Tag: Chris Scullion

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” →

Steamed Hams, but it’s a Choose Your Own Adventure story

Published on by Chris Scullion1 Comment

I’ve always wanted to try my hand at Twine.

For those not familiar with it, Twine is open-source software designed for writing your own interactive story-based games.

You can write individual pages in basic HTML markdown, illustrate them with images, then upload them online and let other people play them.

Essentially, at its core it’s basic game creation software, as long as the game in question is a multiple-choice branching story.

It’s something I’ve been meaning to try for a while now, but I’ve never had the right inspiration.

Then I realised: why not make a Twine version of one of the greatest stories ever told in history?

I am, of course, referring to Steamed Hams, an epic tale of one man, his boss, his lunch and his mother.

My game/story is hosted on philome.la, a site that offers free hosting of Twine stories.

Click this link to be taken to my story, where you can play it.

Can you get Skinner through dinner and keep Superintendent Chalmers happy? Play and find out!

Kirby Star Allies (Switch) review

Published on by Chris Scullion1 Comment
Nintendo / HAL Laboratory
Nintendo Switch

The Switch is a little over a year old now and the continued roll-out of established Nintendo (and Nintendo-related) franchises is ticking away nicely.

Zelda? Check. Mario Kart? Check. Splatoon, Mario Odyssey, Fire Emblem Warriors, Xenoblade Chronicles, Pokken Tournament? Check times five.

There’s more to come: Hyrule Warriors is out in two months, and we’ve obviously got a Donkey Kong Country game, a Fire Emblem, a Smash Bros, a Yoshi game, Metroid Prime 4 and a new Pokemon in the distant future. Slowly but surely, fans of every series are getting games aimed at keeping them happy.

This week marks the next step in the process, with Kirby getting to take centre stage on the Switch for the first time. Continue reading “Kirby Star Allies (Switch) review” →

Totaku figures #01-06: World exclusive review

Published on by Chris ScullionLeave a comment

Anyone who knows me knows I’m an absolute fiend when it comes to collectible figurines.

Yer man Scullion currently owns a complete set of 70 Lego Dimensions characters, a complete set of 105 Disney Infinity figures, 116 amiibo – incomplete, because nobody needs two Kirbys – and precisely zero Skylanders (because obviously).

Later in March the first wave of Totaku figures hits the UK and US. They’re going to be sold exclusively at Gamestop in the US, and in a handful of stores in the UK (most notably GAME).

Given my obsession with collecting similar figures, you’d hopefully agree that I’d be the man to trust when it comes to reviewing these Totaku thingies.

It’s fortunate, then, that I’m lucky enough to currently have final samples of the first six figures, and I’ve managed to secure them before anyone else.

Friends, here is your world exclusive first review of Totaku figures #01 to #06. Continue reading “Totaku figures #01-06: World exclusive review” →

Bayonetta 1 & 2 (Switch) review

Published on by Chris Scullion2 Comments
Nintendo / Platinum Games
Switch, Wii U (Switch version reviewed)

If you ask me, this is definitely the best social climate to release a pair of games about a sexy witch who has an outfit made out of hair that makes her naked any time she attacks with it.

Don’t worry: I can already imagine some of you getting nervous. That’s a discussion for another website, and given it’s an important topic (and rightly so, in my opinion) I’m sure you’ll have no trouble finding said discussion elsewhere before too long.

It would be daft, though, not to address the skimpily-dressed elephant in the room: Bayonetta 1 & 2 are very much games that would result in plenty of uncomfortable conversations if they were brand new releases and not ports of games that are nine and four years old respectively.

Much like my review of the significantly more questionable Senran Kagura: Estival Versus on PS4, though (don’t click that if you’re at work), I’m going to spare you the morality lesson here. It’s up to you to investigate the content and tone of these games and decide if they’re suitable for you or any younger gamers in your life: my job is to tell you if they’re actually fun to play.

In that respect I can confirm that yes, yes they are. Continue reading “Bayonetta 1 & 2 (Switch) review” →

The Tired Old Hack Winter Games Challenge

Published on by Chris Scullion3 Comments

Chances are you’ve probably noticed that the 2018 Winter Olympic Games have just kicked off in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

To celebrate this, I’ve decided to take a look back at the history of Winter Olympics video games: the good, and the very much not so good.

In the Tired Old Hack Winter Games Challenge I’ll be uploading daily videos over the course of the 2018 Games, as I proceed through the history of the winter games genre. Continue reading “The Tired Old Hack Winter Games Challenge” →