This is a bit of an interesting one to be covering, since I actually wrote a small piece on this episode when it released back in 2016. Yeah, in 2016 for a few AVGN episodes I actually wrote about them as they released, which was the inspiration for me to do this in-order review of every AVGN.
By pure coincidence, this review is being written 8 years to the day since this episode premiered. That was totally unplanned, and I only realized it in hindsight (yeah, this is an edit after the fact) but it’s funny how things happen like that sometimes.
Anyway, here we have The Nerd looking at the NES classic that I have fond memories of being frustrated by, Paperboy. Certainly a classic that I recall many people owning a copy of (although I didn’t, oddly enough,) Paperboy is a game where you.. deliver newspapers. That’s it. That’s the goal.
The episode itself opens with the Nerd talking about the games arcade origins, how it would be put on virtually every platform available, have some sequels, and is generally thought of as a good, classic game.
After taking a moment to explain to the “younger crowd” what a Newspaper is (since, by 2016 they were already well on their way to becoming extinct) we get to the detailed breakdown of the game itself: the 7 levels being the 7 days of the week, the way you tell subscribes from non-subscribers by house color and the goal of simply delivering the paper without damaging anything which makes The Nerd question, and test, if you can break a window with a newspaper.
We then get to the frustrations of actually playing the game: the challenge of simply aiming the newspaper properly and the odd way you turn non-subscribers into subscribers…. by breaking their windows. As for the oddities and hazards of the game we have things like gravestones in front lawns to break dancers on the sidewalk to a freaking tornado and so much more. Even Death shows up because, why not? Add in the fact that you’re crammed into a relatively small section of the screen as the active play field and, well, it’s a challenge. At the end you run an obstacle course and that’s it, move on to the next level where things get a little harder. Rinse and repeat.
After finally giving up the Nerd acknowledges that people have fond memories of the game, but that the game in reality isn’t as great as we remember. He decides to deliver the game to all his neighbors, tossing it in their windows and mailboxes before he slams his bike face first into Death, a scene I had actually forgotten about but got a laugh out of re-watching the episode.
Final Rating: 3.5/5
A pretty average episode, but not bad. I enjoy the modest depth that was taken in talking about the game, and while the eccentricity and anger of the Nerd was there, it wasn’t pushed too far: this was more of a relaxed episode, which is good every once in a while. Still, as can be felt in this very review, there actually isn’t too much to say about it. It’s a perfectly average Angry Video Game Nerd, and that’s okay.