14 Responses to “[ Retro Scan of the Week ] Sargon III”

1. t3hfr3ak Says:
   September 27th, 2010 at 8:30 pm

   Computer Chess?

   I hated playing them, I played the one for Windows 3.11 for Workgroups. Terrible, I don’t even think I ever figured out how to start it, or I did and at that point in time had no idea what the rules were.

   Truth be told, Chess is one thing that I perfer to play in real life compared to online or against a computer.

2. Multimedia Mike Says:
   September 27th, 2010 at 9:06 pm

   That’s easy– the 8-bit NES version of The Chessmaster. That was pretty much my first exposure to Chess, period. My parents bought it for me so that I would learn the game.

3. JackSoar Says:
   September 28th, 2010 at 12:25 am

   Do physical electronic chess games count? My brother (a very fine chess player) had one when I was a kid. Cannot remember what it was called or what company made it, but I seem to recall that it was a largely gray electronic chessboard, which is not very descriptive. I also can’t remember exactly how it worked, but I thought it was pretty cool at the time. I was never much of a chess player, myself. I liked the idea of it, but never had the patience to learn.

4. Andrew Fisher Says:
   September 28th, 2010 at 3:24 am

   The C64 version of Battle Chess. It’s got all the battle animations (including the Knight being whittled away, Monty Python style) but they can be turned off to speed up the game – it’s a disk only game that does a lot of access. But the computer AI plays a mean game of chess and you can save and edit positions.

5. idisjunction Says:
   September 28th, 2010 at 3:36 am

   It wasn’t 8-bit (at least not on the platforms I played it on), but I loved Battle Chess. The first chess program I ever played, though, was probably ChessMaster 4000 on Windows 3.1.

6. Eagles409 Says:
   September 28th, 2010 at 8:51 am

   I got chess for the Intellivision when I was a kid (still have it), that was how I learned how to play.

7. BDD Says:
   September 29th, 2010 at 9:08 am

   I never got into personal computer chess, but did have a Chess Challenger electronic chess game. My grandfather taught me how to play as a child, and the Challenger honed my playing skills. I haven’t played in years, though.

8. Jason Says:
   September 29th, 2010 at 1:13 pm

   I am finally up to date on your blog, Benj.

9. Benj Edwards Says:
   September 29th, 2010 at 1:20 pm

   Took you long enough, Jason. I wondered when you’d get here. 🙂 I saw you working your way through with the comments.

   What did you think while reading through? Worth the read?

10. Moondog Says:
    September 29th, 2010 at 8:25 pm

    I was never a chess player, but I recall going my friend’s house and his father would play Battle Chess on the C64. I recall the animations requiring quite a bit of disk access time, too.

11. Jason Says:
    October 5th, 2010 at 8:45 am

    Benj- Definitely worth the read. Brought back a lot of memories. Although I’m not on the tech side of things, I remember some of the ads as well as some of the hardware and software from back in the day. I am a huge fan and collector of NES and SNES games and stuff. Actually anything related to the glory days of Nintendo. Excellent site. I will stick around.

    When I come across a blog or site I find interesting, I start at the beginning and work my way up to the present.

12. Scott Baret Says:
    October 31st, 2010 at 9:55 pm

    Battle Chess for the Macintosh (the original black and white version) is actually what got me into chess when I was a youngster. I got the computer game nearly a year before I got my first physical chess set. I learned how the pieces moved and picked up some basic strategies by using the “suggest move” command (and also by watching the computer play). Within a few weeks I was playing without the assistance on the computer and was a pretty competent player by the time I got the chess set–much of the learning came from trial and error when facing the computer opponent, especially at the higher levels. (Those of you who have taught chess probably know this is the best way to learn–I’ve taught both children and college students and have found the best chess players are the ones who receive the least amount of direct instruction and spend the most time trying new things out in games; motivation and willingness to learn, of course, are also factors).

    I still like Battle Chess the best when I look at the various chess games on the market, both current and past. I did eventually buy the color CD-ROM version, which has both the signature animations of the earlier Battle Chess games and an incredible soundtrack. I doubt Interplay will ever release an OS X version, unfortunately.

    While I can’t speak for the non-Mac versions, I always felt the chess engine inside Battle Chess was pretty solid. The other big plus of Battle Chess was the short wait time. Some computer chess games take forever to move regardless of hardware configuration. Battle Chess never sat for more than a minute, and the wait time was usually far less than that.

13. Cody Says:
    February 8th, 2011 at 2:09 am

    Battle Chess for PC!

14. Cody Says:
    February 8th, 2011 at 2:12 am

    However, I did play Chessmaster (I think X) a year ago, and that was pretty cool as far as tutorials go, and listening to one of the grand masters speak at length about how you should play the game. He had a really calming and hypnotic voice.

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