The Lost Vikings

aka: The Lost Vikings: Viking no Daimeiwaku
Moby ID: 1547
DOS Specs
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Description official descriptions

Three Vikings, Eric the Swift, Olaf the Stout, and Baleog the Fierce, were kidnapped by the alien Tomator, the evil Croutonian ruler, who is collecting unique life forms to display in his gallery. The three Vikings will have to combine their unique skills to defeat Tomator, as well as a vast array of aliens, robots, giant snails, big lizards, and more.

The Lost Vikings is a side-scrolling platform puzzle game with a twist. Instead of one character who can jump, run, shoot, collect items, flip switches, and so on, there are three different characters, each with his own skills. Eric the Swift can jump, run and bash through walls with his tough helmet. Olaf the Stout has a shield which can block attacks, function as an air glider or as a step to stand on. Baleog the Fierce can shoot things with his arrows (including switches) or kill things with his sword. The player has to use the three Vikings as a team if he wants to get past the increasingly difficult levels and puzzles.

The player controls one Viking at a time but can switch between them at any point. The Vikings have limited space in their inventory which they can use to keep various items. Each Viking has three health points, and if he loses them all from confrontations with dangers, he dies (some threats kill instantly), and the level must be restarted.

Spellings

  • הויקינגים - Hebrew spelling
  • バイキングの大迷惑 - Japanese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (DOS version)

41 People (37 developers, 4 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 81% (based on 50 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 155 ratings with 5 reviews)

A very good platformer. Two thumbs up, way up!!!

The Good
The originality and uniqueness of it all was the thing that really lifted The Lost Vikings into stardom. This game could be classed as a Puzzle solving platformer. I liked the graphics, not up to Prince of Persia standard, but very good nonetheless.

The Bad
Some parts of the game were a bit lame. Like the sound. And sometimes the sprites moved a bit slow, and were jerky. Some parts of the game were a bit difficult. That's about all. Other than these things, The Lost Vikings is a great game!!!

The Bottom Line
I would buy it for it's replay value. You can play it over and over and never get tired of it!!! If you see the boxed version, get it because that's pretty hard to get nowadays.

DOS · by James1 (240) · 2001

Platform adventure puzzler

The Good
There ought to be more games like this. Lost Vikings on the Genesis was no doubt one of the best platform puzzlers of all time. The puzzles start out easily enough, and as the game progresses the puzzles get harder and the levels get larger and more elaborate.

One must admire the way each level is designed and the beautiful world themes that are in this game - Prehistoric, Egyptian, Factory, Spaceship. Each theme is accompanied by appropriate background music which is very catchy and the kind one would tap their foot to. Each theme is inhabited by very animated monsters that fit the theme.

The Vikings themselves do not have voices, but their bubble dialogs are funny. They would even start critisizing the player if he replays a level many times due to failures. Since every Viking must make it to the exit area to end a level, one dead Viking, or one stuck Viking would mean failure. The final few chapters take a lot of thought and coordination, switching between the characters to solve and can be extremely frustrating. But you have no one to blame but yourself. The game controls are sensitive and responsive, it's not difficult to control the Vikings at all.

Password for each levels enable players to replay their favorite levels. (The re-released version on the Gameboy Advance lost this feature.)

The Bad
Perhaps the only thing to complain about is the lack of voices for the Vikings. But then again, it might have been irritating if it existed, especially if you have to hear them scold you over and over again for failing.

The Bottom Line
One of Blizzard's earlier games. Take control of three vikings, each with different personalities and skills and travel through different worlds filled with dangerous monsters and obstacles. The in-game dialog is absolutely hilarious, and even though the game gets increasingly frustrating as the puzzles get tougher, the beautiful graphics of each level and excellent sound keeps you coming back until you finish the game.

Genesis · by BeaconBlue (15) · 2006

A terrific game, a classic indeed.

The Good
What can I possibly say about The Lost Vikings? Seems that anything said might diminish from the splendour of this game. To say that it's a classic defeats the definition of "understatement": everyone knows this game, everyone loves it. Even me. 'nuff said.

The Lost Vikings is clearly Amiga in origin: the graphics make up for their lack of colour depth with amazing detail and beauty, which only goes to show how good hand-drawn graphics can be (for an even better example see Defender of the Crown, although it's PC version pales visually in comparison with the Amiga version). Audio-wise, The Lost Vikings doesn't disappoint either, with terrific sound and music directly taken from the original. Gameplay wise The Lost Vikings is a fairly challenging platform game with many twists, and I can't help but love the ridiculousness of the characters :-)

The Bad
I'm not very good at puzzle games, nor do I really like them. Fortunately though, The Lost Vikings makes up in other areas.

Other than this, I see no flaw in the game - it's as perfect as it gets, and deserves its stature as a genuine classic.

The Bottom Line
Bottom line? Get it, play it, love it.

DOS · by Tomer Gabel (4539) · 2000

[ View all 5 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Blizzard released this for free chirinea (47504) Dec 16, 2014

Trivia

1001 Video Games

The Lost Vikings appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Browser version

Blizzard used to have a flash rendered demo of the game at http://www.blizzard.com/blizzclassic/vikingsdemo.shtml.

Dialogue

There's all kinds of hidden dialog to the game if the Vikings are doing poorly. After being defeated constantly on a level, the Vikings will start talking about how difficult it is, insulting the player and even consulting Norse gods for additional inspiration.

Extras

Included in the US DOS release was an 11x17" poster, "The Lost Vikings: Your Voyage to an Incredible Adventure Through Time."

Freeware release

On May 2, 2014, the game was released for free through Blizzard's online gaming platform Battle.net.

References to the game

In World of Warcraft, there is a dungeon called "Uldaman" where the three vikings appear as NPCs (non-playable characters), related to a quest called "The Lost Dwarves".

Awards

  • Amiga Joker
    • Issue 02/1994 – Best Dexterity Game in 1993 (Readers' Vote)

Information also contributed by Scott Monster, Slik and WildKard

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  • MobyGames ID: 1547
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Mickey Gabel.

SNES, Genesis added by PCGamer77. Game Boy Advance added by Kartanym. Windows added by Sciere. Amiga CD32 added by Kabushi. Amiga added by Terok Nor.

Additional contributors: Apogee IV, Shoddyan, Dmichal, Crawly, xxxxxxxxxxx, j.raido 【雷堂嬢太朗】, Cantillon, Patrick Bregger, FatherJack.

Game added June 3, 2000. Last modified March 4, 2024.