Paperboy

"Paperboy Vs. The GRIM REAPER??!!"

Does anyone remember Paperboy in the arcades? It had bike handle bars that were extremely awkward to use! Most of the ones I encountered did not even work! Still, Paperboy was a fun and quirky concept and the home game is a watered down version of our beloved arcade counterpart! The concept is simple: you are a Paperboy who has customers and it is your sworn-duty to deliver them newspapers! But this is no regular neighborhood! This is town of bad drivers, perpetual robberies, break dancers on the sidewalk, and even the grim spector of death looming over the citizens of suburbia! But you are armed with extra newspapers, which you can use to stop these fiends (if only Simon Belmont had known a mere newspaper could stop the Grim Reaper instead of that whole triple shot boomerang hooey!) Make your deliveries and live another day to hurl more newspapers! But watch out, break a window or miss a house and you lose customers! Lose 'em all and you are out a job. Survive the bonus area for more points!

Graphics=6.7 For some reason, everything looks like it was drawn with crayons in this game! The houses look fine, but the characters could use some work. For example, whereas in the arcade, the dude on the sidewalk was break dancing, on the home version it looks like he is struggling to put on his pants! Your paperboy also looks like he is in the puberty stage between Atari 2600 and 8-Bit graphics.

Sound=6.7 You have the Paperboy theme, which is kind of catchy. That's about it! The sound effects are there, but nothing amusing. Luckily, the stage theme is pretty bouncy and upbeat.

Playcontrol=5.8 This game scrolls at an odd angle, not quite vertical, not quite 3/4. As a result, controlling your Paperboy can be a little weird. Going side to side actually is going diagonally! You can get used to it, but it is a little awkward.

Challenge=7.6 To make clean deliveries takes some practice. It is not as hard as the arcade version. At times, it is hard for the wrong reasons, IE play control.

Storyline=8.0 This is an original idea in gaming and I like it! You are the intrepid newspaper boy, delivering at all costs! Fun and strange at the same time!

Overall=6.4 Paperboy suffers from lousy play control and grainy graphics, but is not a terrible translation from the arcades. If it is dirt cheap, pick it up! It is a fun and unique game for the NES.

*BRU'S MUST GET OMETER*=6
If only to see your paper boy challenge the Lord of Death, the Grim Reaper!

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 02/13/00, Updated 02/13/00