Frogger facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Frogger |
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North American arcade flyer
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| Developer(s) | Konami |
| Publisher(s) |
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| Designer(s) | Takahide Arima |
| Series | Frogger |
| Platform(s) |
Arcade
Atari 2600, Intellivision, Atari 8-bit, Atari 5200, TI-99/4A, Commodore 64, VIC-20, ColecoVision, Apple II, Odyssey², Gakken Compact Vision TV Boy, Dragon 32, TRS-80, Timex Sinclair 1000, Timex Sinclair 2068, IBM PC, Macintosh, PC-6001, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Sega Genesis, Super NES, Game.com, mobile phone
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| Release date(s) |
August 1981
Arcade
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| Genre(s) | Action |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Frogger is a classic action video game that first appeared in arcades in 1981. It was created by a Japanese company called Konami. The main goal of Frogger is to guide five frogs safely across a busy road and a dangerous river to their homes.
Players must help their frog avoid fast-moving cars on the road. Then, they need to jump on floating logs, turtles, and even alligators to cross the river. This game became very popular and is still considered one of the greatest video games ever made. Many other games were inspired by Frogger, and it led to a whole series of Frogger games. The version for the Atari 2600 console, released in 1982, sold four million copies! By 2005, over 20 million copies of Frogger games had been sold around the world.
Contents
Frogger: The Classic Arcade Game
How to Play Frogger
The main goal in Frogger is to guide a frog to each of the five empty homes at the top of the screen. You usually start with a few frogs, and if you lose them all, the game is over. You use a joystick to make your frog hop in four directions. You can play Frogger by yourself or take turns with a friend.
Your frog begins at the bottom of the screen. This area is a busy road with many speeding vehicles like race cars, trucks, and bulldozers. You must carefully guide your frog between the lanes of traffic to avoid being hit. After crossing the road, there's a safe strip of land.
The top half of the screen is a river. This river has logs, alligators, and turtles floating across it. They move in different directions. You need to jump on these moving objects to get your frog safely to the other side. Watch out for snakes, otters, and the open mouths of alligators! Sometimes, you might see a brightly colored female frog on a log. If you carry her home, you earn extra points.
At the very top of the screen are five "frog homes." At least one home is always open. Sometimes, these homes might have bonus insects you can grab for points, or even dangerous alligators hiding inside.
When all five frogs reach their homes, you move to the next level. Each new level becomes a bit harder. You have a timer, usually 30 seconds, to get each frog home. The timer resets if you lose a frog or get one home safely.
There are many ways to lose a frog in the game. For example, you can be run over by a car, jump into the river, or get caught by a snake or alligator. You can also lose a life if a turtle you're on dives underwater. Riding a log or alligator off the screen, or jumping into an occupied home, also means losing a frog. Running out of time will also cost you a life.
The game's opening music uses a part of a Japanese children's song. Other tunes in the game come from Japanese cartoons. The American version of the game also includes the song "Yankee Doodle".
Earning Points in Frogger
You earn points in Frogger for different actions. Each time your frog hops forward, you get ten points. When a frog safely reaches its home, you get 50 points. If you have time left on the clock, you get ten points for every half-second remaining.
Bringing a lady frog home or eating a fly each gives you 200 points. When all five frogs are safely in their homes, you earn a bonus of 1,000 points. You get an extra frog (a bonus life) when you reach 20,000 points. The highest score you can see on an original arcade machine is 99,990 points. If you score more, the game keeps track of only the last five digits.
The Story Behind Frogger's Release
Frogger was created by Konami in Japan. In July 1981, another company called Sega got the special rights to make and sell the game all over the world.
In North America, Sega worked with a company called Sega/Gremlin. At first, some people at Sega/Gremlin weren't sure if Frogger would be popular. They thought it might be too "cute" or only for "women and kids." However, a market researcher named Elizabeth Falconer believed in the game. She reminded them how popular Pac-Man became, even though it wasn't a typical action game.
Sega/Gremlin decided to test Frogger for 60 days. They paid Konami $3,500 each day for this test. They tried the game in a bar in San Diego, and it was a huge success! People loved it so much that distributors wanted to sell the game right away. This showed that games like Frogger could be enjoyed by everyone, not just a specific group of players.
Bringing Frogger to Home Computers and Consoles
After its arcade success, Frogger was ported (which means adapted) to many home video game systems. This allowed people to play the game on their own televisions. Companies like Parker Brothers and Sierra On-Line helped bring Frogger to different consoles and computers.
You could find Frogger on popular systems like the Atari 2600, Intellivision, Commodore 64, Apple II, and the IBM PC. There were even small, tabletop arcade versions made by Coleco. Later, the game was released for handheld devices like the Game Boy and Game Boy Color in 1998. Frogger was also one of the first games for the Gakken Compact Vision TV Boy console in 1983.
Frogger's Lasting Impact
Frogger has had a big influence on video games. It led to many new versions and inspired other games.
New Versions and Sequels
In 1997, a company called Hasbro Interactive released a new Frogger game for Windows computers and the PlayStation console. This version was much bigger than the original, with many different levels. It was very popular, selling almost a million copies on Windows in just a few months.
In 1998, Hasbro also released versions of Frogger for older consoles like the Sega Genesis and Super NES. These versions had different graphics but kept the classic gameplay.
Later, Frogger became available on mobile phones. In 2006, the mobile game version earned over $10 million in the United States. In 2006, Frogger was also released for the Xbox 360 as part of the Xbox Live Arcade. More recently, in 2019, the game was released for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 as part of the Arcade Archives series, letting new players enjoy the classic.
Games Inspired by Frogger
Many other video games have been inspired by Frogger's unique gameplay. These games, sometimes called "clones," use a similar idea but often change the setting or characters.
For example, Ribbit (1981) for the Apple II and Hopper (1983) for the BBC Micro were very similar. Pacific Coast Highway (1982) split the game into two screens, one for the road and one for the water. Frostbite (1983) used the river-crossing idea but with an arctic theme. A more recent game, Crossy Road (2014), is also inspired by Frogger. It features an endless level with roads and rivers, where you try to hop as far as you can.
Frogger on TV
Frogger even became a TV show! In 2021, a Frogger game show debuted on the Peacock streaming service. It featured contestants trying to complete real-life obstacle courses inspired by the video game.
Frogger World Records and Challenges
Over the years, many players have tried to achieve the highest score in Frogger. There have even been challenges and rewards offered for breaking records.
For a while, a fictional score of 860,630 points, mentioned in a TV show, became a target for players. On December 22, 2009, Pat Laffaye of Westport, Connecticut, officially broke this fictional record with a score of 896,980 points.
More recently, on September 21, 2024, Michael Smith of Durham, North Carolina, set a new world record. He scored an amazing 1,404,570 points! He is the first and only person officially recognized by Twin Galaxies (a group that tracks video game records) to score over one million points on an original Frogger arcade machine.
See also
In Spanish: Frogger para niños
