A strange little side quest
Even a quick game like Stand Out sits on top of decades — and sometimes centuries — of ideas. By 1987, fantasy role-playing had become a major computer-game direction, with Zelda, licensed Dungeons & Dragons games and other story-led adventures expanding the form. The broader history adds one more wrinkle. The word 'checkmate' is linked to the Persian expression 'shah mat', used when the king was trapped. That gives Stand Out a little more company than it first appears to have.
