Is Paperboy a shmup?

[NOAH]

I just smashed the Twin Galaxies official world record (unofficially) and was thinking about how I likely will never be anywhere near any shmup records for the rest of my life. Then I thought "Wait, Paperboy is kinda a shmup". You fire papers at numerous targets (some of which are moving) in a destructive fashion which you get points for, you avoid objects that end your life, there is extend scoring of 15,000 with a max of 7 lives, it's got an intricate scoring system which rewards chained breakage and a bonus for perfect delivery (kinda like no miss?). It's almost like a suburban and hilarious form of Zaxxon. Maybe that's a bit of a stretch.

Anyway, your thoughts please.

[1up]

I can see that, but then again, theres no projectiles. What you said can be applied to a lot of things. Fx. Madden NFL. You throw the football at targets and avoid obstacles (defenders).

I love Paperboy but the controls are hard to get used to. Congrats on beating the TG scores.

[louisg]

No. NEXT!

[NOAH]

I can see that, but then again, theres no projectiles. What you said can be applied to a lot of things. Fx. Madden NFL. You throw the football at targets and avoid obstacles (defenders).

I love Paperboy but the controls are hard to get used to. Congrats on beating the TG scores.

Thanks for the congrats, wish it was official. Making an official record score shouldn't be too hard from here on out.

In Madden you make one play at a time versus a scrolling level like a shmup or Paperboy. Paperboy in a sense has 7 levels with 3 modes of play and you fire many shots in each level. As far as projectiles go, you do have things like lawnmowers and tires rolling at you among other things, granted you don't squeeze between projectiles. It should be noted that for max scoring you do have to squeeze through very tight spots in the game though. Don't forget the bees (Dodonpachi? Anyone? (lol)).

And yes, the controls are hard to get used to. Once you do it's incredibly intuitive and fun. Getting the controls down is the first step, figuring out the hitbox of the paperboy and obstacles is the next part. It's the shot selection and positioning to maximize scoring that takes the longest, there are even moments of strategic suicide.

[drunkninja24]

Nah, it's a nmup

[MX7]

If Ikaruga is a shmup, then Paperboy can be one too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkiWdMVh ... ata_player

[Mero]

Paperboy's a good game, one of the few old Atari arcade games that I actually like. Never thought of it as a STG but I suppose it could be in an unorthodox kind of way.

[Friendly]

Is Tetris a shmup?

[Mad Mage]

Is Backgammon a Shmup?

[Captain]

the amount of shitposting in this thread is a shmup.

Paperboy is a somewhat unique game.
You wish to call it a shmup because you "shoot" newspapers, and avoid stuff.
However games where you shoot/avoid stuff are not shmups.
Is Turrican a shmup? No.
Is Call of Duty a shmup? No.

Is Tetris a Shmup?

No.
Paperboy is not a shmup, it is a unique game in which you happen to get to shoot/avoid stuff.

It's a bit nearer to the shmups than the other games I mentioned though, I'll give you that.

[exquisite_torture]

the amount of shitposting in this thread is a shmup.

Paperboy is a somewhat unique game.
You wish to call it a shmup because you "shoot" newspapers, and avoid stuff.
However games where you shoot/avoid stuff are not shmups.
Is Turrican a shmup? No.
Is Call of Duty a shmup? No.

Is Tetris a Shmup?

No.
Paperboy is not a shmup, it is a unique game in which you happen to get to shoot/avoid stuff.

It's a bit nearer to the shmups than the other games I mentioned though, I'll give you that.

Heroic posting.

[shmuppyLove]

Is Centipede a shmup?

[Bananamatic]

is Touhou a shmup

[1up]

Is Tempest a shmup?

Is Paperboy a sports game? You're on a bike...

[Captain]

I never understood what defines a sports game.

[exquisite_torture]

I never understood what defines a sports game.

Balls.

[DEL]

NOAH - You do know of the paperboy bug? I used to exploit it when it was in the arcades. Gives you a Giga Wing type score and extra lives. Still, I'm guessing you got your score without exploiting the bug so Congrats

btw. Twin Galaxies 'Official' World Records should always be taken with a pinch of salt & crystal meth.

[The Eidolon]

I always thought Pooyan was another weird game that was almost shmup-like in structure.
I wonder if there are any other weird borderliners like that.

[FIL]

Paperboy doesn't have a train level or a giant tank boss so it's not a shmup.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Quite an impressive feat you pulled off there with the arcade game of Paperboy, NOAH. How long in duration hours/minutes-wise did it take to achieve your PB high score record?

