[Rogue Retro Gaming] Paperboy (NES)

Today we are going to play an addictive and great arcade game ported into the NES called Paperboy, which was released by Atari and Mindscape in 1985.

Some footage of my gameplay

Plot
You are hired as a paper delivery boy, you have to get on your bicycle into a neighbourhood and deliver the paper to the appropriate houses, but beware of the dangers that lie on the road.

Graphics
In this version graphics are ok, objects are easily identifiable, colourful although they could be better. There are also little details like flowers, lawn mowers and trees. It is also a cool touch that windows can be broken if you throw a paper into them.

Sounds
Apart from the standard sound effects used when something hits or when you grab something as to replenish your papers, that is in almost every NES game there is also a sound effect when you break a window with a paper which is a nice touch, other than that doesn't have too much sound effects to talk about. While in the music department you are going to hear the same tune in every day in a 20-second loop, it can be annoying at times but it is not horrible, apart from this tune, there is a different track in the bonus part of the stages which is a nice change.

Gameplay
Gameplay is simple, you move left or right, go fast with forward and slow down with pad down and throw papers with either button. The goal is to deliver the papers to the houses that are subscribed to the service while avoiding hazards like dogs, tornados, women, cars among other enemies that are trying to get you down of your bike. At the start of the day (level) there is a graph telling you which houses are customers and which are not, at the end of the levels there is a bonus section with ramps and obstacles that you can pass through while delivering excess papers to circles for points. You get 3 lives and no continues, when you die you get your paper to replenish and get immediately thrown to the place you died.

This is a really fun game that I hope you can play sooner rather than later, it is kind of hard and addictive once you get a hang of it, it is also a memory game where you have to recognize patterns and try to remember them as you go through obstacles. Give it a try, there are lots of ports of the game and sequels, so one version should be available for a low price if you ever get across one.

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