High Score Club Week 22: The Official Frogger

[elviticus]

I just got back in town... must... make ... time ... to play! Great choice - this is a great game.

[gospeedde]

Slightly better, 13790

[Jeffy Arensmeyer]

There's bigger fish to fry for me this week and next.

 

And the way the pace of this game speeds up and slows down is frustrating. It keeps you on your toes, but can catch you off-guard if you're not careful.

 

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[sku_u]

35,670 is the best been able to do so far.

[elviticus]

17,440 ... so far .

[elviticus]

26,030 ... This club is really good - makes me try a lot harder!!!!!

 

Is it just me, or does the merry soundtrack make you feel suicidal after you carelessly loose 2 or 3 guys in a row ! ?!!

[Ze_ro]

Put some more play into this one just today: 22,630.

 

Also, here's some tips:

• Be very aware of the speed of the traffic. There seems to be two different speeds, and I'm not sure what causes it to change speed, but at the higher speed, the second-last row of cars is VERY tough to avoid. Don't even enter this row until there is a clear path through it (ie, there's a break in the trucks), and make sure you leave it quickly. A good joystick is very helpful here since you need to tap up twice in succession... My trusty Gemini controller, for example, has a very soft feel to it, so it gave me a lot of troubles here... so I switched to an Epyx 500XJ and it worked much better. A general tip of mine for any game is to make sure you have the right controller for the right game... some are better suited to certain games than others.

[*]The second lane in the water always has three logs in it (I think the middle one disappears later on), and the lady frog is ALWAYS on the leftmost log. Keep this in mind when you approach so you can predict when the lady frog will show up, and so you know if you have time to grab it.

[*]On the flip side of things, getting the fly seems to be mostly luck. When the fly shows up, you really don't have a lot of time to get to it, because it'll almost certainly be gone by the time you get there. If it shows up in a good spot, then great... but otherwise don't beat your brains out trying to get to it, because you'll likely just make a mistake and die.

[*]Here's an excerpt from "How To Win At Video Games (George Sullivan, 1982):

Of the five docks, the most difficult one to enter is the one on the extreme left. The frog must be maneuvered to the left of the dock in order to be able to jump into it, but there are few opportunities to do this.

 

The trick is to put the frog aboard a turtle in the second row from the top and ride it to the left. Then, just before reaching the the edge fo the screen, jump onto a  log and then quickly into the dock.

 

If you're guilty of a misjudgement and no log appears, simply jump back onto a log moving to the right to avoid a collision with the edge of the screen. Then try again.

This is easier said than done though. Farther into the game, there aren't many logs at all in the river (and in fact, NO logs in the top row, just the crocodile), and you might even be forced to ride on a submerging turtle... if you make a timing mistake here, there may not be an escape log, so try to make sure you get it right the first time. If you want, you might even wish to stay in a safe spot and try to judge the timing for yourself to see how often the platforms line up before you dive into that situation.

 

Before you ask, no, none of the other hints that the book provides are any good at all really. As long as you've played Frogger more than once, you already figured them out.

[*]I admit that I haven't played the arcade version all that much, but I have logged quite a few hours with the ColecoVision version dating back to the mid-80's, and one of the big things I noticed in this version was the snake. For one thing, it moves VERY slowly... it can easily become yet another obstacle when you're trying to cross the street... you'll try to do your double jump past the race cars and the trucks, but the snake will be there so you'll often have to hold back for another opening. Also, the snake is a pale green in this version, which is MUCH harder to see than the black snake in the CV version. I've died more than once because I ended up jumping right onto the snake without even seeing it. Glare from a window or light can make the snake even harder to see.

[*]This one is probably obvious, but it's important: On any row of turtles, there is always one set of turtles that will submerge, and one that won't. The ones that submerge will do so periodically, but the other set will NEVER submerge, so you can sit on those safely. The submerging turtles shouldn't really be trusted... only use them for a quick jump, or if you're really in trouble.

--Zero

[keilbaca]

Meh you guys are making me jump on my atari when I get home Lately the highest I have been getting is 48k, that and i'm fine tuning my mod, possibly spraypainting the case black, getting rid of the front line, and putting a picture of hellsing in it, taking up the whole face plate, with the silver line gone. So, depending on what I feel like doing is if my score improves or not, but definitely expect it to improve.

[sku_u]

[quote name="Ze_ro"

Be very aware of the speed of the traffic. There seems to be two different speeds' date=' and I'm not sure what causes it to change speed...[/quote]

 

The speed of the traffic changes as the songs cycle through.

[Keir]

Some good tips there Zero!

 

one of the big things I noticed in this version was the snake. For one thing, it moves VERY slowly... it can easily become yet another obstacle when you're trying to cross the street...

On some of the later levels, the snake moves extremely fast and you will have to jump straight from the truck lane to the first row of turtles.

 

As you get further in the game, the biggest challenge becomes how incredibly slow some of the logs are. You'll also notice that the speed will change several times per level (which makes sense given what sku said and that you are using up all your time with each frog).

 

One tip for anyone who might be feeling frustrated with level 5. Once you pass level 5, it cycles through the same 5 screens (with the addition of the snake and otter). That means that it gets much easier again (plus you will typically break 20,000 when you beat level 5 which gives you an extra life). I find that level 5 is the hardest level until you get to level 15 (which I have yet to beat).

[khryssun]

My submission : 34,800

[elviticus]

Getting better: 29,350

[khryssun]

some improvements 41,990

[keilbaca]

67,950

 

This might be my last submission, i don't know, i'm kinda getting sick of frogger being i have been playing it all week...

[tin]

ok 10310

but wasnt able to play to much this weekend...

because of Frances...

hopefully i will be able to work on that score some more

if it dont get anyworse then what it is...

[khryssun]

Finally broke the 50,000 limit.

My last highscore : 59,860

[keilbaca]

Finally broke the 50' date='000 limit.

My last highscore : 59,860

 

Yeah I have to agree with you, my last post is my final score, i'm all croaked out... meh.

[Malc74]

Had a spare five minutes and improved to 21680. It's really annoying not being able to play much of this one.

[Malc74]

24170. Definitely my last for the week.

[Keir]

My last submission for this week:

 

97,390

 

Oh yeah.

[Saldo]

18,120...not enough for the top 10, but my best for the week.

 

- Sal

[Ze_ro]

Well, that's the end of yet another fun-filled and action-packed week of the High Score Club! I hope you all enjoyed The Official Frogger. I didn't get around to playing this one as often as I would have liked, but it's definitely an excellent port of the arcade game!

 

Congratulations to everybody on their excellent scores. I hope you'll all join us again for the next edition of the High Score Club!

 

--Zero