In this sequel to the first 3D Frogger game, Swampy the crocodile has had enough of Frogger hopping on him to cross water in previous Frogger games, so he decides to get revenge by kidnapping the baby frogs in Frogger's pond. Frogger and his new partner Lily Frog set out on an adventure to rescue the babies.
About the run
- Emulator used: PSXjin v2.0.2
- Aims for fastest time (real-time)
- Uses no predefined saves
- Genre: Platform
I played the PC version (almost exactly the same) of this game a lot when I was a kid, and was excited to TAS it when I found out (three weeks ago) there was a PlayStation version. Since then, I've been working on this in my spare time.
In each level (except the last one), you have to rescue five babies: a green one, a yellow one, a blue one, a purple one, and a red one. Usually you need to rescue them in that order so you don't have to backtrack, but some levels (like Space Station) let you rescue them in any order, allowing me to find the fastest route.
Whatever order you go in, the level ends when you find the fifth frog.
Tricks and Strategies
Moving on the ground...moving on the ground...
In an area with no lag (ex: Training level) Frogger and Lily hop one space every 10 frames, or 6 spaces per second (pretty fast). In a laggy area (near water/lots of objects), Frogger and Lily hop one space every 12 frames, or 5 spaces per second.
Jumping
Jumping is slower than hopping, so I only use it to clear gaps or enemies or reach a high place. Moving one space forward and jumping onto a block is faster than double jumping over that space onto the block. However, when jumping up a staircase that cannot be hopped over, double-jumping is usually faster.
Quick Hop
Quick Hop butterflies appear in The Garden, The Gold Mine, Lava Palaver, and every level from Space Station to Haunted House. If Frogger/Lily swallows a Quick Hop butterfly, he/she will hop faster than normal. In a non-laggy area, he/she will hop one space every 6 frames or 10 spaces a second (fast!). In a laggy area, he/she will hop one space every 9 frames (still faster than non-laggy normal hopping). The Quick Hop power lasts about 690 frames (11.5 seconds).
Lag management
Usually, if lots of polygons or water are on the screen, there will be invisible lag no matter what. Sometimes, Frogger/Lily will move slower on a certain route for no reason, so I try to use routes that minimize/don't have lag.
Jumping to avoid death
If you are landing on an enemy, you can press X on the earliest frame you would be normally be able to hop to another space, and jump over it, avoiding death. There is almost always a faster alternative, so I don't use this trick much.
Coins and "Coins missed"
At the end of every level except Training, the words "coins missed" appear, and then it counts how many coins you haven't collected. Collecting 12 or more coins is ideal, because you can't dismiss the Coins Missed screen until the "No bonus for you!" message reaches the middle of the screen, and the earliest frame to dismiss it is the same frame the the number 13 appears. If you collect all 25 coins in a level, you unlock a bonus level. Collecting all the coins does nothing to change Story Mode gameplay, so there is no reason to do so.
Even and odd step
I usually start a level being allowed to move only on even frames, but when lag is present, certain things like hopping into walls, jumping, double-jumping, and just standing in place make me start moving on odd frames only. I usually jump and double-jump because I have to, and the transfer to odd step is usually unintended. However, when I'm waiting for an enemy or obstacle to move in a laggy area, hopping fast and running into a wall or hopping back and forth will put me on an odd frame and allow me to save one frame in moving on once the enemy or obstacle has passed.
In-game timer
The in-game timer counts every 6 frames so the level time will always have a zero in the hundredths place.
Glitching into an object
I only use this once near the middle of the last level, Windup. Double-jumping inside the blue object doesn't put me on another layer, but simply allows me to move earlier as soon as the object I'm inside of moves out of the way.
Level by level comments
Training
- This level is required to continue on, but at least it's short and lag-free.
The Garden
- I eat a Quick Hop butterfly in the beginning of the level to speed up Frogger throughout most of the level. The Quick Hop power finally runs out when I hop on the purple baby frog.
- While I'm waiting for a lawnmower to pass, I collect a coin to save time on the Coins Missed screen.
- New (world) record! I would have put TAS as the initials, but it would have taken too much time to choose the letters. :)
- Level time: 15.30
Boulder Canyon
- Going to the right and then left to get to the yellow baby frog isn't faster than going left and then right, but I think it looks better since I move immediately left after I get the baby.
- Double-jumping over the gaps at the end of the level would be faster by 4 frames if I were going for top level times (would be 15.70). But, since getting the 6 coins is 13 frames faster than the double-jump route at the Coins Missed screen, the coin route is faster overall.
