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October 23, 2005 | 7:43 PM PST
by: Matthew Green
Back in the era of the arcade quartermuncher gaming fans enjoyed such classics as Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Burgertime, and a little game called Frogger in which players maneuvered a hapless frog across a busy street and a dangerous river one tile at a time. Not too long ago Konami revived Frogger from the dustbin and gave him a little update. Now he’s a preteen platforming hero with a squeaky voice, a girlfriend, and a whole cast of characters that live with him in Firefly Swamp. In his latest multiconsole adventure, Frogger: Ancient Shadow, Frogger discovers a mysterious shadow bringing darkness to the swamp and causing the local insects to go quite buggy. Determined to find the source of the shadow, he heads off across seven worlds of adventure.
Features
Hop, Skip, and a Jump
Konami resisted completely overhauling Frogger, as his familiar method of gameplay holds true in Ancient Shadow. While this is a 3D platformer of sorts, the camera angle is fixed to display a top-down view of the action. Frogger does not move one step at a time like characters such as Mario or Sonic the Hedgehog. Those characters take a single step when moved – left foot, right foot, and so on – but Frogger can only move by hopping which means that he moves one square at a time. Although there is not a grid on the playfield, if there were then consider that each time the Control Pad is tapped our hero moves a single space and only a single space. Tapping the A button allows Frogger to hop over the space directly in front of him, in effect moving him two spaces. The Y button controls Frogger’s vertical leap, allowing him to snag coins above him or, with a double tap of the Y button, perform a smash attack on the space on which he’s currently standing. Smash attacks are required for opening secret caverns or triggering certain in-game effects. Use the B button to extend Frogger’s tongue, perfect for grabbing posts or floating platforms. Finally, with the use of the L and R buttons Frogger can be turned ninety degrees clockwise or counterclockwise in order to position him for his next move. Remember, since Frogger can only move either one or two spaces at a time, it is sometimes necessary to turn him so that he faces the correct direction before moving him. The Control Stick and Camera Stick go unused, as do the X and Z buttons. Note that Frogger has no direct offensive attacks.
Ancient Shadow is a platformer at heart, but it also contains several puzzle elements. At a young age (the story goes) Frogger had a bad experience with water and as a result he never learned to swim. As such, causing Frogger to splash down into the swamp costs him a single unit of life off of his four-unit (to start) lifebar and sends him back to retrace his progress. One of the early levels of the game finds Frogger facing a large expanse of water blocking his path. Floating out in the water are two stone platforms, however the first platform is three spaces away. Recall that Frogger can move, at the most, two spaces at a time. In order to reach this first platform Frogger must grab it with his tongue and then, by pushing the opposite direction on the Control Pad, retract his tongue by one space and pull the platform closer to him. Now Frogger can use the A button to skip over the single water space in his path and land on the platform. The second platform is also just two spaces away, so another A button hop moves his forward. Now there’s a problem. The shore is three spaces away, once again too far for a single hop. Now Frogger must use the L or R buttons to turn in place on the second platform so that he faces the first platform. Using his tongue once again he must pull the first platform a single space towards him so that the two platforms are back-to-back. A single tap of the Control Pad returns Frogger to that first platform where he can seize the second platform with his tongue and move it one space forward. Now it’s just two “A button” hops to the shore. This is one of the typical puzzles found in Ancient Shadow, and frankly it’s one that Frogger will come across quite often. Other such hazards include hopping through a maze of lily pads, dashing across collapsing bridges, and dodging enemies. Rounding out the Ancient Shadow experience are coins that can be collected in order to buy items and costumes from the local vending machine.
Speaking of enemies, recall that Frogger lacks any offensive moves and it’s easy to see that the name of Frogger’s game is avoidance. Enemies pace back and forth along marked paths which means that Frogger must hop past enemies before they backtrack. In a somewhat curious design decision, using the A button hop will not jump over enemies outright. Frogger still takes damage. Fortunately health refills are plentiful after passing areas packed with enemies, as if the game’s developers knew this sort of thing would be a problem. Frequently placed checkpoints allow Frogger to resume his quest mid-level after running out of energy, too. During periods where Frogger has no choice but to attack his foes (such as boss battles), our hero can only indirectly attack. Consider the first boss battle in which Frogger is positioned on a square grid of spaces. There are four spaces on the grid that are marked to form a circular design. The boss appears on the sides of the grid and spews water at Frogger, but if Frogger can do a smash attack on each of the four marked spaces in order to cause an attack to fall from the sky which lands squarely on the boss. No aiming is required. Attacking the boss three times wins the day without Frogger actually coming into contact with the boss.
When friends come to visit players may be tempted to bring out Ancient Shadow’s multiplayer mode full of small party-style mini games for one to four players. These games include simple modes such as Ornithopter (a shooting challenge), Jump Rope (a hopping challenge), Dodge Ball (a sequence challenge), and so on. There is not much substance to these mini games, but can be fun for a few minutes. The original 1981 Frogger arcade game is included here as well, emulated in all its simple glory. Finally, by playing through the Nintendo DS companion adventure, Frogger: Helmet Chaos, and exploring the world of Ancient Shadow Frogger will come across various secret codes that can be input from the game’s title screen to unlock various hidden content.
