C64 Longplay - Paradroid

[@adamiusrex]

this game really prepared me for life because i didnt really know what you were supposed to do and i still don’t.

[@joeeyaura]

yeah i played this game all the time and had no idea what i was suppose to do, and it was still fun

[@ShiceSquad]

I'm confused just looking at it. But life is simple: it's like a gas station gloryhole kzbin.info/www/bejne/h5-viqmcorN0jrcsi=VR0-n_Y9uZD4EURI

[@RaptureMusicOfficial]

I grew up with this game, man those were the best gaming times! Paradroid was so fascinating! All the special features on each droid, the different colors and sounds on each deck. Pure gaming fascination! Much better than most nowdays games (I'm a retro gamer obviously)! :)

[@Midwinter2]

One of the best games ever made, in my view. Ingenious. Note: the scrolling is actually perfectly smooth on a real C64. For some reason, it appears a bit choppy in this video.

[@2PeteShakur]

"This was our second title for the C64 after Gribbly's Day Out, so it was important for us to deliver a great product. The Paradroid diaries in Zzap!64 had created some good publicity ahead of launch, and, fortunately, Andrew Braybrook delivered a phenomenal game. Paradroid has a beautifully elegant design and is wonderfully balanced. It wasn't actually our biggest ever hit but has certainly become something of a cult classic." -- Andrew Hewson, founder of Hewson Consultants

[@Wolfsheim23]

This was one of my alltime favorites on C64. I never got to see the ending because it was so hard! . You couldn't just stay in the most powerful droid if you managed to hack it. The more powerful droid you took over the less time you could use it before it started to self destruct and you had to find another droid fast to jump into or you'd die with it. I never made it to the bridge of the ship but damn I tried a long time.

[@noway8662]

This is genuinely one of the best games of that era. It's easy to get into with clear mechanics and visuals, but not easy to win. It rewards mastery, but also doesn't crush your soul as a new player. Goes straight into same pile with the likes of Speedball 2 or Impossible Mission.

[@krissalkond]

@@noway8662 What are those numbers in the up-right corner?

[@lukemclellan2141]

​@@krissalkond Your score

[@paulpaulsen7777]

Same here. But I also loved it alot. My other favorite game was Elite. How many hours, how many nights I played those... I am 54 now- and still play Sony PlayStation 😂

[@Stripedbottom]

One of the best ever made for C64. Brains & brawl in equal measure, great sci-fi theme.

[@thecoldheart2012]

The alert state turns from green to yellow then to orange and finally to red. If you destroy many droids in a short time the alert state rises. Especially when you destroy a lot of higher class droids - 751, 834, 883 for example by using a disrupter weapon of a 711 or 742 - the alert state will rise very quickly to red. The higher the alert state, the more points you get. But be careful, because on a high alert state (red) the armed droid behave more agressive, too!

[@fig7047]

This was probably my favourite game back then. It was perfect, a masterpiece..

[@aesh78]

I loved this game as a kid.

[@lambda494]

Man, I remember this game like yesterday. I always liked the 711 and 883 droids. Played it with my dad all the time. The flash attack would frighten me.

[@jyutzler]

883s are too slow. 821, 742, and 711 are where it's at.

[@Aragon9th]

821 was my fav. :)

[@jyutzler]

@@Aragon9th Sure, but it's not effective against 883/834/751

[@Aragon9th]

@@jyutzler Well, the 821 is fast, has superior firepower and holds the power for a long time after it has been taken over, i was even able to kill the 999 without bigger problems. Imho the 821 is the best beast one can get.

[@klaxoncow]

@@jyutzler Yes, but as the 883 is basically a Dalek from Doctor Who, then they were not known for their dexterous manoeuvrability.

[@regmtait100]

What a game. Brilliant then, perfect now. Stone cold classic.

[@swizlestick]

never understood this game but loved playing

[@msphere760]

Haha Same!

[@steveman1982]

Same, same.

[@b1lleman]

Took me some time to understand the logic but finally did. Awesome game ahead of its time. Fun story : this particular game gave a load error 4 times out of 5 on my tape....

[@trax72]

I understood it (mostly) but never finished it

[@phj9894]

Basically just a top down shooter where you eliminate all enemies in the ship but you can hack the enemies to take control of them for superior firepower and armors.