- Level time: 35.80 (35.70 is possible, but would be slower in a full-game TAS)
The Gold Mine
- I could have saved 16 frames in the beginning jumping over the rat near the detonator, but I have to wait for some rats near the yellow frog (think of it as a frame rule), so it wouldn't save any time.
- Not only does the Quick Hop butterfly help me get on the mine car faster, but it also helps me provide entertainment while I'm riding it.
- While I'm being entertaining on the mine car, I croak to locate the nearest frog. In most levels, this will find the next frog in order (green-yellow-blue-purple-red), but strangely, the red frog (last one) answers the call in this area, since it's closer to me than the yellow frog (right through the wall).
- I have to wait for the two rats to move before continuing, so I run into the wall and move again on an odd frame, allowing me to double-jump out one frame faster.
- I have to wait near the end for the mine cars to move so I can cross to the red frog, so I get a coin to save time at the "Coins missed" screen.
- Level time: 48.40
Grindstone
- Most of this level (from the green frog to the purple frog) was laggy, so it was harder to avoid obstacles since Lily could only move so fast through the lag.
- There were a lot of areas where I found the fastest route around the bugs and across the chained platforms but it didn't really matter since I had to wait for the short metal spikes and the tall wooden spikes to retract.
- One of the laggiest levels but also one of the shortest level times.
- Level time: 25.70
Pyramid Climb
- That monkey's screech at the beginning of the level is annoying, but at least I hop away fast so you don't have to hear it that many times (but somehow, you can still hear it way over by the blue frog).
- Sliding down the pyramid is surprisingly just as fast as hopping down the steps, but hopping down the steps with bugs on them is closer to the middle, where I need to be positioned at the bottom of the pyramid.
- After I get the purple frog, I have to wait for the third gator to return. The first time he passes by, you cannot double-jump onto him. Lily just falls through half of the gator and drowns in the river (the gators' collision detection is horrible).
- I make some music with the alligators' roars.
- Level time: 44.00
The Ant's Nest
- I can't beat the line of small leaf-carrying ants past the yellow frog with the optimal route, so I waste tons of time collecting coins and then hop behind their line.
- After the purple baby frog, I take the line of leaves to the right because if I went the middle route, I would have had to move right anyway, and this route has 2 more coins, saving 8 frames on the "Coins missed" screen over the middle route. I almost went the left route (3 coins instead of 2) but enemies would have hit me on that route, so I would have had to move over to the right anyway, and I would have wasted half a second total.
- Level time: 39.10
Lava Palaver
- I have to wait for the snails to move before I fall to the blue baby frog. It doesn't matter, though, since I have to wait for the platform to take me down to the blue frog anyway.
- I'm not sure why there are two Quick Hop butterflies here, but I only need one to dodge the boulders and jump up to the red frog quickly.
- Level time: 29.30
DI5CO LAB
- I have to wait for two different floating green platforms. The ones after the yellow frog appear every 154 frames, but the ones after the blue frog only appear every 254 frames. Because of this, I have time to hop around and collect all the coins in the first part of the level and still make the next floating platform on time.
- Then, I have to wait for the weird pod racks to move before I get to the purple frog. If you try to jump or double jump over them, you will teleport back to where you jumped from. If the pods are moving, they "push" Lily over the pit, where she falls to her death. So while I wait for them to move, I collect more coins. Collecting these coins here wastes 1 frame over not getting them due to lag, but if I hadn't gotten the coins, I would have had to waste 2 frames near the red frog, so getting the coins actually saves time.
- Finally, after the purple frog, it's just good old fashioned hopping to the red frog!
- Level time: 43.80
Research Facility
- This is a long level, but I found a small shortcut on almost every floor.
- In the first room, I use a shortcut I never even thought of years ago. It's easily possible in real time, too.
- In the second room, it's not supposed to be possible to outrun the monkeys, because they read your input and supposedly move one space at a time like you do. The second monkey on this floor is supposed to kill you if you try to run past him, forcing you to run around that brown block again. Oddly, if Lily runs past him and then stops any space before the edge of his range (a space or two before the blue floor), he will run up to you and kill you anyway.
- I skip most of the blue frog level by double-jumping over the islands in the goo. I collect the coin by the monkey because I have to wait for the current to shut off on the next floor.
- I collect most of the coins on the purple frog floor before the current turns off. After it does, I can safely rescue the purple baby frog and continue on down.
- No shortcut on the last floor. I don't have time to collect the coins here, because I need to land that double-jump onto the moving platform.
