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It's early morning - time to wipe the sleep from your eyes and merrily jump atop your trusty BMX bike (even if you do want a mountain bike like everyone else). Now, just take a trip to the local corner shop and pick up your daily round of the Daily Sun newspaper. Your early morning mission of mercy is simple. Just deliver your round of papers to the houses of all of your subscribers. Easy, huh?

But the paperboy you control doesn't fancy getting off his bike and delivering his round by hand like normal boys of his age. Oh no, your job is carried out simply by riding along the isometric-scrolling 3D streets throwing the papers at the subscribers' homes, hoping to catch their mailbox or letterbox. Unfortunately, although the inhabitants of this street like the Daily Sun a lot - they don't like you much at all.

The average American street is a very strange place, if Paperboy is anything to go by. Subscribers' homes are painted white and the nasty people who don't purchase your fine organ have their homes painted black.

Extra points are awarded by using your razor-edged papers to break a few of the non-subscribers' windows. More points can be gained by attempting the BMX assault course conveniently located at the end of the street.

Here, successfully hitting targets with your papers gains extra points. Don't dally about though, because there's a strict time limit that has to be beaten in order to receive a juicy bonus!

Sega owners on the lookout for a decent conversion of the paper-slingin' Atari coin-op need look no further than US Gold's conversion. Out now at £29.99, it's as close a conversion as any Sega owner could hope for and scored a healthy 85% in issue one of Mean Machines. Check it out!

The paperboy's delivering antics are hampered by the sheer amount of bad guys out to get him. Among the hazards you encounter are the likes of breakdancers obviously freshly arrived from a circa 1983 timewarp), possessed lawnmowers, robbers, rabid mutts, tricycles and skateboarders.

It's a good thing that your papers can be used to halt these guys in their tracks. The roads aren't safe either as a multitude of motorcyclists and car owners are feeling particularly blood-thirsty and they're out to get you!

I like Paperboy in the arcades, but this ghastly excuse of a conversion is nothing like Atari's classic coin-op. Horrible, tasteless colours and retarded sprites make the game ugly to look at, and the booming tunes and feeble effects are a sick mockery of their arcade counterparts.

This could be forgiven if the gameplay was enjoyable, but sadly it's lacking in that department too. A few games are what it takes to get completely annoyed by the slug-like controls and hopeless collision detection, and after that it's time to put Paperboy into early retirement.

Dear oh dear... After the fabulous Master System conversion, this NES conversion came as rather a shock. Rather than being as close to the coin-op as the Sega version, it's a jerky parody of the Atari original.

The scrolling is smooth enough, but the graphics are a complete mess. The artist responsible for this must have come fresh from nursery school - they're that bad. The sprites look like refugees from Legoland, and the sound is similarly dire.

Playability - where's it gone? Your two-speed BMX is completely uncontrollable and reluctant to obey your joypad's commands and the collision detection is completely inaccurate.

There's a load of great NES games on the market now, but this crippled cart isn't one of them.

Presentation 62%
A few screens, but they're pretty awful and add nothing to the game.

Graphics 36%
Revolting, ill-defined backdrops and blocky, repellent sprites with ghastly colour schemes.

Sound 34%
A feeble attempt at capturing the coin-op's music and effects.

Playability 38%
The complete lack of control condemns this conversion from the outset.

Lastability 21%
Even the three skill levels of the original are missing, and the irritating action won't keep you at the NES for long.

Overall 30%
A highly offensive product which weighs in as a sadly derisive conversion of a classic coin-op.