Jumpin' Jack

The Good
Konami’s popular game Frogger hit the arcades back in 1981, and if you were born in the ‘80s, chances are you heard of it and/or played the game at one stage, either on the original arcade machine or on home systems such as the Atari 2600, VIC-20, Intellivision, TRS-80, and Commodore 64. These systems may have received official ports, but that didn’t stop small companies from releasing their own versions under a different name. One such company is LiveWire who released Jumpin’ Jack.

If you haven’t heard of the game, you are a frog trying to reach one of five safety homes at the top of the screen without being crushed by passing cars or sunk in the river, all the while making sure you reach the homes in the limited time you have. Once all five homes are filled, you proceed to the next level, where things are going to get difficult from now on.

Jumpin’ Jack was also released for the C-64 and MSX, and both these versions use a pseudo-3D perspective. Like every Frogger variant, however, the VIC-20 has to make do with the standard top-down view. This is understandable considering that the system can’t handle 3D-like effects, and I can’t recall a game that uses one. The sprites are huge, and I find it amusing that once you get one of them in a home, they transform into ugly ducklings.

Controlling the game is done by joystick or keyboard. It is good that LiveWire catered for everyone who doesn’t own a joystick, but the keys you have to use are located all on one row. The game requires you to put your left hand on the [Z] and [C] keys and your right on the [,] and [/]. Swap them around and you’ll find it extra difficult, as your hands will cross over each other.

The Bad
The music is rather annoying. It is the same as the Frogger theme song, but way out of tune. Since there was no option that allows you to turn the sound off, I had to turn the volume way down.

The Bottom Line
Jumpin' Jack is a very good game that is faithful to its arcade parent, and it is a joy to play any time during breaks. Graphics are great, and the joystick support makes life easier while controlling the game. A bit of advice: if the sounds are enough to do your head in, I suggest turning the volume all the way down.

The Good
In 1982, LiveWire released Jumpin’ Jack for the VIC-20, which was a decent Frogger clone that used the same top-down viewpoint as the actual coin-op. It is a very good clone, but the only thing I didn’t like about it is the out-of-tune theme song that couldn’t be turned off. Now, the company has ported its own creation over to the Commodore 64, implementing features that couldn’t be done before, such as giving the game a pseudo-3D feel to it along the lines of Zaxxon.

As someone who has never tried Jumpin’ Jack before, it took some time for me to find out how everything works. The visuals are slanted to the right a bit, and how the frog moves is different. Pushing the joystick left or right moves him in the respective direction. However, moving the frog upwards causes him to go in a northeast direction, and moving downwards causes him to go southwest. During my first few goes, I got into the habit of missing the first log that flowed down the river, but once I got used to it, completing levels was a breeze. Not only can you control the frog with the keyboard if you haven’t got a joystick handy, but you can also redefine each key if it is not to your satisfaction. If you attempt to reconfigure a key to one that is forbidden, the words “Key not allowed” will appear.

The game is well presented, with several flick screens showing the instructions (complete with animations), high score table, keyboard configurations, and the options that can be set such as the number of players and the game level. Jumpin’ Jack even has an attract mode where the frog knows he has infinite lives, so he gets himself killed on purpose. The high score table has a great animation of a moving car that reveals some text mentioning a “magic number”. I assume this was used as part of a competition in which the first prize was a Commodore 1541 disk drive.

Game-wise, the graphics are fantastic, especially for a 1983 game. LiveWire actually took the time drawing a face on the frog, mouth and all. Its hopping animation is impressive, so is the animation of the fly hovering into one of the five homes at the top of the screen; it just doesn’t appear suddenly in them like Frogger or its clones. The cars and trucks are well designed, as well. The background music is catchy and plays non-stop, even if you lose a life or complete a level. You can turn it off if it becomes annoying.


The Bad
LiveWire ironed out all the bugs in the game; not one problem can be found.

The Bottom Line
Jumpin’ Jack is an interesting take on Konami’s game, giving the graphics a 3D look. It plays the same, but individuals who are familiar with the coin-op may have to get used to how the frog moves. The presentation is excellent, the animations are fantastic, and the music is memorable. The game was also used for a competition held by LiveWire themselves. If you enjoy a game of Frogger every now and then, get this game so that you can experience the arcade classic in a different light.