A Look At The Boxed Edition Of Trap Runner

For more details about the game and where to download it, check out my previous write-up here. I had planned to do a full review of the game alongside this box review, but that will have to wait until I’ve had a chance to cool down a bit.

My initial reaction to the box was “meh!”—and no, it wasn’t because it looked bad. I had just expected it to come in a proper cardboard box, not yet another DVD-style case.

That said, the colors and design are actually pretty cool, and the print quality is excellent.

The front page of the manual looks even better than the box— I absolutely love it!

The floppy design is simple but effective, and the color scheme is fantastic.

Hold on, though—where’s the CD? I have to admit, I was expecting to find a CD32 disc in the box alongside the floppy.

The manual is small, but its use of colors and imagery is outstanding.

The story from the game’s intro is included in the manual, and it actually looks even better on paper than it does in the game, thanks to the high print quality.

An A3 Trap Runner poster is also included in the box, and I really love the style and design. Apologies for the poor picture, but I prefer not to fully unfold posters since it can cause damage over time.

Here’s another downside to the box: APC-TCP used to create great floppy boxes, but this one is a major letdown. There’s no way to secure the floppy disk inside the case, and the same goes for the manual and poster—everything just rattles around loose.

With the recent surge in CD32 titles, you’d think they’d include a CD in the box as well. It would have added minimal extra cost while likely increasing sales, especially considering all the box work has already been done. This was definitely a disappointment. That said, the game does work fine on the CD32 if you have a floppy drive attached (via an expansion like the SX-1, etc.).

I understand that this is a limited production and that they wanted to keep the price low, but this is a bit much—come on!

Trap Runner deserves a far better box than the one APC-TCP has delivered here. I might have had overly high expectations, but at this point, I’m honestly questioning whether it would have been more worthwhile to just donate money directly to Night Owl Design & Retroguru. The best thing about this release is that it happened, and we’ve added another great title to our collection. This box might have been acceptable for most games, but this is Trap Runner, for crying out loud!

What’s frustrating is that I know APC-TCP is capable of much better. I’ve got most of the games they’ve published over the last 25+ years, and I expected them to deliver a proper collectible and display-worthy item here.

I’ve attached the previous article below—enjoy!

Trap Runner Out Now – With Big Box Version TBA