[@Electrodefender]

awesome game, awesome simple sound, i like the c64 version more than the amiga version.

[@thecoldheart2012]

Yes, the 302 and the 834 ( "over-driven anti-grav unit"...!) are the two fastest droids in this game. The fastness of these droids makes their movements (as enemy-droids) sometimes really unpredictable. These sometimes really surprising movement-direction changes make especially the 834 quite dangerous. So it can be a real challenge to hunt such a very fast 834. ... or to search one left 302 on an almost empty deck while currently controlling a very slow droid can also be tricky sometimes.

[@381jot]

Best game on the C64. Viva Braybrook!

[@djaxupjazz]

without a doubt

[@SeaJay_Oceans]

I would love a modern 3-D even VR version of this game using nVidia 1080 / 2080 level graphics ! :-) GREAT story line, great imagination, great action, great puzzles, interesting ships, and great fun !

[@snoojie]

Nothing could beat getting an 700 level droid and going to the lower decks causing casual mayhem.

[@JohnathanRobinzine-xn4lw]

I like that old school computer game 1980.s

[@BammerD]

711 and 742 were my favorite droids because the disruptor pretty much destroyed every droid, except for 821, 999, 420 and other 711s and 742s. The 883 droid is a cool "cameo." When you input into the ships computer and look at the droid specs, the 883 is actually a Dalek from "Doctor Who."

[@darkfunk69]

This and Uridium - best games on C64 , me and my dad used to play these games together oh so many moons ago ...

[@thecoldheart2012]

... I never had seen one. One great aspect of the classic one from 1986 is, that you, while playing this game, can really imagine that the situation is kind of real - as if you really control your influence-device from outside - only having your monitor-screen and display information, which is showing you the different types of droids as numbers - this idea is so simple and also so genius at the same time! I've played this game so often since 1986 that when I'm playing it now, I somehow don't...

[@loot6]

0:26 and 0:36These sounds are exactly the same sounds when stirring the cauldron in Wizball.

[@f-zero8740]

Really nice game. One of the few I finished in the past on my C64C. Back the the games are pretty hard!!

[@MrMoorkey]

Got the C64 mini for Christmas and fired this straight up. My youngest watched for the longest time before asking me "...is this a new version of Among Us?"

[@Luis45ccs]

haha

[@JohnathanRobinzine-xn4lw]

I like that old school movie robotic horror movies 1980.s making me nightmare 1980.s

[@cmed9680]

Fantastic game, still playable once finished - great memories

[@JohnathanRobinzine-xn4lw]

I like that old school c64 paradriod 1985 and c64 chiemina 1987

[@2PeteShakur]

"Using some of the code systems that I had for Gribbly's Day Out, this time, I wanted an atmospheric battle aboard a space ship. The game design was written on a small piece of blue notepaper, which Steve (Turner) found recently but was sadly water-damaged. Remarkably, most of the design just worked first time, so the game turned out as originally imagined. The firing mode I wanted didn't work, though, so it was changed, twice, at the eleventh hour to a more traditional system. Also, the blueprint look that I originally envisaged was changed to a bas-relief look, without using multi-colour mode." -- Andrew Braybrook, designer and programmer

[@TheReligiousCrap]

Ever noticed the 883 in some Dr. Who's episodes?

[@PartisanArtisan]

Fucking hammer. Well it's just fantastic all round isn't it? DerSchmu , you and your 'longplay' friends are just gods of the highest possible accolade and impress me no end. Business.

[@WTT1978]

I used to play this all the time! Loved it! Love to play it again!

[@thecoldheart2012]

@auritone No problem. :) I'm still playing this game minimum one time every week... And this one is the only reason why I still keep my old C-128 D running and in a good shape. In my opinion this game never gets boring and I'm really kind of addicted to Paradroid (... I'm sometimes even dreaming about it... :) . This game was and is simply a masterpiece in the history of computergames!

[@ozone7]

Totally agree! Paradroid, Uridium, and Impossible Mission was games that was so massive, good loooking and playable, that they defied belief! Unbelievably good on a meagre 64K!

