''Superfrog'' is a scrolling 2D

platform game A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are charac ...

, originally developed for the

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...

and published in 1993 by

Team17 Team17 Group plc is a British video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher based in Wakefield, England. The venture was created in December 1990 through the merger of British publisher 17-Bit Software and Swedish developer Team 7. A ...

.
Superfrog on Team17's Softography (archived version) Later releases were handled by

Ocean Software Ocean Software Ltd was a British software development company that became one of the biggest European video game developers and video game publisher, publishers of the 1980s and 1990s. The company was founded by David Ward and Jon Woods and wa ...

and

GOG.com GOG.com (formerly Good Old Games) is a digital distribution platform for video games and films. It is operated by GOG sp. z o.o., a wholly owned subsidiary of CD Projekt based in Warsaw, Poland. GOG.com delivers DRM-free video games through its ...

Gameplay

The objective of the game is to find and defeat a witch, thus rescuing a princess, whilst achieving smaller objectives throughout the game, such as finding a golden

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

or escaping from captivity in a

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclist ...

. There are 24 regular

levels Level or levels may refer to: Engineering *Level (instrument), a device used to measure true horizontal or relative heights *Spirit level, an instrument designed to indicate whether a surface is horizontal or vertical *Canal pound or level *Regr ...

, divided into six differently-themed worlds. The goal of each level is to collect a set number of coins, and then reach the exit, which will only open if Superfrog has collected enough coins. Extra factors of gameplay include a timer countdown and a number of health points, both of which can be restored by finding bottles of

Lucozade Lucozade is a British brand of soft drink manufactured and marketed by the Japanese company Suntory. Created as "Glucozade" in the UK in 1927 by a Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Newcastle pharmacist, William Walker Hunter (trading as W. Owen & Son), it ...

among the levels. Depending on the number of coins and fruit collected, and on how fast the player finishes the level, a number of credits (up to a maximum of 15) are awarded at the end of each level. The player can then choose to either collect the credits for a score or gamble them in a

slot machine A slot machine (American English), fruit machine (British English) or poker machine (Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. Slot machines are also known pejoratively a ...

-style

minigame A minigame (also spelled mini game and mini-game, sometimes called a subgame or microgame) is a short game often contained within another video game. A minigame contains different gameplay elements, and is often smaller or more simplistic, than th ...

for more bonuses. The most important function of the slot machine minigame is the chance to win a level code, enabling the player to restart the game from the beginning of the next level at a later time. An extra level between world 5 and 6 takes the form of a side-scrolling

shoot 'em up Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs ) are a sub-genre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of chara ...

called ''Project-F'' in homage to Team17's own ''

Project-X ''Project-X'' is a horizontally scrolling shooter for the Amiga released in 1992. It was developed and published by Team17. The game resembles Konami's side-scrolling shooter games such as ''Gradius'', ''Salamander'' and ''Parodius''. It was p ...

'' (even going as far as using a remixed version of the original game's theme tune). Rather than collecting coins, the objective of this stage is to survive to the end. This level was omitted from the PC conversion of the game. After completing all six worlds, the game ends with a small

boss fight In video games, a boss is a significant computer-controlled opponent. A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight. Bosses are generally far stronger than other opponents the player has faced up to that ...

against the witch in a castle setting.

Plot

The story, present in the game's manual but mostly conveyed through the introductory animation by Eric W. Schwartz, concerns an unnamed

prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

, who is turned into a frog by a jealous

witch Witchcraft traditionally means the use of Magic (supernatural), magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In Middle Ages, medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually ...

, in homage to the

Frog Prince "The Frog Prince; or, Iron Henry" (german: Der Froschkönig oder der eiserne Heinrich, literally "The Frog King or the Iron Henry") is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 in ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'' (KHM 1). ...

fairy tale. His

princess Princess is a regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin ''princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince. Princess as a subst ...

girlfriend is then abducted by the same witch. Subsequently, sulking by the "River O' Despair", the prince chances upon a floating bottle of

, which confers upon him super powers. With his new powers, the prince heads off to fight the evil witch and save the princess.

Development

''Superfrog'' was developed in 1993 and released for the

in the same year by

, acting simultaneously as developer and publisher. The release was popular enough to spawn an

Amiga CD32 The Amiga CD32 (stylized as Amiga CD32, code-named "Spellbound") is a 32-bit home video game console developed by Commodore and released in Europe, Australia, Canada, and Brazil. It was first announced at the Science Museum in London on July 16, ...

version, which could also be played on some Amiga computers fitted with a CD drive. Due to its enduring popularity, it was then converted for the PC by Bubball Systems in 1994, running as an

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...

program. Eric W. Schwartz provided the animation for the introduction. The Amiga version was re-released by Islona Software in 1999, with slightly different box art. In 2012, ''Superfrog'' was, along with other games by Team17, released as a legitimate digital

download In computer networks, download means to ''receive'' data from a remote system, typically a server such as a web server, an FTP server, an email server, or other similar system. This contrasts with uploading, where data is ''sent to'' a remote s ...

from GoodOldGames.com,
Superfrog on GOG.com this version being the first compatible with

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

Reception

Team17's earlier games became relatively obscure after the release of the hugely popular ''

Worms Worms may refer to: *Worm, an invertebrate animal with a tube-like body and no limbs Places *Worms, Germany, a city **Worms (electoral district) *Worms, Nebraska, U.S. *Worms im Veltlintal, the German name for Bormio, Italy Arts and entertainme ...

'' series, though many gamers remember ''Superfrog'' fondly for its solid gameplay, smooth scrolling, cartoon-quality graphics, and upbeat

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

by composer

Allister Brimble Allister Brimble is a British video game music composer. He began composing music and sound effects for the video game industry in the mid-1980s. He also produced various audio tracks, as "Brimble's Beats", that were distributed on cover disks ...

. Although a relatively small release by the standards of blockbuster platformers like ''

Sonic Sonic or Sonics may refer to: Companies *Sonic Drive-In, an American drive-in fast-food restaurant chain *Sonic (ISP), an Internet provider and CLEC, serving more than 100 California communities *Sonic Foundry, a computer software company whic ...

'', it was very well received and has retained a fan base which considers it an excellent example of the genre.
Review on Lemon Amiga

Rerelease

On 13 February 2013, Team17 announced they would be reviving ''Superfrog'' for its 20th anniversary, and releasing a HD version of the game on PSN.
Superfrog on PSN (article on Accelerated Ideas) This remastered version was co-developed by both Team17 and TickTockGames, formerly Bubball Systems, the company initially responsible for the

port of ''Superfrog'' in 1994. ''Superfrog HD'' was released in 2013 for the

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

and

PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita, or Vita) is a handheld video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, and in North America, Europe, and other international territo ...

, then later

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

via

Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

, and

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

. In May 2016, ''Superfrog HD'' was discontinued by Team17; due to low sales and negative reception, the game was removed from PSN, Steam, App Store and Google Play. At the same time, the original ''Superfrog'' game was removed from GOG.com.

References

External links

''Superfrog''
at

Mobygames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...

{{Authority control 1993 video games Amiga games Amiga CD32 games DOS games Fictional frogs Games commercially released with DOSBox IOS games Linux games MacOS games Platform games PlayStation Network games Team17 games Video games about amphibians Video games scored by Allister Brimble Video games developed in the United Kingdom Windows games Video games about witchcraft Single-player video games