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
Rebel Alliance fight battles of
the mind.
It is a new kind of warfare. One
that will decide the fate of
planets, civilizations and the
future...
Star Wars Chess is an adaptation of Chess based on Star Wars, released for the MS-DOS, Sega CD, and Windows 3.x in 1993 by The Software Toolworks.
The game is very similar to Battle Chess, in that it takes an ordinary chess program and spices it up with animated pieces and battle animations whenever a piece is captured. However, naturally, the pieces are all represented by different characters from the original Star Wars trilogy.
Star Wars Chess includes examples of:
- Adaptational Badass: R2-D2. While he's a Non-Action Guy in the movies, in this game, he can go toe-to-toe with the villainous members of the Empire and win, and some of the battle sequences where he wins are surprisingly brutal.
- Adaptational Jerkass: Jedi Master Yoda uses the Force to make a Stormtrooper shoot themself rather than say, deflect their firepower.
- Adaptational Wimp: Zigzagged with Luke and the Emperor. While the battle sequences involving both depict them as being just as powerful as would be expected from them, during gameplay, they are used to represent the King and are therefore not particularly useful for capturing other pieces.
- Anachronism Stew: A New Hope farmboy Luke wields his green lightsaber from Return of the Jedi.
- An Arm and a Leg: Many animations involving C-3PO have him losing limbs. This can happen regardless of whether or not he's on the winning side.
- When he captures a Stormtrooper, his hand gets shot off before he wins.
- When he captures Darth Vader, His whole arm gets cut off by Vader's lightsaber. He then proceeds to pick up his arm, clash it with the lightsaber, and somehow deactivate it, allowing him to club Vader with his arm.
- If Vader is on the winning side, however, 3PO isn't quite so lucky. That's right, 'tis but a scratch.
- Artistic License – Chess: When you promote a pawn it automatically promotes to a queen - you do not get the standard choice of queen, rook, knight or bishop.
- Bullet Catch: Yoda does this with the blasters of an AT-ST.
- Butt-Monkey: C-3PO. Not only does he get most of the more humiliating defeats when he's captured, but even the battles where he wins have him bumbling his way to victory, and getting hurt a lot in the process.
- Cane Fu: Yoda uses this in place of a lightsaber.
- Catch and Return: How Yoda defeats the Emperor.
- Family-Unfriendly Death: The battle animations include characters getting electrocuted, set on fire, shot in the heart, beaten to death, graphically exploding, or having limbs torn off.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: If R2-D2 captures Darth Vader, he defeats him by stealing Vader's lightsaber out of his hands, and turning it on him.
- Idiosyncratic Difficulty Levels: The difficulty levels for the AI players are represented by portraits of the various characters in the game. From easiest to hardest, we have Chewbacca, C-3PO, Yoda, and Luke for the Rebel side, and a Stormtrooper, Boba Fett, Darth Vader, and the Emperor for the Empire side.
- Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Naturally, most of the Stormtrooper's losing animations have them take shots at the Rebels and miss.
- In Case You Forgot Who Wrote It: Most versions of the game present The Software Toolworks' Star Wars Chess on the title screen and packaging, with the company name in the same font and size as the rest of the title.
- Man on Fire: If Yoda captures Boba Fett, he forces poor Boba's jetpack to malfunction, setting the bounty hunter aflame until he crashes spectacularly.
- Me's a Crowd: This is how Yoda defeats Darth Vader.
- Multiple Endings: There are two, depending on which side wins the game.
- If the Rebels win, you get a scene of the Death Star exploding.
- If the Empire wins, you get a more ominous ending depicting the Death Star surrounded by TIE Fighters, as Darth Vader says "Now you know the power of the dark side."
- No Body Left Behind: All Force users, from Yoda to Luke to Vader to the Emperor, generally "become one with the Force" when they are defeated.
- No-Sell: The Emperor's force lightning falls victim to this in all his defeat animations; some are more believable than others.
- Off with His Head!: A few of the battle animations have this.
- When Luke captures a Tusken Raider, Luke cuts the Raider's head off with his lightsaber. The body then subsequently gets pulled into a spontaneously appearing Sarlacc pit.
- If Boba Fett captures C-3PO, he backhands 3-PO in the face, causing his head to come unscrewed.
- Opening Scroll: The game starts with one, in typical Star Wars fashion.
- Playing with Fire: Some of Boba Fett's winning animations have him use his jet pack as a flamethrower.
- Reduced to Dust: Befalls a Tusken Raider who is electrocuted by R2-D2 and Chewbacca both by Boba Fett's flamethrower and the Emperor's force lightning.
- Ring Out:
- Chewbacca defeats the Emperor by throwing him off the board.
- Yoda also uses the Force to throw the Tusken Raider out of the board as well.
- Shock and Awe:
- The Emperor uses Force lightning in all of the battle animations featuring him.
- If R2-D2 captures a Tusken Raider, he takes hold of the Raider's weapon and electrocutes it, absolutely frying them.
- The Cameo: Han Solo appears frozen in carbonite in the background of the computer versions. The Sega CD version omits this.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Downplayed. Luke beheads a Tusken Raider, whilst he gives a Stormtrooper a comparatively tame slash to the torso.
- Your Head Asplode: When Yoda captures a Stormtrooper, he uses a Jedi Mind Trick to force the Stormtrooper to shoot themselves in the face, blowing their head clean off.
- Your Size May Vary: To fit to scale with the other characters, the AT-ST walkers are drastically shrunk down to being the same size as the other characters.