[@BuenoExcellente123]

once took over the 999 with the 001 by sheer luck. sadly couldn't ever finish the game because the map was defective at one point. like it was cut in the middle and left-shifted at the cut. blocked a part of the ship i had to reach :(

[@chamberkingston7609]

of course the last robot you met smokes weed.

[@JeffersS13]

How can you move the pins on the circuits so quickly !?

[@johne3087]

It's the same way I used to use... wait for ages and then a few seconds from the end, press and hold fire whilst moving up or down. You can decide the direction based on if there are any "1 into 2" circuits nearer the top or bottom. Similarly, go the opposite direction of any "dead-end" circuits. You'll notice one pulser after the other is being deployed contiguously. You don't have much control but it's quick! Because the other droid has used up it's pulsers, you stand more chance of winning as you deployed your ones mostly last.

[@stopbunsen]

Sounds weird to say, but I found this game scary as a child! lol

[@thecoldheart2012]

Last night I only reached ship 3 ("Hewstromo")... a unit type 834 destroyed me there at the yellow-coloured deck "vehicle hold". Maybe tonight I'll be better... I'll gonna start my C-128D now, loading Paradroid again...! By the way, if you'll play this game ever once again, too - always be careful concerning these 834 units - these ones are very fast and often deadly (except you control a fresh disrupter-droid...! ;)

[@thecoldheart2012]

An another rather unknown point about this game: If you crush, also during the transfer-mode, into an explosion of weaponfire (also under very certain circumstances), your opponent in the transfergame is not visible (so there is only an empty space instead); when you then complete the transfergame, you transfer into one of the robots which were still on the deck you currently are. This effect also happens very rare; but not so extrem rare as the effect with this unit type 402 droid - see below.

[@max8286]

loved this game!!! was the only one who was able to deal with the connections...

[@thecoldheart2012]

Part 3 of the reply: A routined player will always attempt to hold the alert state as long as possible on the highest level (red), because of the many bonus-points which can be earned then. By the way, it makes more fun to fight against very agressive enemy-droids while the alert state is red! ;) Try this: Use the disrupter-weapon of a 711 or 742 on the mid cargo deck (the big green one in the middle of the ship) and you surely will rise the alert state quickly (but stay away from 821 then...)

[@dorpth]

Prior to copy protection as we knew it in the late 80s to early 90s, early to mid 80s games had unofficial copy protection in the fact that they were damn impossible to figure out without the manual.

[@romfordwisp]

Still best game in the world, 476 was a great little hard droid but I would always get a little lower droid first incase I lost the abacus battle against a 476. 999 is the ultimate but doesn’t last long.

[@RaptureMusicOfficial]

Yes the 476 was one heck of a sexy hard droid, my favorite one too! :) The best droid in the game!

[@Eliminaattori]

Still waiting for Paradroid 90 longplay!

[@curiousaustriantours6962]

YEEEES! Fab game I used to play many, many times.

[@b1lleman]

Took me some time to understand the logic but finally did. Awesome game ahead of its time. Fun story : this particular game gave a load error 4 times out of 5 on my tape....

[@thecoldheart2012]

One correction: For sure you can destroy a 420 with a 711 or 742 by bouncing it. ... but better don't activate the disrupter-weapon while doing so.

[@StepDub]

I used the Freeze Frame cartridge to save the game. Still couldn’t make it past the third ship.

[@thecoldheart2012]

Yes, that's true - 711 and 742 are the two most effective droids to clear the ship-decks. These two droids are almost equal, so it's quite similar which one of them you chose. The only difference is, that the energy of the 711 lasts a little (a few seconds) longer, therefore the 742 has one entry more in the transfer-mode. I also mostly use one of them - especially to clear decks with droids from 614er and higher. But also these two disrupter-droids have one remarkable weakness (beside they ...

[@00kieper]

I played the game last time 30 years ago, but now when watching this video, I notice that control, docking, game, etc. have firmly burned into my DNA - it feels so familiar. Let's see what my descendants do with this inheritance...

[@thecoldheart2012]

An interesting point not everyone (even experts of this game) may know: If you crush during the transfer-mode into an explosion of another droid, you can get (under very certain circumstances) a unit called "unit type 402" (a kind of a broken robot). Since 1986 I played this game uncountable times - and I had this rare transfer into a 402 only about 10 or 15 times.

