A few years ago, I played through the Paperboy games. I had played them before and was looking forward to playing them. Paperboy 64 was the one game that I hadn’t played before making a video on it.
It is an odd entry in the series. While it is an arcade-style game, it does a few things that the other games didn’t. It is more of an adventure than the other games. It has some really good ideas, but it really suffers from trying to be a 3D game.
This is a game that I saw in the store when I was a kid, but never picked it up. I didn’t own an N64 until the late 2010s. None of my friends who owned the system talked about this game. I also didn’t hear about it from the game store I visited when I was collecting games. After playing it, I have some mixed feelings about it.
TLDR: A Good Idea that is hampered by Bad Camera, Graphics, and Controls.
Narrative
Paperboy 64 doesn’t have a story. This is a missed opportunity, but you could say that about the entire game. The other Paperboy games didn’t have story modes, but this was a bigger game. It would’ve benefited from having something more in it.
I did check the manual to see if there was something there (Link). There was nothing in there that might suggest a story. It simply describes the game, and says nothing about what you’re going to do.
Gameplay
For the most part, this game sticks to the original Paperboy model. You ride your bike and deliver papers to houses. That is the ultimate goal of the arcade game, even if it is more fun to break windows.
There is a good variety of levels in this game. Each of them looks different, and they are better than the straight lines of the other games. It is fun to drive around these levels and see what is there.
Each stage has a time limit, just like other arcade games. There is a story mode, as well as a more standard arcade mode. It is, in many ways, what you should expect from a “modern” reimagining of an arcade classic.
Beyond getting points, there are a few challenges you can try to finish. The developers did do a decent job of adding more to the game. It isn’t as simple as the other adaptations of the arcade game or the sequels.
The controls aren’t great. This is further hamstrung by the awful camera. I found it difficult to know where I was aiming. Picking up more newspapers was also a pain in the butt. For such a simple concept, the way the game was made caused a lot of problems.
Paperboy 64 has as many issues as it has good ideas. Making a 3D version of Paperboy was a good idea. You can cash in on the nostalgia for the earlier versions of the game and try something new. This game isn’t as shallow as some of the other games I’ve reviewed. There is a lot here, but it is screwed by bad controls and an awful camera.
Visuals
The graphics in this game are atrocious. If you were looking for an ugly N64 game, then this is it. Parts of the graphics are okay, but the camera is awful, and overall, the graphics are very bad.
The camera is the worst part of the game. I can overlook the other graphics in the game, but the camera is a serious hindrance. It makes lining up throws very difficult. The rest of the graphics aren’t good, but they at least all fit together.
As bad as everything looks, at least it all looks like it fits in the same world. Across all the stages, the people and animals look like they are part of the same game. The levels each have a unique look to them, which is a step up from other entries in the series.
Paperboy is one of the series that struggled to make the transition to 3D. Even for the time the game came out, the graphics looked bad. Paperboy 64 looked like a prototype for a game. As if this were a proof of concept, the publisher pushed it out the door.
I didn’t like the graphics at all. It felt like I was fighting against the camera the entire time I was playing it. Not every N64 game looks this bad. There are some nicer looking games on the system. Paperboy 64 just happens to be one of the worst looking games on the N64.
Reviews at the Time
There were a few surprising scores for this game. Most of them were between 4 and 6/10. Two reviews, neither of which has been archived, were over a 7/10. Mobygames has quite a few reviews for it; some are still available (link). I looked at two reviews for this.
Gamespot gave the game a 5.4/10. At the time, this was a mediocre review score. They called it a decent game that “doesn’t capture the magic of the original.” I’ll have more to say about this in a moment.
IGN was one of the outliers that gave the game an 8/10. This review is a great example of video game reviews being opinion pieces. The reviewer called this game “one of the sleepers of the year (1999).” They also called the gameplay “perfect.” Again, I’ll have something to say in a moment.
Most of the reviews base this game on the original. That is why most players would’ve bought this game. Midway was trying to capitalize on nostalgia with a bunch of other properties from the 1980s. That was the environment in which Paperboy 64 was released.
I’m not sure what the IGN review is talking about. Most people were going to pick this up because of the original. Midway was marketing it to people who played the original. I seriously doubt that anyone was going to randomly buy this.
Most reviews mentioned the original game. The authors had a connection to the arcade, NES, or other versions of the game. It is something that is mentioned in all of the reviews I read.
5.5/10. This is a game that I wanted to like. I enjoyed the NES, SNES, and Genesis versions of Paperboy. The N64 version has some great ideas, but the bad graphics, controls, and camera sink the game.
Pros
- Some good ideas
- Lots of game modes
Cons
- Bad Controls
- Ugly Graphics
- Atrocious Camera
Conclusion
This is one of the worst N64 games that I’ve played. That isn’t a very long list, and I do think this is better than WCW Nitro. What is in Paperboy 64 isn’t all that great.
The game has some very good ideas, but none of them are fully realized. If the controls and camera were better, then this would’ve been a good game. Having a story mode would’ve added a lot to the experience.
This was simply a disappointment. Midway did make a few of these games after it acquired several properties. Their Rampage and Gauntlet games were good. While I didn’t like this one, I’m looking forward to playing some of the others.
If you liked this post, please check out some of my others. Such as Rampage World Tour or Rampage Universal Tour.