Sentences written about this title, gathered by type from the Japanese and English Wikipedia articles (as of 2026-8-30).
An Apple II version was also published by Mindscape that same year, including a slightly modified version for the Apple IIGS (which was highly criticized as a redress of the same 8-bit game).
Upon its debut at London's Amusement Trades Exhibition International (ATEI) show in early 1985, Computer and Video Games magazine gave the arcade game a mixed review, praising the controls, but criticizing the difficulty.
In 2007, Spanner Spencer of Eurogamer rated the arcade version 9 out of 10 and praised its gameplay, graphics, and music.
It went on to become the seventh best-selling video game of 1986 in the UK.
UK magazine Computer and Video Games (CVG) gave the Commodore 64 version a 52 percent rating, criticizing its music and "blocky and ill-proportioned" sprites; the magazine gave the ZX Spectrum version an 83 percent rating.
STarts Clayton Walnum similarly praised the Lynx version's graphics and sound effects, but deemed the game "just another shoot-em-up without the shooting.
AllGame's Kyle Knight criticized the Lynx version for its simple sound effects and music, as well as its repetitive gameplay.
Leadbetter praised the Master System version, calling it "one of the best arcade conversions" available for the system, while noting that the game's only "slight downer" was the music.
Mean Machines praised the Master System version for its graphics and similarities to the arcade game, while Raze wrote a mixed review for the Master System version.
Weiss praised the controls and sound effects of the NES version, but criticized the music.
Raze considered the Game Boy version to be "Excellent", while Mean Machines criticized its controls, blurry scrolling, and the lack of colorful graphics, which could not be produced by the system.
Compute! praised the music and graphics of the Amiga version, but considered the gameplay to be outdated and repetitive.
Harris criticized the music, the lack of speech audio from the original game, poor collision detection, and an absence of fun.
Scott Alan Marriott of AllGame praised the Game Boy Color version for its colorful graphics, but noted that the game did not introduce any new changes from the original arcade version, writing, "Those expecting a lot of changes or additions will be disappointed."
Dean Austin of IGN criticized the retro 3D look of the Nintendo 64 version, but praised the gameplay and considered it to be a "great game".
Daniel Erickson of Daily Radar criticized the "bland" and "repetitive" gameplay of the Nintendo 64 version.
Robert Amsbury of GameRevolution praised the sound effects in the Nintendo 64 version, but considered the music to be repetitive, while noting the game "isn't really all that fun.
Weiss criticized the Nintendo 64 version for its music and sound effects, as well as poor controls, and wrote that the game had "some of the ugliest graphics you'll find in a Nintendo 64 cartridge.
IGNs Levi Buchanan, reviewing a cell phone version, praised the controls and stated that it looked and played like the original arcade game.
Kristan Reed of Eurogamer praised the Xbox 360 release for its controls and noted that the game "stands up pretty well" despite its age.
Corey Cohen of Official Xbox Magazine praised the Xbox 360 version for its music and controls, and noted that it was as appealing as the arcade version.
Tarryn van der Byl of Pocket Gamer criticized the iPhone version for its poor controls, and stated that the game's optional 3D graphics mode was "ugly and feels clumsy and inaccurate.
Slide to Play considered the iPhone/iPod version a "mixed bag", but praised the gameplay.
Nesvadba also praised the addition of a story mode, but criticized its short length.
Salwitz stated that the game "did not resonate with the players because the reality [they] created was unreal".
Creative director Lyle Rains came up with the idea of the "breakage bonus", separate from the main score.
Due to the game having three difficulty settings, the team created the "Grand Slam High Score Table" to tie the three streets together and reward the player with a high score, hiring programmer Bob Flanagan to write it.
UK magazine Computer and Video Games (CVG) gave the Commodore 64 version a 52 percent rating, criticizing its music and "blocky and ill-proportioned" sprites; the magazine gave the ZX Spectrum version an 83 percent rating.
Richard Leadbetter of CVG reviewed the Lynx version and stated, "Looks good, but simply isn't enough fun to play.
Raze offered praise for the clear and colorful graphics of the Lynx version, but stated that the game "is too old and tired for the exciting and new Lynx.
Leadbetter praised the Master System version, calling it "one of the best arcade conversions" available for the system, while noting that the game's only "slight downer" was the music.
Brett Alan Weiss of AllGame stated that Mindscape did a good job of porting the game to the NES.
IGNs Craig Harris reviewed a Game Boy Color version and stated that it "is definitely the worst rendition of the game, even beating out the Atari Lynx's waterdown port of the arcade game.
Scott Alan Marriott of AllGame praised the Game Boy Color version for its colorful graphics, but noted that the game did not introduce any new changes from the original arcade version, writing, "Those expecting a lot of changes or additions will be disappointed."
Dean Austin of IGN criticized the retro 3D look of the Nintendo 64 version, but praised the gameplay and considered it to be a "great game".
Daniel Erickson of Daily Radar criticized the "bland" and "repetitive" gameplay of the Nintendo 64 version.
Ben Stahl of GameSpot noted the outdated sound effects used in the Nintendo 64 version, and stated, "While a decent game on its own, Paper Boy 64 doesn't capture the magic of the original arcade game.
IGNs Levi Buchanan, reviewing a cell phone version, praised the controls and stated that it looked and played like the original arcade game.
Gerstmann stated that the game would most likely appeal to people who "have fond memories" of the original arcade game.
Brudvig noted the lack of a handlebar controller and stated "Thanks to the isometric view, this version of Paperboy suffers from the same wonky controls that every home version of the game has.
Kristan Reed of Eurogamer praised the Xbox 360 release for its controls and noted that the game "stands up pretty well" despite its age.
He also stated that the game quickly becomes repetitive.
Tarryn van der Byl of Pocket Gamer criticized the iPhone version for its poor controls, and stated that the game's optional 3D graphics mode was "ugly and feels clumsy and inaccurate.
Mark Langshaw of Digital Spy reviewed the iPhone version and stated that it would likely appeal most to fans of the original game.
A port of Paperboy can be accessed in the 2015 video game Lego Dimensions by using the Arcade Dock in the level "Painting the Town Black".
The Family Computer version received a total of 23 out of 40 in the "Cross Review" of the game magazine Famitsu, and was rated 16.82 out of 30 in the "Game Report Card" based on reader voting in Family Computer Magazine.
The Mega Drive version received a total of 23 out of 40 in the "Cross Review" of the game magazine Famitsu, and was rated 20.90 out of 30 in the "Game Report Card" based on reader voting in Mega Drive FAN.
UK magazine Computer and Video Games (CVG) gave the Commodore 64 version a 52 percent rating, criticizing its music and "blocky and ill-proportioned" sprites; the magazine gave the ZX Spectrum version an 83 percent rating.
In 1993, Zzap!64 rated the Commodore 64 version a 60 percent score, calling it repetitive.
Coverage of the NES version abruptly began at the Summer CES 1988 as a last-minute replacement for a port of the computer title Bad Street Brawler, which was about to be ported to the NES.
Upon its debut at London's Amusement Trades Exhibition International (ATEI) show in early 1985, Computer and Video Games magazine gave the arcade game a mixed review, praising the controls, but criticizing the difficulty.
Leadbetter praised the Master System version, calling it "one of the best arcade conversions" available for the system, while noting that the game's only "slight downer" was the music.
Due to the game having three difficulty settings, the team created the "Grand Slam High Score Table" to tie the three streets together and reward the player with a high score, hiring programmer Bob Flanagan to write it.
Upon its debut at London's Amusement Trades Exhibition International (ATEI) show in early 1985, Computer and Video Games magazine gave the arcade game a mixed review, praising the controls, but criticizing the difficulty.
However, the game was removed by 2010.
Elite removed the game from the App Store in March 2010, because of a licensing conflict.
In May 2000, Midway announced plans to release Paperboy for the PlayStation later that year, although the game was never released.
The passages quoted on this page are taken verbatim from the Japanese and English Wikipedia articles.Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) — reusable under those terms. They are the work of the people who wrote them.