Paperboy

Paperboy
a game by Tengen, Atari Co., and Mindscape
Genres: Action, Arcade Classics, Educational/Kids
Platforms: Sega GenesisGenesis, GameBoy Color, Sega Master SystemSega Master System, NESNES, Lynx, GameGear, GameBoy
Editor Rating: 4.5/10, based on 14 reviews, 16 reviews are shown
User Rating: 7.3/10 - 6 votes
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See also: Bike Games, Paperboy Games

Remember those childhood days when you got up at five in the morning to brave the pre-dawn streets of your hometown in order to deliver the morning paper? Rise and shine, those days are back! Only this time you can do it all in the comfort of your living room, any time you want.

Hot Off the Arcades

You loved the coin-op but could never find Paperboy for your Sega Genesis, right? Well, now you can, and the designers at Tengen have done an outstanding job of recreating the feel of the arcade version.

You start out with a map of your route and a full bag of papers -- remember to save them all for your customers -- a wasted paper can mean a lost subscription later on in your route. You get three levels of difficulty. Each level divided into seven days of paper delivery which get progressively harder.

The object is to toss the newspapers where your customers can get them. You can swerve onto the street or dash across a freshly-mowed lawn in order to get the job done. There are rich rewards in store for you if you can hit the porch or the mailbox with your shots -but that takes timing and a steady aim. One false move and you'll put a paper through a window -- a sure fire way to lose a subscriber.

It isn't the end of the world if you lose a paper or two along the way; your manager leaves stacks in key positions -- he expects that you'll have a little trouble.

ProTips:

  • Study your subscription route before each round. During the harder levels it pays to know where your subscribers live. Also, don't break the windows, you'll lose a subscriber for sure.
  • Unlike the arcade version, here houses are painted different colors. The best way to identify your subscribers' houses is to look for the mailboxes -- they're the only ones who have them.

Unfriendly Faces

We all know that mailmen battle rain, snow, sleet, and hail, but it's a sure bet they've never had to face the menaces which line the streets of your paper route! You just happen to work the toughest street in the area. Whether you select Easy Street or the Hard Road, you're up against an army of nasty obstacles that realty makes it tough for you to get your papers out on time, or alive for that matter.

The safest place on the street is in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. Very little can get you up there, especially if you are constantly steering right.

From the first house you've got to avoid the punkers on unicycles -- they don't move for anybody. Don't swerve too far to avoid them though, you might run into a delinquent child on a Big Wheel -- a real terror from below.

And the dogs of the neighborhood are not your best friends. They lie in wait for you on your route and pounce as soon as you're

You'll also run across assorted road-way hazards -- some strange and some rather normal. Runaway lawnmowers cut you down when you wander onto a "friendly" lawn, or you might swerve off the sidewalk straight into a drainage ditch. You've got to play heads up!

The Riches at the End of the Road

Whew! You've made it through another frantic day on the street, now it's time to show us what you've really got! A hotshot obstacle course awaits you at the end of your route. Use your extra papers to rack up bonus points by knocking down targets. Jump rivers and swerve around the course to arrive at the grandstand filled with your cheering, faithful fans. Who ever said paperboys get no respect? The rewards are short-lived however, the news waits for no one.

Now, another day awaits you, only this time the street is even more menacing. Also, you've got cancelled subscriptions to deal with -- make sure you keep your customers happy, without them you're nothing. But, hey, who ever said a paperboy's job was easy?

Be sure to pick up extra papers before you finish your route. Even though you may not have any more customers, it's nice to have a full basket when the bonus round comes along.

Extra, extra!

Paperboy gives you another smash hit to keep your systems running full tilt. Fast-paced action combined with superb graphics make for a tremendous rendition of this arcade classic. Paperboy delivers.

Download Paperboy

Genesis

System requirements:

  • PC compatible
  • Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP
  • Game modes: Single game mode

Player controls:

  • Up, Down, Left, Right - Arrow keys
  • Start - Enter (Pause, Menu select, Skip intro, Inventory)
  • "A" Gamepad button - Ctrl (usually Jump or Change weapon)
  • "B" button - Space (Jump, Fire, Menu select)
  • "C" button - Left Shift (Item select)

Use the F12 key to toggle mouse capture / release when using the mouse as a controller.

