Frogger
Atari 2600
1982
In Frogger you guide a series of frogs across a road and across a river into, ah, frogboxes. Along the way, the frogs must avoid cars, snakes, and crocodiles, all while trying to find true love.
This is a truly great game. The act of playing Frogger is an act of video game zen. Once I hear the Frogger music, I float into the Frogger zone, as I rhythmically ferry frog after frog into their frogboxes. Great stuff
The game has gorgeous, simple graphics. Despite the limitations of the system, the frogs, the logs, the cars, they all look attractive and elegant. And even better than the graphics are the sound effects. In addition to the insanely catchy Frogger Theme, the various bleeps and bloops made in Frogger are perfect. For my money, the sound of your frog getting squished is perhaps the greatest death sound in all of videogamedom.
Weirdly, all my Frogger love is exclusive to the Atari version. I hate arcade Frogger, I find the graphics unappealing and the control frustratingly imprecise. Frogger is that rarest of breeds, an Atari port that blows the original out of the water.
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