Frogger!

 Frogger! It is a game synonymous with the arcade boom of the 80's, but let's look at it's history.

History

Frogger was developed by Konami, and released by Sega/Gremlin. It was released in 1981 for Japan and the US, but was released in the EU a year later. Sega was originally worried about releasing Frogger, do to it's supposedly small demographic. No company had agreed to license it, and an earlier game made by sega called Frogs, had flopped. Sega believed that a game called Eliminator would be there next big hit, and put Frogger on the back burner. A while later, a market researcher name Elizabeth Falconer was tasked with looking through the Sega video archives to see if there was anything worth marketing. She stumbled upon Frogger, and brought it to Gremlin CEO, Frank Fogelman, who at first refused to sell it. They eventually struck a deal where if Elizabeth could convince the marketing department, he would sell it. Long story short, marketing agreed to sell it, and Frogger became the gaming sensation it is today.

Gameplay

Frogger's main premise is very simple. You basically jump across streets and rivers, while avoiding obstacles such as cars. Every step forward is 10 points, every half second spent doing nothing is 10 points, and every frog returned home is 50 points. The main appeal is the simple gameplay, easy memorization and fun soundtracks. This game spawned many spin-offs, most notably Crossy Road. The game was ported to many home systems, mainly through ROM cartridges and magnetic media.

Success

Frogger was extremely successful, mainly because of it's lack of age or gender appeal. Ed Driscoll of The Space Gamer magazine reviewed the Atari VCS port of Frogger. He said: "All in all, if you liked the arcade version, this should save you a lot of quarters. The price is in line with most cartridges. It also proves that Atari isn't the only one making home versions of the major arcade games for the VCS."

Review

This is a new segment! In this segment I will share my opinions on games. I don't particularly like Frogger. I really can't handle the repetition of it, and the fact that you just walk forever. Like Tetris, which I hope to cover later, the only way to end is to lose. I don't really like this. It doesn't matter to me that I have never beat a game, I just want to have SOME kind of winning mechanic. overall, it is a pretty fun game with a simple premise and is fun to play when you don't want to have to really focus. ★★★