GBC

System requirements:

  • PC compatible
  • Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP
Sega Master System

System requirements:

  • PC compatible
  • Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP
NES

System requirements:

  • PC compatible
  • Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP
  • P-200, 32 MB RAM
Lynx

System requirements:

  • PC compatible
  • Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP
GameGear

System requirements:

  • PC compatible
  • Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP
Gameboy

System requirements:

  • PC compatible
  • Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP

Game Reviews

Streets of Rage

Sound familiar? If you've lived through this scenario, Tengen's Paperboy for the Genesis should be easy. The object is to steer your paperboy down an obstacle littered street I and toss papers to the porches and mailboxes of subscribers.

If this game took place in a normal American suburb, it would be a breeze. This suburb, however, is far from normal.

There's no timer, so you can deliver your bundle of newsprint as slowly or as quickly as you want. But even Easy Street, the game's first level, is a literal mine field of wandering drunks, giant cats, bratty kids, skateboarders, and moving vehicles.

The game, like the original arcade hit, has you pedalling diagonally across your screen, (from the lower left hand comer to the upper right hand comer). Obstacles spring in front of you, or jump at you from your left, which is where you have to throw your papers.

At the end of each day, you're awarded points for each successful delivery -- double points if you delivered I your papers to EVERY customer.

You also get points when you cause damage to non-subscribers.

That'll teach them for reading that OTHER paper!

ProTip: On Easy Street, take your time delivering to the first two houses, and don't worry about the rest If you only have two subscribers and you deliver every tone, you'll net 1000 points total (500x2) each day. Plus, you'll have an easier time making it through the week.

Paper Moon

Paperboy is a faithful translation of the arcade classic, complete with all the thrills and spills that made the original so popular. Tengen has even improved the game by adding plenty of digitized voices. Paperboy may not prepare you for the working world, but it certainly will clue you in to some of its hazards!

Here's another arcade conversion...we think we see a trend here! You take the role of the periodical heaving kid whose job it is to deliver papers to every house on his route. Chuck papers through the windows of non-subscribers for bonus points. Avoid dogs, traffic, and other typical paper-delivering hazards while trying to satisfy your current subscribers.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Now you can play the arcade classic Paperboy anywhere you want to with the Atari Lynx! And Paperboy fans everywhere will be elated to know that this version is extremely faithful to its arcade forerunner and is every bit as fun.

Gimme Some Dough!

You need some spending money, and delivering the local newspaper is the only job around. To your dismay, you discover that your new route is fearfully called "Calamity Way." Over three dozen paperboys have already tried and failed to keep this route!

Fingin' Papers

Your objective is to make it through an entire week (7 days) without losing all your customers-or your lives. At the start of each day, you get a map of the houses on your route. Then, mounted on your trusty bike, you deliver papers to all the yellow houses.

Be careful not to miss a delivery or accidently break a window because these customers will cancel their service. And don't deliver any papers to the creepy non-customers. At the end of each day, your customer map turns any residences you lose into grey non-customer homes.

Bet Off 'a the Road!

A multitude of hazards stands between you and your deliveries. Keep an eye out for kamikaze trikes, radio-controlled toy cars, road workers, rabid pets, and other nuisances intent upon knocking you off your route! You also have to cross intersections terrorized by speeding bikers and sports car nuts!

Rackin' Un a Score

In addition to completing your week's deliveries, try to accumulate as many points as possible since every 10,000 points scores an extra life. The easiest way to build up your score is to consistently deliver papers to your customers, but you can also accumulate points if you terrorize non-customers by breaking their windows, knocking over their garbage cans, or smashing the gravestones in their front yards. Additionally, you score by ramming obstacles and completing the obstacle course at the end of the day.

Comin' Back fer More!

Paperboy shines as well on the Lynx as it does in the arcades. The graphics are nicely detailed, and the gamepiay is easy to control. However, arcade vets will notice that the signature Paperboy theme song and sound effects aren't up to par. Despite these minimal shortcomings, this light-hearted game is a welcome change of pace from the usual hack'n slash high jinks and space shoot-em-ups. Paperboy really delivers!

ProTips:

  • You won't lose a life if you crash during the obstacle course, so take your
  • Stay on the night edge of the sidewalk in the upper right hand corner of the screen as much as possible. This is the best place to be in order to react to sudden obstacles. Remember, you can ride off the sidewalk onto the road at any time, but you can only ride onto the sidewalk from the road at driveway.
  • If just finishing the game is your goal, make perfect deliveries to the very first house since you only have to keep one customer to continue to the next day. Then you can concentrate on avoiding obstacles and racking up points.

