Play Morita Shogi Advance (J)(Cezar) Online

Game Overview

Morita Shogi Advance is one of those GBA games that looks simple at first glance—just Japanese chess on a tiny screen—but ends up swallowing whole afternoons once you start playing. The AI doesn’t mess around, even on "beginner" mode, and I definitely lost my first few matches embarrassingly fast. But the controls are so clean that you’ll forget you’re playing on a handheld; moving pieces feels natural after a round or two.

What’s cool is how it handles the language barrier. Sure, it’s a Japan-only release, but the menus are mostly icons, and the piece movements follow standard shogi rules—no kanji fluency required. The graphics are barebones (it’s basically just a board and sprites), but that somehow makes it easier to focus. By the time I figured out how to properly use a promoted silver general, I was hooked. It’s the kind of game that makes you mutter "one more match" under your breath at 1 AM.

If you’ve got a soft spot for chess variants or just want something genuinely challenging on the GBA, this cartridge punches way above its weight.