Want to know my favourite Frogger game? No it isn’t as cut and dry as my favourite Rampage game (World Tour by the way), but it does show and highlight where the series should head, and rather where it keeps returning. It is put plainly Frogger Toy Trials. It might be over eccentric with a kid running out of luck and picking the short straw and getting a frog out of all the other cool Animal toys he could have, but it keeps the traditional mixture of Froggers gameplay, while giving it a crazy story and directional aspiration which no other Frogger game has achieved.
The goal and heart of the Frogger design at the end of the day, is the mission to hop around to finish the level and avoid obstacles. Many, if not all of the sequels to the title have always been essentially the same, which in some ways is good- but it has seen many releases over the years on a variety of platforms with no real evolution. Konami like the Lost in Blue (Survival Kids) Series neglects the Frogger series with just experimentation and no clear aspirations for any future title bar the same.
For me, a grand bigger scheme Frogger should take inspiration from Morris Gleitzman an Australian writers “Toad” series. Which the series includes titles such as the original Toad Rage as well as sequels Toad Away and Toad Heaven plus the more recent novel Toad Surprise. Why should Konami look at these books? Because for the most part this is everything Frogger stands for, an inspirational animal which just wants to explore the world, while experiencing close calls with the outside world.
The overall aspirations of a Frogger game should centre around one Frog and give it a heroes design. Konami should make us care for this frog, and create a 3D world which lives and breathes but with the disastrous effects for our little Frog. The game could open with our Frog trying to cross as road in the desert, but looking around the road is filled with cars and tracks, maybe a hawk or two trying to come down and eat our Frog- the point is, it’s a breathing world with disasters for the frog, and he doesn’t know where he is going- only that it will be an amazing adventure.