Is Paperboy on Steam?

No. Paperboy is not distributed on Steam, so there is no Steam Charts or SteamDB player count for it. Its live popularity is tracked here via Twitch viewership instead.

When did Paperboy release?

Paperboy was first released on December 31, 1990.

Paperboy

Dec 31, 1990ArcadeAtari LynxArcadeNESGenesis / Mega DriveMaster System

Paperboy — frequently asked questions

Is Paperboy on Steam?: No. Paperboy is not distributed on Steam, so there is no Steam Charts or SteamDB player count for it. Its live popularity is tracked here via Twitch viewership instead.
What platforms is Paperboy on?: Paperboy is available on Atari Lynx, Arcade, NES, Genesis / Mega Drive, Master System, Game Boy, Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS.
When did Paperboy release?: Paperboy was first released on December 31, 1990.

About Paperboy

Paperboy is an arcade action game developed and published by Atari Games and Midway Games, and released in 1985. The player takes the role of a paperboy who delivers a fictional newspaper called The Daily Sun along a suburban street on his bicycle. The arcade version of the game featured bike handlebars as the controller. The game was ported to many home systems beginning in 1986. A sequel for home computers and consoles, Paperboy 2, was released in 1991.

Summary via IGDB.

Paperboy on Wikipedia

Paperboy is a 1985 action video game developed and published by Atari Games for arcades. The player takes the role of a paperboy who delivers a fictional newspaper called The Daily Sun to houses on a street while riding his bicycle. The arcade version featured bike handlebars as the controller.

Source: Wikipedia (text under CC BY-SA 4.0).

Game details

Platforms: Atari Lynx, Arcade, NES, Genesis / Mega Drive, Master System, Game Boy, Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS
Game modes: Single player

Details via IGDB.

Every version compared

Prices, contemporary reception and the studio credited for each release

Platform	Year	Loose	Complete	Sealed
Atari Lynx	1990	$20	$25	$30

Also released on: Arcade · NES · Genesis / Mega Drive · Master System · Game Boy · Amiga · Atari ST · Commodore 64 · MS-DOS. We haven’t priced or authenticated those versions yet.

Collector value & authenticity

Atari Lynx · PriceCharting sold data · Verified 2026-08-07

Loose

$20

Complete

$25

Sealed

$30

Region: NA+EU+JP
Released: 1990
Authenticity: Low

Never re-released — the original cartridge is the only way to playLow counterfeit risk

Atari Lynx prices, all games & how to spot a fake

The arcade route, faithfully reproduced — including the part where it is very hard.

Al Baker & Associates developed the conversion and Atari published it in 1990, licensed from Atari Games — the arcade company that had been a separate business from Tramiel’s Atari Corporation since 1984. The Lynx has the colour to make the suburb read properly, and the isometric route survives the shrink better than the hardware had any right to manage.

Period reception was cooler than that suggests. A German reviewer of the day dismissed it flatly as “a rather boring conversion”, and the criticism is fair: the arcade original’s appeal was partly the handlebar controller, which a d-pad cannot reproduce. One of the 17 titles distributed in Japan, and never re-released on a modern Lynx collection.

What the press said at the time

“Paperboy was one of the most successful arcade games of all time, and it would surprise me if this faithful rendition of Paperboy for the Lynx weren't equally popular.”
— Atari Explorer, March/April 1991

Cartridge & preservation record

Cartridge ROM capacity 1 megabit (128 KB), measured from the preserved cartridge image.

Catalogue part number PA2041

Cartridge data from the No-Intro preservation database (metadata only — names, sizes and checksums, no game data).

Also on other platforms

Arcade · NES · Genesis / Mega Drive · Master System · Game Boy · Amiga · Atari ST · Commodore 64 · MS-DOS

Arcade. Atari Games' 1985 coin-op, which Atari Explorer in 1991 called "one of the most successful arcade games of all time". The cabinet used handlebar controls; the Lynx version substitutes the d-pad and renders the street in 3/4 perspective, which the magazine noted requires "a point-of-view shift before you can steer effectively".

Worth knowing

You can only carry ten papers. Atari Explorer's 1991 review identifies the game's real constraint: "you can carry only ten papers at a time. Extra papers are distributed in bundles along your course, but not enough of them are provided to keep you supplied if you make a habit of throwing carelessly." Seven levels — a week's route — and bonus points for putting a paper through a non-subscriber's window.

Before you buy

An early title with multiple shell variants and one of the narrowest loose-to-complete spreads on the platform — complete copies are nearly free relative to loose. Buy complete.