Game-related ramblings.

Month: September 2021

Scratching That Itch: Exit, Pursued By A Bear

This is the eighty-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.

The random picks from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality keep coming. This time we have Exit, Pursued By a Bear, by Chris Bissette. Its tagline in the bundle reads:

There’s a goddamn bear and it wants to eat you.

I have no further comment.

Scratching That Itch: Bleed 2

This is the eighty-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.

It’s time for another random selection from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. It’s Bleed 2, by BootdiskRevolution (AKA Ian Campbell). Its tagline in the bundle reads:

A relentless arcade action game with air-dodging, bullet-reflecting, and tons …

I’m going to assume that it was going to say “tons of explosions”. Bleed 2 is, of course, the sequel to Bleed, which is also in the bundle. The pair are among the better known games within, having gotten a lot of positive press, and I’d intended to check them out at some point, so this pick was a pleasant surprise. Normally, I’d play the two games in order, but such is not the way of Scratching That Itch. I must embrace the randomness, and play the sequel first. I can now reveal that, despite the name, Bleed 2 has no blood whatsoever. But it sure does have explosions.

Scratching That Itch: Monster Jaunt

This is the eighty-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.

The random number generators do not sleep. They have picked another random selection from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality for our perusal: Monster Jaunt, by Sketch House Games. Its tagline in the bundle reads:

A minigame party that *won’t* ruin your friendships

What’s the point of having friendships if you’re not going to ruin them?

Scratching That Itch: Galaxy Goons

This is the eighty-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.

Here comes another random selection from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality: it’s Galaxy Goons by John Erwin, and its tagline in the bundle reads:

a space fantasy adventure game

Do you fantasize about adventures in space, reader? Then you are in luck, because that’s exactly what Galaxy Goons is about.

Scratching That Itch: Rosette Diceless

This is the eighty-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.

The random number generators have whirred to life once again, plucking a random selection from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. This time it’s Rosette Diceless, by Future Proof Games. Its tagline in the bundle reads:

Consensus-based, story-focused, improvisational roleplaying

Well, reader, you’re about to hear my consensus on Rosette Diceless. A consensus of one.

History Lessons: Miracle Warriors: Seal Of The Dark Lord

Other History Lessons posts can be found here. As always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

My slow quest to play the early Japanese-style role-playing games continues. I’ve even expanded the scope to include some games outside of the genre, like the one I played most recently, The Legend of Zelda. When I wrote about that game, I briefly discussed the action role-playing games that had inspired it, most of which released on Japanese home computer systems like the PC-88, which boasted high resolution displays in order to properly render Japanese writing. Compared to hardware in the Western market, these computers could render incredibly detailed images, although they were much worse at displaying animations than the console systems that would follow like the Famicom or Master System.

Miracle Warriors: Seal of the Dark Lord, by Kogado Studio, was originally a PC-88 game from 1986, although it was later ported to a variety of other systems. One of these ports was an official English translation for Sega’s Master System, which is the version I played, using emulation via the Genesis Plus GX core (which emulates both the Master System and the Genesis) in Retroarch. This port is actually rather different than the original PC-88 version; the differences are discussed in this article. With new art, music, a mini-map view, streamlined controls, and a completely different world layout, the Master System incarnation is more of a remake than a port, with additional development in-house from Sega.

Scratching That Itch: Mausritter

This is the eightieth 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.

I’m back after a short vacation, brushing the dust off of the random number generators and spinning them up to grab another random pick from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. This time it’s Mausritter, by Losing Games, and its tagline in the bundle reads:

Sword-and-whiskers roleplaying

I feel the sword would be way more effective than the whiskers.

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