[@jyutzler]

Yeah, I vaguely remember this happening once or twice. I got scared and switched out pretty quickly.

[@thecoldheart2012]

@auritone You had to clear 8 Robo-Freighters; Paradoid (1), Metahawk (2), Hewstromo (3), Graftgold (4), Blabgorius IV (5), Red Barchetta (6), Retta-beast (7) and Itsnotardenuff (8). The ships (1), (2) and (3) are not so difficult to clear; (4) is a a bit harder then; but (5) and over are a real challenge even for routined players. Note: If you finish the last ship (ship 8), you are beamed back to an uncleared ship 8 again for an endless repeat... until you get detroyed there...

[@jyutzler]

I don't think I ever got to #5. The enemy bots fire too fast. I'm pretty good at the transfer game though. I really only lose it if I'm the 001 and I get an unfavorable (bland) layout.

[@TheRainblossoms]

Did anyone else find the wall bug where you could slide through the hull and exit the ship? Weird surreal crap sometimes happened out there. Droid 883 was the fav.

[@thecoldheart2012]

+The Rainblossoms On some cracked / copied disc version of Paradroid can occur a bug in that way, that the walls onto some decks suddenly disappear, so that you can move outside; but everytime this error (due to a disc copy error) occurs, the whole game collapses during some minutes then. Anyway, there does exist a real bug in this game (not due to a disc copy error), in that way, that when you use the lift and then just immediately return to the deck you just came from, it could be possible then, that some doors onto that deck do not open anymore. But that's no problem - to solve that bug, just go back to the lift and then try once more, then the doors open normally again. By the way - the 883 security droid (the Dalek ;)) is a really dangerous opponent (except when you just a control a droid with a disrupter weapon); but for the own use it is a very bad one - very slow, no good weapon power and very, very fast energy drain ...

[@TheRainblossoms]

+thecoldheart2012 Mine must have been a copy error. Still, it was sometimes possible to get back inside the ship depending on the shape of the deck. It didn't usually crash my machine but it would usually leave you in a surreal cybernetic oblivion from where there was no return. And yeah, Unit 883 was tough to fight but not so effective when using it. Sadly. At least it looked cool.

[@thecoldheart2012]

+The Rainblossoms Yes, indeed - this is exactly that bug you do describe here, which I had meant! That bug - due to a copy error - especially occurs on one of the shuttle store decks (the yellow one, where two shuttles are stored there). That bug can also have the effect then, that the sprites of your device can get bigger, until nothing functions anymore. Anyway, each time that bug occurs, you unfortunately have to quit your game then. Oh yes, the unit type 883 really looked very cool! ... and somehow also very menacing and also kind of scary! For sure this droid was a small kind of gimmick by Andrew Braybrook as some reference to the Daleks from the Dr. Who tv-series. But it also always reminded me of a creature called Morra from the Mumins (kind of troll-stories from Tove Jansson from finland). I also liked the design of the unit type 615 a lot! That was that rather rare appearing sentinel droid. And the design of the unit type 834, too! (That was this blue sphere security droid). ... by the way - that droid (834) is a hell of an opponent in this game! Because it is so damn fast (as fast as its gunfire!) and its fast movements are often so weird, strange and unpredictable, that this droid is extremely dangerous! I had played Paradroid so often now since 1986 and mostly I was destroyed by a unit type 834 in the end ... But here, concerning the 834, it is quite the same as with the 883 - very dangerous as an enemy, but rather useless for the own use.

[@TheRainblossoms]

+thecoldheart2012 Yep, that sounds right. The deck was yellow from memory. But yes, it was usually a reason to restart the computer, even if you could get back inside the deck. The Moonmins monster! Lol, I used to watch that but didnt know what it was called. Yeah it was kinda similar. The 834s were hilarious and dangerous at the same time. They even used to eat a few of their own energy bolts from travelling too fast. Sadly they werent as good as they should have been. Usually very hard to hit unless you used a droid with an area effect weapon. 821 was awesome, and 476 was the main workhorse of the game for me.

