The Wonder Years 07.10.08: Week 63 - The Lost Vikings

Posted by Owain J. Brimfield on 07.10.2008

Some bearded Scandinavians have lost their way, and it's up to us to help them.

Welcome to the column where all gamers of a certain age come to wallow in 16-bit nostalgia. I'm your host, Owain J. Brimfield, and I'll be discussing some of the hidden gems and instant classics of gaming's golden era. Some of these games may crop up in downloadable form at some point; some may be consigned to the annals of history. Either way, they're worth tracking down if you missed them first time round, or replaying if you were lucky enough to catch them. Let's take a trip to:

THE LOST VIKINGS

(Interplay, Genesis & Super NES, 1992)

The debate often rages among the cool and the trendy over pirates and ninjas. Which of the two are cooler? These arguments are often heated and nearly always accompanied by references to both pirates and ninjas in various forms of media. They're also invariably debated by complete geeks and spods (hey, I use those terms in the least pejorative sense imaginable). So, having taken a look at a gaming ninja last week in the shape of Zool, I thought it'd be nice to allow pirates their turn, until I realized that the only games starring pirates ever to be enjoyable were Sid Meier's Pirates! and the Monkey Island series, none of which appeared on the 16-bit consoles. And please, nobody mention the adaptation of 90s classic cartoon Pirates of Dark Water. So instead, I turned my attention to a group of people more bad-ass than pirates and ninjas combined - vikings. So awesome are vikings that entire genres of music are dedicated to their pillaging accomplishments, and they also happen to be the subject of one of the more unique platformers to see release in the early 90s, The Lost Vikings.

Developed by Silicon & Synapse (yes, again), who would of course later go on to become entirely au fait with fantasy gaming following their rebirth as Blizzard, The Lost Vikings is often remembered with great fondness by gamers of my age, and hopefully a few of you readers too. Many was the time I skived off school lessons to go and watch my friend Mantonia attempt to complete the game's first few levels in the school editing suite, only to fail miserably and go back to editing videos of past school trips. Good times. He always put his name in big bold letters in the credits, too. Anyway, the game follows three typical vikings: Erik the Swift, Baleog the Fierce and Olaf the Stout (who you may remember from our look at Rock n' Roll Racing a few weeks back), who live in a lovely colorful viking village somewhere, probably Asgard or something, and one night find themselves the victim of kidnap by some nefarious aliens led by emperor Tomator. That conceit, combined with the game's title, probably gives you some idea of the overall aim, which thankfully makes up in execution what it seemingly lacks in originality.

The heart of the gameplay lies with the vikings themselves, who are each adept at a particular task - Erik can run and jump, Baleog can fight, and Olaf can use his shield like a hang glider, because apparently the Norse were the first to invent the concept of manned flight. Historical accuracy notwithstanding, the trick of The Lost Vikings is that only one character can be controlled at once, leading to some deft switcheroo action in order to negotiate the hazardous alien worlds our bearded friends visit. I'm sure you get the basic idea, but the fact is it's implemented so damn solidly that it feels genuinely refreshing. The vikings control extremely well, and although you're bound to find yourself stuck under a wall or falling into some lava at some point, it's always because you've made a hash of solving the environmental trickery that abounds, rather than become a victim of unresponsive Norwegian drunkards. Of course, the teamwork-based nature of the game lends itself to co-operative play, and it can be a lot more fun when your friend lets you in on the action rather than sitting there ignoring your frequent suggestions as to how to circumvent the simple puzzle that is proving such an impassable obstacle to him. Sorry, I'm regressing again.

