Rules
Shogi is basically the Japanese version of chess, and
the modern form was developed in the sixteenth century. It is
played on a 9x9 square board, and each player starts with 20 pieces:
1 King, 2 Gold Generals, 2 Silver Generals, 2 Horses (Knights),
2 Incense Chariots, 1 Diagonal Mover (Bishop), 1 Flying Chariot
(Rook), and 9 Foot Soldiers (Pawns). The pieces look like flattened
obelisks pointing toward the enemy, with their names written on
them in Japanese characters. Many pieces' moves are somewhat similar
to chess, but there are several differences. Golds move like a
King, but not diagonally backward. Silvers move into one of the
forward three squares or two diagonally backward ones. Incense
Chariots move like Rooks, but only straight forward. Knights move
as in chess, but only to one of the two possible forward squares.
Pawns move and capture one square directly ahead.
There are two additional rules not found in chess. The first is
promotion, which is indicated by flipping a piece over. Pawns,
Incense Chariots, Knights, and Silvers can be promoted to Golds
any time they enter, move in, or leave enemy territory (the back
three ranks). Bishops and Rooks can also be promoted, and gain
the ability to move one square in the directions they normally
can not (orthagonally for Bishops, diagonally for Rooks). The
other rule is that you own the enemy pieces that you capture and
can put them back in the game to fight for you. Instead of making
a normal move, you can drop a captured piece on the board. Pieces
drop unpromoted. Pawns, Knights, and Incense Chariots cannot be
dropped toward the back of the board where they could not make
any further moves. Also, you cannot drop a Pawn on a file that
has another of your unpromoted Pawns on it, and you cannot drop
a Pawn to give checkmate.
ASCII's Kakinoki Shogi is a good 3DO implementation of the game
(Kakinoki is the last name of the game's director). You can play
against another human, against an adjustable AI, or watch two
AI's. There are several game options, including spoken comments,
displaying what moves the AI is considering, and time-limited
play. You can save your game to resume later and display the moves
backward and forward. Computer hints are available, and you can
set up the board any way you want, or solve checkmating problems.
The graphics are simple, but effective, including three nice woodgrain
boards.
Kakinoki Shogi needs 16% of your SRAM (~5K) to save configuration
and game information. If you do not have enough free upon first
loading the game, you will have an opportunity to use the built-in
(Japanese) memory manager. If you ever want or need to delete
the file, its name is ASCII_KAKINOKIJ.
Menu/Command Translation:
Left, [Right], [Up], [Down]: move cursor
[RS]: Changes sides/promotion (Edit Mode)
[A]: Select, put
[B]: Cancel, back up
[C]: In-play Menu
<PRE>
MAIN MENU
Play | New Game | [Plyr 1 Human/AI level] | [C]=In-play Menu:
| | [Plyr 2 Human/AI level] | Cancel game (Save Y/N)
| | [Handicap] | Cancel move
| | Continue | Hint
| | | Quit (Y/N), (Save Y/N)
| | | Flip board upside-down
| | | Change players
| | | Edit Mode (Save Y/N)
+-----------+-------------------------+-----------------------
| Old Game | Load Y/N | [C]=In-play Menu
+-----------+-------------------------+------------------------
| Challenge | [Human time limit] | Quit (Y/N)
| | [AI level] |
| | [Time warning] |
| | Continue |
----------+-----------+-------------------------+-------------------------
Solve | Edit Mode | [C]=Edit Menu:
Tsumeshogi| | Quit
| | Starting setup
| | Tsumeshogi setup
| | All pieces to box
| | Change players
| | Changes whose turn
| | Find # moves to mate (if previously on Main Menu)
| | Resume play (if previously on In-play Menu)
----------+-----------+-------------------------+-------------------------
Review | Load Y/N | Control Pad Right=fwd | [C]=Main menu Y/N
Game | | Control Pad Left=back |
----------+-----------+-------------------------+
Options | Play | [AI Jouseki = an offense & defense pattern]
| Options | [AI Random (No/Jouseki/Random/Jouseki & Random)]
| | [Allow Cancel Move]
| | [Level of hint told]
| | [Allow illegal moves]
| | [AI time limit (None/Short/Medium/Long)]
| | Continue
+-----------+---------------------------------------------------
| Display | [Mark last-moved piece]
| Options | [Show possible piece moves]
| | [Show AI's thoughts]
| | [1=Show promoted piece names in red, 2=Don't]
| | [Board graphics 1-3]
| | Continue
+-----------+---------------------------------------------------
| Sound | [Sound on/off]
| Options | [Move voice on/off]
| | [Message voice on/off]
| | [Background Music on/off]
| | Continue
----------+-----------+---------------------------------------------------
Quit | Eject CD, or press B to return to Main Menu,
| or press Stop to replay intro (haltingly)
----------+---------------------------------------------------------------
</PRE>