Welcome to day 2 of Blizzard Week at ROG Retro. Today we will take a look at one of the most innovative platformers ever developed, The Lost Vikings.
The Lost Vikings was a puzzle platformer that involved switching between each of the three titular Lost Vikings in order to progress. Only one could defend, attack and so on, with each having their set role in the game. In order to advance, you would have to maneuver all three Vikings through the levels and while this is easier in the early levels, the game ramps up the difficulty the further you go. This is a thinking person’s platformer and is not as simple as getting from point A to point B. The different ways you can use each of the Vikings’ skills allows for some great experimenting and you will feel a sense of accomplishment each time you figure out the correct pattern needed to move on.
The version I played was on the SNES and it easily set itself apart from other games on the system. The visuals were far more cartoonish (in a good way) and felt far more alive than most of what I had seen in other games of that era. The music however, is the real standout. The Lost Vikings has one of the best soundtracks of any SNES game and the quality can easily match early CD game audio levels. The game was far ahead of the pack when it came to game design and presentation, but its legacy also is notable for what it inspired. There have been numerous games since The Lost Vikings that attempt to mimic the format of using three characters that you cycle through to complete puzzle platformer levels, most notably the Trine series. All of them try something just a little too different however, and do not equal The Lost Vikings.
The game has received numerous references in later Blizzard games such as StarCraft and the title characters have appeared in Heroes of the Storm, but there was no true continuation after the sequel. This is disappointing and while I understand that the series is likely not one that Blizzard would want to make anymore, I would still love to see a remake of sorts.
The game was made available to download for free by Blizzard and can be obtained here