Review Team17 Collection 1 (Evercade) - A Fine Celebration Of The Veteran's Amiga Years

Team17 Collection 1 is notable because it's the first Evercade cartridge to feature actual Amiga games, rather than console ports of famous Amiga games (we're looking at you, Bitmap Brothers Collection 1). As such, it represents a pretty significant development in the history of Evercade – as well as a fascinating look at the back catalogue of one of the UK's most prolific and long-running publishers.

This compendium contains ten games from Team17's illustrious Amiga catalogue, kicking things off with 1991's Full Contact, the company's debut release. Despite some nice music and animation, this one-on-one fighter can't hold a candle to the likes of Street Fighter II and becomes boring incredibly quickly.

Thankfully, the same cannot be said for Alien Breed, which is perhaps Team17's signature Amiga series. It's the 1992 'Special Edition' that's included here, alongside Alien Breed II: The Horror Continues (1993) and Alien Breed: Tower Assault (1994). Three games from the same series might seem like overkill, but all of these games are worth a go, especially if you're a fan of top-down shooters.

It's amazing how many genres Team17 managed to cover during its Amiga days, with 1992's Project X (represented here via Project-X Special Edition) showing the company was capable of putting out a decent 2D shmup. A riff on Japanese titles such as Gradius and Life Force / Salamander, it never quite reaches the brilliance of its inspiration but is a solid and challenging blast all the same.

1993's Body Blows was Team17's attempt to capitalise on the fighting game craze that erupted in the wake of Street Fighter II's success, and while it has some nice, fluid gameplay, the single-button attack system means it's woefully lacking in depth. Even so, taking on its own merits, it's still enjoyable – especially if you can rope in a second player.

Jamie Woodhouse's Qwak – published by Team17 in 1993 – is a cute 2D platformer which originally launched on BBC Micro and Acorn Electron in 1989. This enhanced edition updates the visuals but retains the 80-level challenge, collectable items and special keys. Next up is Arcade Pool, also released in 1994. This is a relatively simple replication of the sport, containing both British and American variations and reasonably accurate ball physics.

1995 was the year when Team17 released Worms, the title that would arguably take the company to the next level (so much so that the series has its own Evercade cart, hence the lack of any Worms games on this collection), but it also published Kingpin: Arcade Sports Bowling and ATR: All Terrain Racing in the same year, and those do make the cut on Team17 Collection 1. They round off what is a surprisingly diverse selection of software, and another highly recommended Evercade purchase.

Granted, some of these Amiga titles have aged considerably better than others, and those who have no affinity to Commodore's 16-bit home computer might struggle to see what all of the fuss is about, but there's a lot to like here, regardless of your nostalgia for the Amiga and its games.