Received: May 16th, 2019 / Written: September 10th-16th, 2019
(As played on Game Boy Player)
Alternate Title: Frogger: Mahō no Kuni no Daibōken [ ⬤ ]
Year: 2002 | Developed by: KCE Hawaii | Published by: Konami
Guess it's Frogger time again, so let's talk about another post-2001 iteration. 🐸
Konami Computer Entertainment Hawaii and Konami Software Shanghai's 2001 Frogger contribution and Game Boy Advance foray Frogger's Adventures: Temple of the Frog (Advance) was a simple romp that incorporated Frogger's traditional gameplay with action-adventure elements, and while it might be undone by its brevity, largely being devoid of charm, and lacked in difficulty (once you've got the patterns down pat) it is lightweight harmless entertainment while it lasts not to mention its contemporary success helped set up the template for subsequent Frogger games with this formula for the next several years.
Images from GameFAQs
And so the following year, on November 5th, 2002, the Game Boy Advance received another installment of this ilk in the form of Konami Computer Entertainment Hawaii's Frogger's Adventures 2: The Lost Wand in America which Europe would receive on February 28th, 2003 with Japan finally receiving it on June 5th, 2003 as Frogger: Mahō no Kuni no Daibōken (dropping the number from the title on account that the aforementioned game wasn't released there on account of being cancelled, making today's game the first of the handful of post-2001 Frogger games that Japan got to play). No Konami Software Shanghai this time since they were busy working on the console and PC-centric Frogger Beyond (simply titled Frogger in Japan) which was also a late 2002 venue. So, does today's froggy excursion improve on its predecessor?
In Firefly Swamp, Frogger is lounging in front of his house, but is so exhausted from relaxing that he wants to go on another adventure.
Man, he really is the Adol Christin of the franchise if he's that eager to rush out to go on another outing already considering he's just traversed the Temple of the Frog.
Feeling parched, Frogger heads inside to get a drink from the fridge but once he opens it suddenly a flock of pigeons magically appear from within which dumbfounds him; curious about it, he decides to distract himself from watching TV but once he presses the button a bouquet of flowers magically sprouts from it which surprises him.
Significantly perturbed by theses magic occurrences, Frogger wonders what's going on and if he's going crazy so he heads inside his restroom to wash up. It's at this point that he hears a disembodied voice, and when Frogger asks who's there the voice reveals himself to come from inside the mirror beside the faucet. When Frogger notices a wizard inside talking to him,
Frogger flies backwards and becomes startled. The wizard then emerges from within the mirror and drops down hard on the poor fly eater, likely crushing his internal organs in the process. Introducing himself as "Hocus", he explains to Frogger that because of an experiment gone wrong with the Eternity Wand it caused its Magic Fire, Ice, Light, Darkness, and Wisdom Shards to scatter in different parts of the world which in turn resulted in the sudden imbalance and chaos of the world (thereby explaining the doves and flowers),
and if nothing is done to fix this soon then not only will Firefly Swamp be endangered by magic gone out of control but the world also. He beckons Frogger to help him retrieve the five Magic Shards and fix the Eternity Wand which will keep the magic in check and restore balance. Frogger agrees to help "Hocus", for if his home Firefly Swamp is involved he'll do anything--Frogger has just gotten himself into another adventure like he wanted.
