Superfrog

When Sega had its Sonic and Nintendo its Mario, the Amiga desperately needed its platforming star. Superfrog applied for the role with all the energy a frog in a superhero cape can muster. This brisk and colourful platformer from the British Team17 became one of the most enjoyable mascot platformers on Commodore computers.

The story is fairy-tale simple: a prince turned into a frog by a witch drinks a magical Lucozade potion (yes, it was also an advertising partnership) and gains superpowers to save his princess. The game was released in 1993 and offered sprawling, varied levels full of coin collecting, secret spots and bonus sections, among which even a shooter-style interlude is not missing.

In terms of gameplay Superfrog excels with smooth movement and responsive controls, which were considerable advantages on the Amiga, whose standard hardware was not ideal for fast scrolling. Team17, a studio later famous for the Worms series, put its sense for careful craftsmanship, animated intros and overall playfulness into it. The visuals are cheerful, the music catchy and the pace just brisk enough.

Culturally Superfrog fits into the period wave of efforts to give the Amiga a mascot that could compete with console stars. It shared this role with other titles, but thanks to the quality of its execution it stayed in players' memories as one of the best. Later years brought a remastered edition, Superfrog HD, which testifies to the enduring popularity of this frog.

At its core Superfrog is an honest platformer without grand ambitions to overturn the genre, but with perfectly tuned gameplay. It is the type of game one gladly returns to, because it simply fits the hand well and smiles at you from every screen.

Why play it: A brisk, colourful and perfectly controllable mascot platformer from the creators of Worms, which finally gave the Amiga a jumping star worthy of the console competition.