In the same breath used to recall its lengthy name, Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru AKA For the Frog the Bell Tolls AKA The Frog for Whom the Bell Tolls is often cast under the shadow of Link’s Awakening; cursed to become a mere footnote in Nintendo’s monolithic history.
The comparison is easy to validate looking at a few screenshots, but I would argue Frog’s side-scrolling sections are moreso a natural paring back of what Zelda II brought to the table, with Link’s Awakening being the conclusion of Nintendo’s brief infatuation with experimentation in the Zelda series. Frog engages with the player by providing a world with clearly laid-out rules and few tricks: either you out-DPS the opponent standing in your way or explore more to become stronger and do so later, sound familiar?
Don’t worry, I’m going to stop short of calling Frog a deconstruction of the JRPG genre, but it playfully flirts with its tropes in a very cute and endearing way that is hard not to smile at. In stark contrast to Zelda II, Frog is on your side and rooting for you all the way to the finish line. It does not waste the player’s time with long walks out of dungeons, nor does it mince words about whether or not the player is equipped to take on a certain foe, very bluntly telling the player exactly how much HP or what item is needed to progress. It was a breath of fresh air at that time in gaming and just the kind of game I need now at a time when my own prospects seem bleak. Bleaker still was the GameBoy’s library back in 92’, and it is a true shame this game never made it stateside to help break up the monotony of sokoban clone #6.
I’m unsure how much of it is owed to the fan translation, but Frog strikes a gleefully self-aware tone that lives on in the Indie games of today. Many find their inspiration in Nintendo games not unlike this one; but this one manages to stand apart from even its own peers. It’s not everyday you’ll see a major corporation break the 4th wall just to enthusiastically admit their championing of planned obsolescence, and all it asks of you is an afternoon’s worth of your time. Please check out the patch at the link below.
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https://www.romhacking.net/translations/1623/
The comparison is easy to validate looking at a few screenshots, but I would argue Frog’s side-scrolling sections are moreso a natural paring back of what Zelda II brought to the table, with Link’s Awakening being the conclusion of Nintendo’s brief infatuation with experimentation in the Zelda series. Frog engages with the player by providing a world with clearly laid-out rules and few tricks: either you out-DPS the opponent standing in your way or explore more to become stronger and do so later, sound familiar?
Don’t worry, I’m going to stop short of calling Frog a deconstruction of the JRPG genre, but it playfully flirts with its tropes in a very cute and endearing way that is hard not to smile at. In stark contrast to Zelda II, Frog is on your side and rooting for you all the way to the finish line. It does not waste the player’s time with long walks out of dungeons, nor does it mince words about whether or not the player is equipped to take on a certain foe, very bluntly telling the player exactly how much HP or what item is needed to progress. It was a breath of fresh air at that time in gaming and just the kind of game I need now at a time when my own prospects seem bleak. Bleaker still was the GameBoy’s library back in 92’, and it is a true shame this game never made it stateside to help break up the monotony of sokoban clone #6.
I’m unsure how much of it is owed to the fan translation, but Frog strikes a gleefully self-aware tone that lives on in the Indie games of today. Many find their inspiration in Nintendo games not unlike this one; but this one manages to stand apart from even its own peers. It’s not everyday you’ll see a major corporation break the 4th wall just to enthusiastically admit their championing of planned obsolescence, and all it asks of you is an afternoon’s worth of your time. Please check out the patch at the link below.
================
https://www.romhacking.net/translations/1623/