Nintend'oh! #1 - Paperboy

(Ed. Note: The following is written by Danny Baxter, a longtime associate and well-wisher who will be writing a column called Nintend'oh!, among other things. Dan is a resident of the "City with Broad Shoulders", Chicago, by way of New Jersey and Providence.)

Hello and welcome to the first installment of Nintend’oh! - the newest (and best) section of Jackie Boy’s blog! Mr. Lacey has really been on my keister about contributing to his Wontabulous Musicarium and I am not one to disappoint. This friendly little column will provide fresh perspectives on the finest entertainment of yesteryear – games that were released for the Nintendo Entertainment System!

This past Sunday, March 8th 2009, was one of the most important days of my life. No, it has nothing to do with the birth of my first god-daughter Lilly. Besides, she was born on March 9th. What happened on Sunday was far more important; I successfully beat Paperboy for the first time in my life! In order to truly convey how significant an occasion this is, I’d like to take a little journey back in time. Listen carefully and my words will shape images as clear as any TV show…

The year was 1988; America’s love affair with Australians was slowly dying with the release of Crocodile Dundee II. George Michael’s Faith was the top selling album of the year in the United States. The Wonder Years premiered on primetime television and made every boy ask his mom for a cool New York Jets jacket. Okay, maybe that last part was made up – but you get the point. It was a momentous time for our nation. The “golden age” of video arcades had officially started to wane in early 1986, but video game systems for the home were steadily on the rise. And Nintendo, a company once dedicated to selling their unique brand of playing cards, was becoming a house-hold name for its popular Nintendo Entertainment System (hereafter referred to as NES).

Many classic titles that were released for the NES were, in fact, originally released as video arcade games in the early 80s. That little nugget of wisdom is true of Paperboy, which first saw the light of day at video arcades across America in 1984. Actually, the only light it probably saw was the brief moment when the arcade cabinet was physically being wheeled out of a truck on a dolly by some slovenly-looking overweight chain-smoking truck driver. The video arcade version of Paperboy experienced heightened popularity in 1987, so the game was “ported” to the NES in 1988.

Paperboy was developed and published by Atari Games, but it was released on the NES through Atari’s subsidiary company Tengen. It is a 1 or 2 player (alternating) game where the player controls a paperboy on a bicycle delivering newspapers along a suburban street. The directional pad maneuvers the paperboy through his paper route. Pressing either the A or B button will throw the newspapers toward the left side of the screen. The player attempts to deliver a week of daily newspapers to subscribing customers while simultaneously avoiding hazards encountered along the way. The game play gets increasingly difficult as you progress through the week of deliveries. The primary objectives of the game are to keep as many subscribers as possible and to stay alive. Secondary objectives include vandalizing homes and hitting nuisances with newspapers.

Paperboy is one of the all time classics for the NES. While the controls are somewhat obtuse at times, they are good enough for continued game-play. Like many NES games, you simply have to play it a lot to get the “feel.” Paperboy also has plenty of what I like to call WTF? instances; a moment when you laugh out loud due to the completely random action taking place on screen. For example, some of the obstacles in Paperboy include tornados, break-dancers and even the Grim-Reaper himself. One of the most entertaining parts of the game is the obstacle course that appears at the end of the street. If the player successfully completes a respective day’s delivery, he gets to traverse an obstacle course. This is a great little memorable gem included by the wizards over there at Atari Games.

For some reason, there are bleachers at the end of the obstacle course. I guess that delivering papers is really exciting in this fictional American town. Perched on the bleachers are three guys who frantically wave their arms and cheer our paperboy on – every morning!! I’ve thought about this quite a bit. Either those guys are members of NAMBLA or they are town drunks. There is no other reason why any one would be up that early to watch a kid sit on a bicycle.

Another negative aspect of the NES port of Paperboy, aside from the difficult controls, is that it is repetitive. The street that you deliver on never changes, whereas the arcade version had three different levels; easy street, medium road, and hard way. While I was playing this game on Sunday, I thought that the game designers should have given more extra lives to the player. I could regularly get through three or even four days with style, but I was never rewarded for my hard work. However, once I finally beat the game this past Sunday night…I realized that they can’t give out extra guys; the game would be instantly beat-able. Perhaps that is the very reason why I’ve come back to this game day-after-day and literally year-after-year (twenty to be exact). Although the game is not without its flaws, Paperboy truly delivers!

B+

Danny Baxter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66LM6LbMaQ8 - Paperboy commercial originally aired in the 80s