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| The start of Frogger's next adventure |
Frogger's Adventures 2: The Lost Wand is an action-adventure game viewed from a bird's eye perspective that once again has you take control of Frogger who moves in a square pattern just like he did in his 1981 arcade debut--with the big difference being that he's got some new moves, for he can change directions to the left or to the right while remaining stationary with the left or right shoulder buttons, do a super hop over single-tile gaps with the A button, and he can stick out his tongue to reach anything that's distant from him with the B button
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| Jumping over gaps |
though unlike its predecessor Frogger's Adventures: Temple of the Frog his tongue has slightly got more range not to mention can be used to pull platforms facing specific directions once. Each separate world is divided into three stages, and the basic goal for the first two-thirds of each world is to reach the end goal and along the way you'll gather water crystals, for if you collect twenty you'll earn another life. Another way to garner a life is if you come across a frog crystal, and when you reach the end you're given some bonus water crystals for making it there. One other set of items you'll stumble upon
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| Homage paying log jumping |
are magic cards if you search thoroughly, for collecting all four will give you a magic key that grants you access to a warp that will take you to a timed bonus segment where you get a chance to collect as many water and/or frog crystals until either time runs out or if you fall down a hole by accident--the magic cards are not mandatory to collect but they are there if you wish to prolong your number of opportunities (or if you're a completionist freak like I am most of the time) and if you feel like it you can revisit these stages once you've beat them. Stepping on a checkered tile will mark a check point, and since this is a one hit and you die affair if you lose a life and reached a check point you'll pick up from there.
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| Pull that platform with your tongue |
And of course each of the worlds' first two stages are littered with enemies who you cannot collide with or be touched by them lest you want to lose a life. Other ways of losing a life are falling down a hole, in the water, in the flames, get hit by a projectile, or by getting punctured by spikes. If you wish to get past these enemies (occasionally by weaving around them) you'll have to learn their patterns and time your movements properly, same when it comes to platforming where you might either need to wait until the two meet together should they be moving, time the super hop properly if it's separated by a gap,
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| Opened a tile-shaped warp point |
and certain times you'll have to change your facing position without moving in order to jump towards the proper direction (especially during moments where you must hop to it on account that you're on top of collapsible platforms). Most of the platforms are stable, but once in awhile you must get on collapsible platforms which require you to move quickly because staying on those kinds of platforms longer than necessary will cause you to fall down, for agility and quick thinking are key. Each Magic Shard is guarded by a boss in the third and final stage of each world, and the only way to retrieve them is if you best them,
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| Hop to it |
for failure to do so will you have start the battle from scratch. Whenever you confront the subsequent boss "Hocus" will aid you by lending you the power of the Magic Shard you collected from the previous boss fight any time a window of opportunity is reached, but you must touch it in order to activate it. Like the previous Frogger venture your progress (which can be saved in one of three game files) is saved automatically thanks to a battery backup whenever you finish a stage (including the number of lives you had by the time you reached the end of the stage in question), and if you lose your last life you'll be brought back to the title screen and must resume your progress from the beginning of the stage you lost your last life in.
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| Jumping springs |
Frogger's Adventures 2: The Lost Wand is a good-looking game with a really vast color palette and is an improvement on a visual level over Frogger's Adventures: Temple of the Frog. Lead artist Masaki Sugimoto and main visual designer Jun Nakagawa (who worked on the enemy design for Konami's underrated Super Famiplatformer TwinBee: Rainbow Bell Adventure/Pop'n TwinBee: Rainbow Bell Adventures) did a really good job at making the game look appealing, and each world's set stages had their own layout and art done by different artists (two of them worked on the design for more than one world).
