The Ancient Frog Kings are the fifth boss of Frogger: Ancient Shadow and the boss of the Elder Ruins. A treasure resembling their masks can be found as a treasure in Elder Ruins' second stage.
Description and Battle[]
The Ancient Frog Kings are a group of five ghosts that wear decorated masks. According to Sketch 14, their names are simply the colors of their masks: The first is "Blue Frog", the second, "Yellow Frog, then "Green Frog", "Purple Frog", and finally, "Red Frog". During the events of Stage 4 of Elder Ruins, they are awakened after Dr. Wani begins the ritual to revive Doom's Temple.
During the battle, one of the five ghosts will appear, perform an attack, and then fly to one of the other two neighboring sigils. They can perform an attack that either summons four green frog-like ghosts that chase Frogger for a while before disappearing or summons about three groups of five white tadpole-looking ghosts that travel in a single direction. They can also appear from the sigil in the middle of the area, performing one of their attacks while blocking a large portion of the platform. In order to damage the boss, Frogger must place an Ice Gem thrown by Igunis in their path of travel or wherever they presently are. The Ice Gems can only damage the boss, however, as if any of the boss's attacks hit the Ice Gem, it will disappear. They each first appear from their corresponding sigils: "Blue Frog" appears from the top-left sigil, "Yellow Frog" from the top-right sigil, "Green Frog" from the bottom-left sigil, "Purple Frog" from the bottom-right sigil, and "Red Frog" from the center sigil.
Treasure[]
The "Ancient Frog King Masks" treasure can be found in the second secret area of the second stage of the Elder Ruins. After being collected, they show up in the second space in the second row of Frogger's Cabinet. The description reads: "A prize included in a cereal box. Wow, it's a complete set!"
Close-up of the masks
Sketches[]
There is a decent amount of information on the Ancient Kings hidden within the Sketches for "Area 5". In Sketch 12, the text reads 「儀式を守る, 遺跡の王達」, or "The Protectors of the Ritual, the Kings of the Ruins." Whether they were specifically awakened by the magic of the amulets or at the beginning of the ritual to revive Doom's Temple is unknown. In Sketch 13, there is a paragraph of text that, when translated, reads: "The result of the kings sealing their magic inside of their bones before they died. With no recollection of their pasts, they cover their horrid figures with cloth. This form both protects the caster and amplifies their magical power." There may be some errors, however, as the text is blurry and hard to read. Sketch 14 seems to have information on the "Frog Tribe" (カエル族), but the text is too small and blurry to be deciphered (at least by me, sorry!) However, there is art of their sigils with their names in English underneath.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- If an Ancient King appears from a sigil with an Ice Gem already placed on top, after Igunis attacks them, they will appear invisible instead of their standard falling animation.
- In spite of the fourth ghost's name being "Purple Frog", the mask seems more pink than purple.
- They are simply named "The Ancient Kings" (古代の王, Kodai no Ou) instead of "The Ancient Frog Kings" in Sketch 14.
- The true forms of the Ancient Kings (shown in the concept art for them) have a surface-level resemblance to Mr. D, with all of these figures being skeletal beings who cover themselves with a cloth of some kind.
- Additionally, they are all connected to frogs. The Ancient Kings being frogs formerly, and Mr. D's face breaking off, revealing Frogger's face after being defeated.
- Their color shemes is reminiscent to the colors of the Baby Frogs found in Frogger: He's Back! and Frogger 2: Swampy's Revenge.