- Level time: 1:03.20
Space Chase
- This level is an autoscroller, so I tried to be entertaining. I even considered collecting all of the coins the first time around (the first "lap"), but there is a place where two coins are split in a straight line (like a 7-10 split in bowling), so it's not possible to get all 25 in one lap. I did get all 24 possible coins though.
- For some reason, Frogger can hop between the red and blue spiky balls without dying, but is killed when he just stands and lets one of them hit him.
- Level time: 1:02.60 (likely optimal)
Space Station
- This is the only level where it's faster to get the frogs out of order. This is because of the moving green platforms and the Quick Hop butterfly in the blue frog area.
- Every level from here to Haunted House contains at least one Quick Hop butterfly. That was really nice of the level designers.
- I rescue three baby frogs before the Quick Hop power runs out.
- My level time is almost two minutes faster than the staff record.
- Level time: 51.40
Infernal Machine
- I usually have to waste time waiting for enemies to move, so I get most of the out-of-the-way coins without wasting any time.
- The helicopter enemies fly low enough that if you move while you are underneath them, you will hit them and die.
- I managed to eat a Quick Hop butterfly, which helped me get past platforms that are about to disappear and currents that are about to zap me.
- Level time: 52.70
Spacesuckers
- The yellow frog area is annoying, because the platforms move slowly and the optimal route is to activate the switches in a weird order, because one is way over to the left and one is moving.
- That butterfly in the blue frog area is an Auto Hop butterfly. Auto Hop power doesn't save any time, it just lets me hold down a directional button to hop continuously instead of having to press and release directional buttons to move. They are useless for a TAS, but would be helpful in a real-time speedrun.
- I have to wait for the final tube to open and the first electric current to disappear, so I get the coin next to the last tube. It saves time in the Coins Missed screen because I have to wait for the final area's third electric current to disappear, and once it does, I have more coins on the same frame.
- The final area is laggy, but it has two Quick Hop butterflies, so I eat both to keep Frogger hopping fast to the red baby frog.
- My time is over 2.25 minutes faster than the staff time!
- Level time: 1:21.10
Graveyard Garden
- This level and the next one were the hardest levels for me when I was young, so I enjoyed running through them, ignoring all the enemies, and finishing in record time.
- There was a lot of lag in this level. I found here that going slightly different paths reduces the lag for some reason.
- I am able to eat two Quick Hop butterflies, so I hop faster but lag is not reduced.
- The second butterfly really helps me get around those three enemies guarding the red frog (the rat and two axe-wielding knights).
- Level time: 31.70
Haunted House
- I thought before I started this level that I might be able to hop fast enough to beat the falling floor at the beginning of the level. Unfortunately, normal hopping cannot beat the floor before it collapses.
- This level's Quick Hop butterflies are eaten right after the yellow and purple frogs. The first one really helps speed up the purple frog rescue, and the second one speeds up the run to the end of the level.
- I have to wait for the first vertical platform, so I get enough coins to optimize the Coins Missed screen.
- Level time: 52.30
Windup
- In case you're wondering why this "Chapter" of Story Mode is called The Good, The Tad, and the Ugly, it's because the baby frog you control in this level is named Tad.
- There are no baby frogs to collect, as this level is supposed to be about Tad saving Frogger and Lily from Swampy by destroying his baby frog-packaging machine.
- I have to wait for the obstacles in the beginning of the level, so I collect some coins.
- I save 10 frames over waiting for the heavy object to pass by glitching through it and then moving forward.
- I can't double jump low enough not to get killed by the electric current, so I jump once and get the coin.
- Getting the coin to the right of the red button doesn't waste any time, as you can only enter the blocked tube a few frames after the green force field disappears.
- Tad destroys the machine and foils Swampy's evil plan!
- Level time: 52.10
Possible Improvements
- If a newer version of the emulator could reduce the lag, then maybe it would save some frames, which would move enemies (like the rats in The Gold Mine and the small ants in The Ant's Nest) and platforms (like the floating ones in DI5CO LAB) and likely enable faster routes. I encountered this when I had most of the movie done and saved 4 frames in The Garden by getting the coin, which in turn saved 66 more frames in Infernal Machine because there was less lag and Lily didn't have to wait for a certain electric current to disappear.
- Glitches like the ones seen here might save time if a place was found to implement them without dying:
Thanks to
- Hasbro Interactive and Blitz Games for making the game
- The coders of PSXjin, for making this TAS possible
- The creator of the Frogger 2 page on Wikipedia, where I found out there was a PSX version
Suggested Screenshots
31582, 48405, 54876
Mukki: Judging...
Mukki: Good viewer response. Accepting...
GabCM: I'm back!