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| Gold bricks and water crystals |
The Jungle Island designs by Okjoo Chang and Masaki Sugimoto are vibrantly colorful, the greens at the beginning really pop, the blue water has a cool relaxing feel to it, and the yellows are pronounced; Jordan Santos' design for Snow Island are appropriately frigid and feel cool with the snowy environment, subtle snowing effects, and icy caverns within; the Volcano Island designs by Mari Yamaha on the other hand have a more warmer palette with the flame and magma, and the flaming vortex effect when you combat the magma monster looks really nifty and psychedelic; there to do the designs for Haunted Island is Jared Matsushige
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Don't wake the salamander up lest you want
to get burnt to a crisp
|
which has an appropriately desolate and haunting aesthetic to it but as you progress further there's a beautifully effective watery reflection of the moon with a slight ripple and in the castle there are a series of paintings and haunted toasters; Neil Choy and Mitsuhiro Nomi's design for Future Island's stages are technologically enhanced with flying cars, a vertigo-inducing view of the skyscrapers from the top, and collapsible platforms that remind me of TwinBee's cyan and WinBee's pink body palettes (same company); and finally Okjoo Chang and Jordan Santos' Magician's Realm design
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| Hopping in the snow |
is creatively surreal and magical with the starry background and red and white floor décor (that sometimes overlap each other) making for a mesmerizing quality. I felt Frogger's in-game design to be an improvement, the green body color is more spot on than the chartreuse bodied color he had in the last game, and he's wearing more than one set of colors--while it is a bit weird in hindsight that he's wearing a blue vest and brown shorts when in most games (with the exception of 2003's Frogger's Adventures: The Rescue/Frogger Rescue as he wore yellow and orange in that one) it's the other way around
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| "Ho ho ho! Ho ho ho! Ho ho ho!" ☃ |
it is at least a step in the right direction for the post-2001 Frogger series (the Japanese cover art more accurately depicts what he's wearing in this game). In Frogger's Adventures 2: The Lost Wand he's got a tiny bit of idle animation if you hold still long enough, his normal hopping animations are swift while his super hops are slowed down--I'm not sure I like the way his cheeks puff up with each super hop but at least his body's not inflating and deflating in this situation like last time--and the moment you land after doing a super hop he peers to the left and to the right once, and unique to this iteration is
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| Waiting for the coast to be clear |
that Frogger has got mismatched colored eyes regardless of the direction you turn: with his left eye being blue and his right eye being brown (it's hard to tell when playing it on the Game Boy Player but it is a bit more evident when playing it either on the Game Boy Advance or Nintendo DS). You may recall how Frogger's Adventures: Temple of the Frog took itself a little too seriously in regards to Frogger's various death animations, including one where he gets vivisected upon being touched by a sharp object in which case you hear him croak (which is a bit disturbing given it was geared towards family audiences).
Frogger's death animations in this follow-up are a little toned down compared to its predecessor, which is aided in part by the cartoon sound effects and slightly exaggerated expressions: his falling animation (choppy though it may be) if you fail to cross over a gap is bookended by a faint splat, whenever he gets burned or electrocuted his body becomes singed until it dissolves to dust (accompanied by an instrumental sound effect), whenever he falls in the water his body is floating face down until it drowns, and for his normal death animation his eyes spin around briefly until he drops on his body with his eyes replaced by exes and tongue sticking out, though it's a little off-putting to see him like this without his arms. Umm, did I... make it up when I said his deaths were toned down considerably? 😟
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| Bunker penguins |
Masaki Sugimoto, Jordan Santos, and Jared Matsushige also worked on the designs for Frogger's enemies in this game, for his enemy roster is varied and pretty much exclusive to these worlds. Among the enemies you must be absolutely certain not to touch you are sentient snow monsters that occasionally giggle menacingly, sentient snowmen, grimacing flame enemies, firebirds, translucent ghosts, carnivorous flowers should you get next to them, various robots, giant hats with occasional chompers, and large sentient gift boxes with legs, just to name several of them.