This translation of Paperboy for Lynx brings home all of the action from the coin-op. Peddle your bicycle through the neighborhood delivering papers to your subscribers' homes. Watch out for mad dogs, remote- controlled cars, and careless drivers as you try to survive an entire week in the burbs. If you make it through the week, you get to keep your job!

  • Manufacturer: Mindscape
  • Machine: Amiga, Apple ll/GS, Atari ST, Commodore 64, IBM PC

In the wake of the early '80s success of coin-ops like Pac-Man, Dig Dug, BurgerTime and Mr. Do, so-called "cute games" flooded the family amusement centers. Atari Games led the way with many machines which attempted to combine strong action elements with ultra-charming graphics.

Titles such as Zoo Keeper and Food Fight gained some popularity, but they never matched the fame of the earlier hits. Arcades were in one of their periodic recessions, so most of these games never got home editions. Perhaps the most entertaining of them all was Paperboy. Now, thanks to Mindscape, home computer gamers can enjoy the challenging play and sparkling animation of this largely forgotten classic.

Clearly, it couldn't have fallen into better hands than those of the good folks in Northbrook. Despite its age, Paperboy doesn't look a bit like an antique. The Amiga edition, in particular, features some of the most delightful artwork and animation seen in any game this year.

The theme is so mundane that, in a sea of wild fantasies and phantasmagoric science-fiction disks, it seems strikingly different. The player guides a bicycle-mounted paper delivery boy along the streets of a small town. The goal is to deliver all the papers by tossing one into each subscriber's box.

What could be easier than that, right? Wrong! Perils appear from every direction, even at the simplest of the game's three skill levels. "Easy Street" is only easy in comparison to the other two roads.

It is no coincidence that the gamer gets six "lives", twice as many as in games that seem harder because they move at higher speed. In truth, Paperboy is almost leisurely compared to Mindscape's other arcade-to-home translations, but it is no pushover even for experienced gamers. The bicycle can't make sharp turns, so obstacles must be identified quickly if the player is to have even a slim chance of avoiding them.

Pedestrians dash into the bike's path, boom boxes and toys litter the sidewalk, loose rolling tires can send the paperboy sprawling, dogs nip at heels, and impassible gates block the sidewalk at several points. When the hero crosses the street, reckless vehicles rush through the crosswalk, oblivious of his safety. And if circumstances force the bicycle into the street, open manholes and treacherous sewer grates cause nasty spills.

The goal is to get the paperboy through his route in one piece while delivering papers to all the houses with paper boxes. These houses are easily distinguished by their yellow paint scheme. Hardware limitations cause all buildings to look yellow in the IBM PC edition. The gamer must look for boxes labeled "subscriber" in that version.

A bonus screen appears at the completion of the route. The paperboy must zip through this gauntlet as quickly as possible, tossing papers at targets along the way to earn additional points. The player also gets points for throwing papers through the windows of nonsubscribers and for hitting garbage cans and gravestones along the regular route.

Considering the relative scarcity of arcade-style games for home computers, the arrival of Paperboy is especially welcome. And even a half-decade in obscurity has not dimmed its luster.

It delivers!

No need to worry, your local Paperboy is on the scene! The arcade classic blasts its way to the small screen in all its glamour. Take on some of the roughest paper routes ever and attempt to deliver to the worst customers (and some nasty non-customers) in the city! These people aren't going to make life easy for you. They leave toys out and park their cars right in your path! Don't ever bother trying to get the motorists to stop! Kids love playing practical jokes on you, and guard dogs don't thrive on your company. So if you think you can handle the business, go on, take the challenge. Along the way, bust a few windows, knock over some trash, and show these folks who's the boss!

Hop on your bike and hit the sidewalks in order to get all your papers delivered to your customers. Watch out for dogs, cars and wild lawnmowers as you ride down your route.

  • Category: Arcade/Action
  • Recommended Age Group: 8 and Up

Delivered straight from the arcade and into your home comes Paperboy, the classic coin-op smash! You're a brave paperboy in a neighborhood filled with trouble. Deliver each day's paper to the doorstep (or the mail-box) of subscribers while smashing the windows and lawns of non-subscribers. Miss a house and you lose a subscriber - but make a perfect delivery and you'll find another reader waiting for the next day's paper.

