Lost Vikings, The

[Discoalucard]

www.hardcoregaming101.net/lostvikings/lostvikings.htm

Never really played these all that much, but I dig how Bobinator has coined the term "Matt Furniss-ness". The only version I really ever played was the SNES one, has some pretty rad music...but the Genesis version is very good too, in its own way.

Let's pour one out for pre-Warcraft Blizzard, shall we?

[Sketcz-1000]

There's also a room in the 32X version of Blackthorn which features the three Vikings - or so I've been led to believe.

Glad there's a piece on this - so many subsequent games have been influenced by the multiple character mechanics, it's good that we can link to it.

[BulletMagnet]

The "Clay Keep" stage of Clay Fighter 2 also has a couple of viking sculptures in the background which react to the hits landed during the match, I'm pretty sure they're meant to be the Lost bunch.

[Bobinator]

Jun 12, 2012 18:42:32 GMT -5 BulletMagnet said:

The "Clay Keep" stage of Clay Fighter 2 also has a couple of viking sculptures in the background which react to the hits landed during the match, I'm pretty sure they're meant to be the Lost bunch.

Possibly, especially since one of the endings from the first Clay Fighter (Helga's) mentions Olaf. It was such a minor thing from a non-Blizzard made game, though, I didn't bother to mention it.

[chentzilla]

I believe the third guy's name was Baleog, not Baelog.

[Resident Tsundere]

My dad played this game. The dialog made us laugh sometimes. He never completed the game, though.

[Sturat]

The article doesn't seem to mention the main reason why the Genesis port is superior: Three player mode. My brothers and I had such a good time with that. Even though we messed up so many times that we eventually got a message assuring us that if we were trying to see if there was any more funny dialogue, it was the last message, we played through the entire game together.

[Gilder]

Much like Blackthorne before it, the first Lost Vikings (along with Rock N' Roll Racing) is now free through Battle.net.

[dr_st]

Thank you for this tip. Having downloaded this version I notice a few slight differences compared to the original release - Interplay / Silicon & Synapse logos during intro have been replaced with Blizzard logos (for obvious reasons), and the "Exit to DOS" menu option is gone (which is unnecessary, since F10 drops you to DOS anyways, and works also from inside levels). From a very brief session of a couple of minutes I haven't noticed any actual gameplay differences yet.

Also, a very belated chapeau / respect to Bobinator for the most excellent write-up. It really captured the key points of both games very well, as well as the differences between the versions.

One thing where the SNES versions differ from the rest is the visible play area. Due to the 8:7 ratio of the console, these versions show significantly less of the play area to the sides of your Vikings (this is evident from the comparison screenshots). In most cases it is a disadvantage, since less view makes the game harder. Sometimes it can be an advantage, as it allows you to keep your Vikings safe from enemies lurking just outside the visible area, but in any case it's probably not a big deal.

One thing that the DOS version of the first Vikings lacks is the stage backgrounds. Whereas the consoles will treat you to nice views of space, ancient Egypt or the factory, the DOS version just shows plain black background (apparently Amiga version as well). It is quite disappointing. I've played the DOS version first, and was surprised how nicer the SNES/Genesis versions looked in comparison, when I discovered them later down the road.

A final comment, pet peeve if you wish. Bobinator made some comments about one of the downsides of the Amiga/DOS versions was the need to use the keyboard to play. This is something you often see in reviews of platform games. It seems that console players cannot get past the prejudice that a keyboard is somehow inferior to the gamepad/joystick.

This is of course completely false, and as someone who played both Vikings games thoroughly, with the keyboard, in DOS as well as in emulators, you can trust me on that 100%. For a platformer, not requiring analog precision, a keyboard can be just as comfy to play on as any controller out there. Assuming the key setup is good, that is.

It is true that the keys for the original Vikings are not customizable, and that's a bit unfortunate. However, after just a little practice back in the good old 90s I came to realize that the defaults are actually quite good (arrows for movement and ESDF, which is just a shifted WASD, for actions). I have been using this setup out of habit for all versions of Lost Vikings I have played since.

[Weasel]

Jun 21, 2014 10:32:06 GMT -5 dr_st said:

A final comment, pet peeve if you wish. Bobinator made some comments about one of the downsides of the Amiga/DOS versions was the need to use the keyboard to play. This is something you often see in reviews of platform games. It seems that console players cannot get past the prejudice that a keyboard is somehow inferior to the gamepad/joystick.

This is one of those subjective things; it means different things to different people. Some folks are just more at home with a decent D-pad (like a Sega Saturn pad), while others are far more proficient with a set of arrow keys. The problem with Lost Vikings is that the keyboard setup isn't especially obvious to start with, considering that a lot of DOS-based platformers of the time tended to use the "major" keys instead of letters. For example, most of Apogee and Epic's famous DOS platformers tended to use Control to jump and Alt for attacks, actions, etc. ESDF was not an especially common setup at the time, and I know it required that I look up a manual or readme file the first time around, despite being raised on stuff like Captain Comic and Monuments of Mars.

[dr_st]

Jun 21, 2014 11:53:49 GMT -5 Weasel said:

The problem with Lost Vikings is that the keyboard setup isn't especially obvious to start with, considering that a lot of DOS-based platformers of the time tended to use the "major" keys instead of letters.

Your assessment is spot-on. I remember how weird it seemed to me at first. Had there been an option to configure it, I probably would have (to the standard Ctrl/Alt/Shift/Space somethings). Vikings actually allows you to use Space instead of 'F' for the primary action. At first it seemed natural to do so, but very quickly I figured out that the ESDF is actually marvelous, as it keeps all keys close together, but easily accessible using different fingers, and without contorting your palm/wrist in strange ways. Just like the arrow keys, for that matter. There is good reason why modern gamers settled on WASD for motion.

Vikings also allows Ctrl/Ins/Pad0 as well as Pad7/Pad9 for character switching, so that to be convenient both for players using the arrow keys and those using the numpad for directions. It is really evident that a good deal more thought went into the key setup of that game than might be evident at a first glance.

[kingmike]

I'm pretty sure the SNES version of Lost Vikings was actually released before the Genesis version.
Also, the SNES version of Lost Vikings II was finished at least a year and a half before it was released (Nintendo Power January 1996 Pak Watch said it was already "a few months" since NoA had approved the final version) but Interplay deliberately delayed it to be released simultaneously with the other versions.
But Blizzard's first game? Wasn't that actually Radical Psycho Machine (RPM) Racing for the SNES, the predecessor to Rock 'n Roll Racing?

[derboo]

Jun 23, 2014 16:03:17 GMT -5 kingmike said:

I'm pretty sure the SNES version of Lost Vikings was actually released before the Genesis version.

That's actually something the different databases on the web are in disagreement about, so it would be great if we could find any evidence for either claim.

[Discoalucard]

Going off memory, I seem to recall playing the SNES version at a friends house but I couldn't myself just yet...it was released a little while later I think.

[zerker]

Hey now guys, you aren't REQUIRED to use the keyboard for the DOS version of the Lost Vikings. I used a Gravis Gamepad back in the day; the game has build-in support for 4-button joysticks. You're still required to use the keyboard for swapping vikings and inventory though...