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| "Heeheeheehee, checkpoints are hilarious!" |
At the end of each world you must contend with bosses, most of whom are generally larger in size than you and look imposing in stature. At the end of Jungle Island is a salamander turned dragon who is sleeping but should it be awake it will breathe fire and burn Frogger alive; then at the end of Snow Island you must free a seal trapped within a mechanical snowman with a cool 'stache who reacts adorably as it covers both sides of his head with his eyes closed while on the verge of blowing up; Volcano Island's magma monster boss,
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| Platforming |
on top of being in the center of a psychedelic flaming vortex, looks cool and I like how it shakes off the ice on him; the end boss of Haunted Island is a magenta-colored robed figure that resembles the grim reaper (he's not like Mr. D, for this one actually swings his scythe with full force and looks more intimidating), and the penultimate boss you face in Future Island is a robot who eventually separates into five parts where it's just its head between four cat-shaped heads, and as for the final boss in the Magician's Realm he doesn't show up often but when he does he's roughly the same size as Frogger plus
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The only thing that would make this area better
Team Cherry's Hollow Knight was playing
in the background 😄
|
the floor décor in this stage has got his face emblazoned in the centerfold. Whenever the dialogue pops up during your first visit in the first stage of each world and at the start and ending of the third stage of each world, whenever a character talks there's the character's profile above it to make it easier to determine who's talking, usually between Frogger and "Hocus" but on most occasions there are characters you'll speak with after defeating them. I think the best thing about these dialogue sequences, aside from how colorful the profiles are and the way the mouths flap as the words are being spoken, is just how expressive Frogger is given his mood. 😃
It certainly beats using the same static profile anytime he talks regardless of mood and tone as was the case in Frogger's Adventures: Temple of the Frog and Frogger's Journey: The Forgotten Relic a year after today's game. It's great that Frogger has a multitude of expressions here, for depending on the situation there's
happy Frogger, chipper Frogger, pained Frogger, shivering/scared Frogger,
constipated Frogger, befuddled Frogger, neutral Frogger, and
*PFFFFFFFFFFFFT*
HAAAAA!!! 😆
Stupid surprised Frogger, HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! 😂
*siiiigh* Phelan "Phelous" Porteous' "stupid surprised ______" jokes are underrated, as are Phelous video reviews. 😄
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And that's when Frogger's tongue became
stuck on that frozen platform and couldn't
retract it
|
During the intro and outro before cutting to credits, especially the title screen, there is prerendered CGI still imagery, and as far as visual storytelling goes it does a good job as it's bursting with color and for the most part look like they were well-rendered and well-lit. If there's any downside it's whenever you view Frogger from a side profile and see both of his eyes, because he does appear cross-eyed during these moments which is a bit distracting once you notice it (at least with the digitally hand-drawn Frogger profiles during his turn speaking the dialogue they look more presentable and is not facing the side).
I don't think the art team meant for Frogger to look cross-eyed during these scenes, but the way he's modeled coupled with the camera placement probably did not aid matters. If only Konami touched it up to make his eyes appear better and presentable like Travellers Tales did with Sonic in Sonic 3D Blast's main menu compared to his prerelease look--six years prior. 😞 But like I said, for the most part, these prerendered stills are well done otherwise.
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| Riding on a trio of mine cars |
Stephen Geering (who did the music for Frogger's Adventures: Temple of the Frog) once again returns to compose the music for Frogger's Adventures 2: The Lost Wand, audio managed by Jun Funahashi, and personally I think he outdid himself with this installment (but apparently is not as well-known as its predecessor's soundtrack since there are only several audio-based videos on YouTube rather than for the whole soundtrack). 😃 Jungle Island's Jungle River theme kicks off Frogger's adventure with a pleasantly composed tune with occasional ambient bird sounds here and there;
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Free the seal inside that machinery by
utilizing the fire Magic Shard enough times
|
