Waltorious Writes About Games – Game-related ramblings.

History Lessons: Out Live

On February 17, 2025

Other History Lessons posts can be found here. If you’re looking specifically for console games, those are here. As always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

Reader, we are back on our nominal timeline for this series once more. In fact, this is the entry that sent me on my latest detour, investigating other Japanese-only games that were translated by the team at Nebulous Translations: Getsu Fuuma Den, Star Cruiser, and Shiryou Sensen: War of the Dead. Now I’m back to Out Live by Sunsoft, a grid-based mecha dungeon crawler role-playing game that released in Japan on March 17, 1989 for the PC Engine. That puts it almost two months after Clash At Demonhead in our timeline. It was never officially localized in English, but thankfully I was able to use the fan translation from Nebulous Translations to play it.

Scratching That Itch: By Your Side

By Waltorious

On February 7, 2025

In Uncategorized

This is the two hundred sixth entry in the Scratching That Itch series, wherein I randomly select and write about one of the 1741 games and game-related things included in the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. The Bundle raised $8,149,829.66 split evenly between the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and Community Bail Fund, but don’t worry if you missed it. There are plenty of ways you can help support the vital cause of racial justice; try here for a start. Lastly, as always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

Our two hundred sixth random selection from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality is gazing at us with loving eyes. It’s By Your Side, by Takafumi, and its tagline in the bundle reads:

Live a daily life of love!

This one is very lovey-dovey.

Scratching That Itch: Ecchi Sketch: Draw Cute Girls Every Day! (All Ages Ver)

By Waltorious

On January 23, 2025

In Uncategorized

This is the two hundred fifth entry in the Scratching That Itch series, wherein I randomly select and write about one of the 1741 games and game-related things included in the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. The Bundle raised $8,149,829.66 split evenly between the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and Community Bail Fund, but don’t worry if you missed it. There are plenty of ways you can help support the vital cause of racial justice; try here for a start. Lastly, as always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

Our two hundred fifth random selection from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality is very excited about drawing cute girls romancing each other. It’s Ecchi Sketch: Draw Cute Girls Every Day! (All Ages Ver) by NewWestGames, and its tagline in the bundle reads:

Cute lesbian fun in Ecchi Sketch: Draw Cute Girls Every Day!

I can confirm that this is, indeed, a cute game about lesbians.

The Case Of The Golden Idol Is Another Great Game For Collaborative Detective Work

By Waltorious

On January 13, 2025

In Uncategorized

This post is part of the Keeping Score series about games and their soundtracks. As always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

Long time readers may remember that I wrote about Lucas Pope’s Return of the Obra Dinn about a year ago. Specifically, I wrote about the experience of playing it with my partner, who is less well versed in games than I, and how it served as an excellent introduction to games. We enjoyed its intricate puzzle-like mystery so much, we looked into other games that might offer similar deduction puzzles. A kind reader suggested The Case of the Golden Idol by Color Gray Games — although mistakenly referred to it as The Curse of the Golden Idol, a mistake I keep repeating as I write this. It was inspired by Return of the Obra Dinn, and it got a lot of praise from the press, so it seemed like a good choice. But then we got distracted. Now we’ve finally given The Case of the Golden Idol a try, and I’m happy to report that it not only offers some quality detective work, it may be an even better introduction to games.

Scratching That Itch: Nest Lander

By Waltorious

On December 29, 2024

In Uncategorized

This is the two hundred fourth entry in the Scratching That Itch series, wherein I randomly select and write about one of the 1741 games and game-related things included in the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. The Bundle raised $8,149,829.66 split evenly between the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and Community Bail Fund, but don’t worry if you missed it. There are plenty of ways you can help support the vital cause of racial justice; try here for a start. Lastly, as always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

Our two hundred fourth random selection from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality is performing some precision aerial maneuvers. It’s Nest Lander, by Clockwork Hippo, and its tagline in the bundle reads:

Physics based flight, old school skillful gameplay.

It’s time to get old school.

