Forum posts to 'Games'

Re: Oh, the disappointment of Paperboy GS!

Mitchell Spector — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 07:52:34 +0200

I went through the same disappointment some 20 years ago. I was a big arcade fanatic back then, and still remember the excitement on that day I found out Paperboy and Gauntlet had been released for the IIGS. After I rushed out to buy copies of both and brought them home, I was absolutely convinced there was a mixup and they gave me the 8-bit Apple IIe version! I even tried taking them back believing it couldn't be the GS version, though had no luck.

The GS version of Paperboy had a musical score, but just a very basic 1 voice triangle wave. The best way to describe it is if you played the theme using a Touch Tone telephone keypad! (mind you, in retrospect I find that kind of funky. It was so bad, it's good). Interestingly, Paperboy for the Apple IIGS had its graphics borrowed from the Commodore 64, and it's sound effects borrowed from the IIe version (you know, clicks and beeps from the internal speaker).

I think the code was ripped from the 8-bit versions as well, if you look through Gauntlet with a sector editor, you'll actually see the message "Flip disk over to side B" (remember, the IIGS version shipped on a 3.5 floppy disk). Not only did Paperboy run on 256K RAM, you could even fit the entire program on a single-side 5.25 floppy disk! Ah well, at least Taito gave us true arcade games on the GS, I only wish more of their classics had been released before they went bankrupted (e.g. Operation Wolf, Bubble Bobble, Double Dragon).

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Re: Oh, the disappointment of Paperboy GS!

bloomer — Sat, 16 May 2009 02:56:52 +0200

Yeah, there were a bunch of those coin-op conversions that really sucked relative to the computer's power. Gauntlet was the one that made me angry.

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Oh, the disappointment of Paperboy GS!

thefcpguy — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 15:30:21 +0200

I remember as a kid back in the 80's being a huge fan of Paperboy in the arcade- it was quirky and different and had a great tongue-in-cheek attitude that was a departure from the shooting and maze games that surrounded it.

I was also thrilled with my new IIgs in 1987- the graphics and sound were worlds beyond my IIe and even made the black and white Macs of the day seem quaint.

When I found out there was a port of Paperboy for the GS I was pretty excited. I mean, after playing Zany Golf, Thexder, and Winter Games I knew the potential was there for some serious gaming goodness.

I saved my cash and eventually went to the store to pick up the game. Mindscape spent a good amount of cash making the cover art look good. I got home, tore it open, and booted up the system.

Ugh.

Are you kidding me? The color palette of green, brown, yellow, and black was hideous. The movement was jerky and the sprites were clunky. I don't even remember the music- was there any? It was bad- maybe not Atari 2600 Pac Man bad, but pretty close. Alex hits the nail on the head with his description on the site.

Oh well, I delivered papers for a half hour, popped out the disk, and went back to Zany Golf. The upside is that I had a new appreciation for the good GS games, and still play them today.

Bill

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