Coleco Frogger Mini-Arcade
 | |
| Coleco Frogger with its box (Handheld Museum) | |
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Coleco Industries (made in Japan under licence from Sega) |
| Type | Tabletop electronic game |
| Released | 1982[1] |
| CPU | Mitsubishi M58846-701P 4-bit microcontroller, 600 kHz crystal[2] |
| Memory | — |
| Storage | — |
| Display | Itron CP5090GLR R1B vacuum fluorescent display, cyan, red and green, under a colour overlay[2] |
| Sound | Piezo buzzer, 1-bit[2] |
| Power | Four C alkaline cells, or Coleco #2298 Perma Power battery eliminator[3] |
| OS / Firmware | — |
| Model no. | 2393 |
The Coleco Frogger Mini-Arcade (model 2393) is a battery-powered tabletop version of the Frogger arcade game, sold by Coleco under licence from Sega. It went to distributors at the end of July 1982.[1] Unlike the other early Mini-Arcades, which use Hitachi microcontrollers on boards made in Taiwan, Frogger has a Mitsubishi M58846 microcontroller on a board made in Japan, and an Itron vacuum fluorescent display (VFD) in three colours.[2][4]
History
[edit | edit source]Arcade Express of 15 August 1982 reported that Frogger had "hopped down the road to distributors at the end of July", the third Mini-Arcade after Pac-Man and Galaxian.[1] Its review in the 10 October issue rated the game 9. It found the multi-coloured display "beautiful and bright", with three rows of traffic, a safety strip and four rows of turtles and logs, and missed the arcade game's crocodiles and "lady toad" and any warning before the turtles dive.[5] In June 1983 Electronic Games put sales of the first four Mini-Arcades, Frogger among them, at about three million units.[6]
Gakken sold its own version of the game. MAME documents it with a Konami-marked M58846-700P microcontroller on a board labelled "Konami Gakken KH-8201D", and an extra red band in the overlay over the road.[2]
The Handheld Museum records two sticker sets: the usual one with a mostly black top sticker, and a rarer mostly green one. It does not know whether the green version was early or regional.[7]
Hardware
[edit | edit source]| Part | Detail |
|---|---|
| Main board | Marked "Coleco Frogger Code No. 01-81543, KS-003282 Japan" |
| Microcontroller | Mitsubishi M58846-701P, 600 kHz crystal |
| Display | Itron CP5090GLR R1B VFD, cyan, red and green; 12 grids, 16 anode lines |
| Overlay | Blue over the goal row, yellow over rows 3 to 6 |
| Sound | 1-bit output to a piezo buzzer |
| Controls | Control stick (four directions), RESET button, SKILL 1/OFF/SKILL 2 switch |
| Power | Four C alkaline cells, 6 V |
Board, microcontroller, display and overlay from MAME's driver notes;[2] controls and power from Coleco's guide.[3] In MAME's driver the skill switch is a fixed input to the microcontroller, and RESET is tied directly to the microcontroller's reset pin.[2]
The display's higher voltage comes from a small transformer and transistor circuit on the board, as on the other VFD Mini-Arcades.[8]
The game
[edit | edit source]The frog crosses a highway and a river to reach a home in the hedge. Each push of the stick makes one jump. A snake appears on the sidewalk in the middle; at Skill 1 it does not appear until all the homes have been filled once. There are four homes at Skill 1 and six at Skill 2, and the action gets harder each time they are all filled. Points are 4 for each row crossed, 10 times the time remaining for each frog home, and 300 for filling every home; a bonus frog comes at 5,000 points unless two are already in reserve.[3]
Batteries and power
[edit | edit source]The game takes four C alkaline cells, or Coleco's #2298 Perma Power battery eliminator, which plugs into the battery box through dummy cells.[3][9] Coleco's guide says that the game will not work properly on weak cells and that an erratic display or erratic play may be the symptom.[3] See Coleco Mini-Arcade Maintenance#Batteries and power.