  • Players: One or two players alternating
  • Rounds of Play: Seven (Monday through Sunday)

Playing Tips: Watch where you're going! Try to stay on the sidewalk, but if an obstacle or character happens to wander in front of your bike, don't hesitate to head for the street or on the lawn of one of the homes. Also, keep track of how many papers you have remaining. If you have a lot in reserve and you see another stack approaching, let all of your papers go into one of the nonsubscriber's houses for some extra points! Watch out when you're crossing the street or you may end up as a hood ornament! When you get to the final bonus screen at the end of every day, try to hit as many of the targets as you can - you will have an unlimited number of papers so use them!

Delivering papers is an overrated job – bad hours, bad pay, innumerable hazardous conditions, and hard work. If you've taken the SNES Paperboy route, you'll find similar customers on the 3/4 overhead-view Genesis route. You have three weeks to test your biking and paper-tossing skills. If you make it through a week, you get a bonus round training course. To go that extra mile, you must perform four types of good deeds in order to earn 100 Boy Scout points. Wake up early and take to your neighborhood streets.

The toughest delivery route a Paperboy ever attempted, Atari's arcade game of the same name is coming to Genesis crash courses later this year. Grab a stack of hot-off-the-presses papers, make a prompt and courteous delivery, and don't forget to smash windows for bonus points! News REALLY travels fast in Paperboy.

Paperboy's ready and waiting to deliver some fun to your Genesis system. This familiar title is an action adventure game in which the seemingly simple task of delivering papers becomes a wild ride through the mean streets of your hometown. You've got just seven days to deliver all the daily newspapers, keep all your customers happy, and stay alive. Miss deliveries or break a few windows and your customers may cancel their subscriptions -- not good! Every neighborhood has its share of hazards, too, so watch out for the vicious dogs, radio-controlled cars, dangerous intersections, and more. If it's mischief you've got on your mind, you can terrorize non-customers by breaking their windows and knocking over their garbage cans to earn extra points. The news waits for no one, so get ready to ride, ride, ride.

Paper boy is one of those true nineteen eighties classics, You play a paper delivery boy trying to avoid obstacles in your path, your aim is to deliver as many papers with out damaging peoples houses or you will lose subscribers also lives each time you come a cropper to cars and a such!, You then have to join into a bike race to receive a bonus!.

The graphics are of the cartoon style and charming but not sharp, The sound is not great but hey "It's all about the game play!" which is strangely addictive, Be prepared for many a day of saying "Where did that come from", and "What happened there?"....

At first i found myself thinking 'Who doesn't know Paperboy?' I then realised that i'm showing my age... So for those of you under the age of 18 who won't remember this game, here goes! You play (as the title suggests) a paperboy whose task is to deliver as many newspapers to the correct houses as possible. As you cycle up the road, you must avoid the cars, puddles, angry dogs and senile elderly people, just as a real paperboy would! You complete each level and progress by reaching the end of each level with at least 1 life intact, and having delivered your papers correctly. Part of the fun of this game is scoring bonus points for smashing windows while throwing your papers! If you're into retro games - this is the boy!

The highly successful arcade and Nintendo game is coming to the Master System this fall. You as a newspaper delivery boy have a job which sounds rather simple - make sure that everybody on your route gets a paper once a day. But it's not that easy as the sidewalks and streets are filled with mad dogs, road obstacles, kids on big wheels and cars who just don't watch where they are going. Three different routes to choose from and lots of challenging action and fun.

Mindscape's monster hit from the arcades and the NES is coming to a Game Boy near you. Hey, now you don't have to get up at 5 am. to have the thrill of delivering papers. Toss them from the comfort of your favorite lounging place. Paperboy for the Game Boy features all of your favorite suburban enemies. Toss papers into the boxes of your favorite subscribers and make sure to break the windows of nonsubscribers! Along the way you'll have to avoid tricycles, lawnmow-ers, bratty kids, and some less than friendly canines. It's all rather simple, as long as you stay on your bike and don't get run over by any cars. It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it.

Snapshots and Media

Atari Lynx Screenshots

Sega Genesis/Mega Drive Screenshots

NES/Famicom/Dendy Screenshots

GameBoy Color Screenshots

Sega Master System Screenshots

GameGear Screenshots

GameBoy Screenshots

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