Frogger USA[a] is a 1981 arcade action game developed by Konami and manufactured by Sega.[5] In North America, it was released by Sega/Gremlin. The object of the game is to direct a series of Frogger USA to their homes by crossing a busy road and a hazardous river.
Frogger USA was positively received as one of the greatest video games ever made and followed by several clones and sequels. By 2005, 20 million copies of its various home video game incarnations had been sold worldwide. It entered popular culture, including television and music.
Gameplay – Frogger USA
The objective of the game is to guide a Frogger USA to each of the empty homes at the top of the screen. The game starts with three, five, or seven frogs, depending on the machine’s settings.[6] Losing all frogs is game over. The player uses the 4-direction joystick to hop the frog once. Frogger is either single-player or two players alternating turns.
The Frogger USA starts at the bottom of the screen, which contains a horizontal road occupied by speeding cars, trucks, and bulldozers. The player must guide the frog between opposing lanes of traffic to avoid becoming roadkill and losing a life. After the road, a median strip separates the two major parts of the screen.
The upper part consists of a river with logs, alligators, and turtles, all moving horizontally across the screen. By jumping on swiftly moving logs and the backs of turtles and alligators, the player can guide the frog to safety. The player must avoid snakes, otters, and the open mouths of alligators. A brightly colored female frog is sometimes on a log and may be carried for bonus points. The top of the screen contains five “frog homes”. These sometimes contain bonus insects or deadly alligators.
The opening tune is the first verse of a Japanese children’s song called “Inu No Omawarisan” (“The Dog Policeman”). Other Japanese tunes include the themes to the anime series Hana no Ko Lunlun and Rascal the Raccoon. The American release has the same opening song plus “Yankee Doodle“.
In 1982, Softline stated that “Frogger USA has earned the ominous distinction of being ‘the arcade game with the most ways to die’.”[7] There are many different ways to lose a life (illustrated by a skull and crossbones symbol where the frog was), including being hit by the driver of a road vehicle; jumping into the river; running into snakes, otters, or an alligator’s jaws; staying on top of a diving turtle; riding a log, alligator, or turtle off the side of the screen; jumping into a home already occupied by a frog; jumping into the side of a home or the bush; or running out of time.
Scoring – Frogger USA
Every forward step scores 10 points, and every Frogger USA arriving safely home scores 50 points. 10 points are also awarded per each unused ½ second of time. Guiding a lady frog home or eating a fly scores 200 points each, and when all 5 frogs reach home to end the level the player earns 1,000 points. A single bonus frog is 20,000 points. 99,990 points is the maximum high score that can be achieved on an original arcade cabinet. Players may exceed this score, but the game only keeps the last 5 digits.[8]
Release – Frogger USA
The game was developed by Konami. On July 22, 1981, Sega gained the exclusive rights to manufacture the game worldwide.[5]
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