This is a sub-page of Frogger (1997).

Frogger has many powerups, but how they work isn't communicated to the player very well. This details how they work, and how they changed over time. Powerups are activated by eating them with Frogger's tongue.

Time Boost (Fly)

Increases the amount of time on the game clock by an amount corresponding to the color of the fly. Notably the only flies in the game to respawn upon death or collecting a baby frog.

The game's manual states that the +2 variation of this fly is red, which is actually the color used by the "bad" variant of this fly (discussed below).

Score Boost ('Resistor' Fly)

Increases Frogger's score by an amount corresponding to the "resistor pattern" shown on the fly.

Small Score (Butterflies)

These are the butterflies seen on various levels such as Mower Mania or Boulder Alley. They are 3D models and are not covered here.

Reduce Score (Black/Red Score Fly)

Reduces the player's score by 500. Appears much smaller than regular score flies in-game, despite using a variant of the same sprite.
Reducing your score below an extra life threshold(10k, 20k, etc...) does NOT allow you to gain another life, though you can gain a life if you have less than 500 points due to a score underflow.

-500

Speedup Time (Black/Red Time Fly)

Speeds up the rate which the game timer counts down. There is no situation where this is beneficial. Unlike normal time flies, these will not respawn.

The game's manual states that this is the +2 time fly, which is blatantly false and likely to lead to a "Time Out!" death. It does mention a "Bad" time fly, but only provides a grayscale image and fails to mention its color.

Extra Life (Mini Frogger)

Please elaborate. Having more detail is always a good thing. Specifically: Note when the rainbow version was added.

Increases the player's life counter by one.

Seen from Build 29	Final game

These used the same sprite as fireflies before Build 29(see the Build 02 sprite below).

Auto-hop (Green Grasshopper)

Allows the player to press and hold the directional buttons to hop instead of repeatedly tapping. Has no effect on Super Hops. Lasts for 10 seconds, during which time Frogger 'hops' on the spot using a special animation. The player will not gain points for normal hops during this time (unless Quick Jump is active).

Build: PSX Alpha	Seen from E3 Build (June 12) to final.

Super Tongue (Worm)

The super tongue doubles the range of Frogger's tongue for 15 seconds. Frogger's tongue glows yellow too.

Build: PSX Alpha	Seen from E3 Build (June 12) to final.

Quick Jump (Blue Grasshopper)

Frogger's normal hops take half the time to complete(Super Hops are unaffected), allowing double movement speed. Lasts for 8 seconds, and boosts score gained per hop from 5 to 50. Can be combined with the effects of Auto-hop for extremely fast movement.

Build: PSX Alpha	Seen from E3 Build (June 12) to final.

Light (Glow Worm / Firefly)

Found exclusively in Cave levels. Increases the radius of the light surrounding Frogger, which deteriorates over time. Can only increase light up to a maximum distance, defined by an entity found within each level.

Build: PSX Alpha	Seen from E3 Build (June 12).
Seen from Build 2.	Seen from Build 50.

Dark Dark Cavern features fireflies that travel around the level on paths. These use the same sprite as other fireflies, but give 250 score instead and provide no light boost, making them functionally similar to the butterflies found in other zones.

Super Light (Fat Firefly)

Sets the lighting in Cave Zone to max. Appears only once in Webs Cavern, and uses a buzzing sound that is completely unique to itself.
In earlier builds, these bugs are more plentiful, and will additionally freeze Frogger and pan the camera to a specified location, to give an overview of the web mazes.
This camera panning ability was removed before the final release, but still remains commented out within the game's code.

Build: PSX Alpha	Seen from E3 Build (June 12).	Seen from Build 50 to final.

Auto-slurp (Caterpillar, Unused)

Frogger's tongue automatically collects any pickups within range without slowing down movement.

Build: PSX Alpha	Seen from E3 Build (June 12).

Freeze (Small Blue Snail, Unused)

All entities in the world stop moving for a short period of time.

Build: PSX Alpha	Seen from E3 Build (June 12).

Slow Down (Small Snail, Unused)

All entities in the world slow down for a short period of time.

Build: PSX Alpha	Seen from E3 Build (June 12).

Super Croak (Juicy Maggot, Unused)

Causes the croak "wind-down" time to last for longer, causing the lighting boost in Cave levels to last longer.
Multiplayer: Increases the distance which other frogs are "scared" from. (When you croak, the other frogs are too "scared" to move)

Build: PSX Alpha	Seen from E3 Build (June 12).

Invisibility (Stick Insect, Unused)

Frogger becomes invisible for a period of time. Every jump between entities is worth extra points.
It's unclear if a texture was ever made for this bug or not.

Plague (Small Wasp, Unused)

Multiplayer Only
The frog which currently has this will be at some disadvantage (score goes backwards, joypad is reversed, something chases them, etc). Touching another frog takes it away from you and gives it to them.

Build: PSX Alpha	Seen from E3 Build (June 12).