Scratching That Itch: Neon Valley: Revenge

By Waltorious

On December 28, 2024

In Uncategorized

This is the two hundred third entry in the Scratching That Itch series, wherein I randomly select and write about one of the 1741 games and game-related things included in the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. The Bundle raised $8,149,829.66 split evenly between the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and Community Bail Fund, but don’t worry if you missed it. There are plenty of ways you can help support the vital cause of racial justice; try here for a start. Lastly, as always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

Our two hundred third random selection from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality promises a virtual world to battle in, but does not seem to actually exist in the real world. It’s Neon Valley: Revenge, by Melloe, and its tagline in the bundle reads:

3rd/1st person online multiplayer shooter

As is often the case with online multiplayer games, it seems that the servers for Neon Valley: Revenge have shut down and it’s no longer possible to play.

Scratching That Itch: Flat Kingdom

By Waltorious

On December 25, 2024

In Uncategorized

This is the two hundred second entry in the Scratching That Itch series, wherein I randomly select and write about one of the 1741 games and game-related things included in the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. The Bundle raised $8,149,829.66 split evenly between the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and Community Bail Fund, but don’t worry if you missed it. There are plenty of ways you can help support the vital cause of racial justice; try here for a start. Lastly, as always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

Our two hundred second random selection from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality is changing its shape before our eyes. It’s Flat Kingdom, by Game Starter, and its tagline in the bundle reads:

Change into a circle, triangle or square in order to solve puzzles, overcome o…

Fun fact: triangles have three vertices, squares have four vertices, and circles have an infinite number of vertices!

History Lessons: Shiryou Sensen: War Of The Dead

By Waltorious

On December 15, 2024

In Uncategorized

Other History Lessons posts can be found here. If you’re looking specifically for console games, those are here. As always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

I’m almost finished with the latest departure from the nominal timeline for this series. It was triggered by finding several interesting Japanese-only games that have been unofficially translated by the team at Nebulous Translations, first Getsu Fuuma Den and then Star Cruiser. This time, however, it’s not my fault! Fun Project’s horror game Shiryou Sensen: War of the Dead (Undead Front: War of the Dead, according to Google Translate) was indeed a Japanese-only title that was translated by Nebulous Translations, but it was already in my list of games to play. The problem is that I wrote down the release date of its PC Engine port (March 24, 1989), not realizing that it was originally released for the Japanese MSX2 home computer sometime back in 1987! I’m trying to play games in original release date order, even if I’m actually playing a later port like the CD-ROM versions of Ys I & II or the Genesis version of Hydlide 3: The Space Memories. So I’m extending my detour to cover the PC Engine version of War of the Dead now.

Scratching That Itch: Benjamin Of Blackstone Edge

By Waltorious

On November 24, 2024

In Uncategorized

This is the two hundred first entry in the Scratching That Itch series, wherein I randomly select and write about one of the 1741 games and game-related things included in the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. The Bundle raised $8,149,829.66 split evenly between the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and Community Bail Fund, but don’t worry if you missed it. There are plenty of ways you can help support the vital cause of racial justice; try here for a start. Lastly, as always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

Our two hundred first random selection from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality has changed the protagonist on us. It’s Benjamin of Blackstone Edge, by criacuervos, and its tagline in the bundle reads:

Exploration, stories, fights!

I can confirm that it contains all three of those things.

Scratching That Itch: Moonstone Deep

By Waltorious

On October 29, 2024

In Uncategorized

This is the two hundredth entry in the Scratching That Itch series, wherein I randomly select and write about one of the 1741 games and game-related things included in the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. The Bundle raised $8,149,829.66 split evenly between the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and Community Bail Fund, but don’t worry if you missed it. There are plenty of ways you can help support the vital cause of racial justice; try here for a start. Lastly, as always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

Our two hundredth random selection from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality has put up a bounty, attracting fortune seekers from all across the land. It’s Moonstone Deep, by criacuervos, and its tagline in the bundle reads:

Explore, make hard choices, fight!

That definitely sounds like a video game!