I loved Frogger as a
kid. I remember jumping and hopping trying to get across the street
and then across the river to the other side. Then I remember moving
on to the lily pad level where you had to ride logs to the various
locations of your baby frogs while dodging things like dogs. Then the
machinery zone where you have to ride gears and such. Then the cave
zone where Frogger has to go skiing. I never got any further than
that as a young ten year old, but the game always stuck in my mind as
a classic. The music was fun, and the graphics were pretty good for a
game released in 1997. Overall, I recommend giving it a shot, you
might just get addicted like I did as a child.
Up next: Star Fox 64
Yeah okay, this
isn't about the 1997 remake, but I really did enjoy that one as a
kid. Today we're looking at the 1981 classic arcade game developed by
Konami (and not Sega like I originally thought, but they did publish
it).
In Frogger, you play
as an enormous car sized frog that must cross a five lane road where
for some reason every other lane is going a different direction. You
must then cross a very crowded river full of logs and turtles. You do
this by riding on the turtle's backs and riding the logs to the other
side, because apparently this giant semi-aquatic amphibian can't swim
I guess.
Technically, you
should never die in this game. Frogger is one of the only games I've
played where everything in the game doesn't even care about you. They
just go about their business, hundreds of identical cars all
commuting to wherever it is they're going. You only put yourself in
danger by jumping in front of the cars, or jumping off a turtle at
barely the wrong time. The only problem is that everything can kill
you. In fact, this is probably the arcade game with the most ways to
die, such as being hit by a car, jumping into the water, running into
snakes, or otters (I think) or into an alligator's jaws, jumping into
a home invaded by an alligator, staying on top of a turtle as it
dives, riding a log, alligator or turtle off the side of the screen,
jumping into a home already occupied by a frog, jumping into the side
of a home or the bush, or by running out of time before getting a
frog home. Whew. So yeah, Nothing actively tries to kill you because
there's so many environmental hazards as it is.
So how is the game?
Really fun. Like, I haven't played the '97 version in over a decade,
and it still felt like coming home. The levels are just the right
amount of difficult, hard enough to keep you putting in quarters, but
not so hard that you get frustrated and move on to playing Pac-Man.
The music is a lot of fun, and is the best music I've heard yet in a
game, the graphics aren't great, but then again, Nintendo seems to
be the only ones who know anything about pixel art at this point,
plus it's Konami, so it's a huge step up from Scramble. Overall,
anyone who hasn't tried this game really needs to, you can try the
original arcade, or you can find the '97 remake, to me, both are just
as good, but personally I think the original arcade game is better,
if only because of the legacy it left behind.
Up Next: Gorf
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