Thanks to Wolfman for helping with edits.
When Bandai Namco released Pac-Man Championship Edition in 2007, it stood out from its contemporaries brilliantly! In lieu of superfluous gimmicks, the game elegantly preserved the values of Pac-Man—you evade four ghosts while aiming for a new high score—and complements them with a clever twist: eating fruit changes the labyrinth. Pac-Man Championship Edition DX tweaks the formula further: ghosts pose virtually no threat, which keeps the focus purely on score attacking. The Championship Editions are wonderful, worthwhile interpretations of Pac-Man and I spent a lot of time playing them.
The Championship Edition moniker implies a focus on competition, something answered by the games’ heavy leaderboard integration. The Hyper Arcade Edition subtitle suggests it builds off the first Frogger, which it… technically does. (Image: Konami)
Frogger: Hyper Arcade Edition, one of Konami’s many attempts to reinvigorate their famous arcade franchise, feels like a response to them, particularly DX. It features a batch of songs and graphical styles; the blinding neon lights of the default visuals evoke Championship Edition. It’s the same price, ten bucks. It boasts an online leaderboard, so you can theoretically compete with your friends (none of my friends own it, so I’m first by default). Though I’m playing the game on my Xbox 360, it’s also available on PlayStation 3 and was available on Wii and iOS.
Make no mistake, though, Hyper Arcade Edition only cribs from Pac-Man’s Aughts hits superficially—this Frogger is its own beast. Where DX has many mazes that share a gameplay loop, Hyper Arcade Edition offers eight distinct modes: “Tile Capture,” “Battle Royale,” “Lady Frog Rescue,” “Paint,” “Twin Frogger,” “Classic Frogger,” “Frogger Freak Out,” and “Challenges.” Each mode starts by displaying a screen that explains your objectives, your power-ups (if any), and what score thresholds yield extra lives (again, if any). Hyper Arcade Edition also has a handful of short, forgettable bonus videos that showcase Frogger’s failed romantic pursuits; these are unlocked by clearing the challenges.
Hyper Arcade Edition‘s modes don’t really interrogate the series’ gameplay; they just overlay gimmicks on top of it. (Image: Konami)
Since it’s the backbone the other modes are built around, let’s start by affirming that “Classic Frogger” is aptly named. You play as Frogger and have forty-five seconds to reach his pond. Unsurprisingly, his grid-based movement—jumping up, down, left, and right—is preserved. A new control mode lets you hop around quicker, making for a slightly easier time, and you now have the option of using the A, B, X, and Y buttons to move.
The bottom half of the screen is a busy highway rife with moving cars and trucks, the touch of which is lethal. The top half is the swamp, and you gotta carefully hop across moving turtles, some of which temporarily sink underwater, and logs to reach one of the seven glowing lilypads / cubbies at the very top (the look of Frogger’s safe space depends on the skin). Once you do, another Frogger spawns at the bottom; rinse and repeat. Upon filling all seven spots, you’re whisked to a harder version of the stage where automobiles become faster, moving logs and turtles sparser, and antagonistic animals begin lurking on both sides. There are five stages in total, and planning your routes while under pressure becomes difficult! You’ll die a lot by falling into the water, accidentally hitting a hazard, or—worst of all—by running out of time. It’s an instant game over if the timer hits zero.
HAE has six skins: “8-bit,” “Next-Gen” (seen here), “Hyper,” “DDR & Karaoke Revolution,” “Castlevania,” and “Contra,” the latter of which is unlocked by entering the Konami Code. Seeing other Konami properties get some shine is nice, even if their themes look hideous. (Image: Konami)
Oh, and you start with six lives and earn more upon reaching 20,000, 50,000, 90,000, and 140,000 points. Increasing your score is done by jumping upwards, reaching one of Frogger’s lilypads, rescuing lady frogs (who walk along logs), and eating flies (which temporarily spawn on lilypads). While I wouldn’t ask for this version of Frogger over the original, it’s just as accessible and engaging. Sadly, it’s also the game’s most engaging mode.
“Tile Capture” is the main attraction; it’s the first mode listed in the menu, the only one available in the demo, and is multiplayer-capable. It’s one of Hyper Arcade Edition‘s more successful modes, too. “Tile Capture” is a duel between two, three, or four players to, well, hop on the most tiles. Locking your turf down is done by settling on a lilypad at the top of the screen, though heading up there leaves your tiles vulnerable; there’s a risk-reward element. Flies randomly spawn and offer a power-up once eaten, adding some welcome chaos. Part of Frogger’s appeal is its frantic nature, the sense that you must keep moving; “Tile Capture” captures that.
