The Chessmaster

The Chessmaster brought a full-fledged chess simulation to the Game Boy from The Software Toolworks, a studio known at the time for its computer chess programs released for a range of contemporary home computers. The game lets you play against a computer AI with adjustable difficulty, follow your own moves on a clear chessboard shown on the monochrome display, and, in some versions, save games in progress, which the player can return to at any time without having to start the whole match over.

Porting a complex chess engine to the handheld's limited hardware was a technically noteworthy feat for its time – the game had to handle move calculation and board rendering fast enough that a match didn't feel sluggish, and the interface for selecting and moving pieces was designed to work with the Game Boy's limited number of buttons. Visually the game is spare but functional, with clearly distinguished white and black pieces, so the position on the board remains easy to read even on the small display, letting the player focus on the game itself without squinting at unnecessary detail. Cursor control via the direction buttons is intuitive, and even a player who has so far only played chess on a classic wooden board will get used to it quickly.

The Chessmaster became one of the few genuinely serious strategy titles for the Game Boy focused on a classic board game, and it found its place among players seeking deeper, more thoughtful entertainment on a handheld. Today it's interesting mainly as proof that even a portable console with a monochrome display could host a full-fledged chess program comparable to the computer versions of the time, offering a depth few would expect from a handheld while still remaining accessible to an ordinary player without deep knowledge of chess theory.

Why play it: For players seeking the depth of a real chess program on a monochrome display, this is one of the few genuinely serious strategy games for the Game Boy, and it's accessible to beginners too.