If you tuned into this year's Blizzcon, then you saw news about Diablo 4, the official reveal of a Diablo II remake and all kinds of information about World of WarCraft. One thing you might not have expected was Blizzard Arcade Collection, which features three of the company's earliest games. Featuring The Lost Vikings, Rock n' Roll Racing and Blackthorne, these were three 16-bit classics that put Blizzard on the map in the early 1990s. If you can get over the fact that none of the games in the Blizzard Arcade Collection actually came from the arcade, you'll discover three great games that were hits with the critics at the time. To help celebrate this brand-new compilation, we're going to see what magazines like Electronic Gaming Monthly, GamePro, Die Hard Game Fan, SNES Force, Super Play, Game Players and even Nintendo Magazine System thought of all three games in the collection. We're finally going to answer the question: What did the critics say about the Blizzard Arcade Collection back in the day? Let's find out.


Long before the days of WarCraft, StarCraft and Hearthstone, Blizzard was known as Silicon & Synapse. Their first game was RPM Racing, a 1991 remake of Racing Destruction Set by Electronic Arts. They followed this up with The Lost Vikings, a quirky platform/puzzle game that is also the first game to be found in the Blizzard Arcade Collection. The concept is simple enough: You want to help the three lost Vikings escape a bunch of weird locations and time periods, which means controlling each of them individually in order to help the greater good. It's a great concept that has since been employed in games as diverse as Trine and Transformers Animated: The Game.

Critics at the time were not sure what to make of The Lost Vikings. On one hand, it looks exactly like every other 16-bit side-scrolling platformer, yet its pace is slow and you actually have to use your brain. Steve Harris at Electronic Gaming Monthly was not a fan: "I liked the twists that The Vikings put on the run-of-the-mill puzzlers, but having to pilot all three heroes to the exit individually quickly became redundant." His fellow editors disagreed, with all of them giving the game 8s and talking up the graphics, animation and clever puzzles.

GamePro was much more into helping these poor Vikings than EGM. They gave the game a 5 out of 5 and raved that it was one of the great "action/adventure/puzzle games on the Super NES." Video Games & Computer Entertainment also loved the game, with all five of the critics giving the game a solid 9 out of 10. In fact, they also gave the music, graphics and playability a 9. It was 9s across the board. SNES Force would go even higher, with a 91 out of 100 in their very first issue, while fellow UK publication Mega gave it the exact same score only a few months later.

While those critics couldn't stop raving about The Lost Vikings, most found themselves in that comfortable 8 out of 10 range. You saw that with Nintendo Magazine System, who were a little thrown off by the puzzles. Super Play issued a warning before ultimately giving it an 84%: "As long as you're aware that The Lost Vikings isn't the most exciting game around, and that you're going to have to spend a lot of time staring at the screen with your chin on your hands going 'Hmmmm', you'll probably have masses and masses of fun with it." Honestly, that's probably the best summary of The Lost Vikings I've seen yet. It's a fun game, but you can't go in expecting a fast-paced platformer.

One thing this collection really demonstrates is how versatile Blizzard was back in the 1990s. Blackthorne is an action/adventure, The Lost Vikings is more of a puzzle game, and Rock n' Roll Racing is, well, a racing game. Obviously. The point is, no matter how big of a departure it was, Blizzard was always up for the task. Of the three games in this compilation, Rock n' Roll Racing is easily the biggest departure. It traded in the side-scrolling worlds and fantasy soundtracks for overhead race tracks and chip tune versions of top 40 hits. It was a science fiction-infused racing game with popular rock songs that evoked the spirit of classics like Super Off-Road and R/C Pro-Am.

Back in 1993, the reaction to Rock n' Roll Racing was generally positive, though there was a feeling in the air that it was a step backwards when compared to the recent spate of 3D racers. GamePro gave the game a 4 out of 5 and said that it's going to "drive you wild." "Rockin' music and rollicking races on alien planets make Rock n' Roll Racing a winner, especially when you're racing against a friend." That's certainly more than we got from Electronic Gaming Monthly, which didn't even have their full review crew give it a shot. The lone critic liked the music and the variety of courses, though only gave it an 8 out of 10.

Rock n' Roll Racing's biggest cheerleader was Sgt. Gamer over at Die Hard Game Fan, who gave it a 94% and said that he had "gone ballistic" over the game. "Rock & Roll is one of the best driving games I have played and definitely one of the best 2 player games I've ever had the pleasure of booting up. Interplay has gone over the top to create one of the best titles of 1993." You saw similar high praise from SNES Force, with Simon raving about the "CD quality sound" and giving the game a stellar 91%. He admits that the unusual perspective is a little awkward at first, "however, take a little time to get used to the weird view, and you realize that this is actually one hell of a good racing ga me."

The lowest score came from Nintendo Power, who may have liked hearing songs like Born to Be Wild and Highway Star, but found the soundtrack too limiting with only five songs. However, even with their 3.7 out of 5, they agreed with the general consensus that Rock n' Roll Racing is a great racing game with explosive action, split-screen fun and, best of all, a killer soundtrack.

1994 was a big year for the company formerly known as Silicon & Synapse. Not only did they change their name, but they also released a beat 'em up based on The Death and Return of Superman, gave the PC world the gift of WarCraft and finished out the year with a moody adventure game called Blackthorne. While it may not be as ground-breaking as WarCraft or have a major IP like Superman, Blackthorne should not be overlooked. In fact, I would argue that this is probably the best game in the entire Blizzard Arcade Collection. It's basically a play on the Flashback and Prince of Persia formula, only with more of an emphasis on action.

No matter if they played the Super NES or Sega 32X version, the critics loved Blackthorne. GamePro gave it a 5 out of 5 and concluded that this dark and stylish side-scroller is a real crowd-pleaser. "Blackthorne delivers high-energy action above all else. Who cares that it also reminds you of Prince of Persia? For platform enthusiasts who can't get enough of the good stuff, Blackthorne scratches that action itch."

You saw a similar reaction from Die Hard Game Fan's K. Lee, who called it the best action/adventure game seen on the Super NES in quite a while. "Blackthorne is a bit on the short side, but other than that, it's fantastic. Great graphics, excellent music and sound FX, perfect control, cool carnage, moody theme. Blackthorne's got it all." You saw a similar score from VideoGames magazine, who loved all that stuff and gave it a 9 out of 10. Similarly, Game Players scored the game an 87 out of 100.

Surprisingly enough, it was Electronic Gaming Monthly who ended up giving the game the lowest scores. All four editors gave Blackthorne an 8 out of 10, with many calling it one of the coolest games on the Super NES. Ed Semrad raved that "Blackthorne is one of the best action games to come around in quite some time," while Danyon liked the "fun-to-play" action and the "blend of strategy and mystery-solving." Many likened it to Prince of Persia and some argued that it's sometimes so dark that it's hard to see the enemies, but it still managed to earn an average of 8 out of 10, making it issue 62's pick as the Game of the Month. I think a lot of people are going to be shocked by how good Blackthorne is.