THE SPECTRUM GAMES DATABASE

PAPERBOY

PUBLISHER
Elite

AUTHOR
Unknown

YEAR
1985

CATEGORY
Arcade conversion

DESCRIPTION
Amusing scrolling shoot/avoid-em-up with a suburban twist!

CONTROLS
Keyboard (Q,A,O,P,SPACE), Kempston, Sinclair, Cursor

INSTRUCTIONS
You are the Paperboy and must deliver the newspaper to your
customers on a daily basis. Being set in the USA, this entails
riding your bike down a different street every day, throwing
newspapers into the mailboxes or onto the doorsteps of your
subscribers. If a person doesn't get his paper, he'll cancel his
subscription - and no subscriptions means no job!

Papers can be handy for other things though.... There are various
obstacles in your way which will try to knock you off you bike.
A well-aimed newspaper makes a handy weapon against these
hazards! Also, there's no harm in encouraging people who don't
subscribe to your paper to think again about their decision -
whack a few papers through their windows for extra points! And
while you're at it, why not aim a few at their bird tables and
dustbins? Or ride your bike over their flower beds? Mind you
don't run out of papers though! You can only carry ten at a time,
but supplies are left at various points along your route for you
to pick up.

You are given a number of lives to complete as many days as
possible. You lose a life if anything knocks you off your bike,
but the game will end immediately should you run out of
subscribers! Get to the end of the day and you can complete an
assault course for extra points!


INLAY CARD TEXT
Pick up your old Push Bike, put on your peaked cap and imagine yourself braving
the streets of an American suburb. Only superb riding skills and a steady
throwing arm can get you through your seven day week of hilarious action.
Avoid cars, workmen, drunkards and lawnmowers all out to obstruct you in your
pursuit of excellence. Score points by delivering to all your usual customers,
but you can get sneaky bonuses by breaking the windows of non-subscribers.
It's a difficult task but your employer believes that practice makes perfect
and generously provides a practice track where you can score valuable extra
points. Get ready for the ride of your life.


LOADING INSTRUCTIONS
Spectrum (Cassette)
LOAD ""
Amstrad/Schneider (Cassette)
RUN"ELITE"
Amstrad/Schneider (Disc)
RUN"ELITE"
Commodore 64/128 (Cassette)
Shift+Run/Stop
Commodore 64/128 (Disc)
LOAD"*",8,1
Commodore C16 (Cassette)
LOAD"ELITE"
BBC/Electron (Cassette)
CHAIN ""
BBC (Disc)
Shift+Break



PLAYING INSTRUCTIONS
Spectrum
Accelerate -Q
Brake -A
Turn left -O
Turn right -P
Throw Paper -N
Amstrad/Schneider
Accelerate -User Definable
Brake -User Definable
Turn left -User Definable
Turn right -User Definable
Throw Paper -User Definable
Commodore 16/64/+4/128
Joystick Port 2
BBC/Electron
Accelerate -*
Brake -?
Turn left -Z
Turn right -X
Throw Paper -Return
MSX
Accelerate -Cursor Up
Brake -Cursor Down
Turn left -Cursor Left
Turn right -Cursor Right
Throw Paper -Space Bar



(c)-Elite Systems Ltd.-1986
All rights reserved worldwide. Unauthorised copying, lending, broadcasting or
resale without the express written permission from Elite Systems Ltd. is
strictly prohibited.
Guarantee: This software product has been carefully developed and manufactured
to the highest quality standards. Please read carefully the instructions for
loading which are included. If for any reason you have difficulty in running
the program, please return it directly to the following address:

Customer Services Dept.,
Elite Systems Ltd.,
Anchor House,
Anchor Road,
Aldridge, Walsall,
WS9 8PW, England.
Telex: 336130 ELITE G

Our Quality Control Department will test the product and supply an immediate replacement at no extra cost. Please note that this does not affect your statutory rights."

(c)-1984 Atari Games, Inc. All rights reserved


CHEATS
POKE 50495,201 to become invincible
POKE 49263,0 for infinite papers
POKE 50577,190 for infinite lives

SEQUELS/PREQUELS
Paperboy 2 was released by Mindscape (I think) many years later.
It's not as good.

SCORES RECEIVED
Unknown, but quite good. Not classic status, though.

URL
ftp://ftp.nvg.unit.no/pub/sinclair/snaps/games/unsorted/p/pape
rboy.zip
ftp://ftp.nvg.unit.no/pub/sinclair/snaps/games/unsorted/p/papr
boy2.zip

GENERAL FACTS
You can tell which houses are subscribers and which aren't
without remembering them from the map at the start of the level.
Houses which are subscribers look light, and houses which aren't
subscribers look dark. Check out the windows!

The high score table features a border effect! This looks like
a set of handlebars and is pretty good. Unfortunately, it only
works properly on a REAL 48k Spectrum. On the emulators or any
128k machine, it looks all skewed and horrid.

The original Atari arcade machine had a real set of handlebars
on the from which you used to steer the Paperboy. The Speccy
version doesn't attempt to emulate this (you'll be pleased to
hear).

NOTES
Not a bad conversion, but not amazing. I still come back to play
this occasionally, so I guess it's stood the test of time pretty
well.