Author: Chris Scullion

Chris Scullion is a Scottish video games journalist who's been covering video games professionally for 16 years. For the first six years of his career he worked at the Official Nintendo Magazine in the UK, then became the Games Editor of CVG before its untimely end. After setting up his own site, Tired Old Hack, Chris then joined Video Games Chronicle (VGC) where he is currently Features Editor. He has a passion for retro games and cataloguing their history, hence his ongoing series of console encyclopedia books (search his name on Amazon).

Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition (Switch) review

Published on by Chris Scullion2 Comments
Nintendo / Omega Force, Team Ninja
Nintendo Switch (older versions also on Wii U, 3DS)

At times the Switch feels like a recently retired sailor, in that it’s currently going from port to port reliving old adventures.

Not only does this let me use terrible analogies like that one, it also gives those who shimmied the Wii U a chance to catch up on all the games they so cruelly shunned.

The latest example is Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition, which promises the ultimate version of a game that launched on the Wii U in 2014 (and the 3DS in 2016).

For those not familiar with it, Hyrule Warriors is a spin-off of Koei Tecmo’s Dynasty Warriors series, in which players explore large maps while hacking their way through literally thousands of sword-fodder enemies.

Naturally, whereas the Dynasty Warriors games feature a selection of notable names from Chinese history, Hyrule Warriors replaces those historical characters and locations with ones from the Zelda universe. So long Guan Ping, hello Ganondorf. Continue reading “Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition (Switch) review” →

NES on Nintendo Switch Online: the first 10 games explained (video)

Published on by Chris Scullion1 Comment

This week Nintendo finally announced the first details of its online service coming to Switch in September.

Cunningly titled Nintendo Switch Online, it’s going to come with a number of features for your £17.99 a year, including access to online multiplayer and cloud saves.

Of greater interest to retro fans like me, though, is that Nintendo Switch Online will also come with a library of NES games, with added online multiplayer functionality.

There will be 20 NES games at launch with more to be added, and so far 10 have been revealed.

Not everyone’s a (tired) old prick like me, though, and while some take it for granted that we all know these games off by heart, some younger gamers will be experiencing them for the first time.

After all, while all 10 were on Virtual Console on previous systems, there’s a big difference between willingly paying £4.50 for an old game you’ve never played before and trying it out for ‘free’ because it already comes as part of the subscription you already signed up to so you could play online.

With that in mind, yer man Scullion – NES expert extraordinaire – has put together this video detailing all ten games to bring you up to speed. Enjoy!

The Tired Old Hack 2018 Survey

Published on by Chris Scullion1 Comment

Tired Old Hack is now nearly three and a half years old, yet I still feel like the site’s in its early stages.

The most important thing about the site is clearly the readers, though: after all, if you aren’t happy then I’m basically talking to myself and that only gets me so far.

In late 2016 I launched a Tired Old Hack survery and over 250 people responded to it: it was massively helpful in guiding the direction of the site. Time to do it again, then.

I’d employed the help of a small little-known research company called Cambridge Analytica, but they recently closed down, forcing me to steal your personal data get your feedback on the site myself.

So, that said, here’s your chance to give your opinion on various aspects of the site and let me know what you think about it.

It’s entirely anonymous (although you can enter your name at the end if you want) and there are a load of GIFs in there to stop you getting bored. Maybe.

HERE BE THE SURVEY, YOU GLORIOUS SWINE

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Switch) review

Published on by Chris Scullion5 Comments
Nintendo / Retro Studios
Switch, Wii U (Switch version reviewed)

We all know the Wii U was a dismal failure.

Despite having a decent helping of excellent exclusive games, the negatives surrounding Nintendo’s sixth home console outweighed the positives, and as a result it would take someone truly delusional to argue that the Wii U was anything other than a giant lemon.

Naturally, when life gives you lemons you make lemonade, and Nintendo has been happily squeezing the Wii U’s software library to allow owners of the far more popular Switch to have a taste. Of the lemonade. This is an analogy, go with it.

The point I’m making in a horribly complicated way is that some of the Wii U’s finest games have already found their way onto the Switch.

The Switch ports of Mario Kart 8, Bayonetta 2 and Pokken Tournament have already outsold their Wii U forebearers, and Nintendo is surely hopeful the likes of Hyrule Warriors and Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker do the same when they’re released in May and July respectively.

Before those turn up, it’s time for Donkey Kong’s Wii U adventure to get a second crack of glory. And in this case, it’s fair to say it deserves it. Continue reading “Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Switch) review” →

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp review – six months later

Published on by Chris Scullion2 Comments

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp ‘soft-launched’ in Australia on 25 October 2017 and rolled out to other countries the following month.

As someone who couldn’t wait for it to come to the UK and downloaded a sneaky .apk file of the Australian version for my Android phone the day after launch, that means today marks exactly six months since I started playing it.

While most sites review games right after they’ve launched, not many of them track their progress months later. Although it’s obvious why this is the case – new games get more traffic than old ones – it’s sometimes a missed opportunity, especially when it comes to mobile games.

Mobile titles, more than any, are often treated as ‘services’ and are constantly updated, patched, evolved and enhanced with new features, modes, characters and various other whizz-bangs. Play a mobile game at launch and play it again a few months later and you’ll often find two very different beasts.

Sometimes a barebones game becomes one that’s packed with content. And sometimes a well-balanced game is ruined by publisher greed when the user base grows and the opportunities to make money through microtransactions get too great (I’m looking at you, WWE Champions).

With that in mind, I’ve decided to review Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp six months after it launched. It’s changed a fair amount since October 2017, but is that necessarily for the better? My answer is “it depends”, which is no doubt frustrating for you because now it means you have to read on. Continue reading “Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp review – six months later” →

An extremely serious review of Numskull’s latest merchandise

Published on by Chris Scullion1 Comment

Occasionally yer man Scullion is sent free things. It’s one of the perks of having more Twitter followers than British TV and radio personality Paul Ross.

Recently I was sent a bunch of stuff by Numskull Designs, the UK company that specialises in official video game, movie, TV and comic book merchandise.

Now, I’m not the sell-out type: I’m not a big fan of people who tweet “HEY LOOK AT ALL THE FREE SHIT I GOT”. If people send me stuff it’s still going to get an honest review.

Here, then, are my deadly serious reviews of some of Numskull’s latest products, written in the regular hard-hitting journalism style that has earned me a greater following than the one from Milli Vanilli who’s still alive. Continue reading “An extremely serious review of Numskull’s latest merchandise” →

VHS Preservation Project #9: Sega Saturn Magazine promo video

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The Video Game VHS Preservation Project is an attempt to digitise as many video game VHS tapes as possible for the purposes of preservation. Click here for more information.

The ninth tape in my VHS Preservation Project is the first to celebrate the Sega Saturn.

It was given away with issue one of Sega Saturn Magazine, an official British publication that launched four months after the Saturn’s UK release (although technically it was just an evolution of the already existing Sega Magazine).

The tape is a 30-minute beast consisting of a short Saturn advert, followed by nothing but gameplay footage. Of particular note is the very early Virtua Fighter 2 footage, which is only around 35% complete at this point.

Continue reading “VHS Preservation Project #9: Sega Saturn Magazine promo video” →