From: =?ISO-2022-JP?B?GyRCRiNLXBsoQg==?= <fujimoto <at> RD <dot> TKSC <dot> NASDA <dot> GO <dot> JP>
Date: 1 may 1996
Subject: Re: PC Shogi software (was: Human vs. computer shogi software)

>* Kiwame-2
>  9000 Yen (about $100). Strength 2-dan, the strongest PC-based program
>  by far. At the 1995 Verkouille Memorial Tournament in Belgium it beat
>  4-kyu, 2-kyu, 1-kyu, 2-dan and 3-dan players and lost only to a 4-dan.
>  I have played against Kiwame-2 in August 1995 and was favourably
>  impressed. It does not need a Japanese OS version if you have a cheat
>  sheet with key codes for the various commands. The manual is in
>  Japanese only. Contact Frans Roquas <roquas.afrtnl <at> pi <dot> net> for more
>  information.
>
>* GNU Shogi
>  Freeware. Alpha or beta version, I think. Please contact Matthias
>  Mutz <mutz <at> fmi <dot> uni-passau <dot> de> for detailed info.
>
>* Shogi Master
>  Strength 6-kyu. The price is $49.95, plus $5.50 shipping in the U.S.
>  (as of May 1995). Ishi Press International, phone +1-408-271-0415,
>  fax +1-408-271-0416, e-mail ishius <at> ishius <dot> com. It seems to have
>  a bug where giving checkmate is concerned.
>
>* Morita Shogi DOS/V
>  Costs about $140. Requires Japanese DOS version. It does run on
>  standard DOS, but the menus are unintellegible. Manual in Japanese.
>  Random House Inc., phone +81-492-88-1147, fax +81-492-81-5612.
>  Morita and Kiwame (Kiwame-1 ?) secured a shared first place at the
>  5th Computer Shogi Championship held in December 1994. Hiroki Kawada
>  (kawada <at> merl <dot> hitachi <dot> co <dot> jp) provided most of the information on
>  Morita Shogi.
>
>* AI Shogi
>  Strength about 2 or 3-kyu (unconfirmed). May suffer the same
>  drawback as Morita Shogi (i.e., it officially requires DOS/V).
>  Something Good Inc., phone +81-3-3232-0801, fax +81-3-3232-0963.
>  Hiroki Kawada (kawada <at> merl <dot> hitachi <dot> co <dot> jp) provided most of the
>  information on AI Shogi.
>
There is some Japanese Shogi softwre which can be available on Windows.
1.Morita Shogi for windows
2.AI Shogi for windows
3.Kakinoki Shogi for windows
4.Kitaihei for windows
The current price range in Japan is 6000yen to 10000yen (about $70-$110)

1 and 2 can run on WFW3.11 ( I had checked).
 3.and 4. supporsed to be OK too.
All these software was designed for Japanese version OS and all Menue Item and
dialog is written in Japanese. But you can run them on the English OS
(Windows) if
you do not care about unreadable menue bar and messages.

For example, menu may be appear like below
( $BJT=8 (B) <----- Edit
( $B%U%!%$%k (B) <------ File
etc.

 $BF#K\?.5A (B  (Nobuyoshi Fujimoto)
 $B1'Ch3+H/;v6HCD!!1'Ch<B83%0%k!<%W (B
(NASDA)
<fujimoto <at> rd <dot> tksc <dot> nasda <dot> go <dot> jp>
(tel:0298-52-2772 $B!K (B
(fax:0298-50-2233)