Magma Island's Lava Temple and Magma Cavern themes are atmospherically catchy and are both appropriately fiery in nature; Haunted Island's theme for when you're going through town is suitably haunting and spooky; Future Island's theme for the Digital Domain has got a bouncy techno beat and is energetic with occasional ambient machinery heard in the background; each boss has their own distinct theme which in my book is always a good thing in video games regardless of genre; but my favorite theme in the game transpires in
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| Out hop that collapsing rope bridge |
Snow Island's Snowy Peak for that stage has just such a pleasantly relaxing and comforting theme as it succinctly complements the snow laden environment, makes me look forward to cooler weather and I could listen to it for a long time. 😊 Once again the Konami team that worked on this installment involves Jaren Tolman, Rev. Dr. Bradley D. Meyer, and Terry Jones who worked as sound design lead/music editor, sound designer, and sound programmer respectively, and while it may reprise some sounds first heard in Frogger's Adventures: Temple of the Frog like
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| Wait for the flame monster to get out of the way |
the ribbit sounds for each of Frogger's normal hops and spring sound effect for each super hop, this game introduces new sound effects thrown in the mix (some of which would be reused in Frogger's Journey: The Forgotten Relic) such as the sound that plays when you reach a checkpoint, the instrumental cue that plays when Frogger dissolves to dust after being fried, the sound Frogger makes when he drowns in water and when he falls down, to name some; and as usual, you only hear the enemy sounds when you're within their range and not while you're away from them. There are a handful of digitized voice samples, most notably in the opening introduction when
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| Suspended above deathly flames |
the villain Pocus exclaims "The Eternity Wand is mine! HA-hahaha, HA-hahaha, HA-haha... uh oh!" and during the Magician's Realm stage there are occasional moments when you hear an echoic "Help me, Frogger!" to name a couple, and when facing the grim reaper-like boss in Haunted Island I find it a little hilarious when he's surrounded by light and yelps "HELP!" in a squeaky high-pitch tone. 😆 Just like its predecessor whenever you turn the game on you have the option to select an available language, but in this case there's three less languages to choose from as the only options here are English and Spanish.
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| In the magma cavern |
When not playing story mode there's the time attack mode where you can see if you can beat the time of the previous recordholder or even try to outdo your best time if you feel like revisiting any of the first two stages of each world in this condition; there is also a single and multi pak multiplayer option where you can play one of three mini-games in a competitive fashion, but the only way to play these is if your Game Boy Advance (or Nintendo GameCube console or Nintendo DS handheld) is connected to another Game Boy Advance (or Nintendo GameCube or Nintendo DS)--so I can't really touch upon multiplayer mode.
Now before I share what my opinion of Frogger's Adventures 2: The Lost Wand is, here's some random isolated moments from the game proper.
Hold on, what are you implying there, "Hocus",
Screenshot of Gravity from my Region 1 Widescreen DVD, courtesy of Warner Bros., taken from my TV; my favorite movie from 2013
that because Frogger is a creature naturally known to be capable of swimming in the water but cannot actually swim himself it means he's not a real frog? How shocking! 😏
Well, just count your blessings that it ain't Hiber Day, Frogger, otherwise you'd be frozen stiff in a literal block of ice. 🧊
And yes, for those who weren't around during those days, there were VCR's that also doubled as clocks (when not being used, that is)
😬 … WELL, that doesn't date this game at all. I realize there were some that still held on to the VHS in 2002, but the DVD was a better option in terms of visual presentation, special features, subtitles and closed captioning for the hearing impaired, and most important of all, getting away from many a film lover and film maker's justifiably loathed pan-and-scan formatting in favor of preserving the original widescreen theatrical aspect ratio (as long as it was a widescreen DVD, that is). If a movie was shot and framed the way it was, I think it's safe to say that it was probably done so for a reason, stupid pan-and-scanholes (I'm super annoyed that there are channels that still utilize this godforsaken medieval six and a half decade practice in the HD generation). 😒 Sorry, it just really bothers me.
Haha, magic users relying on technology, that's funny. 😄
...
"I can't wait to tell them how I met and helped a wizard who inexplicably told me at the last minute that only I could see him so that I have to save face by quickly saying something else like I did with Lilly the Fairy last time. Well, not this time, I'm not going to make myself look like a dumbarse twice, no sirree bob!"
