A video game series where you play as a paperboy
(or papergirl, in some games) who delivers newspapers to a local neighborhood.
In this neighborhood, even on Easy Street...
everything is trying to kill you.The result is a hilarious Nintendo Hard game that is also effectively a Rail Shooter, even if it doesn't look much like one.
It's
far Better Than It Sounds.
Paperboy provides examples of:
- Angry Guard Dog: Break the window of a house where a dog lives, and he'll start barking furiously and chase after you
- Announcer Chatter: The game has an announcer, and the Paperboy himself will also comment on his own successes and failures.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Both the Paperboy and the announcer sometimes make comments aimed directly at the game player.
- Convenient Color Change
- Everything Trying to Kill You: And how!
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: ...kinda.
- General Gaming Gamepads: 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.
- Gosh Hornet: The killer bees that later appeared in 720Degrees make an appearance if you go too slowly.
- The Grim Reaper
- "Have a Nice Day" Smile: Some of the houses have these painted on them. Hit one with a paper, and it changes to a frown.
- Idiosyncratic Difficulty Levels
- Nintendo Hard
- Non-Standard Game Over: You'll receive a different ending if you lose too many customers over the course of the game*
the newspaper headline will read "Paperboy Fired!" instead of "Paperboy Calls It Quits!"
. - Rail Shooter
- Rewarding Vandalism: Defacing the homes of non-subscribers earns you points. Doing the same to your customers costs you their business.
- Sheet of Glass: In the second game
- Shout Out: 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 Pac-Man crossed out by a red "No" symbol
. - Stalked by the Bell: 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!")
- Videogame Cruelty Punishment: Your customers will cancel their subscription if you break their windows more than once.
- Worst News Judgement Ever: Your progress is shown on the front page of newspapers.
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