![Frogger Seinfeld](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.timeextension.com/02e269ed522b9/frogger-seinfeld.900x.jpg)
Konami's 1981 title Frogger is arguably one of the most famous arcade video games of all time (being subject to constant references in pop culture including in the memorable Seinfeld episode "The Frogger" where Jason Alexander's character George Constanza tries to maintain his high score at his high school pizza joint). The origins of the game, however, are surprisingly mysterious. This is because, like many other arcade companies at the time, Konami didn't credit its developers, with the studio instead claiming sole responsibility for all its games (in order to prevent headhunting).
Last year, by pure dumb luck, we managed to get talking to a former Konami programmer called Masahiro Inoue, who revealed during our discussion that he had actually worked on a sound effect for Frogger as one of his first jobs at the company. So, obviously wanting to know more about the game's development, we asked him if it would be possible for him to shine a light on who else was involved in the making of Frogger and put the mystery of its anonymous creators to bed; fortunately, for us, he was more than happy to oblige. However, first, we should probably address the elephant-sized frog in the room.
![Frogger](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.timeextension.com/2b3334f9e578a/frogger.900x.jpg)
If you happen to look up the history of Frogger online, there's a fairly high chance that you'll encounter several articles and videos claiming that the classic game is actually based on a true story. This story typically involves a Konami employee named Akira Hashimoto coming up with the idea after stopping his car at a traffic light one day and seeing a frog struggling to cross a busy road.
This has been reported in the past by places like Mental Itch and The Gamer, and on YouTube channels like PatmanQC. But, when we asked Inoue about this, he claimed that he didn't know anyone by that name. Instead, he tells us that Frogger is actually the work of Takahide Harima and potentially two other programmers inside Konami.
Harima is a figure who barely has a footprint online, with one of the only references to him being a GDRI listing (taken from the Canadian Copyrights database), which implied that he might be the same person as Toshio Arima (another programmer who was at Konami during this period). As Inoue clarified to us back in 2022, however, they are actually two separate people, with Harima being involved with titles like Video Hustler (1981), Time Pilot (1982), and Gyruss (1983), among others.
In the past, Inoue credited Harima with coming up with the idea of using VRAM to display the bullets in Time Pilot to allow more projectiles on screen, while another former Konami employee Yoshiki Okamoto called Harima "a genius" for thinking of the concept. Sadly, it seems to be unknown what has happened to Harima, with the creator simply vanishing from the games industry. We've tried our best to try and track him down to find out more about the development of these early arcade games but have so far been unsuccessful. We'll continue to do everything we can, in the hopes of shedding a bit more light on these landmark games.
Comments 8
This is the kinda stuff that keeps me coming back to Time Extension. Not just some blog that regurgitates false easy information and stuff people recognize to get clicks, but actual research and deep dives into the hazy parts of gaming's past. Reminds me of why I enjoy watching Karl Jobst's videos, just with fewer people cheating at games
So many hours of fun with this back in the early '80s in arcades. So thankful the Arcade Archives folks revived it in its true glory, save for the OST, of course.
Great journalism, thank you for this information! I'd never heard of Takahide Harima before but it sounds like his name should be mentioned when we talk of those early heroes of early game design alongside the likes of Toru Iwatani and Takashi Nishiyama.
This kind of work is so important as we are fast losing the opportunities to know who made some of these games. Imagine the early titans of cinema and recorded music being as anonymous as this! Though, saying this, history always writes some people out...
I don’t have a history with Frogger but I adore the game. I’ve been playing a lot of it lately, mostly the GG prototype (not sure what the history of that one is, would be good to know). It definitely needs a release but who knows if that’s ‘viable’ for Sega these days being a pixel game..
@Burning_Spear That makes a couple of us.
Don't miss the 3DS update of Frogger, a hidden gem produced by the "extreme" legend Tak Fujii & developed by ALPHA UNIT. https://www.retrogameboards.com/t/rgb-recommends-frogger-3d-tak-fujis-extreeeeme-30th-anniversary-frogger-celebration/2783
Hello and thanks for the shout out. I was just turned on to this website and it truly is fantastic. As far as frogger goes I came across this story about five years ago while researching my video. As you mentioned with Japanese developers it's very hard to get an accurate representation sometimes but I do my best In regards to getting the story right and actually speaking with the original developers Is any fan of my channel can attest to.
Keep up the great work.
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