 Just about anybody watching this is familiar with Blizzard Entertainment, they're responsible for some of the most memorable games of the past 20 years, from Diablo to StarCraft 2, of course, World of Warcraft, but way back in the early 90s Blizzard Entertainment was just getting started under the name Silicon and Synapse. Under that moniker they developed the thoroughly mediocre R.P.M. racing for Super Nintendo and followed that up with the excellent Rock n' Roll racing. But also in that timeframe came the Lost Vikings, no not those Lost Vikings, don't get me started on those guys. Silicon and Synapse developed two Lost Vikings games for the Super Nintendo and they are the definitive puzzle platformers for the system. They're both two player co-op and a perfect blend of style and substance. Let's start with the first game. The basic premise here is guiding three Vikings to the exit of each level and using each Vikings unique skill to deal with the appropriate enemy and obstacle. The three Vikings are Eric, Baleog, and Olaf. Eric is the fastest and can jump the highest but can't attack. Baleog is the badass with a sword and a bow and arrow but he can't jump at all. And Olaf has a shield which can be used for many different things. You only control one Viking at a time, but you flip between them using the L and R buttons and I love the immediacy of that. No cumbersome menu screen or anything, thankfully. There's also items like bombs and health replenishments that each Viking can carry, the latter of which can be pretty important because there's only three hit points here for each character. When one dies, the other two are left to fend for themselves and you won't be able to finish the level. That's kind of a point of frustration, especially since there's jump damage when you fall from certain heights, but there are at least unlimited continues here. You might initially think that it's kind of pointless to continue on with only two characters since you can't complete the level, but it does allow for an opportunity to explore a little bit so you can plan ahead for your next try. But yeah, you have to get all three Vikings to the exit and that's much easier said than done because this game quickly gets pretty challenging and complex, but nothing ever seems impossible. Maybe it's best to just do a walkthrough example of how this game is played. Take this level here, take all three Vikings down the elevator, smash the wall with Eric the speedy guy, that's one of his abilities, then take Baileog and activate the switch behind each barrier with an arrow, then take all three down this elevator and place Olaf in a spot where Eric can use his shield as a platform to go up and grab the key. It's a pretty simple example, but you can see how it can get pretty complex the further you go. Now some of you might think that's kind of tedious, but what really helps spice the game up is the amount of personality they put into this game. From the bizarre locations you explore to the cartoony appearance of the Vikings themselves, to the occasional dialogue you get from the characters and from occasional oddballs you meet here and there. No it's not laugh out loud funny, but it's amusing enough and it helps this game stand out quite a bit from the rest of the Super Nintendo library in terms of presentation. If nothing else the dialogue is a clever way to provide some gameplay exposition without holding your hand. One nitpicky thing I got to point out though, the music in this game is just odd. It's not bad at all, it's just a strange choice, but it at least adds to the game's bizarre cartoony atmosphere. Lost Vikings was originally developed for the Super Nintendo, but later on got ports for everything from the Amiga to Sega Genesis to Game Boy Advance. They're all pretty much the same game, but the Genesis version has 42 levels while the SNES game has 37. Also the Game Boy Advance version has a battery save, if four little passwords bother you for some reason. Now the trouble with most puzzle platformers is that the replay value only extends as far as your memory. Once you know most of the puzzles it makes the game kind of boring to play through again, but thankfully there's a second Lost Vikings game, Lost Vikings 2 that was released late in the SNES life span in February of 1997. The three Vikings are back, but with two new playable characters, Fang the Werewolf who can jump and climb walls and Scorch the Dragon who can fly and use a fireball attack. The Vikings also have updated abilities like how Eric can swim in addition to sprinting and jumping and Bailey Ugg's bionic arm attack, and of course there's 31 all-new puzzles here as well. Lost Vikings 2 does what a sequel to a good game should do. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, and the only real changes here are the additional characters and the fact that a lot of the backgrounds are darker. The user interface hasn't changed and it's still two-player co-op, so there's not much else to add here. If you like the Lost Vikings and just want more levels and more characters with some new abilities then you'll love Lost Vikings 2, and you also have the option to play this one on Sega Saturn, PlayStation, and PC if you'd like, where the game is titled Norse by Norse West. So yeah, the Lost Vikings games are a great time. They're fun and stimulating puzzle platformers that have held up really well over time thanks to the easy to use interface, the quick pace, the puzzle design, and the weird bits of personality you'll find here and there. Both of these games are fantastic.