Month: June 2023

Scratching That Itch: Picky Pop

On June 30, 2023

I'm picking and popping, it's like an adventure!

This is the one hundred sixty-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 one hundred sixty-fifth random selection from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality is approaching, offering numbered tiles in its paws. It’s Picky Pop, by Froach Club, and its tagline in the bundle reads:

Pick & Pop with the best of ’em

Very well, Froach Club. Challenge accepted.

History Lessons: Faxanadu

By Waltorious

On June 27, 2023

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.

For those just tuning in, I’ve been playing early console role-playing games (and some adjacent games) for this sub-series of my broader History Lessons series. I’m nominally trying to go chronologically by the original release date (which is usually the Japanese release date) but I keep expanding the scope to include more games, so I keep jumping back and forth. The farthest I’ve made it in time is SpellCaster for the Sega Master System, which released on September 23, 1988. But I’m currently on a trip back to 1987 to fill in a few games I realized I should have included. The most recent of these is Faxanadu, by Hudson Soft, which released in Japan on November 16, 1987, and was later brought to the US in August 1989.

Rainbow In The Dark: Deep Rock Galactic

By Waltorious

On June 21, 2023

In Uncategorized

This is Rainbow In The Dark, a series about games that actually contain colors. As always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

For the first proper entry in the Rainbow In The Dark series, I knew I wanted to write about Deep Rock Galactic. It’s a game that literally contains the word “darkness” in its tagline: “Danger. Darkness. Dwarves.” A game about dwarven miners in a sci-fi world, working for the giant and exploitative Deep Rock Galactic mining corporation, who risk their lives daily to mine precious minerals from the caverns of the planet Hoxxes while fighting off its aggressive fauna. Set almost entirely in subterranean caves, it’s a game that could so easily have been a gloomy, drab affair. Instead, when a player tosses out a flare to illuminate a tunnel, they are treated to a surprising array of colors. A literal rainbow in the dark.

Scratching That Itch: Knowing You

By Waltorious

On June 20, 2023

In Uncategorized

This is the one hundred sixty-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 one hundred sixty-fourth random selection from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality has sat us down for a difficult conversation. It’s Knowing You, by Summer, and its tagline in the bundle reads:

A Two Player Prompt Based RPG exploring a romantic relationship broken b…

It’s all over now.

Rainbow In The Dark: Introduction

By Waltorious

On June 19, 2023

In Uncategorized

This is the introduction to Rainbow In The Dark, a series about games that actually contain colors. As always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

Longtime readers will know that I often lament the lack of colors in modern games. Whether it’s the constant reliance on only blue and orange, excessive use of shaders to tint the screen a monochrome hue in a crude attempt at atmosphere, or just dull greys and browns everywhere, games tend to have very limited colors these days. I’ve had the idea for a blog series celebrating colorful games kicking around in my head for a while, but two things in particular prompted me to start it now. First, my series about early console role-playing games (which has now expanded to include action/role-playing hybrids and Metroidvanias) has been emphasizing just how much more colorful these old games were, despite technical limits that meant they could only display a fraction of the colors that computers and consoles can today. And second, I have — at long last — started playing Dark Souls for the first time, and while it’s fascinating in many ways, it sure is very grey and brown. Since it will likely take me a long time to finish it, I want to counterbalance it with a bunch of colorful games.

So, I’m starting a new series, which will highlight and celebrate modern-ish games that dare to actually contain colors. It’s called Rainbow In The Dark. Read on for some more introductory thoughts.

Year Three Of Scratching That Itch

By Waltorious

On June 17, 2023

In Uncategorized

The Scratching That Itch series is where 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 now been three years since I started the Scratching That Itch series, randomly picking things from the 1741-strong itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. Last year, I was feeling pretty grim about our progress towards racial justice, as it seemed a backlash of racist, bigoted politics was sweeping America. At that time, the U.S. Supreme Court was poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, removing vital abortion protections; it has now done so. Shootings were on the rise, as were voter suppression laws. Hearings were being held on the January 6, 2021 insurrection in the nation’s capitol, but I was not confident they would amount to anything.

I may have been a little too pessimistic. The insurrection hearings found that former President Donald Trump and several of his associates violated federal laws and conspired against the United States, and recommended prosecution. That prosecution hasn’t happened (yet?), but Trump is facing multiple investigations and indictments, and I’m daring to hope that some of them may actually find him guilty. Beyond Trump and his followers, however, progress towards racial and social justice remains frustratingly stagnant in America. I have no reason to think things will improve anytime soon, and yet I find myself more hopeful this year. I don’t know why. The Inflation Reduction Act, passed into law last August, is a positive step towards clean energy investment, but I can’t reasonably expect it will have much social impact. Perhaps it is just that, where I feared discussions about racial justice would fade from public discourse, they have not. We have a lot of work to do, but I’m feeling cautiously optimistic that we can do it.

I also randomly picked and wrote about 37 games or game-related things from the massive bundle. That’s a slower pace than the first two years, which was somewhat inevitable as pandemic-related lockdowns lifted and in-person work largely resumed (and also just because I’ve been playing a bunch of other stuff, too). Still, that brings our total over 3 years to 163 bundle entries, which is more than 9% of the whole thing! I’ve highlighted some of my favorite picks from year three below.

Scratching That Itch: Clouds Of Fire: Blazing Skies

By Waltorious

On June 10, 2023

In Uncategorized

This is the one hundred sixty-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 one hundred sixty-third random selection from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality appears to have stalled out. It’s Clouds of Fire: Blazing Skies, by AaronMakesGames, and its tagline in the bundle reads:

Complete Chaos in this Shoot-em up meets Rouge-like with Physics!

Unfortunately I was unable to experience this chaos, because my attempts to download the game led to the image shown above. It seems that the game has been completely removed from itch.io. It doesn’t seem to be available anywhere, actually, all I could find was this trailer which reveals that it is (or was?) a pixel art fighter plane themed shoot ’em up with some roguelike elements. One that can’t be played anymore, sadly.

So that’s a regretful 163 down, but only 1578 to go!

Scratching That Itch: Rod, Reel, & Fist

By Waltorious

On June 9, 2023

In Uncategorized

This is the one hundred sixty-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 one hundred sixty-second random selection from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality has just cast a line into the dark waters. It’s Rod, Reel, & Fist, by kumada1 (although the cover says Ian Hamilton presents a game by Richard Kelly), and its tagline in the bundle reads:

Save your village by landing the catch of a lifetime in this feature-length fishi…

That’s right folks: it’s time to fish.