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Even though I'd barely touched it before now, this game has a lot of sentimental value for me because it was one of my best friend's favorites while we were growing up. We did try co-op mode once, but I remember feeling that I had no clue what was going on. A lot of that was probably due to multiplayer being a bit of a mess and also that we only ever had three-button controllers, but regardless, I was pretty sure then and there that that was it for me and the vikings forever.

As I was helping this old friend settle into a new apartment last year, however, we came across the game. "I remember how much you loved this, but I totally didn't get it," I commented, and he eagerly replied, "Want to borrow it? Borrow it!" So it's about twenty-two years later and I've finally played through the game on my best friend's loaned cartridge. I loved this aspect of the experience. It was like 1993 all over again!

The game itself was much more fun, and way more frustrating, than I'd anticipated. I thought it was going to be predominantly puzzle-focused, but it was equally platformy, and quite demanding in that regard. Precision platforming is fine with me, but this game likes to surprise you with insta-kill traps and obstacles that you really can't avoid on your first go. You're either not expecting them or you simply have to figure out how to navigate them through trial-and-error, and they frequently throw the hardest maneuver at you when you're two steps from the finish line.

Point being, no Genesis game has ever made me wish for save states more than this one.

I did love it, though. The levels aren't overly long, so setbacks aren't completely unmanageable. I will admit that I had to walk away sometimes to cool my head and hands (ah, good old-fashioned sweaty palms), and I did have to look up two or three hints. These solutions were invariably based on my lack of understanding some basic (and I would argue unintuitive) gameplay element, e.g. that you can travel down anti-gravity fields if you have enough downward momentum (not obvious, what with all the up-arrows emblazoned on the walls), that certain "impossible" jumps are surmountable with a slightly longer running start than I'd been attempting, that pipes that looked like background decoration could be climbed, and so on.

One of the best parts was the humor, though. The characters have little conversations at the close of every level, and they chastise you if you start over too many times. I even had the voice of Thor speak unto my vikings on a few occasions, telling them to stop being such an embarrassment.