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Crazy Frog Racer is a racing video game developed by Neko Entertainment and published by Digital Jesters, released November 21, 2005 for PC and PlayStation 2. The game was only released in European and Australian markets. It was the first game in the Crazy Frog Racer series.
The game features Crazy Frog, the Drone, and a new cast of characters introduced in this game racing in 12 tracks in a setting similar to the one featured in Axel F.
Development
On June 14, 2005, Wallaroo Licensing Company, representing Erik Wernquist, announced an opening for the license to Crazy Frog in the electronic entertainment market.[1]
Crazy Frog Racer seems to have begun development shortly after July 1, 2005, after Digital Jesters acquired the license from Wallaroo. Leo Zullo, marketing director and co-founder of Digital Jesters, hinted at expanding the Crazy Frog universe with new characters, stating:
"We're working with Wallaroo to develop our own intellectual property within the Crazy Frog universe, capitalizing on the colossal success of the ubiquitous character. We've continually hinted that big things were just around the corner at Digital Jesters, and they don't get much bigger than this."
The game was set to launch in November 2005, four months after the licensing agreement. The game would launch in Europe for £19.99 (€29.99), with a worldwide release planned for Quarter 1, 2006 (this never happened).[2]
Around October 18, 2005, a website for the game, CrazyFrogGame.com was launched. This website featured in-game screenshots and downloadable content such as wallpapers. A forum was supposedly also launched within the website for fans to "discuss tactics, strategy and all things Annoying in the run up to launch and beyond." The price was elaborated on further, being £/€19.99 for the PlayStation 2 version, and £/€14.99 for the PC version.[3]
On October 21, 2005, it was announced that Ubisoft had signed a deal with Digital Jesters to distribute Crazy Frog Racer in the UK, Benelux, Australia, New Zealand, and export territories.[4]
On November 17, 2005, the game had gone gold and was set to begin distribution in early December 2005.[5]
Game Modes
Championship
The standard game mode, where the player competes against CPU players to win the most points. After beating each cup, the next cup unlocks, as well as an arena for multiplayer. There are four cups to compete in in the game. This mode can be played alone or with two players.
Baby Cup
The first cup, unlocked from the start. It will take about 15-17 minutes to complete. After beating this cup, you unlock the Funny Cup and Gutter Arena.
| East Park Beach | Southwest High Town | High Town | North City |
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Funny Cup
The second cup, taking about 20-22 minutes to complete. After this cup, you unlock the Crazy Cup and Target Arena.
| Sewer | West City | West Park Bench | Park Bench |
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Crazy Cup
The third cup, which takes about 30 minutes to finish. After beating this cup, you unlock the Special Cup, and Stadium Arena.
| Down Town | Center City | Peripheral | Technical Path |
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Special Cup
The fourth and final cup in the game, combining all three cups together for an hour-long marathon. After winning this cup, you unlock Matilda.
Single Race
All tracks are unlocked from the start, and you race a single track. Like Championship mode, this mode can be for two players.
Time Trials
No other racers are against you, so you can go as fast as possible for three laps on a track of your choosing. Your fastest times are recorded on the leaderboard.
Chase
Playing as The Annoying Thing, you are chased by a group of Drones who are trying to stop you. The goal is to survive as long as possible, being scored based on how much distance you cover.
Arena (Multiplayer)
A multiplayer exclusive mode, where two players battle each other with the various bonuses. The three arenas are unlocked by playing through Championship mode.
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Gutter Arena, unlocked by beating Baby Cup -
Target Arena, unlocked by beating Funny Cup -
Stadium Arena, unlocked by beating Crazy Cup
Characters
Matilda is the only unlockable character in the game, awarded once beating the Special Cup.
Bonuses
Bonuses can be purchased during a race by collecting coins. Each coin is worth 500 points.
| Name | Bored Sphere | Two-Slit Sphere | Made-Up Sphere | Digital Mine | Time Bomb | Laser Mine | Forward Missile | Backward Missile | Laser Beam | Mortar | Shield | Boost |
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| Description | A sphere which pokes out spikes when someone comes near it. | A ball with two spinning blades swirling around it. | A sphere which splits into two halves that forms a magnetic field which damages others. | It starts with a random counter. Each time a vehicle passes it, the timer counts down, exploding when it reaches zero. | A circular timer, up to ten increments, appears on the front. It starts with 5 to 10 points, and explodes when it reaches zero. | As soon as a vehicle passes it, its light blinks, until it explodes. | Three missiles get fired in bursts forwards. | Three projectiles get fanned out behind the vehicle. | A laser beam gets fired ahead. | Hits a target at least 10 yards ahead, up to 30 yards, automatically targeting them. | Protects the vehicle for a period of time. | Causes a rapid acceleration for five seconds. |
| Cost | 1000 | 1000 | 1000 | 1000 | 1500 | 1500 | 2000 | 2000 | 3000 | 3500 | 2000 | 2000 |
When a vehicle is damaged, players can collect nuts on the track, repairing it.
Every character has access to Boost, Shield, Mortar, Laser Bomb, and Missiles. However, certain bonuses can only be purchased by certain characters.
| Laser Mine | Time Bomb | Digital Mine | Made-Up Sphere | Two-Slit Sphere | Bored Sphere | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Annoying Thing | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| Ellie | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| Jack | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| Flash | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| Drone | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| Grim | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| Michel | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| Bobo | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| Matilda | ✓ | ✓ |
Soundtrack
The game does not feature any songs by Crazy Frog. Instead, an original soundtrack was created for this game.
