Line #33 VideoGame/Paperboy


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/paperboy-arcade_7300.jpg]]
2	[[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]]]]
3	->''"You may not like the news, but you have to admire the person who delivers it. Paperboy!"''
4
5	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").
6
7	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, [[EverythingTryingToKillYou 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.
8
9	This was followed by a ''Nintendo 64'' game called ''Paperboy 64''. It was even adapted into an episode of ''WesternAnimation/CaptainNTheGameMaster''.
10
11	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 arcade game ''VideoGame/SpyHunter'' as, well, ''[=SpyHunter=]/Paperboy'', with Creator/LarryHama on writing details.
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13	----
14	!!''Paperboy'' provides examples of:
15
16	* ActionGirl: The papergirl can be this in ''Paperboy 2'' and ''Paperboy 64''.
17	* AdaptationalBadass: In ''Paperboy 64'', 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.
18	* AlienInvasion: In ''Paperboy 64'', the last several levels deal with one.
19	* AliensAreBastards: The aliens in ''Paperboy 64'' do ''not'' come in peace.
20	* AlmightyJanitor: A mere paperboy (or papergirl in some cases) who has to deal with many things, including the Grim Reaper.
21	* AngryGuardDog:
22	** Break the window of a house where a dog lives, and he'll start barking furiously and chase after you.
23	** 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.
24	* AnnouncerChatter: The game has an announcer, and the Paperboy himself will also comment on his own successes and failures.
25	* AntiFrustrationFeatures: A second chance is offered after losing all your customers on Easy Street--if you run out, a new array will be provided. Doing so a second time, however, will result in a Game Over.
26	* BearsAreBadNews: Bears appear as enemies in ''Paperboy 64''.
27	* BigfootSasquatchAndYeti: Sasquatches are enemies in ''Paperboy 64''.
28	* BlahBlahBlah: Used as filler text in the newspaper screens.
29	* BreakingTheFourthWall: Both the Paperboy and the announcer sometimes make comments aimed directly at the player.
30	* CatsAreMean: They're just as bad as the dogs.
31	* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: The kid is insanely strong for his age, being able to throw newspapers hard enough to break windows, damage brick buildings, and knock over gravestones (though the latter may just be decorations).
32	* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Subscribers' homes are bright and colorful, while non-subscribers' homes are ominous and dark.
33	* ConvenientColorChange: Speaking of the above, the homeowners sure repaint their houses fast!
34	* DarkIsNotEvil: Zigzagged in the Transylvania levels of ''Paperboy 64''. The levels are filled with monsters. Many of them are friendly monsters who just want their newspapers. Others however [[DarkIsEvil are enemies]].
35	* DeadpanSnarker: The title character when he gets killed.
36	--> ''([[DeathByIrony run over by a Hearse]])'' "Looking for a passenger?"
37	* DistaffCounterpart: Papergirl.
38	* 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!"
39	** ''Paperboy 2'' takes it up a few notches: Survive a week's deliveries each on "Easy Street," "Middle Road" AND "Hard Way" and the final Sunday Headline is "PAPERBOY WINS BIG!" The picture is of the Paperboy receiving the Golden Trophy from the Mayor and his secretary while the Satisfied Policeman is with them and two others.
40	* EnemiesWithDeath: The Grim Reaper appears as an enemy.
41	* EverythingTryingToKillYou: Or at least trying to make you crash. Cars pulling in and out of driveways, kids on tricycles, construction workers, small RC cars, cats that jump out in front of you at the last second...
42	* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: ...kinda.
43	* FanFilm: ''Paperboy 3: The Hard Way'', a RoaringRampageOfRevenge story presented in the style of a B-movie/grindhouse trailer.
44	* 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.
45	** ''Paperboy 2'' gives you an extra life if you deliver to all your customers on a day AND did not have anyone cancel their subscription earlier (otherwise you get a customer to resubscribe for a perfect day of deliveries).
46	* GameOver:
47	** 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").
48	** Lose all your subscribers and you get the same thing, albeit with the headline "Paperboy Fired!"
49	* TheGrimReaper: Funeral homes seem to be his favorite hangout.
50	* HauntedHouse: They are amongst the houses you have to make deliveries to in the second game.
51	* HarmlessFreezing: In ''Paperboy 64'', the aliens have freeze rays that cause this.
52	* HaveANiceDaySmile: Some of the houses have these painted on them. Hit one with a paper, and it changes to a frown.
