As featured in Retrogaming Times Monthly issue #30, November 2006.

Of the all time arcade classics that stayed with me from my early youth all the way up through high school, Paperboy truly is a game that has stood the test of time.  The premise is simple enough, you are a paperboy delivering newspapers on some of the most dangerous streets to ever been seen in suburbia.  For a successful delivery, papers must be thrown either in paperboxes or on a subscriber's doorstep.  Non-subscribers get no mercy as breakage bonus points are awarded for smashing up their windows and yards with papers.  However things aren't that easy, Paperboy's neighborhood is filled with dangers that range from traffic and stray animals to tornados and runaway lawnmowers.  After completing the day's rounds, head out to the training course to score some bonus points by performing stunts and paper throwing target practice.  Even into the late 1990's a Paperboy arcade upright in close proximity to my high school continued to earn high revenue and the game remains a unique classic.  Four years after appearing in the arcade, Paperboy pedaled his way to the NES but results would be mixed.

Paperboy in the arcade was unlike anything else of its time.  Not only was the game objective a fresh spin on a classic piece of American youth, the control device went even further to bring players into the experience.  Instead of a joystick or a standard control yoke, Paperboy used a replica of bicycle handlebars for bicycle speed and movement.  Pressing the handlebars forward caused your bicycle to accelerate and pulling them back slammed on the brakes.  Buttons mounted beneath the handlebars triggered paper throwing and of course turning the handlebars steered your bicycle.  Thankfully this transfers over well to the NES control pad.  Steering doesn't feel as tight and responsive as it did with with handlebars in the arcade but it's still quite passable.  Acceleration and braking work out to up and down on the control pad respectively and the B and A buttons are used for throwing papers.

The first difference outside of the expected control changes with the NES version is the omission of difficulty selection.  The arcade original begins with the selection of three possible routes, difficulty varying between them: Easy Street, Middle Road, or Hard Way.  On the NES the game simply begins although as the week progresses the difficulty ramps up as it did in the arcade.  The basics of the game remain exactly the same.  Each day begins with an overview of subscribers and non-subscribers on a route map and then the day's work begins.  Missing a delivery or damaging a subscriber's home causes them to become a non-subscriber on the next day.  All of the spoken audio clips that added a great deal of charm and humor to the arcade original are missing on the NES but that is to be expected.  A good job was done with the background music and the in-game and training course music is recreated well.  You can tell a genuine effort was put forward to get as much of the audio package replicated as possible.  However the graphics are a completely different story.

Originally the world of Paperboy was bright, vibrant, colorful and beautiful.  Everything had very detailed animation, smooth graphics, and a very cartoony appearance.  The Paperboy alone had impressive fluid animation, his coat flailed in the wind, he pedaled smoothly, steering and bicycle movement was realistic, and there was a real throwing motion to tossing papers.  Over on the NES things look drab and dull.  There is very little color and animation is lackluster to say the least.  Although the basics are still there, many times it's hard to even know what some of the obstacles and dangers in the game are, due to their undetailed sprites.  Even though the gameplay mechanic remains true, the poor graphics detract far too much from the visual appeal of the original.  This has to be among the worst looking NES games to ever be released.

Anyone that enjoyed the original Paperboy will find little redeeming value in the NES version.  For the most part the entire game is there but it looks horrible and plays a lot slower than the original.  It's another example of one aspect of an arcade port bringing the entire game down around itself, in this case the graphics.  If you hunger for a retrogaming port of Paperboy, pick up the Atari Lynx version, which is a beautiful almost arcade perfect recreation.  Outside of needing it to fill holes in your collection, this port of the exploits of a young boy delivering The Daily Sun should be kicked to the curb.  No matter how bad it is I still played the NES version quite a bit during the time of its release - I was young, I was stupid, I was out of quarters.
 

"InsaneDavid" also runs a slowly growing gaming site at http://www.classicplastic.net/dvgi

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