Paperboy

Platforms: Acorn Electron, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Apple IIgs, Arcade, Atari Lynx, Atari ST, BBC Micro, Commodore 16 & Plus/4, Commodore 64, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, IBM PC/Compatibles, NES / Famicom, Sega Genesis / Mega Drive, Sega Master System, ZX Spectrum

Also Known As

Genres

Main Genre:
Action
Perspective:
3rd-Person , Isometric
Visual Presentation:
Scrolling (Horizontal or Vertical)

Overview

Tandy 1000 version of Paperboy
Tandy 1000 version of Paperboy
Paperboy is an arcade game originally released by Atari Games in April 1985. It was later ported to numerous home computers and game consoles. In the game players control a paperboy riding a bicycle on a suburban street; the goal is to deliver papers to all of the customer houses while avoiding obstacles. A sequel, Paperboy 2, was later released for several home systems.

Gameplay

The game begins with some houses being customers while some are not; the goal is to deliver papers to all customer houses by throwing a paper either in the mailbox or on the front porch. Customers can be identified by house color; customer houses are bright colors while non-customer houses are dark. If a paper is not delivered to a customer or any damage is done, such as breaking a window, to a customer house it will no longer be a customer on the next day. The game is over if all customers are lost; if a paper is delivered to all of the customers, a new house will become a customer the next day. Along the way, bonus points are earned for damage to non-customer houses and other targets. The paperboy can only carry 10 newspapers at a time; bundles of papers can be found on the sidewalk at certain points and can be picked up to replenish the supply.

Along the road there are numerous obstacles that can knock the paperboy off of his bike; these include cars, storm drains, pedestrians, fences, and more. Some obstacles can be stopped by hitting it with a newspaper (for example, a running dog will stop chasing the paperboy if it is hit). Other obstacles are unaffected when hit with a paper. Players begin the game with a limited number of lives, and a life is lost each time the paperboy crashes into an obstacle. At the end of each day there is a bonus obstacle course containing numerous targets, ramps, walls, and other dangers; bonus points are earned for hitting the targets with newspapers.

Controls

The original arcade version of Paperboy featured controls that replicated a bicycle handle bar. The handle bars could be turned left or right to guide the paperboy, or pushed forward to speed up and pulled back to slow down; a button on each side would throw a newspaper. The home versions utilized either a standard joystick or keyboard depending on the system.

Credits

Platform: Arcade
The Paperboy Team
Programmer: John Salwitz
Artist: Dave Ralston
Hardware Designer: Doug Snyder
Project Coordinator: Russell Dawe
Technician: Linda Sinkovic
Sound Designers: Hal Canon, Earl Vickers
Mechanical Engineer: Milt Loper
Animator: Will Noble
Platform: Commodore 16 & Plus/4
C-16 version written by: Jörg Dierks

Pictures

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Paperboy
Arcade Version

Marketing

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Game Features

This game has been tagged with the following features: