The Konami product manager at their Gamers' Day today took great pains to point out Frogger's storied history -- as one of the iconic video game characters of the golden age, Konami's popular lovesick suicidal amphibian won a place in popular culture, even being featured in an episode of Seinfeld (and nailing his own song on the album Pac-Man Fever, although Konami wisely did not mention this).

And yet, playing Frogger: Helmet Havoc for the DS, it's hard to feel like Frogger is really going to make an Eagles-style comeback into the modern age. Donkey Kong and Pac-Man are still somewhat relevant, but their webbed contemporary might not have the "it" factor anymore. In any case, Konami's certainly giving the toad a solid push this fall, with new Frogger games across a variety of different systems. The DS version is on the lower end of the scale graphics-wise, although the 3D is actually well-done in its cartoonish style.

Five different scenes from Frogger, developed by Konami's Hawaiian studio, were on display, all accessible from a central hub level that may or may not be a part of the final design. A tutorial showed how to move Frogger around -- tapping the four directional pads makes him leap around; Y sticks his tongue out to capture flies, coins, and other goodies; B makes him jump two spaces horizontally in whatever direction he is facing, and X makes him leap up high in the air -- good for catching vertical columns of coins.

The core gameplay of the original quarter-muncher is used as the base for Frogger's new adventures -- rather than being able to attack enemies head-on, he must observe their patterns then run and jump to deftly avoid being hit. It took a little getting used to this style of gameplay, mostly because it was more difficult than the cutesy graphics implied. What was most frustrating about Frogger was that pressing on the directional pad always made him jump -- into the path of an enemy or into water (where he, inexplicably, dies instantly). Simply turning him to face the direction you want is accomplished by using the L and R triggers, which takes some getting used to.

The controls were especially apt to lead to death in the two other main levels, a fortress and a gingerbread house -- I didn't even complete either of them, though I tried at least three times each. Strangely, though it was marked as the hardest difficulty level, I found the "wall boss" -- a giant wall into which was built an Aztec-styled face that spit spiked balls which had to be bounced back at it -- the easiest section to complete.

For really wimpy gamers, an absurdly easy mini-game was also included -- run around a field and use your tongue (Frogger's, not yours, though I suppose you could be forgiven for thinking that since this is the DS we're talking about) to collect a bunch of flies. Apparently, this is one of many different mini-games that will be included, meaning that perhaps we have not yet seen but the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Frogger DS. In any case, the graphics look clean but the gameplay needs work -- we'll see how it rates when Helmet Havoc ships in the fall.