Qwak

Qwak is a platformer arcade initially released in 1989 for BBC Micro and Acorn Electron. Four years later, the original author of the game, Jamie Woodhouse, developed an improved Amiga version published by Team17.

In this game, you control a duck and have to complete 80 levels divided into ten areas. To complete each level, you have to kill the enemies and collect the golden keys that will open the door to the next level. At the end of each area, there is a big boss, and you have a limited time to defeat it. Silver keys are required to collect power-ups and access hidden levels.

Often considered a Bubble Bobble clone, Qwak is instead a very original single-screen arcade. It is colorful, full of power-ups, entertaining, like the Taito coin-op, and playable by two friends in co-op mode. But the similarities end here. The gameplay is quite different, and it has the significant advantage of being developed since the beginning for a single-button joystick, unlike the coin-op ports. If you add excellent animations and music, you can understand that this Jamie Woodhouse creation is not just another Amiga platformer.

Qwak is not the most famous Team17 title, but it deserves to be rediscovered because it's a little gem.