PlayStation 2 Box Art I had only ever seen Asterix & Obelix in passing while poring over the International News pages of EGM and GameFan when I was growing up but the odd visage of the vikings always stuck with me. Over a decade later I saw the duo again in a quarter-page preview for XXL2 in PLAY magazine and was blown away by what looked like F.L.U.D.D.-equipped Marios and limbless Rayman legionnaires. The screenshots were tiny and the details sparse and, like usual, my desire to know more was soon washed away by the next big budget game that was much easier to find out about and get ahold of. 
 
Six years later I happened to see the peculiar box art for Alice in Wonderland on the DS and after a GameFAQs search I was at developer Etranges Libellules homepage, in French, once again staring at XXL2. Almost with no conscious effort, it seems, I have been led back to Asterix & Obelix, and this game in particular, time and again for over ten years. Explaining this happenstance to a 50-year-old co-worker revealed his extensive and pristine collection of Asterix & Obelix comics that he was very nearly ready to pawn off. I've always been into oddball, overlooked stuff but nothing this transcendental has ever steered me for so long towards one game.  
 
The search was finally on but as I continued checking eBay and Google I started reading my co-workers' comics and realized that the pair aren't Vikings but Gauls. I had first seen them alongside Blizzard's Lost Vikings when I was an inexperienced child so I'm sure you can appreciate my jump to conclusion. Even the inscrutable designers that consider every detail at Epcot's World Showcase were fooled; I spotted a commemorative volume in Norway's gift shop last time I was there. The comics were immensely popular all across Europe and were definitely translated into Norwegian but the series is as French as Eiffel. First serialized in 1959, each installment saw the indomitable clan of Gauls holding out against the invading forces of Julius Caesar and his crackpot schemes for world domination. It'd be like if we took the Pilgrims, made them superhuman and had them constantly belittling and deflating the English. National pride through puns, one-liners and physical humor. Sounds like the heart of Americana to me. 
 
So now that I've played the game and come to appreciate it and the comics' origins the only thing I can think to do is share it; spread the word to as many people who have no clue who these guys are or how insane this game is as I can! I'm working on editing the Wiki page to fully detail the game, how it plays, and all the stuff it references but the most entertaining part will be the images. I've documented everything that looked even vaguely referential in over 100 screen captures but there's plenty of stuff I can't pinpoint or can't remember. Comment like crazy and help fill in the blanks. I hope at least a few of you find the same kind of awe and fascination in this stuff as I do!