Repair
[edit | edit source]Frogger is opened, cleaned and repaired as described on the shared guides:
- Coleco Mini-Arcade Maintenance: opening the case, the speaker, the joystick, stickers and reassembly.
- Coleco Mini-Arcade Troubleshooting: no power, sound without a display, missing rows, controls.
- Coleco Mini-Arcade VFD Repair: the display, its supply and its joints.
Its board was made in Japan by a different supplier from the Taiwanese boards in the Handheld Museum's Pac-Man photographs, so expect a different layout.[2][4] A KLOV member fixed a Frogger with missing display lines by reflowing the display's solder joints.[10]
Documentation
[edit | edit source]- Instructions and Game Rules, Guide No. 78256C (1982), described on Coleco Mini-Arcade Instruction Manuals.
Related pages
[edit | edit source]- Coleco Mini-Arcade Maintenance
- Coleco Mini-Arcade Troubleshooting
- Coleco Mini-Arcade VFD Repair
- Coleco Donkey Kong Mini-Arcade
- Coleco Galaxian Mini-Arcade
References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Coleco Mini-Arcades Go Gold", Arcade Express, vol. 1 no. 1, 15 August 1982, p. 4. Digital Press scan. Frogger shipped to distributors at the end of July 1982, Donkey Kong due in August; Pac-Man and Galaxian released earlier in 1982; orders for over 3 million units of the four.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 MAME source, hh_melps4.cpp (retrieved 2026-10-06), driver notes for Coleco Frogger: made in Japan under licence from Sega; PCB "Coleco Frogger Code No. 01-81543, KS-003282 Japan"; Mitsubishi M58846-701P with a 600 kHz crystal; 1-bit sound; cyan, red and green VFD Itron CP5090GLR R1B, grid on D0–D11 and plates on ports S, F and G; overlay colours; difficulty input and reset button. Also the Gakken/Konami Frogger: PCB "Konami Gakken KH-8201D", M58846-700P with a Konami logo. Emulator documentation written from real boards.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Coleco Industries, Frogger Instructions and Game Rules, model 2393, Guide No. 78256C, 1982: p. 1 (four C alkaline cells or the #2298 Perma Power), p. 2 (Skill 1/Off/Skill 2 switch, display, Reset button, control stick), p. 3 (batteries; weak batteries cause erratic display or play), pp. 4–5 (play, the snake, homes), p. 6 (scoring, special information, care). Hosted here as File:Coleco Frogger Tabletop Instructions Guide 78256C.pdf (see Coleco Mini-Arcade Instruction Manuals).
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 MAME source, hh_hmcs40.cpp (retrieved 2026-10-06): Coleco Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and Galaxian, all made in Taiwan, with Hitachi HMCS40-family microcontrollers and Futaba VFDs.
- ↑ "Frogger/Stand-Alone Game/Coleco", Arcade Express, vol. 1 no. 5, 10 October 1982, p. 6. Digital Press scan. Review, rating 9.
- ↑ "More Mini-Arcades A Comin'", Electronic Games, vol. 1 no. 16, June 1983, p. 10. Internet Archive scan.
- ↑ Handheld Museum, "Coleco Frogger" (retrieved 2026-10-06): model 2393, VFD, four C cells; the sticker set; black-top and green-top sticker variants; a reported game-play variation.
- ↑ Handheld Museum, "Coleco Game Repair (Pac Man, Ms. Pac Man, Donkey Kong, Frogger & Galaxian)", page 3 (retrieved 2026-10-06). Community repair guide written on a Pac-Man and stated to apply to Frogger: transistors, the display transformer, display joints.
- ↑ Handheld Museum, "Coleco Perma Power" (retrieved 2026-10-06): model 2298; AC adapter with five tips and four dummy C cells.
- ↑ KLOV forums, "Coleco handheld arcade games - anyone fix those or have intel on them?", April–May 2022 (retrieved 2026-10-06): a Frogger with missing lines fixed by reflowing the display joints.