Paradroid 90 (Amiga) - Gameplay 1/3

One of Andrew Braybrook's classics for C64 was Paradroid. It was action-adventure, where player was tasked with destruction of malfunctioning droids, which had overrun spaceship.

While the most straightforward way was to simply shoot them, the game had also notable innovation: Player's droid had ability to take the control of another droid for a limited period. By taking over the another droid player could use its class, weaponry and protection, which was especially useful against high-ranking droids with more advanced weapons and protection.

The capture of other droids was accomplished through subgame, where player had to fight against the droid for control of system. The amount of "attacks" was also affected by ranking of droid, so droids with higher class had advantage over droids with lower class.

In 1990 Braybrook developed new version of the game called Paradroid 90, which was published for Amiga and Atari ST. This version had notable improvements to graphics, sound and gameplay.

PLEASE NOTE: If this version seems somewhat different from the version you have seen, don't be surprised. It seems that there are at least two different retail versions for Amiga. The one used in making this video was apparently also the one included as part of Amiga Challenge compilation and has some differences to the original retail version.

Links to other clips:

Loading, Title and Option Screens:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw9sw6bPcf8

Gameplay 2/3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP_g4bQj6f0

Gameplay 3/3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOgbONfKN0c

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Paradroid
• Andrew
• Braybrook
• Graftgold
• Hewson
• Amiga
• WinUAE
• video
• game

[charliebrown76]

A great game but i always wished it was 8-way scrolling maps like the C64 original! I did start to write a clone on PC, but its unfinished.

[DamoclesAlpha]

@charliebrown76 It may be that the lack of 8-way scrolling was caused by the limits of the hardware of Atari ST, since P90 was developed for both Amiga and Atari ST. For example, the original Atari ST version of Spindizzy Worlds had only vertical scrolling (movement to left and right used flip-screen method - not unlike the original Spindizzy for 8-bit computers) while Amiga version scrolled to all directions. Perhaps it was easier to do vertical scrolling than horizontal scrolling on ST?

[DamoclesAlpha]

@charliebrown76 Also, have you considered studying the disassembled code of the Amiga version of Paradroid 90? If you can handle assembly code developed for 68000, using the original code can be useful way to reproduce accurately the gameplay and other nuances in your clone/remake. For example, Chaos Strikes Back for Windows was developed by fan, who disassembled the code of the original Atari ST version and converted it to C++.

[dariusb23]

if the idea is to destory all the other robots cant you shoot them? you just tried taking over all the robots. i thought you should get the best one and then kill the rest

[DamoclesAlpha]

Actually it is better in the beginning to take over droid with low class for the reasons mentioned in description. It is safer to gradually improve your class by taking over droids with somewhat higher class. Also, you can keep control over individual droid only for limited time, which is also affected by droid's class. The droid with highest class (Cyborg/999) can only be controlled for a short period, which is usually not enough to complete the ship.

[Gamefan17]

My father is very good in the C64 version! He won 999 with 001!

[meleeman90]

C64 version is better.

[NewnotesJR]

Commodore 64, they were some excellent games, many of which were greater than today's, and by far, much more creative. You just don't see this variety of creativity today. Games have devolved into tightly adhered to genres that are merely a rehashing of the same old crap, only with different attire.

[n1pperash]

Yes yes fantastic retro game here, a lot to learn for future programmers.

This could do with a 2012 remake.

[TiburNeltoben]

super Spiel! leier ist der Spieler nicht so sehr gut... aber egal, Spielspaß: 130% !

ich habe es auf dem Amiga geliebt!! danke für das Video... -:

[techyback]

I never knew of his remake, but I'm glad I didn't. I really, really prefer the original C64. Especially as you could immediately tell the rank of a droid by its number (001, 711, 999 etc) and whether or not to attempt a transfer or attack. This is just too 'busy' for my liking. I also thought the original chippy sfx where more in tune with the game than whats presented here. C64 Paradroid is my most favourite classic game of all time - P90 just doesn't appeal at all now having seen this.

[retronostalgic]

Classic game - Wasthere a save game option?

[NeilRoy65]

I just watched a video where someone never failed at taking over droids in the original Paradroid for C64... they used a hack. Sad. Nice to see you play the game fairly, which takes more skill.

[charliebrown76]

@DamoclesAlpha Yeah I remember reading in an old interview with Andrew Braybrook how he was limited by the ST's hardware regarding the scrolling so had to take the ST as benchmark for the 16-bit versions. I think he also said it could've been done easily on the Amiga and they had even done some early 8-way map designs but had to be scrapped in the end! Shame, but great game non-the-less.

There was an official Archimedes port called Paradroid 2000 but i've yet to see it...