Red flies teleport your opponents, blue flies freeze them, and green ones, seen here, invert their controls. You can also adjust the difficulty, number of starting lives, and how strick the timer is. (Image: Konami)
Another multiplayer fling is “Battle Royale,” a contest for up to four Froggers to “become King Frog and squish the other Frogs.” It actually evokes Championship Edition offshoot Pac-Man Battle Royale, where grabbing a lady frog causes you to pulsate and become capable of crushing your rivals. Flies, again, offer power-ups. And wayward vehicles can crush players, too. Visually, “Battle Royale” gets rather busy, however; keeping track of yourself can become difficult. “Lady Frog Rescue” is built around saving lady frogs; its twist is that it’s the multiplayer mode with the most kosher Frogger gameplay. None of these affairs are much more than quaint diversions, but I didn’t mind my time on them.
“Paint,” a “Tile Capture” offshoot, is drab; you just hop along tiles. Accidentally jumping off a tile or the sidewalk kills Frogger instantly, but cars and snakes move slowly and the timer’s very generous. There are twenty-five stages in total, and the tiles in each of them always make up a picture, like a smiley face, heart, or Frogger sprite. As long as you’re careful, however, you’ll clear them without issue. “Twin Frogger” forces you to control two Froggers simultaneously across modified versions of the arcade stages, a challenging task that’s more frustrating than fun. “Frogger Freak Out” randomly whisks you through a “randomized game mode mash-up.” These modes are vaguely interesting curios at best; at worst, they’ll have you reeling.
Multiplayer supports local and online play. Kindly, you can add up to three computer players, meaning I could actually try every multiplayer-centric mode. (Image: Konami)
Surprisingly, “Challenges” is one of the more rewarding modes. I mean, clearing twenty challenges should be rewarding, especially as the five insane-level missions are genuinely tough. But what’s engaging about them is that they actually help hone your Frogger skills: they ask you to survive the later stages while meeting specific objectives. This isn’t to say they’re clever or even fun—I have biting remarks to make over the mission that requires you to eat five randomly-generating flies on Level 5. But maneuvering across that stage and learning its patterns was a valuable experience, something I appreciate. Finishing every challenge also unlocks the Castlevania skin.
Sadly, Hyper Arcade Edition falls short in terms of presentation, too. Some of the skins, namely the default neon one, look fine. Others, particularly the one that invokes the 2008 Frogger 2, are garish. The Castlevania one is also a little too dark; readability can be an issue, though watching a cartoon frog hop along Dracula’s gothic decor is amusing. None of the music touches the energy of either Championship Edition, either. Nor could it, in fairness, since each round in the Championship Editions always lasts five or ten minutes. Their music is composed around that: tracks start off slow, gradually build in intensity, and crescendo during the final stretch (the last forty seconds of “Pac Rainbow,” for example, are an energetic, encouraging remix of Pac-Man’s cutscene theme). Hyper Arcade Edition‘s score is… serviceable, even if the main theme’s opening chords sound obnoxious. But it lacks flair, an identity. The loss of the public domain jingles the first Frogger employed is a shame, too.
I still haven’t cleared Level 5 in “Classic Frogger,” admittedly. But I’ve basically maximized everything else I can do in Hyper Arcade Edition within a few hours. (Image: Konami)
Obviously I prefer the Pac-Man Championship Editions to Frogger: Hyper Arcade Edition; they have clear visions for their star and execute them with style. And that’s why they’re an instructive counterpoint to Hyper Arcade Edition, which feels like developer Zombie Studios was just tossing out ideas to see what, if anything, stuck. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t call Hyper Arcade Edition offensive. Worst case scenario, it’s a more expensive version of the original Frogger, which itself remains a decent time killer. Unlike most Xbox Live Arcade games, Hyper Arcade Edition never left the platform, meaning there isn’t a lot of time left to download it on the 360. And while that is disappointing, I couldn’t recommend it over the many better, meatier titles on there. Oh well; at least I take some comfort in discovering that Hyper Arcade Edition is indeed better than Frogger 2.
Several Frogger titles roam the wilderness, many of which move the icon in some… strange directions. I hope to try some of them down the car-infested road and will hopefully discover that they’re fun, worthwhile interpretations of the classic. (Image: Konami)
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