunning Gameboy title, and one that you'll keep playing as long as you have a Gameboy to play it on. Not only is Chessmaster a superb chess game, it's more portable and more flexible then dedicated chess machines costing five times as much! If you're got the slightest interest in chess, you've simply got to get this (and don't show it to your Dad otherwise you'll never get your Gameboy back!).

My chess is a little rusty, but this game has rekindled my interest in it! This works so well on the Gameboy, and the graphics are clear and not confusing. This effectively turns the Gameboy into a great portable chess board with no chance of losing those fiddly plastic bits. Hooray!