Final Fantasy IX

Frog Catching

I’m Sorry, What?

Yeah… So throughout the game you’ll find four Qu’s Marshes with a Frog Pond buried somewhere inside. Once you have acquired Quina, they will want to catch frogs to eat any time you enter the Frog Pond screen. If you agree, you can then run around as Quina trying to pick up frogs that are on land or very close to land. As you might expect, some marshes are easier than others. The frogs, of course, try to flee.

Warning: Opinion In-Bound

Let me be clear: I don’t think this mini-game is the best use of your time. That being said, you can earn a unique item and some other high-level gear, so for the completionists, the folks who like mini-games, and the frog-a-philes - this page contains everything you need to know about Frog Catching.

You Don’t Gotta Catch ‘em All

It’s easy to get caught up in the moment and try to catch all the frogs in a given pond. The game doesn’t even HINT at warning you how bad an idea that is. All ponds will eventually respawn frogs, but if you clear out all the frogs it takes forever. If you leave at least one male and one female frog, it will go much faster. You’ll know the pond is close to being restocked when you see tadpoles or baby frogs, which grow up and eventually become more frogs that you can catch. Male and female frogs have different markings on their backs, which can be hard to discern for some of us with, ahem, eyes that have experienced lots of life. So when I do this, I usually like to leave at least 4 frogs in an area. That way I’m pretty much guaranteed there will be a male and a female left.

The Golden Frog

Even though there are multiple Qu’s Marshes around the world, at any given time, there is a single Golden Frog in the game. If a Golden Frog is in a given pond, that pond will generate more frogs faster than normal. If you catch it, though, a new Golden Frog will randomly spawn in a different pond somewhere else.

Rewards

As you catch frogs, Quayle will show up and give you stuff. Here’s what he gives you and how many frogs it requires:

2 ->
5 ->
9 ->
15 ->
23 ->
33 ->
45 ->
99 -> Fight with Quayle for a .

Frog Drop

In addition to Quayle’s rewards, one of Quina’s blue magic spells (the stuff they learn from eating enemies) is called “Frog Drop.” It causes a massive frog to fall from the sky and damage an opponent based on how many frogs you’ve caught. The amount of damage dealt by this attack is (Quina’s level) x (Number of frogs caught). So if Level 15 Quina has eaten 10 frogs, it will do 150 points of damage.

Strategy/Locations

You can catch frogs in any of the four marsh areas around the map. There’s one on the island you start out on, one just below Black Mage Village, one on the island to the far left of the map and one north (and slightly west) of Oeilvert; it’s also east of Ipsen’s Castle.

If you leave at least one male and one female frog in a pond when you leave, just revisit ponds as the game naturally presents them to you. When you run across a new pond, go ahead and catch a few. When you get a new vehicle, revisit ponds that you caught frogs in before to see if there are more now. But I really wouldn’t just wait outside one pond for more frogs - it will take forever and the rewards aren’t that worth it.

Fighting Quayle

Save when you catch your 98th frog, then have the party prepare for battle (see below). When you finally get your 99th frog, Quayle will appear and challenge you to…

Boss Battle: Quayle

Watch For	Details
Steal	, , , and an .
Prep	Auto-Regen, Auto-Haste, and all help. , , and are very useful if Quina has them.
Watch Out	Return Magic. He is also immune to the status abnormalities he casts at you.
Avoid	Status magic, the trick, water magic, and Auto-Reflect. Water attacks heal him, and Auto-Reflect can get annoying fast.
Damage	Flare, , , Shock, Thievery, Dragon’s Crest, and Zidane’s Grand Lethal all work well.
Reward	from the battle, plus the reward for catching 99 frogs.

I made extensive use of Quina’s various blue magic spells. The first thing I did was set up . I also made use of to restore HP and to cure status abnormalities. The only thing it didn’t cure was confuse, but I had Dagger equipped with a weak weapon, so she could just smack whoever was confused (unless it was her). Once I had stolen everything, I just wailed on him. In a concerted effort to make up for all the times it’s killed me off right before I defeated a boss, the game gave Zidane JUST AFTER I finished stealing. I was able to Grand Lethal the snot out of him. :D Flare does a decent amount of damage, as does , since by definition you’ve got at least 99 times your level in damage by the time you get here. , Shock, Thievery, and Dragon’s Crest are all pretty powerful here, too. Since I was going after him on Disc 4, this wasn’t really much of a fight. I mopped the floor with him. I got an from the battle.