15 years later, infamous Konami producer shocked to discover his 3DS Frogger revival is now a collectible in the high-priced retro market: "Every price for everything gets ruined"

Extremely online gamers of a certain age may recognize Tak Fujii as the "one million troops" guy from Konami's infamous E3 2010 press conference. But Ninety-Nine Nights 2 is not the only project he worked on at Konami. He also served as producer on Frogger 3D, a barely-remembered 3DS revival of the classic arcade game. Fujii recently learned that the Japanese version of this game is now an expensive collector's item, and he seems as distraught by the high prices as any modern retro collector.

Fujii was tagged in a tweet showcasing a copy of Frogger 3D priced at ¥19,800 (roughly $125 USD) in a Japanese retro shop, as spotted by Time Extension. "holy now my title became collectible," Fujii says in response. "Why I don't have a copy in my hand????"

North American versions of Frogger 3D are fairly common and inexpensive – with the notable exception of the edition that comes with a special 3DS case emblazoned with Frogger iconography – but that's not the case for the Japanese version. Numerous eBay listings for Japanese copies are set above $200, and while that doesn't necessarily mean collectors are willing to pay that amount, it does suggest this is an unusually rare and sought-after game.

In response to one commenter who says that the retro game market was "ruined" in the wake of COVID, Fujii laments that "every price for everything gets ruined." (Spoken like someone who's tried to buy a stick of RAM in 2026.) To another fan who bought the game at its original release, Fujii says "I love you," adding "hope you didn't spent $150 for it."

If you don't know who Fujii is, I want you to take 12 minutes and watch the, er, highlight reel of Konami's E3 2010 press conference. Fujii is the guy introducing Ninety-Nine Nights 2 and trying with very little success to hype up the crowd for the "extreeeeeeme hack and slash title." The whole conference is just shy of "Riiiiiidge Raaaacer" in terms of memorable E3 memes, and Fujii's energetically awkward stage presence is a big part of the reason why.

Konami E3 2010 director's cut - YouTube

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His 2011 interview about this very Frogger game, where he asserted that "we don't crap around the Frogger," is almost as good. Clearly, he's in on the jokes, as he adds on Twitter that this is "one of the most extreeeeme frogger ever." And he knows that the retro market is "crazy" these days, as another commenter puts it. "not crazy as me," Fujii responds, "but yeah bro, it's insane."

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