videolamer https://videolamer.com The serious gamers site since 1921 Sat, 06 Jun 2026 21:17:52 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.7 https://videolamer.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/logonewest.gif videolamer https://videolamer.com 32 32 Koudelka and Retroid https://videolamer.com/koudelka-and-retroid https://videolamer.com/koudelka-and-retroid#comments Tue, 16 Jun 2026 13:15:00 +0000 https://videolamer.com/?p=11005 Koudelka is a horror RPG with light tactical battles that appeared on the Playstation in 1999, in the heady days when the massive success of Resident Evil three years prior led to a proliferation of horror games in various genres. I don’t know if SNK was trying to cash in or the market presented Hiroki Kikuta the inspiration he needed to found Sacnoth and direct, write, produce, and compose the game. Either way, Koudelka is an interesting take on all the genres involved and sits alongside Parasite Eve as cool attempts at making horror RPGs in this era.  

I have various lists where I track the games I plan to play someday. Some of them exist in spreadsheets, others in my head or chat logs with friends. Koudelka and the subsequent Shadow Hearts games had always floated around in these lists, but had never risen to the top.  Then in 2022, developers associated with the series and with Wild Arms launched a “double Kickstarter” to fund spiritual successors to both.  →  Finger lickin’ read.

]]> Koudelka is a horror RPG with light tactical battles that appeared on the Playstation in 1999, in the heady days when the massive success of Resident Evil three years prior led to a proliferation of horror games in various genres. I don’t know if SNK was trying to cash in or the market presented Hiroki Kikuta the inspiration he needed to found Sacnoth and direct, write, produce, and compose the game. Either way, Koudelka is an interesting take on all the genres involved and sits alongside Parasite Eve as cool attempts at making horror RPGs in this era.  

I have various lists where I track the games I plan to play someday. Some of them exist in spreadsheets, others in my head or chat logs with friends. Koudelka and the subsequent Shadow Hearts games had always floated around in these lists, but had never risen to the top.  Then in 2022, developers associated with the series and with Wild Arms launched a “double Kickstarter” to fund spiritual successors to both.  →  Read like G did.

]]> https://videolamer.com/koudelka-and-retroid/feed 1 Haja No Fuuin – Not a Miracle https://videolamer.com/haja-no-fuuin-not-a-miracle https://videolamer.com/haja-no-fuuin-not-a-miracle#respond Tue, 09 Jun 2026 13:45:00 +0000 https://videolamer.com/?p=10959 In my post about the MSX2 version of Golvellius I briefly mention that I gave the PC88 version of Miracle Warriors a few minutes of attention before befuddledly giving up. Well, I went back to correct this oversight… and didn’t get much farther in terms of actual progress, though I did spend hours trying. The initial hurdle is getting the game to actually load. The first time I booted it up and read the EGG Console directions the publisher was kind enough to include, I correctly booted the software, created a loading disc, changed to it, changed back to the program disc, and started the game.

Coming back to Haja No Fuuin weeks later, the process mystified me. What I thought I did the first time no longer worked and I spent half an hour messing around with disc swapping and loading. Luckily, the all-katakana directions and error messages were beyond the Google phone app’s ability to translate. Unluckily, I have a few friends so I sent a pic to site admin Chris and he gave me assistance with the Japanese. →  Go ahead, read my day.

]]> In my post about the MSX2 version of Golvellius I briefly mention that I gave the PC88 version of Miracle Warriors a few minutes of attention before befuddledly giving up. Well, I went back to correct this oversight… and didn’t get much farther in terms of actual progress, though I did spend hours trying. The initial hurdle is getting the game to actually load. The first time I booted it up and read the EGG Console directions the publisher was kind enough to include, I correctly booted the software, created a loading disc, changed to it, changed back to the program disc, and started the game.

Coming back to Haja No Fuuin weeks later, the process mystified me. What I thought I did the first time no longer worked and I spent half an hour messing around with disc swapping and loading. Luckily, the all-katakana directions and error messages were beyond the Google phone app’s ability to translate. Unluckily, I have a few friends so I sent a pic to site admin Chris and he gave me assistance with the Japanese. →  Are anyone else’s nipples hard?

]]> https://videolamer.com/haja-no-fuuin-not-a-miracle/feed 0 Video Game Names for the Taking https://videolamer.com/video-game-names-for-the-taking https://videolamer.com/video-game-names-for-the-taking#respond Tue, 02 Jun 2026 13:51:00 +0000 https://videolamer.com/?p=10956 Sometimes instead of sleeping, I am at work, eating, or watching tv. Those are just called days. But other times I am not sleeping but should be because it’s the middle of the night and my wife keeps yelling at me to stop using my phone. What she doesn’t realize is that I am about to stop looking at funny pictures and write something that will be of use to mankind for centuries to come, or at least fill some space on my website. 

Today I present to you the results of a restless night that brought half a dozen stellar video game titles into my brain, as if sent from the cosmos, if the cosmos were really tired and somewhat incoherent. These names are being offered royalty free to any and all readers with the caveat I want my first and last name and the word “presents” before the title, ala Sid Meier but it’ll be less egomaniacal because it’s me. →  When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called a game.