One can listen to the soundtrack in game by going to the "Jukebox" in the main menu. The Annoying Thing dances along to the music being played.
| Song Title | File Name | Artist Name | Composer Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| Title Screen ("Frontend") | front_end.wav | ? | ? |
| Main Menu | menu_theme.wav | Jean Paul Niquin-Merkel | Jean Paul Niquin-Merkel |
| Race Results ("Classification") | classification.wav | Jean Paul Niquin-Merkel | Jean Paul Niquin-Merkel |
| Congratulation | congratulation.wav | ? | ? |
| Finish (Win) | finish_win.wav | ? | ? |
| Finish (Lose) | finish_lose.wav | ? | ? |
| Finish (Podium) | finish_podium.wav | ? | ? |
| Track Preview ("World Map") | world_map.wav | ? | ? |
| My Parts Fall Out | track_one.wav | Prince Quick Mix | M. Napuri |
| Crazy Street | track_two.wav | Faribisch | Barry Fisher |
| Getting Things Started | track_three.wav | DJ Cash | Dan Money |
| Rama Rama | track_four.wav | DJ Ace Man | Andy Brookes |
| Luv Hz | track_five.wav | DJ Ace Man | Andy Brookes |
| Pacific Ice | track_six.wav | Chris Lewis | Chris Lewis |
| Kenetix | track_seven.wav | Sensha
Snare |
Stuart Henshall
Neil Shervell |
| Excessive-izer | track_eight.wav | The Smiggler | The Smiggler |
| Paint Me A Picture | track_nine.wav | The Smiggler | The Smiggler |
| Crazy Dom | track_ten.wav | Angus Martin | Chris Hann |
| Tadpole's Lament | track_eleven.wav | Terry Spawn | Tim Hart |
| The City | track_twelve.wav | Purple Mist | Matt Vyner |
Ports
The game was initially released on PC and PlayStation 2. Later on, two handheld ports were created. The Nintendo DS port, developed by The Code Monkeys and published by Digital Jesters, stayed true to the original game. The port for GameBoy Advance, developed by Independent Arts Software and published by dtp Entertainment, introduced completely new tracks and characters.
Sequel
Due to the success of the first game, a sequel, Crazy Frog Racer 2, was released in 2006. This game expanded upon the original with more track diversity, new minigames, and bonus content.
Trivia
- Two of the game's songs is from the 2003 album, "Virtual Lifestyle," by Jean Paul Niquin-Merkel.[6]
- The PC retail release is copy-protected with Starforce 3.
- The texture atlas for the font and buttons includes Nintendo GameCube buttons alongside the PlayStation 2's. This suggests that the game was planned for a GameCube release.
Possibly Nintendo GameCube release? 
Four player slots! - This theory is reinforced by another texture atlas for the character selection screen. It has slots for players 3 and 4; the GameCube has four controller ports while the PlayStation 2 only had two.
- It is possible that the game was planned for a Nintendo GameCube release, but was scrapped during development.
- There are billboards around the tracks with fake advertisements for locations, and characters that do not exist outside of these advertisements.
- While most signs reference things that do not exist, one references the song, 1001 Nights, and another references Axel F
- Game icon is the only one Crazy Frog image to have a penis.
- Soundtrack sharing couple of songs with Moto GP games[9].
Gallery
Instruction manual scans included in the PC version (PDF).
Cover Art
Windows
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Front Cover -
Spine -
Back Cover -
Disc -
Manual Front Cover -
Manual Back Cover
PlayStation 2
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Front Cover -
Spine -
Back Cover -
Disc -
Manual Front Cover -
Manual Back Cover
Other
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Official boxart of russian release by 'Noviy Disk'.
Screenshots
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Title Screen -
Player Selection -
Cup Selection -
Race Results -
Jukebox Mode -
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Ripped Textures
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"Hot Like Hell" hot sauce -
"Pin Up Cafe" -
"Cheap'N Tasty, Open 24H" -
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"Airvan: Fast Enough For You?" -
"2 Ronin 4 Revenge, In Theaters July 23." The bull resembles Toro. -
"Vote James Monkey" -
"Pumpking Toys" -
"Turtle Burger" -
Goof Circus Casino -
"1001 Nights Hotel" -
Graffiti found in Gutter Arena. It has signatures from Neko Entertainment employees. -
Various signs found in Stadium Arena. -
Wanted sign for Michel -
Wanted sign for Bobo -
Wanted sign for Drone -
Wanted sign for Flash
References
- ↑ https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/wallaroo-licensing-company-offers-bdquothe-crazy-frogldquo-for-worldwide-licensing
- ↑ https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/lsquocrazy-frogrsquo-leaps-to-playstation
- ↑ https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/crazy-frog-racer-website-goes-live
- ↑ https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/ubisoft-goes-crazy
- ↑ https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/crazy-frog-racer-goes-gold
- ↑ https://open.spotify.com/album/4JbbIrJFjYnFRg3EdmGLo0
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-DAWkiRrzc
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVLayTTD0Kw
- ↑ https://vgost.fandom.com/wiki/Crazy_Frog_Racer