History VideoGame / PaperBoy

* UsefulNotes/GeneralGamingGamepads: Specialized; the original arcade game used an analog controller shaped like bicycle handlebars that was like an odd mix of steering wheel and flight stick, except that tilting the handles adjusted speed instead of elevation.

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: It is impossible to lose by losing all your customers on Easy Street--if you run out, another one will just subscribe.

* DoesNotLikeShoes: In the N64 version, there's a young woman who walks around the neighborhood in her bare feet.

The first game in the series was an arcade conversion kit by Creator/{{Atari}}. The player is the titular paperboy, riding his bicycle in an isometric scrolling view as he delivers newspapers to subscribers' homes. Unfortunately, in this neighborhood, [[EverythingIsTryingToKillYou everything is trying to kill you,]] and the slightest contact with any obstacle will cost you a life. Fortunately, the paperboy can retaliate by throwing newspapers at obstacles and rowdy neighbors -- but breaking a subscriber's property will make them ''stop'' subscribing. The result is a hilarious NintendoHard game that is also effectively a RailShooter, even if it doesn't look much like one.

* MinusWorld: There is a GoodBadBug in the version 1 [=ROM=] of the coin-op game. After playing the training/obstacle course, exiting at the exact right edge of the fence instead of across the finish line, starts an inverse video rerun of the training course, with insane point values. While a typical high score for the entire game might be 60,000, a few plays on the inverse training course alone can rack up over a billion points. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1YizVyVUd4 Here's a video.]]

* ShoutOut: In the original arcade version, one of the comments the Paperboy makes when he throws a paper in a mailbox is, "Now you have a friend in the paper business." This references American jewelry retailer The Shane Company, whose commercial slogan is "Now you have a friend in the diamond business." Also, there is a street sign on Middle Way that shows VideoGame/PacMan crossed out by a red [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_symbol "No" symbol]].

In this neighborhood, even on Easy Street... [[EverythingIsTryingToKillYou everything is trying to kill you.]]

The result is a hilarious NintendoHard game that is also effectively a RailShooter, even if it doesn't look much like one.

There was also a ''Nintendo 64'' game called ''Paperboy 64''. It was even adapted into an episode of ''WesternAnimation/CaptainNTheGameMaster''.

2021 saw a comic book adaptation from Creator/DCComics[[note]]Creator/WarnerBros owns the IP now via WB Games, successor to Midway[[/note]], pairing ''Paperboy'' up with fellow Midway arcade game ''VideoGame/SpyHunter'' as, well, ''[=SpyHunter=]/Paperboy'', with Creator/LarryHama on writing details.

* NonstandardGameOver: Lose all your subscribers and it's GameOver, regardless of your lives. (In which case the newspaper headline is "Paperboy Fired!" instead of "Paperboy Calls It Quits!".

There was also a ''Nintendo 64'' game called ''Paperboy 64''. Was even adapted into an episode of ''WesternAnimation/CaptainNTheGameMaster''.

->''"One less customer..."''

* BeeAfraid: Bees will start chasing you (like DemonicSpiders) if you travel too slowly.

* DeadpanSnarker: The title character.

* BeeAfraid: Bees will start chasing you if you travel too slowly.

* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: The kid is insanely strong for his age, being able to throw newspapers hard enough to break windows and knock over gravestones (though the latter may just be decorations).

* PoliceAreUseless: Combined with ApatheticCitizens and PlayedForLaughs. "Mysterious Vandalism Baffles Police, Residents." This headline refers to the vandalism committed with your paperboy's newspapers, at the time of your paperboy's deliveries, in front of dozens of witnesses in broad daylight.

* VideogameCrueltyPunishment: Your customers will cancel their subscription if you break their windows more than once or bike over their flowers. However, if you do enough damage to non-subscribers' houses, they'll become subscribers.

* IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels: "Easy Street", "Medium Road", and "Hard Way".

There was also a ''Nintendo 64'' game called ''Paperboy 64''.

There was also a ''Super Nintendo'' game called ''Super Paperboy''.

* AdaptationalBadass: In ''Super Paperboy'', your character is a lot more extreme. They even destroy an alien spaceship at the end of the game just by throwing a newspaper at it.

** DifficultySpike: Instead of choosing your difficulty in ''Paperboy 2'' for seven days, you start on "Easy Street." Make it through seven days, you then work "Middle Road" as your next route. Do well on "Middle Road" for seven days, your final route is "Hard Way." They note this with the first headline before you start "Middle Road" or "Hard Way" being "Paperboy Promoted"