Frogger was one of the industry greats back in his day, but Konami’s
fate-tempting amphibian hasn’t had the most sterling record in recent
years. Hoping to re-ignite the spark of Frogger’s classic appeal –
doused by years of ports and platforming – Konami has announced that
the hazard-hopping hero will be returning with a new game on WiiWare
and PlayStation Network.
Dubbed Frogger Returns, the
game will use the classic gameplay style of the original arcade game,
with graphical enhancements and new modes accompanying your attempts to
not get flattened. Frogger will also have access to power-ups (like
invincibility and freezing time) to ease his journey toward safety.
Konami hasn’t revealed a specific release date, but you can expect to
see Frogger Returns available later this fall.
In a way, it’s
too bad that this announcement follows so closely after Nintendo’s
announcement of Excitebike: World Rally. We like old-school Frogger,
but when it comes to the revival of timeless franchises, we’d rather be
a part of fast-moving traffic than try to avoid it.