Frogs

Frogs is an action video game designed and published in 1978 by Sega-Gremlin. Although its title is similar to Frogger, which is also distributed by the same company, the two games share no particular features.
A few years after Sega-Gremlin’s original idea of Frogs was released, a couple of video game companies followed suit and developed cloned versions of the game. In 1982, Mattel Electronics developed Frogs and Flies and it was published on both the Atari 2600 home video game console. Frogs and Flies was later renamed Frog Bog and it was published on the Intellivision console also in 1982. Twelve System released another Frogs clone in 2005 and it was named Frog Feast.
It is the first arcade game to feature a jumping character, a frog that leaps frequently in order to catch insects with its tongues. The player controls the jumping amphibian, with the main objective of catching as many insects as possible. There are three types of insects in the game, a butterfly which earns the player 100 points when caught by the frog, a housefly that is worth up to 500 points and a dragonfly which gives the player an extra round of play.
Frogs is a timed game, which means there is only one level to play, the player can only extend a game by catching a dragonfly as earlier stated. Scores are calculated by the number of insects caught during the game and players can beat their previous high scores by landing more preys. The game only accommodates one player and it has a horizontal screen layout with a side-view perspective.

In terms of graphics, there are two backgrounds a player is likely to come across. On the original ‘coin-op’ arcade, a static picture of a mini pond with lily pads, grass and trees is projected on to the monitor by using a mirror stationed in the game cabinet. This was a smart way to incorporate more realistic colours into the background of an arcade game as at the time the game was produced and it really makes the game quite animating to play. When playing on the internet, you are more likely to find a monochrome screen. The characters and gameplay remain the same, but the screen is pitch black with the frog, insects, time and scores displayed in white colour.

As for the sound effects, the background noise is the frog making a squeaky sound as it leaps. Other things that can be heard are the constant buzzing of insects and occasional croaks from the frog. All of these combined gives an impression of a swampy habitat.
Even though the title suggests there are many frogs, there is actually only one frog present in the game. Playing this game is entertaining to an extent, for players looking forward to playing a relaxing game that demands little strategy. However, a prevalent flaw in this game is the frog’s inability to change direction mid-air. This would have made it easier to control the frog since the insects are constantly flying in different directions. As a sort of compensation, it is comforting to know that at least the frog cannot be eaten or killed by any other character as it is the sole predator present in the game. When the frog falls off the lily pads and lands in the water, some seconds are lost in the game but nothing fatal happens to it and the game continues.