The Lost Vikings (MD, 1992)
Graphics-7 Sound-7 Control-7 Challenge-8.5* Story-5
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-8.5* Fun-7* Originality-7
Overall Score-7
*1-player
+
Innovative gameplay (switch between three characters with different abilites and separate inventories, solving various puzzles to get to the exit)
3-player co-op (compared to 2 on SNES, A+B+C to switch camera focus)
Decent animation (expressive characters, several different death animations)
Password save at the beginning of every stage (short)
Hidden items and shortcuts
Higher resolution than on SNES (makes it easier to react to danger and get an overview of puzzles), more stages than on SNES (41 in total), good puzzles overall, fairly entertaining dialogue between the vikings (not on SNES?), comical (wacky, slap stick, pop culture references), smart bombs, in-game cutscenes showing new mechanics with some humour before each new world, decent variation, can headbutt enemies, good final boss (four segments)
+/-
Hazards don't affect enemies
Need to stand characters close to each other to exchange items between them
Many one hit kill hazards
Some of the more advanced maneuvers aren't possible in single player
Saved items don't carry over to the next stage
The shield viking can't push enemies back, only one boss, fall damage, lacks the world transition/warp screen of the SNES and Amiga versions (SNES version looks best here thanks to Mode 7) - replaced by in-game cutscenes humourosly showing new mechanics
-
Fairly slow paced (switching at a distance is somewhat slow, waiting for platforms/bubbles in single player, simply moving all characters longer distances (when playing by yourself) gets tedious, many enemies are tedious to fight (blue-haired dudes), some annoying enemy placements)
Trial & error (block types which at one point in a stage can be bombed but require hitting a switch to remove later in the stage, teleporter of no return in candy land, most enemies can be walked through without damage, at one point you need to hold up a platform with the shield while at other times similar platforms will crush the character, fireballs shot from outside the screen, some leaps of faith - can't look down/up)
All characters need to survive to get to the next level so it's rather pointless to let the player keep going
Co-op mode is a bit cumbersome due to lack of split screen - one problem is that the red-haired viking is much more agile than the other two
Difficult parts (and/or puzzles you haven't encountered before) tend to get placed rather late in a stage making the game more frustrating since there are no checkpoints
Poor jump height control, most jokes are cringeworthy, worse sound quality overall than on SNES (some annoying sfx such as laser shots or lizard/dino attacks), so-so use of colour overall, somewhat sloppy hit detection at times, tedious backtracking in the factory, no difficulty options, need to beat three stages in a row before the final boss
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-8.5* Fun-7* Originality-7
Overall Score-7
*1-player
+
Innovative gameplay (switch between three characters with different abilites and separate inventories, solving various puzzles to get to the exit)
3-player co-op (compared to 2 on SNES, A+B+C to switch camera focus)
Decent animation (expressive characters, several different death animations)
Password save at the beginning of every stage (short)
Hidden items and shortcuts
Higher resolution than on SNES (makes it easier to react to danger and get an overview of puzzles), more stages than on SNES (41 in total), good puzzles overall, fairly entertaining dialogue between the vikings (not on SNES?), comical (wacky, slap stick, pop culture references), smart bombs, in-game cutscenes showing new mechanics with some humour before each new world, decent variation, can headbutt enemies, good final boss (four segments)
+/-
Hazards don't affect enemies
Need to stand characters close to each other to exchange items between them
Many one hit kill hazards
Some of the more advanced maneuvers aren't possible in single player
Saved items don't carry over to the next stage
The shield viking can't push enemies back, only one boss, fall damage, lacks the world transition/warp screen of the SNES and Amiga versions (SNES version looks best here thanks to Mode 7) - replaced by in-game cutscenes humourosly showing new mechanics
-
Fairly slow paced (switching at a distance is somewhat slow, waiting for platforms/bubbles in single player, simply moving all characters longer distances (when playing by yourself) gets tedious, many enemies are tedious to fight (blue-haired dudes), some annoying enemy placements)
Trial & error (block types which at one point in a stage can be bombed but require hitting a switch to remove later in the stage, teleporter of no return in candy land, most enemies can be walked through without damage, at one point you need to hold up a platform with the shield while at other times similar platforms will crush the character, fireballs shot from outside the screen, some leaps of faith - can't look down/up)
All characters need to survive to get to the next level so it's rather pointless to let the player keep going
Co-op mode is a bit cumbersome due to lack of split screen - one problem is that the red-haired viking is much more agile than the other two
Difficult parts (and/or puzzles you haven't encountered before) tend to get placed rather late in a stage making the game more frustrating since there are no checkpoints
Poor jump height control, most jokes are cringeworthy, worse sound quality overall than on SNES (some annoying sfx such as laser shots or lizard/dino attacks), so-so use of colour overall, somewhat sloppy hit detection at times, tedious backtracking in the factory, no difficulty options, need to beat three stages in a row before the final boss
