The Lost Vikings


The Lost Vikings is a puzzle-platform video game developed by Silicon & Synapse and published by Interplay. It was originally released for the Super NES in 1993, then subsequently released for the Amiga, Amiga CD32, MS-DOS, and Mega Drive/Genesis systems; the Mega Drive/Genesis version contains five stages not present in any other version of the game, and can also be played by three players simultaneously. Blizzard re-released the game for the Game Boy Advance in 2003. In 2014, the game was added to Battle.net as a free download emulated through DOSBox.
In The Lost Vikings, the player controls three separate Vikings with different abilities. The three Vikings must work together to finish each level and find their way back home. A sequel, The Lost Vikings 2, was released in 1997.

Plot

Three Vikings—Erik the Swift, Baleog the Fierce, and Olaf the Stout—get kidnapped by Tomator, emperor of the alien Croutonian empire, for an inter-galactic zoo. They are able to escape the ship, but get lost in various periods of time. They must traverse various bizarre locations, and eventually confront and defeat Tomator, to find their way home.

Gameplay

The Lost Vikings is a side-scrolling platform adventure in which the player alternates control of the three Viking characters, guiding each of them one at a time from a designated start point in each level to the exit. The game offers a two-player cooperative mode in which each player simultaneously controls one Viking and is allowed to change control to the third, unused Viking at any point. Every level is designed such that each Viking must contribute his unique skills to help the other two through to the end. Similarly, to finish the level, all three characters must reach the exit point. The Vikings each have three health points which they can lose by getting hurt by enemies or by falling from great heights. Should any Viking run out of health points, he dies; gameplay will then continue with any remaining Vikings, but the level becomes unwinnable, and the player will eventually have to restart the level and try again. However, the game offers unlimited continues.
Each Viking has the ability to carry and use items—such as keys, bombs, and food —as well as a unique set of skills:
Computer Gaming World in 1993 called The Lost Vikings "a clever blend of comedy and role playing". The magazine concluded that "the game is a unique puzzle solving adventure, great for people who enjoy using their cerebral cortex along with their eye to hand coordination". Zach Meston of VideoGames & Computer Entertainment praised the difficult puzzles, humor, distinctive visual style, personable character animation, and upbeat music. He summarized the game as "funny, fresh and challenging enough to keep you playing for hours on end".
Electronic Gaming Monthly in 1994 remarked of the Genesis version that "the music doesn't have the kick of the version ", but that it is generally a well done conversion of "a really good puzzle game". Mega placed the game at number 22 in their Top Mega Drive Games of All Time. AllGame stated that it was "methodically paced and intelligently designed" and that "the nice graphics combined with the funny dialogue gives The Lost Vikings more personality than most other video games. To top it off, the controls are sharp, and the level of challenge is high without being frustrating".

Cameo appearances

Both Olaf and Baleog make an appearance in the 1993 game Rock n' Roll Racing; Olaf can be unlocked as a hidden character, while Baleog appears on several billboards advertising "Viking Cola" on the planet Bogmire.
In the 32X version of Blackthorne, all three Vikings appear in a secret area in the second snow level.
The Lost Vikings also appeared as cameo in various of Interplay's ClayFighter games: Olaf appeared mentioned in Helga's ending in the first ClayFighter being his girlfriend but later dumping him for Tiny; Erik and Baleog's faces appear as animated sculptures in the stage “Clay Keep” in '; and in some interviews, Interplay designers hinted one of them would appeared in the then upcoming ClayFighter III but that never happened.
They have also appeared as NPCs in Blizzard's MMORPG World of Warcraft in the dungeon Uldaman. One of the quests in Uldaman also requires the player to collect the Shaft of Tsol and Amulet of Gni'Kiv, which spell out "Lost" and "Vik'ing" when read backwards. The shaft and amulet are combined to form the Staff of Prehistoria, which fits the theme of Uldaman and also is an area in The Lost Vikings. In the ' expansion, they feature prominently in a quest line for the Alliance faction in the Badlands area of Eastern Kingdoms. In ', Olaf can appear as one of the random daily quest NPCs if you have the Frostwolf Tavern/Lunarfall Inn as a building in your Garrison.
In the 's "Monolith" scenario, the names for the Dark Troll Commando hero are the same as those for the Lost Vikings: Erik the Swift, Baleog the Fierce and Olaf the Stout.
A unit in Blizzard's StarCraft II is called the Viking, and there is a picture of the unit on their website, subtitled The Lost Vikings. In addition to this, repeatedly selecting the Viking unit in StarCraft II makes the Viking pilot mention Erik, Baleog, and Olaf getting lost, as he tries to contact them. He also sets in co-ordinates for Norse by Norse-west. There is also an arcade console in the Cantina of Battleship Hyperion in ' called The Lost Viking, which is a playable mini-game.
Their most recent appearance is as playable hero in Blizzard's crossover multiplayer online battle arena video game, Heroes of the Storm. Unlike other heroes in the game, who are played as a single unit, selecting the Lost Vikings gives the player control over all three Vikings, allowing them to control them as individuals or to issue commands to all three at once. Erik is faster than most other heroes, and attacks from range with a slingshot. Baleog has the greatest attack power of the three, and throws swords from a medium range, dealing area damage to enemies near his target. Olaf has the highest health pool, and recovers quickly when out of combat.