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谷川浩司の将棋指南III (Tanigawa Kouji no Shougi Shinan III)
                       Tanigawa Kouji's Shogi Teaching III

FAQ
NES 1989

Version: 1.0


Introduction (this section is courtesy of Devin Morgan)
===============================================================================

Shogi (将棋) is a game very similar to what we call Chess. There are many
similarities, but there are some noticeable differences as well. While chess
is played on a 8x8 board, Shogi is played on a 9x9 board. In chess, there are
16 pieces for each player; Shogi gives you 20. Gameplay is on a turn by turn
basis; that is, after one player makes a move, the other one goes, and so on.
There are two colors, white and black, with black always going first.


Controls:
===============================================================================
Use the A button to select a piece, the D-pad to move it and then A again to
finalize your move. Pressing B cancels anything in mid-turn. B switches the
cursor to the defeated pieces table. If you press START the game resets the
board. There is more info on the controls in the individual mode description.


Display:
===============================================================================
When you play the game, the main feature to notice is the game board in the
middle. Getting used to that is another matter, read the board basics section
for that. What is more important for you to adapt to the game is the rest of
the layout.

Ignore the guy on the right, he is there for comments. He is suppose to teach
you and slap you on the wrist for making a bad move. At the top are two timers
which display the time used for thinking by each player, the top being the top
player and the bottom for the bottom player. The number on the left is the
current number of moves. The small tables in the top and bottom right corner
are for defeated pieces.


Modes:
===============================================================================
At the main menu you have five choices:

The top mode, 対局 is playing a game of Shogi. This is a practice mode where
you can play against the CPU. You can also play a game against another person
by using 2-Player mode. While playing, use the A button make your moves. Click
on the tile and then move it with the D-Pad, setting it down with the A button
again. Use the B button to cancel this action. The SELECT button will bring up
a small menu with nine buttons. The top two on the left will reverse or forward
the game as it was played so far. The right one toggles the music. The middle
left button will undo moves as you have set with the middle center button. The
bottom left returns to the game whereas the bottom center will revert the board
so you can play the other side. You can even play for sides at this point, only
returning the CPU into the game if you press B during your turn. The top right
button surrenders the game. If you press START the game will reset the board
and start over.


The second mode is 名人戦, a master competition. This works the same way as the
master practice but you have to beat the opposition to move on. This obviously
has no 2-Player option.


はさみ将棋, or Hasami Shogi (roughly translated to scissor/sandwich Shogi) is a
variation of the game. The board is the same but the set-up is totally
different, as well as the rules:
 ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
| P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P |
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
| P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P |
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|

Each player has one row of nine Pawns, marked as 歩 for Black and と for Red.
The objective of the game is to capture six of your opponent's pieces. The
players alternate making a move, with Black moving first. A correct move
consists of moving a piece onto an empty square of the board. Each piece moves
as a rook in chess, that is, any number of empty squares along a straight line
in any orthogonal direction, limited only by the edge of the board. If a
friendly piece intervenes, the moving piece is limited to a distance that stops
short of the intervening piece; if the friendly piece is adjacent, it cannot
move in that direction at all. If one of the opponent's pieces lie between a
pair of the player's pieces (horizontally or vertically), then the opponent's
piece is captured and removed from the board. Multiple pieces may be captured
if all of the squares between the attacking player's pieces are occupied by the
opponent's pieces. If a piece is moved between two of the opponent's pieces, it
is not captured. You can play this mode either against the CPU or with another
human player.


The fourth mode is Slot Shogi (スロット将棋). I have never seen this variation
before but it is very simply to play. The most strategy involves in making the
best of what lady luck throws at you. Before moving you play the slots with
three wheels. Each wheel contains the board pieces. If you hit a certain piece
on the wheel then you may make a move with that unit. If you are lucky then you
may move with three different pieces, else maybe with two or even just a single
one. Hitting a '7' alone just means you miss out on the chance to move with
another kind of unit, but if you are really lucky and hit three sevens then you
get the FEVER. There will be a counter at the top showing how many more movies
you may do. Basically, you can spin the wheels and play seven times in a row
without the opponent doing anything about it. As I said, this game is mainly
based on luck but choosing the right units to move is still something to be
worried about.


Record mode (棋譜鑑賞) is the final feature the game has to offer. There are
six matches to watch and I suppose learn from to become a better Shogi player.
Advance the game with the A button, reverse the moves with the B button. START
returns to the match selection. It appears the only way to return to the main
menu is resetting the console.


Gameplay: (this section is courtesy of Devin Morgan)
===============================================================================

Board Setup
-----------

The typical Shogi board is set up as follows, with each side's pieces facing
towards the opponent to signify which pieces belong to which side:

 ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
| L | KN| SG| GG| K | GG| SG| KN| L |    K = King (王将)
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|    R = Rook (飛車)
|   | R |   |   |   |   |   | B |   |    B = Bishop (角行)
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|   GG = Gold General (金将)
| P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P |   SG = Silver General (銀将)
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|   KN = Knight (桂馬)
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |    L = Lance (香車)
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|    P = Pawn (歩兵)
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
| P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P |
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
|   | B |   |   |   |   |   | R |   |
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
| L | KN| SG| GG| K | GG| SG| KN| L |
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|


Game Pieces/Movement
--------------------

NOTE: The "@" symbol in the diagrams below is meant to signify where the
      piece in question can make a valid movement in a turn. It should also
      be noted that in the diagrams below, "up" means forward, down is "back"
      and so on.