To 1CC Klax at a local arcade back in May of 1994 with an overall score of 6,000,000+ took about two & half hours of solid playing with no breaks whatsoever (yep, this is even longer than those insane 1 hour 1CC shmups sessions that the Japanese shmup gods have to endure with -- i.e. the 1CC of ST-V arcade RSG comes to mind). Talk about coming quite close to ending the game with the very last tile just about to drop into the abyss (after failing to catch it in time) but managing to complete the goals given for each stage. It seemed no matter what the CPU would throw at me in real time, I could overcome such incoming tiles with ease since I was "In The Zone." It was the Fast Tile waves where things could end up getting hectic or end the game really fast if you slipped up/fucked up.

And get this, each individual Klax PCB has a built-in histogram to show proof of how long each session was played + plus each PCB saves the high scores & high score initials without the need for a backup battery. How cool is that? So yeah, somewhere out there is that lone Klax PCB with my unofficial 1CC Klax WR score run that was never recognized by my local arcade nor Twin Galaxies either.

I still consider it a personal best. Not to mention having personally asked Walter Day at two different California Extreme shows (2003 & 2004) to personally watch me try to attempt such a Klax WR score run but no such dedicated upright Klax cab (full size or mini caberet formats) could be found on the game floor. If a third opportunity with TG & Walter Day comes up, I'll gladly try again...the third time's the charm.

Back in 1991, I used to play the American Technos cab of Blockout and it was quite feasible to get to Round 30 or 31 on a single credit. A possible 10,000 to 12,000 points in the Bonus Rounds were doable, it was just trying to make do with the given shapes at hand and to rotate them into position as quickly as possible to score the most before time ran out. Talk about trying to rack up as many points possible out of that 3D Tetris hybrid arcade puzzler indeed.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[NOAH]

Quite an impressive feat you pulled off there with the arcade game of Paperboy, NOAH. How long in duration hours/minutes-wise did it take to achieve your PB high score record?

I bought the machine 2 1/2 years ago but was never really hardcore about breaking the record. I just checked for you and the machine has 43+ hours of play time on it, so that's about 20 minutes a week since I owned it. I kinda play it in cycles, never hours at a time though. The great thing about it is that once I get a satisfactory official record score, there are still two more modes to play. Easy Street is really the one that people play the most and compete over.

[NOAH]

NOAH - You do know of the paperboy bug? I used to exploit it when it was in the arcades. Gives you a Giga Wing type score and extra lives. Still, I'm guessing you got your score without exploiting the bug so Congrats

btw. Twin Galaxies 'Official' World Records should always be taken with a pinch of salt & crystal meth.

Thanks. I'm aware of two bugs on Paperboy, but these are banned for competition purposes so I have never attempted them. I really don't want cheat scores filling up my hi-score table.

[NOAH]

Is Tempest a shmup?

Is Paperboy a sports game? You're on a bike...

I wondered the same about Tempest too. Also Mad Planets.

I wouldn't consider Paperboy a sports game due to the fact that delivering papers isn't a competitive sport and you aren't competing with anyone. The only scoring is from the point system created by the game designers and it's only competitive if you've got someone else who wants to compete with your scores.

[NOAH]

Is Centipede a shmup?

I was wondering the same.

[xbl0x180]

Is DFK a shoot-'em-up

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Answer: Yep, DDP-DFK 1.0, 1.5 and BL variants in it's original SH-3 PCB form (and the later 360 ports) are all shmups or better known as danmakus (or "shoot-'em-ups" as the proper and longer spelled out moniker in that particular genre/niche).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Ed Oscuro]

It's funny - this specific topic comes up now and again, long after people have given up hope on having odds-on genre favorites by genre authors (like OutZone, for a long time, wasn't considered a shmup due to not autoscrolling, at least by some weak minds), but Paperboy is still fighting the good fight for shmups inclusiveness. I mentioned this a few months ago: link

I wouldn't consider Paperboy a sports game [...] you aren't competing with anyone.

The in-game papers prove that being the paperboy is actually a position of the greatest importance, ranking alongside top elected officials for notoriety.

Anyhow, if any of you guys wins the selection for next month's shmup of the month, you better add Paperboy then.

[xbl0x180]

Paperboy's got that ViewPoint 45-degree angle and he does shoot newspapers at targets - sometimes at opponents and sometimes at specific homes. The end of every route, though, makes it seem more like a road/bike game due to all the manoeuvering on the track(s). I don't know any shoot-'em-ups where the point of the stage is how you control the ship on a course...

[Ed Oscuro]

Paperboy's got that ViewPoint 45-degree angle and he does shoot newspapers at targets - sometimes at opponents and sometimes at specific homes. The end of every route, though, makes it seem more like a road/bike game due to all the manoeuvering on the track(s). I don't know any shoot-'em-ups where the point of the stage is how you control the ship on a course...

In some sense, Kingdom Grandprix and Gallop. In another sense (but not a shmup), Toaplan's Rally Bike and various bullet-pattern dodging games. But yeah, that's an interesting thought.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Battle Formula.
P.S. There it is. Also, Gundhara. Interestingly, both owe Raiden a thing or two.