Shudan Taikyoku (series)

The Shudan Taikyoku (手談対局) series is a computer game version of timed Go matches published by Koei. The game's title is composed of two Go related terms. Shudan describes the action of a player silently placing a stone on the board. Taikyoku is a term used to describe a game between two players, which is also used for Shougi matches. It was first published in Japan in 1997, and the last entry was made available to the public on December 12, 2003.

Each entry strives to simulate the difficulty seen in Go tournament matches between professional players. While the first title mainly focused on plays seen in Japan, the following titles changes the algorithms to include professional matches from China and Korea. These additions were overseen by Chen Zhi Xing (陳志行), a former professor of Guangzhou University. His observations of the tournaments contributed greatly to strengthening the game's AI to match the professionals' traits. The games are extremely challenging to players of all levels of experience. Takaho Kojima, a Nine dan in Go, has remarked that Shudan Taikyoku is hard even for him.

The games attempt to emulate Go tournaments as closely as possible. An overhead perspective of the board is kept at all times to mirror televised matches. Players are able to adjust the tone of the female announcer keeping track of the player's moves and times, and can change the time of the matches to be professional or amateur level. Players can challenge one another using the Internet or Lan for the later versions of the series.

While the games are mainly designed to appeal to Go enthusiasts, a few features are implemented to help beginners. Players can choose to revert or edit their moves per turn. The game can even allow "freebie" captures against computer opponents or hints for players who wish to solve a trap themselves. A demo mode to watch matches between the computer is also available. Since professional Go players are used as the model for the computer's own AI, the games are advertised as the world's first Go learning simulation for challenging top-ranking players.

Games

 * Shudan Taikyoku
 * Shudan Taikyoku II
 * Shudan Taikyoku III
 * Shudan Taikyoku IV -Kyukyoku no Igo-
 * Shudan Taikyoku V -Kyukyoku no Igo-