How to play Frogger II online
- Move Frogger forward, back, left or right: arrow keys (the fire button is not used)
- Bounce on the cloud (sky screen): hold the up arrow to bounce higher, push diagonally to bounce sideways, press down to stop
- Start a new game: F12 (the console’s Reset switch)
- Starting level: F4 toggles the left difficulty switch (A starts at level 3, B at level 1)
- Screen edge rule: F9 toggles the right difficulty switch (see below)
- Save and load your progress: Ctrl + 0–9 saves to a slot, Alt + 0–9 loads it
Gameplay
Your job is to get Frogger into every home berth on all three screens. You don’t have to finish one screen before visiting another, but a level is only complete when all its berths are filled. On level 1 there are five: three on the underwater screen and one each on the surface and in the air.
- Underwater: Frogger swims up to berths inside the logs, dodging fish, submarines and Larry the eel. Joe the diving turtle gives safe rides, and air bubbles are worth bonus points. Jump into a filled log berth, or onto the underside of a log, to reach the surface.
- Surface: hop across logs, lily pads and animals. Hippos are safe except when they rise, whales only on their spout, and turtles until they dive. Falling in doesn’t cost a life: Frogger sinks to the bottom of the underwater screen, which wastes time. To go up, jump onto Mama Duck, but not while she is carrying her babies.
- Sky: Frogger bounces on a cloud, avoiding Clyde the flying dragon, a white bat and aeroplanes, while birds and zeppelins offer rides. Butterflies give bonus points but leave holes in the cloud, and falling through a hole drops you back to the surface.
A band at the bottom of the screen shows the time left and turns yellow when it is nearly gone. You start with five frogs, earn an extra one every 2,000 points, and the game ends when the last frog is lost. There are nine levels, each faster and busier than the one before.
| Action | Points |
|---|---|
| Each row advanced | 1 |
| Air bubble, bonus lily pad or butterfly | 50 |
| Frogger reaches a home berth | 99 |
| Time left | 1 per unit |
The right difficulty switch only affects the surface screen. In position B, Frogger survives being carried off the edge of the screen; in position A, it costs a life.
Tips
- Start underwater. Three of the five level 1 berths are there, and filling one opens a way up to the surface.
- Falling in is a delay, not a death. A missed jump on the surface keeps your frog but costs time.
- Be picky with butterflies. Each one is worth 50 points but makes a new hole in the cloud you are bouncing on.
History
Parker Brothers held the cartridge rights to Konami’s Frogger and had a big hit with its 1982 2600 version, so a sequel followed. Frogger II came out in 1984 on seven systems: the Atari 8-bit computers and the 5200 in August, the 2600 in September, then the ColecoVision, Commodore 64, Apple II and IBM PC.
Reviews were mostly positive. Ted Salamone wrote that the 2600 version “actually looks, plays, and sounds state of the art”. Today the 2600 cartridge is much harder to find than the first Frogger: AtariAge rates the original as common and Frogger II as rare.
