Tag: Chris Scullion

Kartography #1 – Hello Kitty Kruisers With Sanrio Friends

Published on by Chris Scullion9 Comments

Kartography is my regular series in which I look at licensed kart racers throughout gaming history, and figure out where they fit on my all-time kart game leaderboard.

For more information on my scoring policy for Kartography, check out this introductory article.

Rising Star Games / Scarab Entertainment
Switch, Wii U, iOS (Switch version covered)

For the first instalment of Kartography I’ve decided to look at the most recent karting game I played.

Hello Kitty Kruisers With Sanrio Friends – to give the game its full name – originally launched on the Wii U back in March 2014, where it was released in such limited numbers that it’s become one of the system’s rarest games (in America, at least: you can still get it fairly cheaply in the UK).

Just a few months back, it was ported to the Switch and published by Rising Star Games. I recorded a First Play video at the time, but have since completed it.

Because it’s fresh in my mind, then, it’s the first game to get the Kartography treatment. Continue reading “Kartography #1 – Hello Kitty Kruisers With Sanrio Friends” →

New regular feature: Kartography

Published on by Chris Scullion8 Comments

I’ve always been fascinated by karting games.

Ever since I got the original Super Mario Kart 26 years ago, I’ve always been tickled by the idea of countless developers and publishers imitating the formula with any group of licensed characters they can get their hands on.

What makes it interesting to me is that the karting genre – maybe more than any other – has continued to stick to a solid set of rules that’s almost always the same across the board.

Cups consisting of four or five races. Boost starts. Weapons, some going forwards, some going back, some homing. Maybe a power slide or drift mechanic. Unlockable tracks or characters. The vast majority of karting games tick all those boxes.

What intrigues me, then, is seeing how developers take a wide variety of licensed IPs and try to pour each one into this rigid mould, with the success of the resulting creation varying wildly.

Every time a new karting game comes out, then, I can’t help being interested to try it out. Even though the vast majority are utter piss, I’m always curious to see how each IP is treated and how the developers managed to shoehorn it into strict karting game guidelines.

Sometimes it’s a hit: Star Wars Episode I Racer was a no-brainer. And sometimes – most of the time, actually – it doesn’t work quite so well (step forward, Crazy Frog Racer).

Kartography, then, is my new regular series dedicated to mapping out the world of karting games over the past three decades. Continue reading “New regular feature: Kartography” →

Go Vacation (Switch) review

Published on by Chris Scullion1 Comment
Nintendo / Bandai Namco
Switch, Wii (Switch version reviewed)

The year was 2011. Yer man Scullion was Games Editor at the Official Nintendo Magazine, and was about to review yet another mini-game collection for the Wii.

You’d have forgiven me at the time for being far from excited. As everyone who owned a Wii knew at the time, the popularity of the console meant that every shitmuncher publisher and developer was trying to capitalise on its success with cheap and nasty shovelware games.

More often than not, these took the form of mini-game collections, in an attempt to appeal to all the families who bought their Wii primarily for Wii Sports.

As ONM’s main reviewer, this meant I’d spent the past five years suffering my way through countless half-arsed money grabs. To this day I still occasionally wake up in cold sweats thinking about Carnival Games, Big Beach Sports and the unfortunately named Water Sports.

Go Vacation, then, didn’t exactly have me soiling myself with excitement when the disc came into the office, a fact I’m sure my colleagues welcomed. And yet, I was curious. Developed by (what was then) Namco Bandai and published by Nintendo itself, it seemed that there was a lot of confidence around this one.

Sure enough, I ended up thoroughly enjoying it. I gave the game 80%, and warned readers not to follow my lead. “Don’t fall into the same trap so many others will,” I advised. “Don’t take one look at Go Vacation and pass it off as shovelware. It’s not.”

This isn’t a retrospective rewriting of history either, mind you. You can see my full original ONM review at the bottom of this very page, and my 30 Best Wii Games article on Tired Old Hack has none other than Go Vacation nestled comfortably in the list.

Now it’s been granted a surprise re-release on Switch, and it’s just as entertaining as I remember it being seven years ago. Continue reading “Go Vacation (Switch) review” →

Review round-up: Sonic Mania Plus, Sanrio Picross, Agony, Pocket Rumble, Lumines Remastered

Published on by Chris ScullionLeave a comment

Louise and I had our first daughter three weeks ago, so that’s why there’s been a relative lack of updates on the site. That doesn’t mean I haven’t managed to squeeze in some gaming though, so here’s my takes on what I’ve been playing.

In this round-up yer man Scullion:

• Jumps back in for a second helping of retro goodness in Sonic Mania Plus
• Decides whether Lumines Remastered is back with another one of those block-dropping feats
• Enjoys some 8-bit scrapping in Pocket Rumble
• Embraces his inner Japanese schoolgirl in Sanrio Characters Picross
• Discovers that Agony is appropriately named
Continue reading “Review round-up: Sonic Mania Plus, Sanrio Picross, Agony, Pocket Rumble, Lumines Remastered” →

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Switch) review

Published on by Chris Scullion2 Comments
Nintendo / Nintendo EPD Tokyo
Switch, 3DS, Wii U (Switch version reviewed)

Visit Nintendo Life for my review of the 3DS version!