King: This piece is the most important one in the game. You must protect it
      since if it gets trapped by enemy pieces, you lose. It can move one
      square in any direction per turn.
       ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
      |   |   |   |   |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|
      |   | @ | @ | @ |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|
      |   | @ | K | @ |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|
      |   | @ | @ | @ |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|
      |   |   |   |   |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|


Rook: You only get one of this piece, which is on the right side of the
      second row. It can move as far as it wants in the four directions (up,
      down, left, right).
       ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
      |   |   | @ |   |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|
      |   |   | @ |   |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|
      | @ | @ | R | @ | @ |
      |___|___|___|___|___|
      |   |   | @ |   |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|
      |   |   | @ |   |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|


Bishop: Like the Rook, you only get one of these pieces as well, and it is on
        the left side of the second row. It can move as far as it wants in
        the four diagonal directions.
       ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
      | @ |   |   |   | @ |
      |___|___|___|___|___|
      |   | @ |   | @ |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|
      |   |   | B |   |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|
      |   | @ |   | @ |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|
      | @ |   |   |   | @ |
      |___|___|___|___|___|


Gold General: There are two of these pieces, starting on either side of the
              King. Its movement is interesting, in that it can move one
              square in each of the four directions, plus it can move in the
              two forward diagonal directions, but it can NOT move diagonally
              backwards.
       ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
      |   |   |   |   |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|
      |   | @ | @ | @ |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|
      |   | @ | GG| @ |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|
      |   |   | @ |   |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|
      |   |   |   |   |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|


Silver General: Like the Gold General, you get two of these as well, and they
                start next to each Gold General. The Silver General has even
                more limited movement and a unique pattern, in that it can
                move one square diagonally in four directions or directly
                forward, but not directly to the sides or backwards.
       ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
      |   |   |   |   |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|
      |   | @ | @ | @ |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|
      |   |   | SG|   |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|
      |   | @ |   | @ |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|
      |   |   |   |   |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|


Knight: This piece is just like the piece of the same name in regular chess.
        You have two of them, starting next to each Silver General. It is the
        only piece that can pass over other pieces without capturing them. As
        for its movement, it can go forward two squares, then one square to
        either the left or right. It cannot move to the sides or backwards.
       ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
      |   | @ |   | @ |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|
      |   |   |   |   |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|
      |   |   | KN|   |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|
      |   |   |   |   |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|
      |   |   |   |   |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|


Lance: These are the final two pieces, which occupy the corner positions in
       the back row. The Lances are very limited, in that they can only move
       directly forward and that's it.
       ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
      |   |   | @ |   |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|
      |   |   | @ |   |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|
      |   |   | L |   |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|
      |   |   |   |   |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|
      |   |   |   |   |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|


Pawn: You will get nine of these bottom-rank pieces, which occupy the entire
      third row. Pawns can only move forward one square per turn, that's it.
      Unlike regular Chess, Pawns can capture enemy pieces by moving forward;
      diagonal movement by this piece is not allowed.
       ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
      |   |   |   |   |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|
      |   |   | @ |   |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|
      |   |   | P |   |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|
      |   |   |   |   |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|
      |   |   |   |   |   |
      |___|___|___|___|___|


Promoting Pieces
----------------

As in Chess, if you move any of your pieces to the opposite end of the board,
they can be promoted. In Shogi, this does not only apply to Pawns; it can
apply to every piece (except the King and Gold General). A piece is valid for
promotion if you move it into the back three rows of the board (the three
rows that the enemy pieces initially occupy). When you promote a piece, it
gains more movement options, depending on the piece. Also, when you get to
the opposing side's three rows and choose to promote the piece, you flip the
piece over to reveal its new "name". These names will be listed below. Keep
in mind though, that you don't have to promote a piece because you are in the
three back rows.

If the promoted piece is a Silver General, Knight, Lance, or Pawn, its
upgraded movement will be that of a Gold General. If the piece you are
promoting is a Rook or Bishop, it will retain its original range of movement,
but it will be able to move like a King would as well.

Original Name     Kanji     Promoted Name     Kanji
-------------     -----     -------------     -----
Rook              飛車      Dragon            龍王
Bishop            角行      Horse             龍馬
Silver General    銀将      Promoted Silver   成銀
Knight            桂馬      Promoted Knight   成桂
Lance             香車      Promoted Lance    成香
Pawn              歩兵      Tokin             と金


Capturing/Dropping Pieces
-------------------------

As in Chess, the objective in Shogi is ultimately to 'capture' the opposing
player's King. Along the way, as you move your own pieces across the board,
you can capture the opposing player's pieces by making a legal move onto the
same square that an enemy piece is currently occupying. When you capture the
enemy's piece, you put it on a side table known as a komadai (こまだい). You
can 'drop' a captured piece onto the board, putting it under your control and
thus increasing your active forces. This kind of gameplay can work in your
favor (or against you, if the enemy does it) if done at the right times.


===============================================================================
This guide is available for and to anyone who wishes to use the information on
their site or in their own guide. Remember this was posted on GameFAQs first if
you want to copy and credit anything.
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