[@thecoldheart2012]

+The Rainblossoms Hi! ... I'm back among the living ... it took me some time to reply ... For I do play Paradroid since it was new in 1985, I thought, I make you a kind of a list of all droids appearing in this game, which does reflect my gaming experiences with Paradroid and which also does refer to your last comment / reply here: Okay, let's start with the two disposal droids: Unit type 123 - slow, extremely weak and all in all absolutely useless (except when you are in an absolute emergency with a flashing 001-device ... that's also for all servant droids) ... although this droid looks funny with his horizontal egg-head ... and it has an infra-red sensor ... for whatever use ... Unit type 139 - same useless device as the 123 The servants: Unit type 247 - quite fast (yeah anti-grav!) but nevertheless useless; although - while not so slow - the best of the three servants ... and this droid looks somehow funny, too ... Unit type 249 - another useless device ... and ... tripedal (!?) - how should this one walk? - but okay, it seems to function Unit type 296 - the worst of the three servants - very slow and very(!) useless ... butler-droid with a tray ... The two messenger droids: Unti type 302 - very fast; can be useful sometimes on decks with only lower class droids but nothing more ... that one always looks like a kind of a spring to me ... Unit type 329 - very slow and an absolutely useless device ... but that one wins - in my eyes - the price for the most hilarious designed droid of the whole game ... The maintenance droids: Now it becomes more interesting ... Unit type 420 - although this one is very slow and useless, it has one advantage - immune to disrupter weapons! So this one can be useful, when you play a game strategy, to leave some 711s and / or 742s alive on some decks and later take a 420 to transfer on that decks Unit type 476 - best of the lower class droids! So here we do have the only armed lower class droid (laser - yeah!); then it is quite fast and its energy also lasts quite long; this one is very useful to clear decks with lower class droids until up to 614s. But for decks with droids over 614s the 476 is too weak and far too less protected Unit type 493 - that one unfortunately has got no armament, but it isn't that bad - can be useful on decks with lower class droids up to 598s, because it is fast and its energy lasts quite long; but - for sure - the 476s are a far better choice; but when no 476 is available, although a 493 (that guy with the tool-box ...) might be useful ... (to be continued)

[@BuenoExcellente123]

it was a genuine bug. the graphics were ripped apart and offset enough to prevent passage . :)

[@ozgurkarter4368]

With the hacking game this is one of the best video games ever made. Thanks Braybrook!

[@Wolfsheim23]

I'd made up my own hacking mini game based on this classic. Mine is a circular circuit with nodes all the way around the outside forming kind of a maze to route through to choose while the ICE chooses them too, to defeat you. The circuits go to a circle in the center divided into blocks that you're trying to change to your color. Some circuits dead end, some go through a converter switching to opponents color, some split apart and give you multiples. You used ICE Pics to change the nodes. I've never seen a game with a hacking mini game like it.

[@ozgurkarter4368]

XWolven now that is interesting.

[@Sudz28]

What is the number at the top right of the screen?

[@johne3087]

It's the player's score.

[@Sudz28]

@@johne3087 Thanks, I actually came to that conclusion eventually myself but it was just weird how it slowly counts up (and sometimes down!) rather than just show the new total. I wasn't sure if it was maybe supposed to be some power indicator or something initially.

[@SeaJay_Oceans]

0:13 - 0:25 Great Ringtone ! :-)

[@thecoldheart2012]

One thing I had forgotten to mention: This bonus-disc for Paradroid 90 was planned as a kind of "booster" with much more other and different types of droids on it. But unfortunately, as far as I know, such a disk was never realised and released then.

[@TheCentralScrutinizerAgain]

the hacking mechanic was simple but so good! was a great game!

[@thecoldheart2012]

Part 2 of the reply: Only destroying enemy droids by shooting, disrupting or ramming them rises the alert state, not the transfering into a an enemy droid. If you then don't destroy enemy droids for some time (or just destroy lower class ones - like 123, 139, 247, 249, 296, 302 or 329) the alert state will go back again until it is green again. On alert state green you'll receive no bonus-points, but the enemy droids behave less agressive.

