Frogger

For the unreleased Sega Game Gear game, see Frogger (Game Gear).

n/a

Arcade Mega Drive
Frogger
System(s): Arcade (Galaxian hardware), Sega Mega Drive, Apple II, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit family, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, Dragon 32, IBM PC, Intellivision, Macintosh, Odyssey², TI-99/4A, Timex Sinclair 1000, TRS-80, TRS-80 Color Computer, VIC-20
Publisher: Sega (JP, EU) Sega/Gremlin (US) Majesco Sales Parker Brothers
Developer: Konami Morning Star Multimedia Parker Brothers Sierra On-Line James Wickstead Design Associates
Distributor: Palitoy (UK) Arcade Hardware (UK) Radio Shack
Licensor: Sega Hasbro Interactive
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1-2 (alternating)
Release Date RRP Code JP 1981 ¥? ? US 1981 $? ? UK 1981 £? ? US 1998-10 T-50901 US 1982-08-01 UK 1982-09-16 £29.9529.95 BR 1983 US 1983-06 US 1983-10 $? ? EU 1983 £? ? US 1983-04 $? ? EU 1983 £29.95 ? US 1983 $? ? EU 1983 £? ? BR 1983 $? ? US 1983 NZ (Disk) 1983 $84.5084.50 US 1983 US 1983 $34.9534.95 US (Disk) 1982 FRL 201 US (Cassette) 1983-06 SRL 403 US 1983 UK 1983 £8.008.00 US 1983 US 1983 REDIRECT Template:MAC US 1984 US 198x
Non-Sega versions Game Boy Game Boy Color Game.com Macintosh MSX PC-6001 Super NES Tomy Tutor

Frogger (フロッガー) is a video game originally developed by Konami and released in 1981. It runs on Namco's Galaxian hardware, and was a huge success for the company during the early 1980s. It was also a huge success for Sega, who picked up publishing and distribution rights for the game in all territories.

Gameplay

The basic idea of the game is to move the frog across the road avoiding cars, then across the river making sure not to fall off platforms to get to one of five destinations. Once Frogger has got to all five destinations, the difficulty increases, often by making the game move faster, reducing the amount of time or adding new obstacles.

History

Legacy

Sega distributed three different arcade versions of Frogger, one of which ran on the modified version of the Galaxian hardware used by Nichibutsu's Moon Cresta.

Between 1982 and 1984, Frogger was brought to almost every home console and computer on general sale in North America, with every port licensed by Sega. The legal status surrounding these versions today is unknown - Konami took back the license from Sega in the mid-1990s and has subsequently produced many games under the Frogger brand - most, if not all Frogger games released in the 1980s (other than those Konami handled themselves, such as the MSX version) have been ignored.

ROM cartridge rights were picked up by Parker Brothers, who subsequently brought the game to all major consoles - the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, ColecoVision, Intellivision, Odyssey² and TI-99/4A, as well as some computers, including Atari's range of 8-bit home computers, the Commodore 64 and the VIC-20. Some versions also made it to Europe and Brazil.

Magnetic media rights were held by Sierra On-Line who distributed many of its versions under the short-lived SierraVision brand (with the title The Official Frogger). Sierra released its copies of the game at around the same period as Parker Brothers, with copies available for the Apple II, IBM PC, Macintosh, TRS-80 and TRS-80 CoCo computers. Curiously Sierra also released Atari 8-bit and Commodore 64 versions (on disk/cassette) which differ from Parker Brothers' efforts. Perhaps most notably is Sierra's Atari 2600 version, built to take advantage of the relatively obscure cassette-based Supercharger peripheral by Starpath - it is one of only twelve games officially released in this format.

Unofficial versions of Frogger exist for the BBC Micro and ZX Spectrum, though neither were officially licensed by Sega. Strangely an official copy did make it to the Dragon 32, however, in which Microdeal converted the TRS-80 version to that system. Multiple LCD and VFD versions of the game from the 1980s were also licensed by Sega (although more modern variants are licensed by Konami).

Sega never brought Frogger to any of its own consoles, however did give Parker Brothers the rights to produce a sequel, Frogger II: ThreeDeep!.

Following Konami's buy-back of the rights to Frogger, a licensing deal was struck with Hasbro Interactive, who in turn licensed out the franchise to Majesco Sales for various home console versions. This led to a North American release of Frogger on the Sega Mega Drive in 1998 - the last Sega Mega Drive game to be released in in the region (and was a North American exclusive). Coincidentally Frogger was also the last SNES game to be released in that region, and marked the first opportunity for a Frogger game to be released on a Nintendo console. Both the Mega Drive and SNES copies of the game recycle box art from Frogger 3D, a three-dimensional sequel released a year earlier.

