Yesterday, Blizzard surprise released Blizzard Arcade Collection, which packs in three of their legacy-forming console games into one discount-priced pack. For a mere $20, you get The Lost Vikings, Blackthorne, and Rock N Roll Racing (you can also choose to pay ten extra bucks for the 30-Year Celebration Collection, but that just adds cosmetic items from Blizzard’s modern games and you’re looking at diminishing returns at that point).
Honestly, The Lost Vikings is worth the price of admission on its own. It’s a game I remember fondly from my childhood, and having played it fairly recently, it’s still a good amount of fun. But I’ve written in depth about my love for the game elsewhere, so I won’t repeat all that here.
And Blizzard is treating this thing right. There were various versions released for the game (the Genesis version added five stages and the ability to play three-player co-op instead of just two, for instance). So which version did Blizzard include in the collection? All of them!.
There are three different versions of the game in the collection, the original SNES version, the bulked-up Genesis version, and the Definitive Edition, which combines the best of both versions into the ultimate Lost Vikings experience.
The other games in the collection are Blackthorne (which I’ve been meaning to play for quite some time) and Rock N Roll Racing, both of which have similarly received their own Definitive Editions. There are also behind-the-scenes retrospectives, concept art, soundtracks, and more.
While it would have been nice to see a couple more additions here (ahem, Norse by Norsewest), I gladly plunked down $20 to have these classics on a modern-day console.
Blizzard Arcade Collection is available on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Battle.Net.
You can watch the announcement trailer below.