*faux gasp* 😲 You mean to tell me that the obvious bad guy was the bad guy? What an unexpected turn of events, I mean
In all seriousness, though, it was readily apparent considering there's only one wizard in the game who wears a top hat on his head
Pocus was so subtle about it! 😗 If only there was an obvious tell or something to warn us ahead of time... Next thing you know you can't trust a Bearded Collie mechan----
ohhhh…… Well, dogs are a nuisance anyway. 😐
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| Follow the firebird pattern |
So long story short, last Summer back in 2018 I learned that there was a series of Frogger games post-2001, which I don't recollect being aware of back in the early 2000's despite being into the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo GameCube at the time. So upon learning more about the games I decided to look into Frogger's Journey: The Forgotten Relic last July as my foray into the post-2001 series, then that August that for my next entry I would play Frogger's Adventures: The Rescue on the GameCube, and afterward that November I played Frogger: Ancient Shadow on the GameCube. This year I got to catch up on the rest of the games, for this May I considered playing Frogger's Adventures: Temple of the Frog and Frogger's Adventures 2: The Lost Wand back to back,
but I ended up getting the second game first, then two days later I received the first game and played that one all the way through,
then picked up where I left off in the second game and played through that one.
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| Good thing Frogger's tongue is fireproof |
Frogger's Adventures: Temple of the Frog was well-received back when it first came out in 2001, and while I don't feel it has 100% aged well due to the lack of depth, challenge, and charm value I appreciate it for establishing the action-adventure combined with the traditional 1981 Frogger gameplay that would permeate through the next several games in the series and it's also harmless lightweight entertainment while it lasts. In my review I considered that game to be the weakest of the post-2001 titles I played and beaten,... but then shortly after I wrote that review I caught up with Konami Software Shanghai's
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| Whoa, psychedelic flame vortex |
follow-up contribution Frogger Beyond (not just in a portfolio sense but also serves as a direct continuation of Frogger's Adventures: Temple of the Frog since Frogger's friend Lumpy the Toad namedrops that game's subtitle at the outset) and that game ended up being the least fun I've had in the entire series. Frogger's Game Boy Advance foray was at least passable and manageable (and had a consistent camera angle), but his Nintendo GameCube foray was, as far as I'm concerned, a frustratingly unpolished and redundant mess. 😣
This is why I date my reviews, people!
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| Carnivorous plants |
Frogger's Adventures 2: The Lost Wand, on the other hand, I found to be a remarked improvement over not just Frogger's Adventures: Temple of the Frog but Frogger Beyond as well. 🙂 Well, truth be told when I first played the two Game Boy Advance outings I considered this game to be on par with its predecessor, but having played it again (especially right after Frogger Beyond) I actually found myself having a better time with this sequel and had more fun playing it recently than I had during my first playthrough. One thing this Frogger venue had over the one from 2001: lighthearted charm.
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| Haunted village |
Maybe it's because I only got to play Frogger's Adventures: Temple of the Frog after having played a few games that came after (rather than playing it first) was because it felt like it took itself too seriously and was devoid of charm (that vivisection death of his does not help its case), but this sequel fixes that tremendously. Not only is Frogger's Adventures 2: The Lost Wand lighthearted in terms of tone but the proceedings feel more colorful and there is a semblance of charm that it made the proceedings feel endearing, especially with Frogger's über expressive nature which was a
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| Pull that platform towards you |
very welcome addition to the series plus I liked his conversations with "Hocus" (whom Pocus passes himself off as) and the real Hocus in the end. 😃 It's also a brighter-looking and more appealing game to look at, well, the deliberately darker palleted Haunted Island stages notwithstanding. I also appreciated its slightly augmented sense of challenge compared to that of its predecessor and I like its sense of replay value regarding whether or not you get all four magic cards; maybe not quite as mandatory to collect as the elemental icons were in the first game,
but I appreciated it all the same. I also liked how there were not only different sorts of challenge
but elements of puzzle-solving also, including pressing the switches to create a makeshift vertical bridge in the correct order sequence of the Roman numerals you saw along the way, basing your platforming based on clues on the wall (both of which are found inside Haunted Island's castle), and as an added bonus:
Hey, you're not Johnny 5! 🤨 … because this boss stage is titled "Short Circuit"
the penultimate battle to claim the Wisdom Shard at the end of Future Island entails a keyboard-themed session of "Simon Says" with a robot, but you better keep up otherwise you'll have to start anew. 😄
I liked the magical and surreal quality of the Magician's Realm, with the red and white diamond décor.
