Waltorious Writes About Games – Page 3

Scratching That Itch: Hi-Score Boi

On September 1, 2025

This is the two hundred twenty-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. This particular entry is also part of the Keeping Score series about games and their soundtracks. Lastly, as always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

Our two hundred twenty-fourth random selection from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality is sat on the couch, controller in hand, ready to get that high score. It’s Hi-SCore Boi, by 88domo, and it’s messing up my intro formatting by not having a tagline in the bundle at all. Touché, 88domo.

Console History: Bionic Commando

By Waltorious

On August 29, 2025

In Uncategorized

This is Console History, a special sub-series of my more general History Lessons series, covering console role-playing games, action role-playing games, Metroidvanias, and action-adventure games in nominally chronological order starting in the late 1980s. The chronology is garbled in the beginning as the scope of the series expanded, but it gets more organized later on. As always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

I’m in the midst of another detour from my nominal timeline for this series. Having reached the first truly 16-bit console role-playing game, Phantasy Star II, in March 1989, I then went all the way back to June 1987 for Glory of Heracles: The Labors of the Divine Hero. I’d originally skipped that because I thought it was a simple Dragon Quest clone, but in fact it has a bunch of interesting ideas of its own. Now, I’m jumping forward to July 20, 1988, when Capcom released Bionic Commando in Japan for Nintendo’s Famicom system (although I played the US port for the rebranded NES, which released in December of the same year). That puts it between Blaster Master and Exile in our timeline. Like Glory of Heracles, I’d originally skipped over Bionic Commando, in this case because I thought it was a pure action game and thus outside the scope of this series. Later, I learned that it had a lot of design ideas that would influence the nascent Metroidvania genre, which puts it in scope after all. Bionic Commando also has another, far more notable claim to fame: it is the first game with a grappling hook as a central mechanic.

Scratching That Itch: Into The Sun

By Waltorious

On August 23, 2025

In Uncategorized

This is the two hundred twenty-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 twenty-third random selection from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality is inviting us to throw some awful people into the sun. It’s Into The Sun, by Jess Go, and its tagline in the bundle reads:

A game and pamphlet about where trash people can go.

They can go into the sun. Just making sure that’s clear.

Scratching That Itch: Shift

By Waltorious

On August 21, 2025

In Uncategorized

This is the two hundred twenty-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 twenty-second random selection from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality has put our king into check, and then pushed a bunch of its chips into the pot. It’s Shift, by Jack Schlesinger, and its tagline in the bundle reads:

The game of constantly changing strategy where you have to check to bet!

Check yourself before you bet yourself.

Console History: Glory Of Heracles: The Labors Of The Divine Hero

By Waltorious

On August 13, 2025

In Uncategorized

This is Console History, a special sub-series of my more general History Lessons series, covering console role-playing games, action role-playing games, Metroidvanias, and action-adventure games in nominally chronological order starting in the late 1980s. The chronology is garbled in the beginning as the scope of the series expanded, but it gets more organized later on. As always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

It’s tradition, at this point. Whenever I get my timeline sorted out for this series, and start actually working through things chronologically — as I recently did with Out Live and Phantasy Star II — I always find some other games I missed and end up going back to play them. I’m tempted to tell you that this detour will the the last one, but that’s what I think every time. Hopefully it will at least be brief, and then we can head back to 1989.

For now, though, we’re going way back to June 1987, for the Japan-only game Glory of Heracles: The Labors of the Divine Hero by Data East, for Nintendo’s Famicom. That places it a few weeks after Zillion and about a week before Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished in our timeline. I’d originally skipped over Glory of Heracles because I’d heard it was basically just a Dragon Quest clone (indeed, the first two Dragon Quest games, as well as Miracle Warriors: Seal of the Dark Lord, are the only proper Japanese-style role-playing games to precede it), but then I read that the later entries in the Glory of Heracles series are good, so I decided to play it after all, using an English translation from DvD Translations (who also did the translation for Cleopatra no Mahou). It turns out it has a lot of interesting ideas of its own.

Scratching That Itch: Space Combat Engine

By Waltorious

On August 6, 2025

In Uncategorized

This is the two hundred twenty-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 twenty-first random selection from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality is challenging us to combat… in space. It’s Space Combat Engine, by Vincent, and its tagline in the bundle reads:

Space Combat Engine for GMS 2

That “GMS 2” stands for Game Maker Studio 2, a software package for making one’s own games. I don’t own any version of Game Maker, so this one will probably be a short post.

Scratching That Itch: Glitter Hearts

By Waltorious

On August 4, 2025

In Uncategorized

This is the two hundred twentieth 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 twentieth random selection from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality is drafting us into a superhero team to combat evil. It’s Glitter Hearts, by Greg L (AKA Greg Leatherman), and its tagline in the bundle reads:

A magical transforming heroes RPG.

This is a concise and highly accurate tagline.

Scratching That Itch: Dear Mariko

By Waltorious

On July 14, 2025

In Uncategorized

This is the two hundred nineteenth 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 nineteenth random selection from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality has written us a letter. It’s Dear Mariko, by Coren Baili, and its tagline in the bundle reads:

A girl comes home to find a letter.

This is, indeed, what happens.

Scratching That Itch: Aerannis

By Waltorious

On July 6, 2025

In Uncategorized

This is the two hundred eighteenth 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 eighteenth random selection from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality has snuck into our high-tech facility and taken us hostage at gunpoint. It’s Aerannis, by ff, and its tagline in the bundle reads:

A stealth-action metroidvania

I’m honestly not sure if I’ve seen stealth in a Metroidvania before.

Year Five Of Scratching That Itch

By Waltorious

On June 17, 2025

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 five years since I started the Scratching That Itch series, and as is my yearly tradition, I’m taking stock of our progress towards racial justice. Oh boy. Donald Trump, despite being a convicted felon and a racist piece of shit, is president of the United States again. He immediately decided that any efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion are now illegal. He also appointed a tech billionaire, who openly made a nazi salute on stage and on live television, to randomly shut down federal programs and government offices. Now they’re mad at each other and fighting on social media like toddlers. Government funding for research is being slashed or held up in red tape. Non-white people are being quietly erased from historical records. Trump’s administration has started trade wars, despite not knowing how trade works. Because they are idiots. U.S. Citizens are being rounded up and deported to foreign prisons, immigrants are being illegally arrested, and when the public protested these actions in Los Angeles (good!) the administration sent in the National Guard and Marines. I knew we would face backlash in the fight for racial justice, but I didn’t think we’d have literal fascists put in charge.

And that’s just what’s happening in America. Elsewhere, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, as does Israel’s genocide in Gaza. The Israeli military just seized a ship bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza, because they want the Palestinians to starve to death. It’s bad out there, folks. We can’t stop fighting back against racists, against bigots, against fascists. Stay strong. It’s going to get worse before it gets better.

I also randomly picked and wrote about 29 games and game-related things from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. That’s four more than last year, and the first time that the pace has actually gone up. I hope that means I’ve reached a sustainable pace for the series moving forward. This brings our total number of selections to 217, over 12% of the entire bundle. Read on for some of my favorite picks from year five below.