The Lost Vikings (series)
The Lost Vikings is a side-scrolling puzzle/platform video game series which was developed by Blizzard Entertainment (then known as "Silicon & Synapse"). The first game, The Lost Vikings, was released in 1992 by publisher Interplay Entertainment. The sequel, The Lost Vikings II, was developed by Blizzard and released in 1994 by Interplay for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. A 32-bit enhanced port of The Lost Vikings II was developed for the Sega Saturn, PlayStation and PC, known in the United States as Norse By Norsewest: Return of the Lost Vikings. It was released by Interplay in 1996, featuring a new super-deformed style for the characters (the SNES version had kept the original one) and voiced dialogue samples. However, this time Blizzard only worked in the development of the original SNES version, and was not involved in the creation of the 32-bit ports. Instead, these were handled by Beam Software.
The main characters in both games are three Vikings, Erik the Swift, Baleog the Fierce, and Olaf the Stout. The goal is to guide all Vikings safely through each level. The game's originality is due to the fact that the player controls three different characters (although only one at any given time), and must make use of their individual abilities and their combinations to solve puzzles and progress.
The games' music was composed by Charles Deenen.
Plot
In the game, the three Vikings get kidnapped by Tomator, an extraterrestrial emperor of the Croutonian empire, for an inter-galactic zoo and become lost in various periods of time. The purpose of the game is to control the three characters (who all have separate abilities) in order to solve puzzles to escape and get back home.
The sequel features the original three characters plus two new playable characters, Fang the wolf and Scorch the dragon. However, to avoid becoming too complex, the game only lets the player control three of the five characters in each level. The gameplay and storyline remain largely the same, though the pre-existing characters all have new or modified abilities. Unlike the first game, there was extensive voice acting provided in the sequel by Rob Paulsen (Erik), Jeff Bennett (Baleog) and Jim Cummings (Olaf), except in the SNES version.
Characters
All three Vikings have 3 health points which they can lose by getting hurt by enemies or by falling from great heights, and the ability to carry and use items, mainly keys, bombs, and food. Only Eric can swim.
Abilities
- Erik can run faster than the other two, can jump, and can bash through some walls (and even some enemies) with his helmet.
- Baleog can kill enemies with his sword, or from a distance with his bow (and a "life-time supply of arrows"). The bow can also be used to hit switches from a distance.
- Olaf can block enemies and their projectiles with his shield, use his shield as a hang glider, or as a stepping stone for Erik to enable him to reach high grounds which is not possible without the shield.
Releases
The Lost Vikings
| The Lost Vikings | |
|---|---|
| File:The Lost Vikings.png | |
| Developer(s) | Silicon & Synapse |
| Publisher(s) | Interplay Entertainment (1992), Blizzard Entertainment (2003) |
| Designer(s) | Ronald Millar Sr. |
| Platform(s) | Amiga, Amiga CD32, Game Boy Advance, MS-DOS, Sega Mega Drive, SNES |
| Release | 1992, 2003 |
| Genre(s) | Puzzle / platform game |
| Mode(s) | Single player, cooperative |
The Lost Vikings was originally released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, then subsequently released for the Amiga, Amiga CD32, MS-DOS, and Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis systems the next year; the Mega Drive/Genesis version contains five stages not present in any other version of the game[1]. Blizzard re-released the game for the Game Boy Advance in 2003. The GBA port is identical to the SNES version, but the password feature has been removed and replaced with three save slots, meaning the player can not replay any level at any time.
The game featured infinite opportunities of retries in case the player were to lose one of the Vikings. Much of the game's appeal came from the humorous inter-level dialogues of the characters. ("If I [head]bash one more wall right now, my head will explode!" "I got dibs on his helmet." "Okay, but I get his boots." "It's great to have such good friends.") Art Director Samwise Didier has stated that the character design for "Erik the Swift" was based on childhood friend Michael Cripps.
The Lost Vikings II
| The Lost Vikings II | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Blizzard Entertainment (SNES) Beam Software (Saturn, PSX, PC) |
| Publisher(s) | Interplay Entertainment |
| Platform(s) | SNES, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, PC |
| Release | 1994 (SNES) 1996 (Saturn, PSX, PC) |
| Genre(s) | Side-scrolling puzzle/Platformer |
| Mode(s) | Single player (2 player cooperative |
The characters have new abilities in the sequel
- Erik now has rocket boots, allowing him to double jump and to break walls above his head (in the first game he could only break walls in front of him). In addition to that, his smasho-gill helmet (cybernetic lungs in DOS version) allows him to swim.
- Baleog has a robotic arm, rather than his bow, which can grab things from a distance, as well as swing from special orbs. However, the arm has finite range, unlike the arrows in the previous game which could (and in some cases were needed to) hit enemies and switches very far away.
- Olaf has the ability to shrink to miniature size, to slip through small spaces, and to fart, which can break certain blocks beneath him as well as giving him some extra lift and speed when parachuting with his shield.
- Fang can run, jump, slash enemies with his claws, and cling to walls, optionally jumping off them to get higher.
- Scorch can fly for short periods (more like a "multi-jump"), glide like Olaf, and shoot fire projectiles that can hit far enemies (much like Baleog's arrows in the first game).
In the SNES version of the game only, each character has additional abilities that can be unlocked by killing Erik in the first stage by double-jumping off Olaf's shield and falling as far as possible:
- Erik can shoot a gigantic spark from his hands.
- Baleog can glide forward at a low height or slide across the ground while slashing his sword, in both cases becoming temporarily invincible.
- Olaf can attack enemies by teleporting onto them.
- Fang can electrify himself while standing in place, becoming temporarily invincible.
- Scorch can fly forever without getting tired.
Cameo appearances
The Vikings have also shown up from time to time in other Blizzard games. Olaf can be unlocked as a hidden character in the 1993 game Rock 'N' Roll Racing. They most recently appeared as Mobs 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 Frozen Throne'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.
The Lost Vikings II contains several references to Blizzard's other games. In the "Dark Ages" period of time, Erik the Swift accidentally gets teleported to the "Swamps of Sorrow", which is a prominent location in the game Warcraft: Orcs and Humans (this region was later seen as a ladder map in Warcraft III and as a zone in World of Warcraft). Also, one of Tomator’s monitors shows Rock 'N' Roll Racing playing.