And can I just say that I love the occasional cyan and pink motifs when it comes to most of Future Island's (collapsible) platforms? It puts me in a TwinBee mood, primarily for my favorite in the cute'em up series Pop'n TwinBee. 😃
Can't help but wonder what it must feel like when a game's title is casually mentioned with a name attached in front of the character that starred in it in equally casual fashion
When I played Frogger's Journey: The Forgotten Relic last Summer I made a few observations, most of which I correctly guessed when I got around to playing the other post-2001 Frogger games: it seems the series has a tendency to act self-aware and occasionally break the fourth wall, which is true, and given the 2003 outing's manageable nature and structure I didn't feel a strategy guide for today's game was necessary in order to play through it, which is also true.
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| Ah, what a absolutely gorgeous moon 😍 |
What I wasn't accurate about was predicting Frogger's Adventures 2: The Lost Wand's difficulty to be on par with the aforementioned game prior to playing it, for it is a little harder than Frogger's two other Game Boy Advance excursions with his traditional square-patterned gameplay. It is still pattern-based, so you may have to either weave between enemies or fall in line with them until you come across an opening, and there's more than one occasion when you must rush through collapsible platforms and occasionally must pull a platform towards you
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| Haunted toasters |
then jump on it before it's too late, sometimes requiring you to make a quick turn--quick thinking and timing can only get you so far. The castle residing in Haunted Island is layered and set up to resemble a maze, and there is one isolated moment during it that I don't quite look forward to, and that's when you must jump from moving platform to moving platform that move at different intervals and are separated by a gap, for you must not only time your jump but align it properly to the platform that's about to get in place otherwise you have to start over from the previous checkpoint.
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When you see platforms that look like they're
about to give way, don't stop, just hop
|
In the second portion of Jungle Island there are springs that will make you hop across three spaces, which you may want to keep in mind when it comes to the layout, and in Future Island there are conveyor belts that you have to get on and jump from, sometimes to another conveyor belt which will either go in the direction you want or if not then you'll have to go against the flow. There are certain instances when you'll also have to flick the switch or step on it in order to activate something (or concerning the eyeball that will fry you when you get within vicinity of it, deactivate something).
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| Get past those ghosts |
I liked how half the bosses you confronted were harmless creatures that got converted to become monsters because the Magic Shard fell on them, it makes for a more lighthearted fare with an ounce of sincerity (especially since most of them revert back to their natural state once you've defeated them); and as obvious in retrospect as the twist reveal was I didn't entirely mind it and simply rolled with it, and the way the reveal is played out is well-timed and incorporated. What I also appreciated was that Pocus wasn't inherently evil, only corrupted by his desire to have the Eternity Wand in his possession,
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| Whoa, now that's a swing! |
only for it to literally blow up in his face simply because he was neither ready nor prepared to handle it and once defeated becomes remorseful of his actions and asks Frogger for forgiveness; it's better than being a villain that is strictly one-dimensional with no layers or redeeming qualities like, say, Eric von Viesel in Frogger's Journey: The Forgotten Relic. This game doesn't take itself too seriously, and that's fine, but the way it bookends itself after having cleared the Magician's Realm makes it clear that there's no malice against Frogger but it kind of makes the wizard brothers
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| Matrix (Software...… sorry, not sorry) |
Hocus and Pocus look like a couple of pranking douchebags considering he just saved the world from imbalance and chaos and was thanked for doing such a scene ago. But again, the proceedings' approach is lighthearted through and through so it sort of works if you don't think about it too much. Though considering how this game preceded Frogger Beyond by a month, I've noticed that there's less coverage on this game than either Frogger's Nintendo GameCube foray and its predecessor Frogger's Adventures: Temple of the Frog, so I'm wondering how this game was received during its contemporary 2002 release;
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| Futuristic vehicular transportation |
because personally, I felt Frogger's Adventures 2: The Lost Wand was better and more entertaining than both of the aforementioned titles. Maybe not high level in terms of narrative and thematic depth, but the gameplay made it enjoyable (particularly after learning and getting accustomed to the stage layout), with precise platforming from moving platform to moving platform being taken into effect in regards to some of its challenge. I have still to beat the Nintendo GameCube's Frogger: Ancient Shadow and Frogger: Helmet Chaos on the PlayStation Portable, but I can say that as I write this review that this venue is my second favorite of the post-2001 Frogger games.
