Play Minna no Soft Series : Minna no Shougi Online

I picked up Minna no Soft Series: Minna no Shougi for the Game Boy Advance back in 2001, a time when the handheld was flooded with quirky Japanese titles that rarely made it overseas. This one, developed by Success and published by Nintendo, was part of that wave of accessible, budget friendly games meant to introduce complex hobbies to a wider audience. It didn't try to be a flashy showpiece for the hardware; it was just a solid, portable way to learn shogi.

You control the cursor to move your pieces across the 9x9 grid, with the main objective being to checkmate your opponent's king. The game teaches you through a series of graded tutorials and practice matches, letting you get comfortable with piece movement, capturing, and the crucial dropping rule, where captured pieces can be returned to the board under your control. The pacing is deliberately slow, encouraging thoughtful play rather than quick decisions. It feels genuinely rewarding to finally see the strategies click into place after a few matches.