How to play Frogger online
- Joystick mode: hold an arrow key in the direction you want to go, then press and fully release Z (the lower fire button) to hop once
- Keypad mode: 2 = hop forward, 8 = hop back, 4 = left, 6 = right (the number keys on your keyboard)
- Joystick or keypad control: 0
- One or two players: = (the keypad’s # key)
- Fast or slow game: – (the keypad’s * key)
- Start: Enter. After a game ends, Enter starts a new one with the same settings.
- On-screen keypad: K
The manual warns that the Pause button does not actually stop this game, so P is best left alone. Full screen, restart and save states are in the emulator’s toolbar; move the mouse over the screen to see it.
Gameplay
You have five frogs, and each one has about 30 seconds to get from the bottom of the screen into one of the home bays at the top. The first half of the trip is a road with four lanes of traffic at different speeds; touch a vehicle and the frog is flattened. The second half is a river, and since frogs here cannot swim, you hop from log to log and turtle to turtle. Turtles travel in groups of two or three, and some of them dive, so do not sit on one for long. Alligators are safe to ride as long as you stay on the back and away from the jaws.
At the top, aim for an empty bay. The shrubbery on either side of a bay, a bay that is already filled, and a bay with an alligator’s head poking out are all fatal. Sometimes a bonus fly sits in a bay, and sometimes a pink lady frog rides a log; carry her home for extra points. Fill all five bays and a harder round begins: the traffic changes, there is less to ride on, speeds vary more, and snakes appear on the median and on some logs. A snake’s body is harmless, its head is not.
| Action | Points |
|---|---|
| Each hop forward | 10 |
| Frog reaches a home bay | 50 |
| Each second left on the clock when a frog gets home | 10 |
| Rescuing the lady frog | 200 |
| Eating the bonus fly | 200 |
| All five bays filled | 1,000 |
The game ends when your last frog is lost. In a two-player game you take turns, and a turn ends whenever a frog dies.
Tips
- Try the keypad. Parker Brothers added it because the 5200 stick does not centre itself, and in the emulator the number keys give one clean hop per press.
- Watch the diving turtles. If a group is already sinking, wait on the median for the next one.
- Keep moving. The clock gives 10 points for every second you have left.
The story behind Frogger on the 5200
Konami developed Frogger in 1981, and Sega put it in arcades in Japan in August, in North America in September and in Europe in October of that year. Parker Brothers bought the home cartridge rights and backed them with a 10 million dollar advertising campaign; its Atari 2600 cartridge, programmed by Ed English, sold about four million copies in 1982.
The Atari 5200 and Atari 8-bit computer versions followed in June 1983. The 5200 cartridge is credited to programmer Steve Kranish, and it was the only Parker Brothers 5200 game to come with keypad overlays. Parker Brothers published a sequel of its own, Frogger II: Threeedeep!, for the 5200 in 1984.
