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A frog jumping on logs avoiding obstacles to get home doesn't sound like an interesting game, but Frogger is an arcade classic. I'm surprised Frogger was never released commercially on the CPC as it was a massive success at the video arcades.

Launched onto the video game industry at the arcades in 1981, it was licensed for worldwide distribution by Sega/Gremlin, and developed by Konami. The game is regarded as a classic and was noted for its novel gameplay and theme.

Frogger is still a popular video game today. The game was originally going to be titled Highway Crossing Frog, but the executives at Sega felt it did not capture the true nature of the game so this was changed to Frogger. In addition to inspiring numerous clones, this game inspired an unofficial sequel by Sega in 1991 called Ribbit, which featured improved graphics and simultaneous two-player action.

Frogger is regarded as one of the "Top 10 Videogames" of all time by the Killer List of Videogames (KLOV). The original Highway Crossing Frog was actually an exact copy of an earlier game called Freeway, developed in 1971 at the University of Washington Psychology Department on an IMLAC PDS-1 graphics minicomputer, as the "reward" of a project related to studies of human short-term memory. Apparently, someone at Konami saw it and commercialised it. The Atari version was released in 1981, developed for the company by Ed English, who was also the programmer for Coleco's Mr. Do.

So why wasn't Frogger ever ported to the CPC? It's strange indeed as it was ported to so many home computers and consoles in the day: C64, Apple, Sinclair ZX81, Dragon 32, Atari 800, TRS-80, TRS-80 Color Computer, PC DOS, MSX, PC Windows, Odyssey 2, ColecoVision, Atari 2600, Intellivision, Atari 5200, PlayStation, Sega Mega Drive, Super NES. Well, last year, Richard Wilson, a.k.a. Executioner, did what no one else has done and put together a super port of Frogger over to the CPC+.

Graphically it's identical to the arcade and you can't tell the difference. It's smooth, crystal clear and leaves you wondering "how did Richard do that?" The sprites move well and there's nothing to dislike about it at all. The frog, cars, and log sprites move smoothly and are well paced.

The tunes are nice with the odd spot effects whenever the frog moves and it all sounds like the arcade. A tune plays throughout with no distortion and is nice to begin with, but can become a little annoying over time.

There are only three lives available, which is a real drag on the staying power, but it oozes playability and is a dream to play with the joystick - who wants to play with keys anyway? The timer also runs down a little too quickly for my liking, so you have to make a move on and you don't have much time to think before time runs out.

CPC+ Frogger would have been an awesome conversion if Richard Wilson had done this in CPC's prime and would have made a fortune I'm sure of it. Go out and play it now. It's so cool.

I'm not a fan of the original game, but I found myself playing this game over and over again. It's got a kind of simple, but addictive gameplay that takes you back to the 1980s. Graphics are okay, but it's the gameplay that matters and that's where this game excels.

Complete the first level

Graphics 70%
P. Clear and smooth.
N. Not much detail.

Sound 70%
P. Nice clear tunes and spot FX.

Grab Factor 80%
P. You'll be hooked straight away

Staying Power 70%
N. Only three lives and timer runs out a little too fast.

Overall 83%
A great arcade conversion to CPC and a must for your collection.