“Friday Old Games” is a series of articles in which we review a game from the older generations of consoles, share why we picked it, and whether or not it holds up with time.

The first thing that sets Paperboy apart from other games of it’s day is the story. Paperboy isn’t out to save a princess and he isn’t trying to save the world. He is just a guy trying to do his job.

Paperboy’s only goal is to deliver to his fellow townsfolk their newspaper. Sure he might knock over a few headstones, or break a window or two, but he is just a kid trying to earn a little money. I like to imagine that Paperboy is saving up to take his dream girl out for a night on the town.

The goal of the game is simple: deliver papers to your customers. You get more points for getting the paper in the mailbox and bonus points for destroying the stuff of non-customers.

Your delivery route takes you down the most dangerous street in the world. Battle hardened soldiers would hesitate before venturing down this street, and the protagonist is no Captain America. You face countless obstacles from dogs, crazy old ladies, r.c. cars, tornadoes, breakdancers, even Death himself. It is like stepping into the “Hurt Locker,” you’re just waiting for something to pop out and kill you. At the end of the street is a training course where you can hit jumps and throw papers through targets for more points. Performing well on the training course is a key part of getting high scores.

The game forces you to strike a balance between speed and caution. If you go too fast you won’t have time to dodge the dozens of obstacles in your path. If you go too slow a little dog or little old lady will most likely chase you down from behind. I like to go a little faster than is probably sensible and chuck the papers as I fly by. I pretty much rely on providence to insure that my papers make it to the mailbox.

Why did I pick this game?

This was one of those old school games that I grew to appreciate over the years. When I was a kid I didn’t understand the simple genius of the premise. I was also put off by the game’s brutal difficulty. It wasn’t until I married my wife that I really played Paperboy for any length of time. It was her favorite game when she was growing up so we had to play it. I went out and found a Midway Arcade Collection and she insisted we play on hard. Playing Paperboy on hard is like standing in a circle of runes and calling out the names of ancient sleeping Lovecraftian gods. It’s not going to end well.

Even though I died a lot and reset numerous times (and might have yelled at the television once or twice) I still had a fun time. There is something about Paperboy that makes me want to go for a perfect run. I convince myself that I am always on the verge of perfection. If only I hadn’t ran into the r.c. car or the little old lady hadn’t surprised me, I could make it all the way to Sunday. It is that feeling of always being on the cusp of greatness that keeps me coming back.

Is it worth playing now?

Captain America and I highly recommend this game. Paperboy did receive a couple of updates and sequels, but none of them ever seemed to quite capture the magic of the original release. I recommend either tracking down an old NES copy or picking up a Midway Arcade Treasures. Or if you have one of those newfangled next gen systems you can download it.

Tags: arcade games, Captain America, Friday Old Games, NES, Paperboy, ports

This entry was posted on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 9:38 am and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.