Zapper coming to Xbox Originals, why are you laughing?

by Justin McElroy { Nov 14th 2008 at 9:45AM }

You know that song, "Live Like You Were Dying?" You know what near-death activity you won't find in there between "Rocky Mountain climbin'" and going "2.7 seconds on a bull named Fu Manchu?" "Turning forgettable Frogger 2 rip-off Zapper into an Xbox Original." Likewise, "playing Zapper" or "ever thinking about Zapper" are also conspicuously absent. In fact, we'd wager that you could gather the bucket lists of every member of humanity and never see Zapper mentioned once.

This is why we should have been consulted before a single member of humanity was tasked with spending one nanosecond of their time turning Zapper into a 1200-point Xbox Original. Then we could have advised them that they'd be better off wadding all that time into a big chrono-ball, putting it in a rocket and shooting it into the sun.

Tags: atari, xbox-originals, zapper

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

JAmerican @ Nov 14th 2008 10:03AM

LOL! Game looks like its from N64 days. Block-like graphics!!

ZaxCG2 @ Nov 14th 2008 11:02AM

THATS THE BEST KIND, FOOL!

JoeTheBlow @ Nov 14th 2008 10:10AM

That 1st paragraph made absolutely NO sense to me.
Lay off the pot, Justin.

Zertoss @ Nov 14th 2008 10:26AM

It makes perfect sense to me.

Mike @ Nov 14th 2008 11:04AM

Nope, worst post ever. It's just such a stretch for some sort of connection between "near death activity" and making Zapper an Xbox original - it's just weak. Also, Justin, please refrain from trying to turn Morgan Freeman movie titles into common nouns.

Justin McElroy @ Nov 14th 2008 11:43AM

The point, Mike, is that neither turning Zapper into an XbO or playing Zapper is something that's on anyone's "Must Do" list. I'm sorry if I left you in the dark there.

And as far as turning bucket list into a common noun, you might have gathered that I'm not talking about the movie, but rather actual lists of things people want to do before they die. So, yeah, that's a common noun.

Mike @ Nov 14th 2008 11:53AM

Thanks for clarifying Justin! I think I really get it now. And it's still bad!

Zertoss @ Nov 14th 2008 12:55PM

Actually, Mike, just like all the other trolls, you're just not very smart.

Dustin @ Nov 14th 2008 3:50PM

What's up guys! Does anybody know where I can get some roms?

jumpshot @ Nov 14th 2008 4:18PM

Maybe you should lay ON "the pot", good sir.

ChuckD @ Nov 14th 2008 10:16AM

Effing hell. Zapper? Seriously?

It's a crime that there are still Microsoft Game Studios games from the original Xbox that are unplayable on the 360.

Alien Lord @ Nov 14th 2008 10:20AM

This doesn't make sense, the game barely registered on the shit-worth-taking-note-of-o-meter and MS wants to re-release it.

Felipe @ Nov 14th 2008 10:22AM

this post made no sense. all i understand is: crappy old game, 1200 ms points, do not buy. why waste time on bringing a crappy game back from the dead where it was happy and resurrect it just so it can suffer more?

Haggard @ Nov 14th 2008 10:46AM

If it didn't make sense, how did you just summarise it?

Felipe @ Nov 14th 2008 10:48AM

i meant the majority of it. i only got the part where it says that its an xbox original game for 1200 points. the rest seems like random junk to me.

Sinister Rouge @ Nov 14th 2008 10:26AM

Who the fuck is Zapper?

Sinister Rouge @ Nov 14th 2008 10:26AM

And indeed, what the fuck is Zapper?

Josh @ Nov 14th 2008 10:30AM

Hahaha, you're really on a roll this morning, McElroy.

Superstar90 @ Nov 14th 2008 10:31AM

If JSRF comes on Xbox Originals I will buy it in a heartbeat. Do it!

And yes, I have tried looking in stores for a copy.

baby sea tuna @ Nov 14th 2008 11:35AM

I might have it in my closet somewhere. I can look. Is it BC?

Batzarro @ Nov 14th 2008 12:18PM

Ha! I got my JSRF-Sega GT combo years ago on the cheap. "Not for retail" Pah!

AoE @ Nov 14th 2008 4:23PM

@Batzarro,

But that sweet, sweet combo disk you have is not backward compatible...

Batzarro @ Nov 14th 2008 11:37PM

I'll check. I haven't tried it since I go t stuck saving Prof K years ago.

Misfit Toy @ Nov 14th 2008 10:32AM

WTF

Misfit Toy @ Nov 14th 2008 10:39AM

Talk about a waste of everyone's time and Microsoft's money. I can think of 100s of games that should have come out before this one.

What committee did this game go through to get selected?

"Hey guys, how about Zapper?"
"Zapper?!? Never heard of it? Is it a shooter?"
"No, well, let me read you what it says here...You must help Zapper the Cricket avoid traps and enemies in this action-puzzle game. When Zapper's brother gets kidnapped it's time for payback! Zapper has four interactive worlds each with dangerous hazards you must avoid eggs you must capture and a final battle. Use Zapper's electric antennae to defeat the enemy."
"WTF!?!"
"Well, I like it..."
"Make it so!"

Grant @ Nov 14th 2008 10:43AM

I'm assuming they used the ol' "pull a random game title out of a hat" method to decide to port this one. I feel bad for the poor sucker who is curious what this is and wastes way too much money on a shit game.

RobertN @ Nov 14th 2008 10:57AM

I have this game for PC! It's actually pretty fun. 1200 seems like a lot for it though, if it was like 400 or even 800 i might consider it!

ZaxCG2 @ Nov 14th 2008 11:04AM

If it's anything like the Frogger 3D titles, I would imagine it being fun. Just... why didn't they choose Frogger 3D?

RobertN @ Nov 14th 2008 1:23PM

maybe due to licensing? maybe zapper is a cheaper character than frogger.

also, only frogger beyond and frogger ancient shadow were released on xbox. the others were exclusive to playstation and pc.

xrayzwei @ Nov 14th 2008 11:31AM

If everyone would put one game into their 360 tonight that isn't backwards compatible (Timesplitters 2 or Beyond Good and Evil) maybe we wouldn't get this crap on Xbox Originals.

WiNG [Life in a Game] @ Nov 14th 2008 11:39AM

You know, or they could release a game at least 1 person ever heard of.

YouStayClassy @ Nov 14th 2008 12:02PM

WTF?! Um..... epic fail anyone? And 1200 points no less?!

mat parker @ Nov 14th 2008 1:17PM

Zapper: One Wicked Cricket is an adventure game for the Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2 and PC. The game was developed by Blitz Games and published by Infogrames. Zapper was released in North America in November 2002.

In this game, the player's aim is to traverse over 20 levels as Zapper the cricket in an effort to save Zapper's brother from an evil foe. Along the way you must collect 6 eggs in each level. The concept behind Zapper's gameplay is similar to the classic game Frogger, and is in fact described in the GameSpot review as "basically just Frogger without the license" [1]. Zapper received average scores from reviewers, with Game Rankings listing its average review score from a variety of sources being between 56 and 59.5%.

Zapper was recently announced as the latest title to become available on Xbox Live as part of the 'Xbox Originals' range