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)

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

It is a fine example of... shovelware.

The Good
Here it is, your cd32 version of the awesome popular game the lost vikings. It is that type of game you just keep playing no matter how many times you screwed a level, it is that addictive. I remember I played the pc version for hours in a row, so I still remember some of their passwords that are written into my memory, so it seems. So this is actually what you get, lost vikings with special cd32 gamepad buttonmapped controls for extra play comfort. And that's about it.

The Bad
As a late release, why didn't they enhance the graphics? You still have the dark, ugly, empty back grounds and the poor amiga 500 colours. The game is practically a very rushed A500 port with no enhancements whatsover. The music is very good, but it is like the 16-bit version, while only the pc version had that nice catchy peaceful tunes, the other versions all had those wild techno remixed bgms.

The Bottom Line
The lost vikings had been released in this particular order: first on the SNES where it had the bast graphics. Then the A500 got his own version with toned down graphics and later the sega version got a port of the A500 but with a few extra levels. The pc version did have the same empty graphics as the A500 but the music was much much better, especially with an expanded midi soundcard. But the cd32 got actually nothing in comparison, this late release leaves you empty-handed. This is a fine example of rushed out of the door shovelware just to build up the library of the cd32 short after release. It is what doomed the cd32 because no gamers are waiting for pure crappy ports. I can only suggest you go check out the SNES version which is in my opinion the best. (and you may as well forgot that very cheaply ported gba version)

Amiga CD32 · by Schutzstaffel88 (12) · 2006

Great Game

The Good
It's not the same as all the other platform games. Instead of one person you have three. All of their special abilities are awesome. The graphics are really nice and the music is cool, too. It makes you think and it's actually challenging.

The Bad
It froze my computer up but that's not the game's fault. If they game out with this game again and made it exactly the same except have a three player mode where everybody gets to play one of the characters, then that would be awesome.

The Bottom Line
Different platform game that's a bunch of fun.

DOS · by Attila (553) · 2001

[ 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

Analytics

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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.