By this point, the intros for reviews of Switch games like Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker write themselves.

“Despite the Wii U’s poor sales,” they begin, “it continues to offer a fruitful source of material for new Switch releases.”

They then list a load of other Switch games that are ports of Wii U titles, along with links so you can read those reviews too and get the site more hits.

You know: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Bayonetta 1 & 2, Pokken Tournament DX… that sort of thing.

Captain Toad is the latest in this now tried and tested process, and it’s proof that if it still isn’t broken there should be no attempts made to fix it just yet. Continue reading “Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Switch) review” →

Mario Tennis Aces (Switch) review

Published on by Chris ScullionLeave a comment
Nintendo / Camelot Software Planning
Nintendo Switch

Mario Tennis and I have been on bad terms for the past couple of years.

It’s a series I’ve loved ever since the Nintendo 64 and Game Boy Color days, but in recent years it’s been up and down more times than an eager ballboy.

In 2009 the brilliant GameCube game Mario Power Tennis was re-released on Wii, its once-tight controls replaced with frustratingly inaccurate Wii Remote swings.

Then, a few years later, the series was redeemed with Mario Tennis Open, a brilliant 3DS offering with great online multiplayer and a host of unlockable characters and costumes.

This return to form was then unceremoniously dumped with Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash on the Wii U, a game I described in my video review at the time as “a monumental cauldron of shite” due to its complete lack of anything other than a bare-bones online mode and exhibition games (not even a tournament mode).

Mario Tennis Aces is here to right that wrong, and it succeeds… mostly. Continue reading “Mario Tennis Aces (Switch) review” →

The complete history of FIFA World Cup video games

Published on by Chris Scullion5 Comments

It’s World Cup time, that lovely quadrennial football occasion where English football fans start thinking they’re going to become world champions again while Scots like me moan about the BBC cutting to the England camp at half time during every single match, regardless of who’s playing. Not that I’m bitter.

But hey! Never mind that. There are people out there who love football, and people who love video games. And what do you get when someone ticks both boxes? People who love football video games, of course. Look, this isn’t hard.

What you may not realise is there have been official World Cup football games since way back in 1986, each trying to help gamers get into the World Cup spirit by capturing the atmosphere of the real-life tournament going on at the same time.

I’m a massive fan of ‘event’ football games like this, so I’ve decided to put together this extensive feature listing each of these World Cup games and how they fit into the gaming landscape at the time. Enjoy! Continue reading “The complete history of FIFA World Cup video games” →

Review round-up: Retro special

Published on by Chris Scullion3 Comments

Now that Tired Old Hack is back up and running at nearly full speed again, that means the return of my written review round-ups.

This week it’s a retro-themed special:

• Tell everyone it’s Alex Kidd and not Alex The Kid in Sega Mega Drive Classics
• Kick 12 different shades of shit out of folk in Street Fighter: 30th Anniversary Collection
• Duck and weave your way through a Nintendo coin-op classic in Arcade Archives: Punch-Out!!
• Harness your inner ebony and ivory in the Switch version of Ikaruga
• Give your shoot ’em up muscles a hefty workout in Tengai
• Experience an odd shooter/beat ’em up hybrid in Sol Divide
• Struggle to somehow get fun out of Lode Runner in Lode Runner Legacy Continue reading “Review round-up: Retro special” →

The complete history of Street Fighter

Published on by Chris Scullion17 Comments

The Street Fighter series is currently in its 30th year, and what a three decades it’s been.

Capcom’s one-on-one (and sometimes 2-on-2 and 3-on-3) fighting series has consistently entertained die-hards and occasional dabblers alike, from its ‘10p a go’ arcade days (yes, I’m old enough to remember when arcade games cost that) to its bombastic modern-day console offerings.

What’s impressive about it is that, its dated first game aside – hey, we’ve all got to start somewhere – more or less every main entry in the Street Fighter series refuses to age, and continues to be immensely playable while other, often younger, games start to feel practically prehistoric.

The main series is just the tip of the Street Fighter iceberg, though – the antenna on the smashable car, if you’d rather – because since that first game in 1987 there have been nearly 150 different Street Fighter games, spin-offs, movies, TV shows and cameo crossovers with other games.

How do I know? Because I’m the mad bastard who’s tried to list every single one of them below.

In preparation for the release of the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection next week, then, enjoy the largest article I’ve ever written as we travel through the entire history of Street Fighter in true Tired Old Hack style: 27,000 words, one page, no ads or slideshows for your reading convenience. Continue reading “The complete history of Street Fighter” →

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” →