53	* IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels: "Easy Street", "Middle Road", and "Hard Way".
54	* IllFatedFlowerbed: You can ride over flowerbeds, destroying them. If you do this to your subscribers however, they will unsubscribe.
55	* InvincibilityPowerUp: In the Transylvania levels of ''Paperboy 64'', there are potions that will temporarily turn you into a monster, making you invincible and increasing your speed.
56	* IsometricProjection
57	* KidHero: He's not much of a hero in the original, as he's just delivering newspapers (and he can vandalize homes), but the second game gives him the potential to stop baby carriages and robbers. ''Paperboy 64'' ups this by having him save the world from aliens.
58	* MailmanVsDog: Dogs are enemies.
59	* MinusWorld: There is a {{Good Bad Bug\|s}} 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.]]
60	* MundaneMadeAwesome: Delivering newspapers. It managed to become one of the video game classics.
61	* NintendoHard: There are a ''lot'' of obstacles you have to dodge, it's hard to line up your shots, and if you go too slow, bees appear and attack you.
62	* NobodyHereButUsStatues: One house owner paints himself white, stands among the tombstones and fountains, and then runs at you. He's a little ''too'' white, which also makes this character a ConspicuouslyLightPatch.
63	* NoNameGiven: The kid has no name.
64	* 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!").
65	* 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 one of the first NES games developed in the United States (with only a few of Tengen's games preceding it) and coincidentally, the Sega Master System version represented the first SMS game developed in the United Kingdom.
66	* OneWordTitle
67	* PetTheDog: Although you mostly wreak havoc with your thrown papers, you can occasionally do some good, such as foiling a break-in by knocking out the perp.
68	* PoliceAreUseless:
69	** 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.
70	** ''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 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.
71	* RailShooter: If launching newspapers qualifies as shooting.
72	* RealityIsUnrealistic: It actually ''is'' possible to break windows with thrown newspaper rolls in real life, though the fact that in this game a ''child'' is strong enough to do it is rather abnormal.
73	* RewardingVandalism: Defacing the homes of non-subscribers earns you points. Doing the same to your customers makes them cancel their subscription.
74	* RollingPinOfDoom: A woman chases you with one of these. Oddly, she's a subscriber and she will do this even if you do nothing to provoke her.
75	* ScaryStingingSwarm: Bees will start chasing you (like DemonicSpiders) if you travel too slowly.
76	* ShameIfSomethingHappened: More like Shame If More Things Happened; non-subscribers will become subscribers, but only if you do enough damage to their homes.
77	* SheetOfGlass: In the second game.
78	* 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 [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_symbol "No" symbol]].
79	* StalkedByTheBell: If you ride too slowly along your paper route, a swarm of killer bees starts chasing you. (These bees later reappeared in the skateboarding video game ''720'', accompanied by the ominous mandate "SKATE OR DIE!")
80	* SuddenlyHarmfulHarmlessObject: Some house owners will remain part of the background until you damage their home, at which point they chase you.
81	* SymbolSwearing: "%#@*!" if you collide with a stationary level hazard (like a house sign or storm drain).[[note]]Colliding with a moving obstacle earns you a "Smack!" instead.[[/note]]
82	* ThisLoserIsYou: Both GameOver screens.
83	-->"Accused of negligence, vandalism"
84	-->"Daily Sun subscription rate plummets"
85	-->"'He was a real loser!'"
86	-->"'Worst ever!' claim irate customers"
87	-->"Daily Sun now hiring"
88	** And that's just the original arcade version.
89	* TotallyRadical: If one of the papers hits a mailbox, he will sometimes say "That's rad!".
90	* UnstoppableMailman: Not even tornadoes or the Grim Reaper will stop him. ''Paperboy 64'' even has them going through monsters, pirates, and aliens to deliver the news.
91	* VideogameCrueltyPotential: If you damage the houses of non-subscribers, they will eventually subscribe to the newspaper.
92	** Throwing a paper at someone working on their car causes it to fall on top of them.
93	* VideogameCrueltyPunishment: Your customers will cancel their subscription if you break their windows more than once or bike over their flowers.
94	* WorstNewsJudgementEver:
95	** 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.
96	** Played with in the second game, where the next day's front page news is usually related to some incident or another you caused (good [[WhatTheHellPlayer or bad]]).
97	----
98	'''''[[TheStinger AMAZING PAPERBOY INDEXED THE MAIN PAGE!]]'''''

Context VideoGame / Paperboy