]]> Sometimes instead of sleeping, I am at work, eating, or watching tv. Those are just called days. But other times I am not sleeping but should be because it’s the middle of the night and my wife keeps yelling at me to stop using my phone. What she doesn’t realize is that I am about to stop looking at funny pictures and write something that will be of use to mankind for centuries to come, or at least fill some space on my website. 

Today I present to you the results of a restless night that brought half a dozen stellar video game titles into my brain, as if sent from the cosmos, if the cosmos were really tired and somewhat incoherent. These names are being offered royalty free to any and all readers with the caveat I want my first and last name and the word “presents” before the title, ala Sid Meier but it’ll be less egomaniacal because it’s me. →  Ridge Reader V

]]> https://videolamer.com/video-game-names-for-the-taking/feed 0 Five Games Forever https://videolamer.com/five-games-forever https://videolamer.com/five-games-forever#respond Tue, 26 May 2026 13:30:00 +0000 https://videolamer.com/?p=10973 If we had to choose only 5 games to play until we are all inevitably stung to death by killer bees, what would we choose? These are not our favorite games, but ones we would enjoy playing over and over again – though there is likely to be some overlap. More importantly, this is not a desert island list. It’s completely different so stop thinking it isn’t.

Jay

With the news Capcom will be using GenAI for game development, I’ve realized the idea that games I don’t want to play may eventually be all that come out. This fact combined with hearing an episode of The Legacy Music Hour that featured a brief discussion of how one of the hosts could basically exist just replaying about 20 games got me thinking about what I would choose for such an exercise. Only with five games because no one wants to read or write a list of 20 games from multiple people.

X-Com – Not the new one for losers who like well made, easy to play games – the original PC game. →  Fear the old posts.

]]> If we had to choose only 5 games to play until we are all inevitably stung to death by killer bees, what would we choose? These are not our favorite games, but ones we would enjoy playing over and over again – though there is likely to be some overlap. More importantly, this is not a desert island list. It’s completely different so stop thinking it isn’t.

Jay

With the news Capcom will be using GenAI for game development, I’ve realized the idea that games I don’t want to play may eventually be all that come out. This fact combined with hearing an episode of The Legacy Music Hour that featured a brief discussion of how one of the hosts could basically exist just replaying about 20 games got me thinking about what I would choose for such an exercise. Only with five games because no one wants to read or write a list of 20 games from multiple people.

X-Com – Not the new one for losers who like well made, easy to play games – the original PC game. →  Show me the reading!

]]> https://videolamer.com/five-games-forever/feed 0 Chaos;Head – The story of a Whiny;Loser https://videolamer.com/chaoshead-the-story-of-a-whinyloser https://videolamer.com/chaoshead-the-story-of-a-whinyloser#respond Tue, 19 May 2026 15:00:52 +0000 https://videolamer.com/?p=10927 There’s a scene in Wayne’s World, which you’ve seen 9 times if you’re in this site’s target demographic (American, mid-40s, name starting with J) where Wayne laments his misfortune directly to the audience in an unappealing way. “I’m being shit on. Shit on,” he says. The camera begins to pan away from him, the joke being that the audience doesn’t want to waste time with a whining loser. This is my short review for this game – I am the audience and Chaos;Head is Wayne Campbell in the brief moment he is uncool. But I will add some more words for people who demand actual information in their game reviews. You know, nerds.

I started Steins;Gate because it has a reputation as a great visual novel and after Looping Rage, that’s what I needed. But about 3 minutes in I realized that S;G was not the first in its series, so I checked Wikipedia and then my list of ‘eShop games bought on sale I don’t remember I have’ and discovered Chaos; Head on both (the version I played has the word ‘Noah’ appended to the title to designate it as the rerelease with improved graphics, rounder letters, twice the punctuation, etc.). →  Read it your way.

]]> There’s a scene in Wayne’s World, which you’ve seen 9 times if you’re in this site’s target demographic (American, mid-40s, name starting with J) where Wayne laments his misfortune directly to the audience in an unappealing way. “I’m being shit on. Shit on,” he says. The camera begins to pan away from him, the joke being that the audience doesn’t want to waste time with a whining loser. This is my short review for this game – I am the audience and Chaos;Head is Wayne Campbell in the brief moment he is uncool. But I will add some more words for people who demand actual information in their game reviews. You know, nerds.

I started Steins;Gate because it has a reputation as a great visual novel and after Looping Rage, that’s what I needed. But about 3 minutes in I realized that S;G was not the first in its series, so I checked Wikipedia and then my list of ‘eShop games bought on sale I don’t remember I have’ and discovered Chaos; Head on both (the version I played has the word ‘Noah’ appended to the title to designate it as the rerelease with improved graphics, rounder letters, twice the punctuation, etc.). →  PaReader the Reader

]]> https://videolamer.com/chaoshead-the-story-of-a-whinyloser/feed 0