Features
- Join Frogger for twenty-eight levels of hopping adventure
- Classic Frogger gameplay is at the core of this platforming title
- Explore Story Mode to seek out the source of the shadow
- Multiplayer mode features mini games for when friends come to the swamp
- Original 1981 Frogger arcade title included
Hop, Skip, and a Jump
Konami resisted completely overhauling Frogger, as his familiar method of gameplay holds true in Ancient Shadow. While this is a 3D platformer of sorts, the camera angle is fixed to display a top-down view of the action. Frogger does not move one step at a time like characters such as Mario or Sonic the Hedgehog. Those characters take a single step when moved – left foot, right foot, and so on – but Frogger can only move by hopping which means that he moves one square at a time. Although there is not a grid on the playfield, if there were then consider that each time the Control Pad is tapped our hero moves a single space and only a single space. Tapping the A button allows Frogger to hop over the space directly in front of him, in effect moving him two spaces. The Y button controls Frogger’s vertical leap, allowing him to snag coins above him or, with a double tap of the Y button, perform a smash attack on the space on which he’s currently standing. Smash attacks are required for opening secret caverns or triggering certain in-game effects. Use the B button to extend Frogger’s tongue, perfect for grabbing posts or floating platforms. Finally, with the use of the L and R buttons Frogger can be turned ninety degrees clockwise or counterclockwise in order to position him for his next move. Remember, since Frogger can only move either one or two spaces at a time, it is sometimes necessary to turn him so that he faces the correct direction before moving him. The Control Stick and Camera Stick go unused, as do the X and Z buttons. Note that Frogger has no direct offensive attacks.
Ancient Shadow is a platformer at heart, but it also contains several puzzle elements. At a young age (the story goes) Frogger had a bad experience with water and as a result he never learned to swim. As such, causing Frogger to splash down into the swamp costs him a single unit of life off of his four-unit (to start) lifebar and sends him back to retrace his progress. One of the early levels of the game finds Frogger facing a large expanse of water blocking his path. Floating out in the water are two stone platforms, however the first platform is three spaces away. Recall that Frogger can move, at the most, two spaces at a time. In order to reach this first platform Frogger must grab it with his tongue and then, by pushing the opposite direction on the Control Pad, retract his tongue by one space and pull the platform closer to him. Now Frogger can use the A button to skip over the single water space in his path and land on the platform. The second platform is also just two spaces away, so another A button hop moves his forward. Now there’s a problem. The shore is three spaces away, once again too far for a single hop. Now Frogger must use the L or R buttons to turn in place on the second platform so that he faces the first platform. Using his tongue once again he must pull the first platform a single space towards him so that the two platforms are back-to-back. A single tap of the Control Pad returns Frogger to that first platform where he can seize the second platform with his tongue and move it one space forward. Now it’s just two “A button” hops to the shore. This is one of the typical puzzles found in Ancient Shadow, and frankly it’s one that Frogger will come across quite often. Other such hazards include hopping through a maze of lily pads, dashing across collapsing bridges, and dodging enemies. Rounding out the Ancient Shadow experience are coins that can be collected in order to buy items and costumes from the local vending machine.
Speaking of enemies, recall that Frogger lacks any offensive moves and it’s easy to see that the name of Frogger’s game is avoidance. Enemies pace back and forth along marked paths which means that Frogger must hop past enemies before they backtrack. In a somewhat curious design decision, using the A button hop will not jump over enemies outright. Frogger still takes damage. Fortunately health refills are plentiful after passing areas packed with enemies, as if the game’s developers knew this sort of thing would be a problem. Frequently placed checkpoints allow Frogger to resume his quest mid-level after running out of energy, too. During periods where Frogger has no choice but to attack his foes (such as boss battles), our hero can only indirectly attack. Consider the first boss battle in which Frogger is positioned on a square grid of spaces. There are four spaces on the grid that are marked to form a circular design. The boss appears on the sides of the grid and spews water at Frogger, but if Frogger can do a smash attack on each of the four marked spaces in order to cause an attack to fall from the sky which lands squarely on the boss. No aiming is required. Attacking the boss three times wins the day without Frogger actually coming into contact with the boss.
When friends come to visit players may be tempted to bring out Ancient Shadow’s multiplayer mode full of small party-style mini games for one to four players. These games include simple modes such as Ornithopter (a shooting challenge), Jump Rope (a hopping challenge), Dodge Ball (a sequence challenge), and so on. There is not much substance to these mini games, but can be fun for a few minutes. The original 1981 Frogger arcade game is included here as well, emulated in all its simple glory. Finally, by playing through the Nintendo DS companion adventure, Frogger: Helmet Chaos, and exploring the world of Ancient Shadow Frogger will come across various secret codes that can be input from the game’s title screen to unlock various hidden content.
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February 8, 2010
