Virtual Chess 64

by Nintendo

Product Features

• virtual chess 64
• chess
• nintendo 64

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00002STGW
• Item Weight: 8 ounces
• Media: Game Cartridge
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #20,449 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

GameSpot Review

Titus has introduced the first chess simulation for the N64, Virtual Chess. Even with most of the options available to PC chess players, 14 skill levels to choose from, and animated fight scenes for the kiddies, the 3D view's lack of visual clarity makes for a frustrating game.

Virtual Chess offers most of the options computerized chess should. For the novice, there's a simple but thorough tutorial. Broken up into slim chapters, it's easy to use, whether you're just verifying the rules for taking pawns "en passant," or trying queenside castling for the first time. A save-game feature allows you to see just how stupid a move is before committing to it permanently. Unfortunately, there's no option to just retake the last move, so if you're hesitant, save early and save often. If you're still feeling squeamish, there's an onscreen CPU next-move suggestion button available at all times.

Play in Virtual Chess is plain hard to see. The pieces are difficult to tell apart from any angle, so you've got to be extra careful to avoid stupid mistakes (or be surprised when the enemy "king" easily avoids check by sliding across the entire board). To this end, plan on spending a lot of time rotating the board, which turns a full 360 degrees horizontally or vertically. If you were some kind of crazy nut, you could even attempt to play looking at the felt on the bottom of the board. Unfortunately, the board only spins on either axis in one direction, so if you miss your spot, you have to go all the way around again. Thankfully, a 2D version is also included, but that removes the whole point of the game: the fight animations.

The game would be better off without them anyway. Had they occurred on the regular playing screen, that would have been one thing. Such is not the case. Every time a piece is captured, all the pieces shoot into the air, the screen goes all crazy, and... the board appears again, with a cutscene featuring stylized representations of the capturing piece and its victim squared off to fight. The black knight is a battering ram, the white a unicorn. The black bishop is some sort of mosquito creature, the white a wizard. The black queen is overweight. Yawn. The animations are jerky and slow and lose their appeal after the third time or so. Thankfully, they may be turned off.

Ever since R2D2 and Chewbacca first played their first near-deadly game of holographic chess ("Let the wookie win"), it's seemed like a good idea to offer a chess simulation that comes equipped with 3D fighting sequences for the captures - and this did prove somewhat successful with Empire Interactive's Combat Chess for the PC. Unless the fighting actually occurs fully rendered using the same engine as the rest of the game, rather than as an annoyingly distracting cutscene, the novelty will always fade fast. Masters and novices alike will probably quickly strip Virtual Chess down to its clearer, more practical 2D mode after a minimum of laughs are achieved from the fights. Even in this mode, the game provides a great tool for fans of the "real thing" of any skill level. --Josh Smith
--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc.

Product Description

This is the game Virtual Chess 64 for the Nintendo 64. This is cartridge only and is used or preplayed. All of our N64 nintendo games are cleaned tested and guaranteed to work. We stand by our products and offer a 60 day guarantee. If a game does not work within 60 days from the time you receive it we will gladly exchange it for yo

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beginner or Master - This has it all!, February 29, 2000

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Virtual Chess 64 (Game Cartridge)

This is an awesome choice for those who love chess and want to practice often.

It's also fantastic for any beginner players that may live in your house. The tutorials are fantastic! In depth and very thorough!

You have complete contol of the board's rotation, at any time, to look at it from any and every angle.

The animation sequences (when one piece captures another) are charming and delightful, and can easily be disabled if you grow weary of them.

OK, it's not action packed, but hey, it's CHESS!

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars of course its impossible, February 2, 2005

A Kid's Review

= Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Virtual Chess 64 (Game Cartridge)

this game is simply just a chess game.i know.youre thinking BORING!however,this one has a added attraction.whenever you kill an enemy,a little cartoon of the kill plays.they are pretty funny.well,they WERE the last 6-8 million plus times i saw them.now theyre obnoxious.play youre friends because the computer on level one of the easiest level was programmed at near genius level.youd need a iq of like 135 to beat it.

4 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars un buen tutor para niños, January 6, 2001

By 

German A. Macavilca "buho1" (San Isidro, Lima Peru) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Virtual Chess 64 (Game Cartridge)

El juego es bueno, tiene varios niveles de exigiencia e incluye un tutor para los que recien se incian en este cautivante juego. su mayor defecto es que las escenas de los combates es poco creativa, incluso las figuras son bastante grotescas y poco agradables. la presentación y el menu de opciones es bastante austero. por el acabado parece una version preliminar. Pero el reto es excelente y lo mejor la opción de tutor.