SMS Capture GO

Game for Master System

Version	Date	By	Download
1.00	27 Mar 2026	raphnet	SmsCaptureGo-SMS-1.00.zip (29KB)

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Competition Entry

This was a competition entry in 2026

https://youtu.be/MWp2Uu8by-A

Description

Capture GO is a variant of the game of Go with a simplified goal of capturing a set number of stones. It is by its nature simpler and easier than the full game of Go and is often used as an introduction to Go concepts.

I have been trying on and off for a very long time to see if I could code a GO (The board game) engine with modest CPU and RAM requirements. I modified this work-in-progress engine to make this simple Capture GO game for SMS.

Since the focus is on capturing rather than territory and life, I did not have to worry about improving those difficult concepts, and the way a game ends is also easier to implement: Just a check for how many stones were captured! No need for the CPU to decide when to resign or pass, etc.

I have many ideas on how to improve the computer opponent, but unfortunately I began putting this game together at the last minute and as a result, even for this simple Go variant, the computer opponent is very weak. But if you are new to Go, perhaps it is strong enough for a few games.

Game rules

(See main menu - Rules for basically the same content with animations)

Capture GO is a variant of the game of Go with a simplified goal of capturing a set number of stones.

The winner is the player who first to reaches that goal.

On each turn, players place one stone on a free intersection. Black plays first, then white and black alternate. In Go, stones do not move. Once placed, they remain there unless they get captured.

Free intersections adjacent to a stone are called liberties. Adjacent here means directly above, below, left or right. Diagonals do not count. Stones played on the edges start with fewer liberties!

If a move makes an opponent stone liberties fall to zero, that stone is captured. A stone with only one liberty is said to be in Atari. Opponent's stones that are in Atari can be caputured by filling (playing on) the last liberty.

Stones of a same color are said to be connected when they are adjacent, forming a group. For instance, a L-shaped group of 3 stones has 7 liberties. A move which reduces the liberty count of an opponent's group to zero captures the whole group at once!

In Go, playing where it would capture one's own stones is not permitted. That is, unless the move captures opponent stones!

That's it, this is all you need to know to play Atari go! Good luck!

devkitSMS PSGlib