FOUND: Lost Vikings

The Warcraft series is unquestionably Blizzard's most well-known franchise, though the Starcraft and Diablo names are certainly no slouches. But not many would remember some of their older titles, like The Lost Vikings. (Hell, they weren't even called Blizzard back in 1992 when it was released.) It was a great game, there were three vikings (possibly brothers, I don't remember) who were somehow lost in time and had to navigate these puzzle-based levels to find their way home. What made the game fun was that you controlled all three, but only one at a time, and each had their own skills that you had to use to get around the levels.



• Olaf the Stout had a shield that could block everything from arrows to laser beams, and could use it to slowly float down when falling. Also, I think he could hold the shield up so others could walk on it.
• Erik the Swift was fast and was the only Viking who could run and jump, and he could also headbutt enemies or walls
• Baleog the Fierce had a bow and sword and could kill enemies or use the bow to hit faraway switches.

It was a fun game and a nice twist on traditional puzzle/platform games. Blizzard actually has a playable demo on their site of the Game Boy Advance version. This should be checked out, if for nothing else than the awesome guitar riff at the title screen.

Fast forward to 2008. I'm playing World of Warcraft and poking around these ancient dwarven ruins killing cavemen and giant bats. Tucked away in a corner of the dungeon I find...you guessed it...Olaf, Erik and Baleog.



I play a Horde character, who is enemies with humans and dwarves, so they were enemies to me. I'm not sure if they would be friendly for the human side. But anyways, I fought them and it was true to the old game - Erik had some kind of speed ability where he'd zip around everywhere, Baleog shot arrows, and Olaf had a giant shield and would shield bash you. The dropped suitable treasure as well, such as a shield that would slow your fall and a helmet that let you charge at people and stun them. Definitely one of the best moments in WoW that I've encountered.