History VideoGame / Paperboy

[[caption-width-right:350:...and don't be late for school![[note]] [[NotMyDriver Maybe the lady in front of you can give you a ride, just need to pay her for the gas though.]][[/note]]]]

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

** ''Paperboy 2'' gives you an extra life if you deliver to all your customers on a day AND did not have any cancel their subscription earlier (otherwise you get a customer to resubscribe for a perfect day of deliveries).

** ''Paperboy 2'' plays with this, though if the thrown paper stops a runaway baby carriage or knocks out a thief/burglar or graffiti sprayer, the next headlines are "Boy Stops Breakaway Baby!", "Hero Paperboy Stops Thief!", or "Graffiti Guy a Goner!" We see is a grateful policeman pulling the Paperboy to the side for the front-page picture and some candy (as he'd been helped by the Paperboy). One other thing the Paperboy could run across is a suspect fleeing a cop, and the Paperboy can throw the paper to stun the suspect enough to be captured.

* WindowPain: Often.

->''"[[WindowPain One less customer...]]"''

The result is a hilarious NintendoHard game that is also effectively a RailShooter, even if it doesn't look much like one. It's '''far''' better than it sounds.

* FlawlessVictory: Deliver the papers perfectly to ALL your paying subscribers, and you're entitled to [[DoubleTheDollars DOUBLE VALUE]] for each when determining "Subscriber" bonus in the original game. ''Paperboy 2'' gives you an extra life if you deliver to all your customers.

** ''Paperboy 2'' plays with this, though if the thrown paper stops a runaway baby carriage or knocks out a thief/burglar, the next headlines are "Boy Stops Breakaway Baby!" or "Hero Paperboy Stops Thief" We see is a grateful policeman pulling the Paperboy to the side for the front-page picture and some candy (as he'd been helped by the Paperboy). One other thing the Paperboy could run across is a suspect fleeing a cop, and the Paperboy can throw the paper to stun the suspect enough to be captured.

** 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."

** ''Paperboy 2'' plays with this, though if the thrown paper stops a runaway baby carriage or knocks out a thief/burglar, the next headlines are "Boy Stops Breakaway Baby!" or "Hero Paperboy Stops Thief" We see is a grateful policeman pulling the Paperboy to the side for the front-page picture (as he'd been helped by the Paperboy). One other thing the Paperboy could run across is a suspect fleeing a cop, and the Paperboy can throw the paper to stun the suspect enough to be captured.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: To get the GoldenEnding, you have to survive ''all seven days of the work week'' while still having at least one customer. What happens? You're treated to a final headline: '''CONGRATULATIONS PAPERBOY!''' with the Paperboy holding up a Golden Trophy instead of a newspaper.

** The smaller bylines add "New Hero Idolized by Young and Old," "Considers Invitation to the White House," and "He's Totally Awesome!"

* FlawlessVictory: Deliver the papers perfectly to ALL your paying subscribers, and you're entitled to [[DoubleTheDollars DOUBLE VALUE]] for each when determining "Subscriber" bonus.

* 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. Here's a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1YizVyVUd4

** Played with in second game, where the next day's front page news is usually related to some incident or another you caused (good [[WhatTheHellPlayer or bad]]).

A video game series where you play as a paperboy [[DistaffCounterpart (or papergirl, in some games)]] who delivers newspapers to a local neighborhood for The Daily Sun ("The World's most throwable newspaper").

* OlderThanTheNES: Almost, but not quite. The original arcade version was developed and released by Atari in 1984, one year after the Japanese debut of the Famicom, but one year before the North American debut of the NES. The NES version was actually the first NES game developed in the United States and coincidentally, the Sega Master System version represented the first SMS game developed in the United Kingdom

* AngryGuardDog: Break the window of a house where a dog lives, and he'll start barking furiously and chase after you.

* GameOver: Lose all your lives and the front-page story on the next newspaper is "Paperboy Calls It Quits!", with accompanying articles bearing similarly-themed headlines ("Accused of negligence, vandalism", "Daily Sun now hiring").

* 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 PacMan crossed out by a red [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_symbol "No" symbol]].

* 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.

* WorstNewsJudgementEver: Your progress is shown on the front page of newspapers, which raises the question of why anyone subscribes to such a publication in the first place.

* In a similar vein, there may be a man outside one of the houses, and if you break a window, he'll start chasing after you in anger.

* 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. Could be explained by the headline [[BlatantLies being printed by your delivery boy's paper]], and the Paperboy gets charged only if he leaves the paper, implying that they have sway with the police.

* 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. Partially explained by the headline [[BlatantLies being printed by your delivery boy's paper]], but the bafflement seems genuine enough, as the paperboy never seems to be charged.

* VideogameCrueltyPunishment: Your customers will cancel their subscription if you break their windows more than once.

A video game series where you play as a paperboy [[DistaffCounterpart (or papergirl, in some games)]] who delivers newspapers to a local neighborhood.

* OlderThanTheNES: ''Barely'', the first version developed by Atari in 1984. The NES version was actually the first NES game developed in the United States and coincidentally, the Sega Master System version represented the first SMS game developed in the United Kingdom

* 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.