Game Description

Rise and shine, sleepy head; it's time to begin your paper route. Load your bicycle with newspapers and hit the road. Ride through your neighborhood and throw newspapers into subscribers' mailboxes or onto their front porches. If you fail to make a delivery, that particular household will drop their subscription. For extra points, you can break the windows of nonsubscribers' homes.

You may think you've got an easy job, but the life of a Paperboy in this game is a tough one. While on your route, you will be assaulted by workmen, tornadoes, motorcycles, lawn mowers, breakdancers, cars, dogs, and even the Grim Reaper. You can avoid them or throw papers at them for extra points. There are also obstacles you must deal with such as trees, tires, grates, fire hydrants, fences, garbage cans, and man holes.

The game is set up by days of the week. At the end of each day, you will compete in a training course made up of obstacles, ramps, and targets.

Based on the 1984 arcade semi-classic, Paperboy spawned a sequel, simply titled Paperboy 2. ~ Brett Alan Weiss, All Game Guide

Roots & Influences

Paperboy for the NES is based on the 1984 arcade game. ~ Brett Alan Weiss, All Game Guide

Review: Enjoyment

Its kind of fun to throw papers at the wide assortment of targets while having to watch out for cars, dogs, and other obstacles. Also, the controls work pretty well. ~ Brett Alan Weiss, All Game Guide

Review: Overall

When Paperboy was new in the arcades in 1984, it was quite the sensation. It seemed as though there was always someone playing the game and a crowd was almost always gathered around to watch. Gamers found Paperboy to be unique, challenging, humorous, and irreverent.

While I thought that Paperboy was a bit overrated, I could certainly understand the appeal of the game. What kid doesn't think it would be cool to be on the kind of paper route where you get rewarded for smashing nonsubscribers' windows and for throwing newspapers at obnoxious neighbors.

Mindscape did a pretty good job of bringing Paperboy to the NES. The overall look of the game is basically intact and so is the bicycling, newspaper-throwing action. There are plenty of obstacles to maneuver around and lots of windows, mailboxes, and enemies to throw papers at.

In terms of variety, Paperboy is hit and miss. Each route has you traveling in the same direction, throwing papers to the same side of the street. However, the eclectic nature of the obstacles (lawn mowers, breakdancers, etc.) helps keep things interesting, and the inclusion of ramps and a timer in the training course helps make it different from the standard paper route.

The music in Paperboy is bland and simplistic, but the sound effects are good, especially the breaking glass.

Paperboy never has been one of my favorite arcade games, but playing it on the NES seems more fun somehow, probably because my expectations are lower, and I don't have to insert a quarter every time I want to play. ~ Brett Alan Weiss, All Game Guide

Review: Graphics

Relative to the power of the two systems, Paperboy for the 8-Bit NES looks much better than Paperboy 2 for the 16-Bit Super Nintendo. ~ Brett Alan Weiss, All Game Guide

Review: Sound

The sound effects are fairly realistic, but the music is lame. ~ Brett Alan Weiss, All Game Guide

Review: Replay Value

The relatively limited movement of the bicycle can get a little old, but the game is challenging enough to keep your attention for a while. ~ Brett Alan Weiss, All Game Guide

Review: Documentation

The manual is unattractive, but it does tell you most of the basics. ~ Brett Alan Weiss, All Game Guide

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