Frogs and Flies is my personal favorite Atari 2600 game. I've never had a friend complain about this one, even the friends who like to complain. It's a great game to introduce to the Atari newcomer, because it contains all the elements for an excellent game on this console. And my kids freaking love it.
In Frogs and Flies, two frogs--one grayish, one reddish--hop between lily pads and flick their tongues to catch erratic, flickering flies. I always imagine the red frog is a toad. Whoever gets the most flies, wins. You compete against a friend or the computer frog. A second player can pick up the joystick and take over the other frog at any time.
Flick the difficulty switches, and you can now control the jumps with more precise movement, from high leaps to little hops. This also causes the frogs to fall into the water with a satisfying splash. My kids think that's hilarious. Especially when I'm the only one playing on hard difficulty against one of them. Hey, that's what the instruction manual says: "Adults can give little kids a break by selecting the harder level." I think my kids wrote that manual.
The graphics are exceptional, and if you're new to Atari, you might think "exceptional" is not the best term for these "graphics." After all, when I was a little kid, I thought the trees were giant hands and the cattails were a city skyline. I've played enough Atari now that I can see that the trees and cattails really look like, well, hands and a skyline, but the point here is that we even have trees and plants and a blue pond and big lily pads at all. It's like a fine painting compared to the graphics of many other Atari games. The frogs look good, too, and are well animated with their jumps and splashes. The sounds are just as great. We hear those splashes, as well as whistles and chirps, which I imagine as swampland birds and bugs.
The game is already perfect, then we get an ending of sorts. As you play, the blue sky gradually darkens into night. This is so much more immersive than a clock timer, and when the sky goes dark the play can get pretty intense as you jump to catch one last fly before your opponent.
The flies move somewhat erratically, but not enough for frustration. The occasional fly will change course and flit backwards, or maybe flutter just out of range. This is again another aspect of excellent design. A lesser programmer would have created dull and predictable movement, or made it altogether too erratic to be fun.
At the end, the frogs hop away from the pads and a single lightning bug pulls the words "The End" across the screen. A cricket chirps. All is still. This creates a space of peace and finality with the barest minimum--or rather, with the maximum amount of tools and creativity a programmer can use with the Atari.
I recommend this game to everyone.
Life game . . .
Years ago, I sat with this end screen for a long while, letting the cricket sing its song. I was very, very depressed. I would have played a different game, such as Paper Mario or Columns, but I would have had to hook up a different console. So I played Frogs and Flies instead, against the Atari frog, because it was already hooked up.
The idea of fumbling with cords and consoles was far too much work. On the couch, I couldn't really remember playing Frogs and Flies. Was that one minute ago, or ten? Did I use the 8 different directions and subtle pressure to control angle and height, aiming directly for a head-on fly and not passers-by? I don't know, but that's what the manual says to do. What I recall is sitting there with "The End" on the screen, and feeling empty and peaceful at the same time. There was something zen about it.
Then I took a scalding hot bath and, as I detail in the "About" section, came up with the idea for this blog.
I came up with this: I would review 365 different Atari 2600 games. This would keep me alive. This was, however silly and desperate, a reason to live.
So let's do Combat next. The original pack-in game so many love, and love to hate, in a good way.
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