Download Frogger (3D)

Frogger is an unabashedly fun 1997 remake of the original arcade game by the same name (which is available in its DOS form right here on Abandonia!). In this game, Frogger must rescue lost frogs by jumping on them before time runs out. Naturally, Frogger has to avoid various obstacles, such as cars, water (since Frogger can't swim - unlike real frogs), crocodile mouths, and more.

Although the original Frogger level is here, the remake adds many, many more additional levels for your enjoyment. These new levels, conveniently organized into groups called "worlds", send you through industrialized volcanoes, dark caverns, the American desert, and even Cloud 9 (no relation to the Cloud 9 golf hole from 3-D Ultra Mini Golf Deluxe)! All these levels have their own hazards, such as snakes, aircraft, bats, and buffalo. They all have patterns to their actions, so pay attention if you don't want to die early. In order to move through a world, you need to complete all the levels in that world one by one. It's possible to unlock additional worlds by finding golden frogs, but I'll tell you about these rare creatures later on in this review.

In addition to new levels, Frogger has some interesting new game mechanics: The first, and the simplest, is the superhop, which not only allows you to jump higher than usual, but also grants you a small point bonus every time you use it! However, it's much slower than Frogger's traditional jump, so you'll get killed or run out of time if you use it excessively.

The second new game mechanic is Frogger's tongue, which he can use to eat bugs. Some bugs grant point bonuses; others grant timed power-ups, such as super speed or a super-long tongue, while one special (and hard-to-get) bug grants you an extra life! Somewhat related to the bugs is a minor gameplay mechanic which allows you to save random, non-aquatic frogs hopping around certain levels. Unlike the other frogs, these freeloaders ride piggyback when picked up, until you either die or rescue one of the other frogs, in which case you'll get a nice points bonus.

The third new game mechanic is the revamped scoring system. Instead of determining your score just by how much time is left, you now also get points for how far you hopped in a level. The more you hop, the more you score. As correctly pointed out by a reviewer on MobyGames, this can lead to cheating, since you can simply hop as fast as you can between two tiles and get tons of points. This, in my view, is the only real flaw in Frogger.

The fourth - and rather minor - new game mechanic is the ability to croak. This allows you to locate frogs - including golden frogs - nearby, which is especially useful in levels with limited visibility or crazy platforms.

The final new game mechanic is the golden frogs, which can only be found in one level per world. Besides being in hard-to-reach places, they also don't count as regular frogs - which means time doesn't stop counting down when you rescue one. However, they're well worth the pain, because they have a two-fold purpose: they unlock new worlds, and they serve a special function at the end of the game.

Besides new game mechanics, Frogger also features a multi-player race mode, which can be played either locally in split-screen mode, or over LAN or the internet via IPX, TCP/IP, or modem. Simply put, you can race through specially-designed racing levels from each of the available worlds with up to four friends. In these levels, the goal is to collect as many flags of your color as possible (your color is the same as the color of the Frogger you control). Since I don't have anyone with whom to play multiplayer, I can't really say anything reliable about this feature.

All in all, Frogger is a very well-made remake of the original arcade game, and it will serve up hours and hours of fun.

Before running Frogger, you'll need to run VideoSetup.exe, which is the game's graphical settings application. For those who use a 3D accelerator or graphics card that the game will accept, I recommended you choose the "3D Card" option. For those who use a Glide-compatible 3D accelerator or graphics card, the "Glide" option is HIGHLY recommended. If you don't have a graphics card the game will accept, you have two options: The first is to use the "No 3D Card" option, which is recommended for those whose CPUs which do not support MMX technology; the second is the "MMX" option, which, provided you are willing to accept abnormal brightness on the game's menu screens, is recommended for those who have a CPU which supports MMX.