As much as the game proves itself mechanically sound, though, there's equal parts charm as well as panache. The graphics are extremely crisp, with the framerate rarely halting, and the vikings themselves are drawn with some loving detail, right down to the impatient character animation of Erik as he waits for his cumbersome colleagues to catch him up. The inter-level interaction between the threesome is genuinely amusing at times (even Thor himself gets in on the action, and his dialogue is pretty well-written), which is more than can be said for a whole heap of games, and you'll find yourself warming to the beardy trio as you're cursing your inability to effectively marshal their skill sets. Unfortunately, the helmeted ones are accompanied by a rather sordid musical score, which does little for the game (I genuinely think this might make my now somewhat infamous top 100, had it been given the attention of a more worthy composer). Still, turn down the TV and crank up some Viking Skull, Enslaved or Bathory on the stereo and you have yourself a perfect soundtrack for some bloodthirsty adventuring.

Pleasingly, The Lost Vikings has survived the ravages of time rather well, unlike the Viking race themselves, with a well-received GBA port a few years back, and the fact that it's still well-remembered by the current older generation of gamers. Why it hasn't been scheduled for a Virtual Console release yet is frankly boggling, especially given Beam's 32-bit ports of the game's sequel. I imagine it's quite tricky to track down an original cartridge (the SNES's better graphics versus the Genesis' extra levels is a battle you'll have to decide for yourself), which is a damn shame as this game deserves to be echoed down the ages. Unlike Zool, The Lost Vikings proved itself a genuinely unique entry into an over-crowded genre, and managed to hold its head high above the pack as one of the better platformers of the 16-bit years. Still, what'd you expect from Vikings. They kick ninjas' asses every time.

The Lost Vikings trivia

• The vikings make a cameo appearance in Blizzard's slightly more famous title, World of Warcraft. Keep an eye out for them, MMORPGers.
  
• The game's sequel was subtitled, in some territories, Norse by Norsewest, which is a spectacular pun worthy of eternal adulation.
  
• There's a song by animated heavy metal band Dethklok called 'The Lost Vikings', too. You should check it out, as the band is awesome.
  

The Videosphere

Let's take a look at this week's video highlight of The Lost Vikings in action. This video of the game's opening showcases the crisp graphics, not to mention the God-awful title screen theme, and shows off the character-switching dynamic.




Reactions and interactions

Posted by: Paisa el Toro

"I'd like to see some love thrown at the Turbografx-16. I thought it was one of the better systems of the era but was marketed really poorly."

Hmmm. It's a possibility for the future, but I tend to stick to the SNES and Genesis for this column since those were the systems that defined the 16-bit genre. Not that there weren't other worthy competitors, but those two are the consoles that really made me fall in love with the 16-bit generation of games (well, the Genesis came a bit later for me, but the point stands). Maybe once I run out of decent titles that I've played I'll explore some Turbografx gaming.


General indulgences

Every week in this section I'll endeavor to provide you, the faithful readers, with a fascinating insight into the various forms of entertainment currently dominating my spare time.

This week, I have been mostly enjoying:

Guilty Gear XX Core on the Wii. Well, I say enjoying. My mate picked it up for a fiver in Game, and it lasted about twenty minutes before being put back in its case, shortly to be returned to the shops. Not that it's bad, just thoroughly mediocre.

Mirrored by Battles, which belongs to the hideously-annoyingly-named musical genre of math rock. I've only listened to this once, but it's a breath of fresh air in today's musical climate. Check out the single 'Atlas' on YouTube.

Shoot 'Em Up, the lovingly parodic and self-sincere action film from a few years back with Clive Owen as a carrot-munching do-gooder. Why no one has used Nirvana's 'Lithium' to soundtrack a movie shoot-out before I can't begin to imagine.

And what about car tires? - Which apparently quite enjoy going flat when you've already driven down to the pub and gotten quite sozzled. Ah well, beer makes me concentrate, and it was changed in no time. Shame about all the old men passing by and offering their opinions; I had to kill them.


And finally…

Thanks for reading folks; as always, reader feedback and suggestions are welcome. Next week in "The Wonder Years" - sticking with the historical theme, we're coming over all medieval. Until then - keep it real, keep it retro.