Paperboy for the 8-bit?

[Gunstar]

I know the Atari arcade classic Paperboy was never released in the U.S.(for the Atari 8-bit), but was it ever released in England/Europe in PAL format? I thought I had played a PAL version once, but maybe I thinking of another system. I remember seeing it in Mindscape magazine ads, along with games like Gauntlet and Infiltrator and others, they even had these "cut-out" Payperboy and Gauntlet arcade labels to stick on your TV/monitor. The add showed like four Mindscape releases with pictures and then what computers they were available for under the pictures, the Atari 8-bit had versions for all but Paperboy in that ad. But I thought it was released overseas and just not in the U.S.

Edited March 22, 2007 by Gunstar

[www.atarimania.com]

No. IIRC, Harlequin Software did get the rights to produce the game, though...

 

--

Atari Frog

http://www.atarimania.com

[atarixle]

do exist clones of this game as PD or shareware or something?

[Wrathchild]

A summary of discussion on this with Steve last Novemeber:

 

Don't recall if I ever asked this...

did you just have the rights for doing a port of this or did

you have access to any sources (Apple/C65/NES, i.e. 6502)?

 

Paperboy - I had a contract from Elite to produce the A8 version and publish it - plus the source from the C64 and Speccy versions...

 

I think I still have the paper work, but the source code is long gone...

 

Shame about the sources - I disliked most versions of this game,

ST, C64 and even the arcade ROMs under MAME! The only one

I like is the NES version. Would be nice to see those houses scrolling

by on an A8 though. What were your thoughts at the time on how

the player/enemies would be done, mixing H/W and S/W sprites

could get tricky I'd imagine? Also, I'd guess you'd go for the 4/5

colour char mode over a bitmapped display?

 

We mocked it all up in Antic 4 with all 4 players for the bike (16 pixel, 3 color) and 4 white missiles for papers...

 

All enemies were character objects...

[Avram]

Wrathchild, did JetbootJack ever mention how Harlequin was going to handle the Last Ninja?

[Wrathchild]

I don't recall discussing this one with him but found a brief reference at the end of this thread though:

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?s...iew=getlastpost

Edited March 23, 2007 by Wrathchild

[highendsystems]

I really liked the arcade version, I remember blowing my last $40

on it one vacation back in the 80's.

 

Don't bite my head off if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure the arcade

version is done with a hyped up 8-bit platform. By hyped up I mean

speed, and the graphics are the best ever rendered by an 8-bit CPU.

 

Paper Boy, like many other arcade games put out by Atari, is just to

hard to control if not out-right 'un-enjoyable' with MAME and a keyboard.

 

I remember having a captive audience, hehe -- everyone would crack

up when I smacked the thief, and the guy fixing his car....hehe

[Urchlay]

Paper Boy, like many other arcade games put out by Atari, is just to

hard to control if not out-right 'un-enjoyable' with MAME and a keyboard.

 

It's a little better with a mouse, and even better with a trakball.

 

Also, it's possible to get pretty good at it, using the analog thumbstick on a gamepad (PS2-style PC gamepad, I mean).

 

I haven't got one, but I bet a steering wheel controller would be great.

[Rybags]

Info from http://www.arcade-history.com/index.php?pa...ail&id=1935 and MAME info screen:

 

Main CPU : T11 @ 10 MHz, M6502

Sound Chips : YM2151, (2x) POKEY, TMS5220

 

Screen orientation : Horizontal

Video resolution : 512 x 384 pixels

Screen refresh : 60.00 Hz

Palette colors : 256

[Avram]

Thanks for the LN2 info. I'd love to see what Harlequin were going to create but it sounds like that project's been lost.

[kevin242]

do exist clones of this game as PD or shareware or something?

 

 

Unfortunately there never were any clones of Paperboy for the 8bit. The two arcade games I wanted most on my 8bit back in the day were Paperboy and Sinistar. Sinistar may eventually become a reality if it ever gets released, but Paperboy alas was just a dream.

[highendsystems]

Thanks Urchlay!

 

The mouse works much better, wish I could control speed with keyboard though....

[Urchlay]

Thanks Urchlay!

 

The mouse works much better, wish I could control speed with keyboard though....

 

You should be able to... Assign the up and down arrow keys to "AD Stick Y Dec" and "AD Stick Y Inc", and assign nothing (press Escape) to "AD Stick Y Analog". This will give you speed control from the keyboard. You should already have the X axis assigned to the mouse X axis, don't change that.

[Gunstar]

do exist clones of this game as PD or shareware or something?

 

 

Unfortunately there never were any clones of Paperboy for the 8bit. The two arcade games I wanted most on my 8bit back in the day were Paperboy and Sinistar. Sinistar may eventually become a reality if it ever gets released, but Paperboy alas was just a dream.

 

I had three, the two you mentioned and also Marble Madness. Sinistar at least has been found as an alpha or beta or whatever, hopefully it will get released. It was on the front page here at Atari Age last year sometime.

Edited March 31, 2007 by Gunstar