Battle Chess under Virtual PC

Released in 1988, Battle Chess is probably one of the most notorious computer chess games ever. This game managed to take the purely intellectual game of chess and make it immensely more amusing and appealing to the general populace. 

How did it do this? Simple - in Battle Chess each of the board pieces are animated characters. As you move your pieces you get to see them walk, run or lumber into place. 

But the best part is when you take your opponents piece you get to watch the pieces duel - with the aggressor always winning. Some of the battles are fairly straight forward (when a Knight takes a pawn - it is a simple sword fight) while other battles range from surprising (like when your King produces a golden pistol to shoot his opponent, or your rook swallows the opponents’ queen whole) to hilarious (like the reenactment of the 'black knight' scene from Monty Python's quest from the holy grail - when a knight battles another night).

Battle Chess runs perfectly under Virtual PC:

Battle Chess under Virtual PC   Battle Chess under Virtual PC   Battle Chess under Virtual PC   Battle Chess under Virtual PC

Cheers,
Ben