Zapper: One Wicked Cricket! was noted in reviews for being a spiritual successor to Frogger 2: Swampy's Revenge, a game also developed by Blitz Games under contract by Hasbro Interactive in 2000. The following year, Hasbro Interactive was acquired by Infogrames, and their license for the Frogger IP granted to them by Konami in the late 1990s expired. This prevented Blitz Games from using the IP again despite later pitches for new Frogger games, resulting in them developing Zapper as a new IP with similar gameplay.

The box art for the game differs between the North American and PAL versions. The North American box art features Zapper smirking with a raised eyebrow with a temple in the background and Maggie in the corner. The PAL box art instead has Zapper making a blank, determined expression alone in a dark forest.