Paperboy 2, Super Nintendo

Paperboy 2 on the Super Nintendo was developed and published by Mindscape in 1991. And – for some reason – it doesn’t compare to the Megadrive/Genesis version, which I think is superior.

The game plays similarly to the first Paperboy, with isometric streets that you cycle down and try to deliver newspapers on, by throwing them into the open mailboxes or doormats of your subscribers. In Paperboy 2, however, the streets are shaped hexagonally; initially you cycle upwards and to the left; then there’s a vertical piece of road with a gas station on the left and a convenience store on the right; then you have to cycle upwards and to the right. Then, at the very end, there’s an assault course to make your way through, but you have to complete it within a strict time limit.

In Paperboy 2 – unlike its predecessor – you can throw newspapers left or right, depending on which side of the street you’re delivering to, and this can take some getting used to. If you miss delivering to a subscriber (or accidentally damage their house) then you’ll lose them, and if you lose all your subscribers before the week has ended then it’s game over.

The aim of the game is to try to complete three weeks of newspaper deliveries, with the streets becoming increasingly more difficult by the day and the assault courses lengthening by the week. And – since there’s no rest for the wicked – there are seven delivery runs per week.

You can earn extra points (and newspaper headlines) by foiling burglaries at the gas station or convenience store, although choosing the right side of the road to be on to do that is usually a fifty-fifty gamble.

Overall, Paperboy 2 is not a bad game on the SNES, but it’s not brilliant either. It’s got some good ideas in it and is playable enough, but it is frustratingly difficult at times. It’s also very repetitive playing the first couple of streets over and over again, because the variety in the game comes from completing multiple days (or an entire week), which is tricky to do. Thankfully, the game does allow password entry (as a four-digit number) on the title screen, although the manual doesn’t even mention this.

More: Paperboy 2 on Wikipedia