Konami Kids Playground: Frogger Hop, Skip, & Jumpin' Fun

by Konami

Product Features

• This title comes with a game mat in a bundle -the game mat works with all Kids Playground PS2 software
• Channel your child's energy into a fun learning experience!
• Each software teaches a different set of skills
• Varying levels of difficulty make each game challenging for different ages
• 12 exciting mini games on each software title

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000P297HK
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 9.8 x 5 inches ; 1.8 pounds
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: September 11, 2007
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,121 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #9 in Video Games > PlayStation 2 > Puzzle
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Konami Kids Playground is an innovative new series of PlayStation2 games that turns learning into a fun, full-body activity for your preschooler. Kids will love to jump, stomp, and learn their way through each of these educations games. Using a controller mat to play each game, little ones will have fun learning important basic skills like numbers, letters, colors and shapes. One specially designed mat works with all Kids Playground titles.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Save Your Money. The game is awful., December 2, 2008

By 

Arnim Zola - See all my reviews

= Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Konami Kids Playground: Frogger Hop, Skip, & Jumpin' Fun (Video Game)

OVERVIEW
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I bought this as a way to keep my active 2-year old happy during the winter months. The activity pad is thin vinyl pad about the same thickness as a raincoat with a USB connector to connect to a PS2 or PS3. The Frogger games are a collection of 12 "fun" mini games, 3 of which are more tutorial than game. Also included is a sampler disc that has a few activities from the other 3 Konami Playground discs. All discs work with PS2 and PS3 systems.

THE ACTIVITY PAD
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This activity pad is what kids use to play the games. It has a circle, triangle, and square shape that corresponds to the screen. This layout is intuitive since my 2-year old almost immediately understood that it's mapped to the layout on the screen. There is also a back button and a star button.

The bad thing about the pad is it is very thin. The instructions call for your kid to play with it barefoot to avoid slipping. So imagine an active kid rapidly stomping on shapes on a hardwood floor with this pad in between which provides zero shock protection. If you have a lumpy carpet, it may not work well on that either. My solution was to take some foam tiles from the play area and place it below the mat.

THE GAMES
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I was fooled by the Konami brand. Konami is only the distributor. The games use the Konami Frogger character but are programmed by a US company that does 2nd rate games. The games are neither educational nor fun. If you are thinking of something along the lines of Leapfrog games that you plug into the TV like Word Launch or Clickstart, you're wrong. The educational or fun content isn't here.

There is an extraordinary amount of loading time between games. Expect to see the loading screen a lot since your kid may get bored of each game very quickly. Also, if they accidentally step on the Back Button, you'll also see the loading screen. The loading time is the built-in version of a time out.

The menu navigation of the 12 games is also unintuitive. When you start, you can see and select the 3 tutorial games. The other games are tucked away on other menu screens, again 3 per menu screen. So you'll need to do the navigating for your kid.

The games are very basic games that you find for free on the internet like Simon Says and shell games.

I also have the Alphabet disc in this series which is sold separately. That's not fun or educational either. I was not impressed by the other 2 discs that I previewed on the sampler disc.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Very disappointing, July 6, 2008

By 

Kci3 (United States) - See all my reviews

= Fun:1.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Konami Kids Playground: Frogger Hop, Skip, & Jumpin' Fun (Video Game)

I was excited to get this for my 3 year old, he has played it once and has never played it again. My other children tried it and did not care for this game either. The mat would not always recognize when you would step on it and this frustrated all the kids. I watched them play and I thought that it was frustrating. The mat was the cause of the frustration but the software had many things that it could improve upon.

2.0 out of 5 stars Poor quality mat included, March 17, 2011

By 

LowCarbWoman (NY United States) - See all my reviews

= Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Konami Kids Playground: Frogger Hop, Skip, & Jumpin' Fun (Video Game)

So far we've bought 2 of this game because the play mat has died on us. The 2nd one died a while ago but I decided not to invest any more in this game, or this company.

My son was 2 when we bought the first Frogger game. He loved using the mat for other Konami games (his favorite was the Dinosaur one,) but he hated this Frogger game.

I'm a little confused because when I think of Frogger, I think of my little 80's handheld game - where you jumped across the road avoiding cars. Not sure how they were able to use the name for something not even close. It's seriously nothing like it.

My son hasn't played the Frogger game since the day the first one came in the mail (he's 4 now,) but he did like using the mat and playing the other games. When the 2nd one came, we tossed the game in the trash, as we just wanted the mat. It's a shame I had to waste a game to get that... Konami obviously didn't think about that when they bundled the mat and didn't make it available any other way.

Not happy, not impressed, not wasting any more money on Konami.