The Mega Drive version still holds the Sega copyright instead of a Konami copyright. It is unfortunately, however, a straight arcade port, with no enhanced graphics or sound, bar a new title screen. According to the programmer, he built the port by reverse-engineering the arcade version ROMs and comparing to an emulator (presumably MAME), using Genecyst to develop and test.

Versions

IBM PC version

The IBM PC version was built specifically for the IBM PC 5150 model of 1981, and only functions correctly when played with a real CGA graphics card. Faster CPUs cause the game to run too fast, however the timing also affects the way the water is drawn.

By presumably exploiting quirks in the original CGA standard, Frogger attempts to switch "background" colours while drawing the frame - if the timing isn't completely correct, the colour will change either too early or too late. On more modern systems (for example, those using VGA cards which can emulate CGA to some degree), this colour switching does not occur, so the water is always appears the same colour as the road. Users can, however, cycle through colour palettes using the F6 key, presumably to optimise the visuals for monochrome monitors.

In addition, the IBM PC version is unstable, being prone to crashing when the player loses, or when settings are changed. Pausing the game (by pressing the pause key) stops the game from moving, however when returning (by pressing any other key), the timer will catch up, meaning instant death for anyone who has paused for more than thirty seconds.

The timer depletes at the same rate regardless of how fast the system is. Therefore, computers within a certain speed range (i.e. faster than a stock Intel 8086 but perhaps slower than a 386 or 486 so that the game remains playable), should be able to achieve higher scores than the original 5150 IBM PC models.

Magazine articles

Main article: Frogger/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Main article: Frogger/Promotional material.

Photo gallery

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  Arcade US upright cabinet

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  Arcade US upright cabinet

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  Arcade US upright cabinet

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  Arcade US cocktail cabinet

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  LCD Watch

Physical scans

Arcade version

Arcade, US
Manual

Arcade, JP
Instuction card(s)

Mega Drive version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 60

	60
Based on 1 review

Frogger

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Apple II version

Apple II, US
Cover
Disk

Apple II, US (alt)

Atari 2600 version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score Arcade Express (US) 89 Complete Guide to Consoles (UK) 42

	65
Based on 2 reviews

Frogger

Atari 2600, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Atari 2600, US (alt)
Cover

Atari 2600, US (Supercharger)
Cover
Cassette Cassette cover

Atari 2600, AU
Cover

Atari 2600, DE
Cart

Atari 2600, BR
Cover

Atari 2600, CA

Atari 5200 version

Atari 5200, US
Cover
Cart Manual Overlay

Atari 8-bit family version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score Tilt (FR) 80

	80
Based on 1 review

Frogger

Atari 8-bit family, US (cartridge)
Cover
Cart Manual

Atari 8-bit family, US (cassette)
Cover
Manual

Atari 8-bit family, US (disk)
Cover
Disk Manual

Atari 8-bit family, EU
Cover

ColecoVision version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score Complete Guide to Consoles (UK) 46

	46
Based on 1 review

Frogger

ColecoVision, US
Cart

ColecoVision, EU
Cover
Cart

Commodore 64 version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score Computer Input (NZ)Computer Input (NZ) 100 Tilt (FR) 40 Tilt (FR) 80

	73
Based on 3 reviews

Frogger

Commodore 64, US (cartridge)
Cover
Cart

Commodore 64, US (disk)
Cover
Disk

Commodore 64, US (disk) (alt)
Disk

Dragon 32 version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score Computer & Video Games (UK) 70

	70
Based on 1 review

Frogger

Dragon 32, UK
Cover
Cassette

IBM PC version

IBM PC, US (5¼-inch)
Cover

IBM PC, US (3½-inch)
Disk

Intellivision version

Intellivision, US
Cover
Cart

Intellivision, EU
Cover

Intellivision, CA
Cover

Macintosh version

Macintosh, US

Odyssey² version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score Tilt (FR) 80

	80
Based on 1 review

Frogger

Odyssey², US

Odyssey², EU
Cover
Cart

Odyssey², BR
Cover

TI-99/4A version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score Computer & Video Games (UK) 80

	80
Based on 1 review

Frogger

TI-99/4A, US
Cover

Timex Sinclair 1000 version

TS 1000, US
Cover
Cassette

TRS-80 version

TRS-80, US (cassette)

TRS-80, US (disk)
Cover
Disk

TRS-80 CoCo version

TRS-80 CoCo, UK?
Cover

VIC-20 version

VIC-20, US
Cover

Technical information

Main article: Frogger/Technical information.

References

NEC Retro has more information related to Frogger