Frogger's Journey: The Forgotten Relic is still my go-to game of the series--I liked that there was an action-adventure element, the puzzle elements were well-thought out, the way you could alternate between switching the tools of the OPART given the situation made for an intuitive (and strategic) experience, it was likable and enjoyable in spite of its brevity, it had plenty of replay value, and as much as I lament Eric von Viesel for being totally one-dimensional he does utter one of my favorite lines in this series
if only because of how bizarre it sounds. It's not that the reasoning and context isn't there, it's the very phrase itself and the emphasis at the end that gets to me, it's amazing. 😄
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| Whatever you do, don't look down |
Director/lead programmer Minoru Toyota, producer Masahiro Ueno (of Akumajō Dracula/Super Castlevania IV and Mōryō Senki MADARA 2 fame), executive producer Kazumi Kitaue (of Contra Spirits/Contra III: The Alien Wars/Super Probotector: Alien Rebels and Axelay fame), main game programmer/multiplay programmer Jimi Ishihara, libero programmer/coordinator David Mantzel, and event programmer/message programmer Yuji Yoshiie did this game a good service and ushered it into the right and lighthearted direction.
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| Hop fast |
While I'm generally more into narratively and thematically driven action-adventure games I don't mind playing something that's lightweight and/or lighthearted once in a while. I will say this of the games in the series that were released in Japan: personally I more agree with their June 2003 (this game and Frogger Beyond) and 2004 (Frogger's Adventures: The Rescue for the PlayStation 2 and Frogger's Journey: The Forgotten Relic) releases more than I do for their Fall release date for the American version. I do find these games to fit more in the criteria of Summer entertainment than I do for the Fall as they do have an overtly Summer quality to them.
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Pick a card, any card
But preferably not a Pocus card
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If you're a fan of Frogger or want to experience a post-2001 venue of his, I recommend playing Frogger's Adventures 2: The Lost Wand. Not only is it an improvement over Frogger's Adventures: Temple of the Frog (not to mention Frogger Beyond which turned out to be even worse to my disappointment), but is also pretty enjoyable while it lasts in spite of its brevity and lightweight nature but there is enough sense of challenge and replay value to make it worth revisiting and there is a good amount of charm to enliven the package. 🙂 Konami chose an interesting yet endearing direction to take Frogger for the early years of the 2000's, and I'm glad to say that I found most of his fare to be pleasantly entertaining.
My Personal Score: 6.5/10
d(^-^)bTO EACH THEIR OWNd(^-^)b
● I told you all that you wouldn't have to wait until next August for my next Frogger video game review, and I kept my word! 😃
● Well, now I know why whenever Frogger faced the right in Frogger's Journey: The Forgotten Relic his eye was brown instead of blue, it's a misplaced carryover from this game.
● I liked this game more than Frogger Beyond, which is honestly the one game in the franchise I wish to revisit the least because of the reasons I stated and more
Thank you for reading my review, please leave me a comment and let me know what you think (neither spam nor NSFW allowed); hope you have a hoppin' great day, take care! 🙂
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Ummm,... I have questions...
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