[@thecoldheart2012]

... can't destroy 420er, 821er and the 999 for sure; and also the "broken" unit 402 (402 is only a player-controlled droid) is immune against disrupters ...because it is broken anyway). This weakness while controlling a 711 or 742 concerns ramming enemy-robots - so while using the disrupter-weapon one should always avoid to bounce another droid - even far lower ones, and even a 123! Because under some circumstances such a bounce can drain a lot of energy from your currently controlled 711 or ...

[@ingomuller6815]

Hab ich das gesuchtet und leider nie geschafft. Aber echt geliked. Ich würde es glatt wieder spielen.

[@paulkrueger260]

I wished i knew qhat this game was about

[@ThomasWinders]

It's just me or I remember that in the end you had to escape reaching the shuttle bay (like 2:11 or 4:35) ?

[@Eliminaattori]

Late answer but this was in Paradroid 90. Raiders were pain in the ass when deck was cleared from droids.

[@Stadtpark90]

In hindsight: guess I never finished / won a game. Might have been a little too young at the time to think it through systematically. For example when I read the comments, people still remember what the strength and weaknesses of the individual bots where, or where to find which types, which decks to do in which order, to transfer from which to which etc.

[@thecoldheart2012]

Part 4 of the reply: And here is how many bonus-points you get for the four different alert states: green (none), yellow (5 points every second), orange (10 points every second) and red (25(!) points every second). So it is really a good thing to keep the alert state on red as long as possible!

[@HayTatsuko]

Droid Assault, a modern take on Paradroid by Puppygames, lacks the "hacking" minigame, but it's still massive fun to play. really stylish and well-done.

[@Aikidragon_Prime]

I played the crap out of this game, one of my favs.

[@thecoldheart2012]

One more ... : For sure you can also destroy a 711 with a 742 by bouncing (but only this way; not the other way round of course); but this will take you some time... So transfering is a the better decision here.

[@thecoldheart2012]

Oh... maybe your game had an error then. But are you sure that you had checked out all the lifts? Because some of the decks are "splitted" in two parts, so that you have to clear both of these separately to finish the whole deck.

[@katbat2379]

My first true gaming love. Always get the 999 as fast as possible. Archon was my other love.

[@benneale28]

Loved 302... rapid!! :)

[@thecoldheart2012]

I am still hoping that one day there'll be a multiplayer-mode for this stunning classic - imagine that: two or even more players are beamed with their 001-devices on different decks of one ship at the same time - each player controls his / her device on his / her own screen via the internet - that'll be fantastic! Okay, but then each time when one player currently is in the tranfer-mode, uses the lift ot one of the consoles the other players have to wait in the pause-mode.

[@thecoldheart2012]

And: Then the players could decide, if they work together to clear the ship of droids or if they also try to destroy each other. Or the question, if the other human-players should be visible as white-coloured devices or are also shown in black colour like the other computercontrolled rogue robots. Imagine how much fun it would be to hunt another player through the ship when you control a unit type 821 and the other player maybe controls a unit type 476 or 615!

[@securitysystem]

I never found out what the alert states meant. Can you tell me?

[@Eliminaattori]

You probably won't get a notice about my answer anymore but it was just how effective you were. More destruction (kills) in short time period means higher alert. Game gives extra points for higher alert states (green-yellow-orange-red).

[@thecoldheart2012]

Well, I don't know, if Andrew Braybrook is still active in this genre actually. In 1990 he released Paradroid 90 for the Amiga; which was also a great game; but nevertheless I always prefered and prefer the original from 1986 for the C-64. In my eyes Paradroid 90 had one remarkable disadvantage - far too less different types of droids! ... and the effect of the explosions there also was kind of strange (like a "bubble" somehow). There were always rumours for a bonus-disc for Paradroid 90 but ...

[@welkflingers]

Good show old chap!

[@securitysystem]

10:50 very lucky transfer

[@deejaytubbster8983]

Classic opening: From 001 to 476 to get weapons :-D

[@Wolfsheim23]

476 I think was my favorite all around droid with good weapons and longevity

[@KitShannon]

via the 302 if you were being careful. But yeah, 476 was the best all around. Still one of my absolute favorites and certainly the first to bear that label.

[@deejaytubbster8983]

@@KitShannon Via 302. Exactly!

[@westsideboy78]

Hehh. You're absolutely right!

[@westsideboy78]

@@KitShannon Same here :)

[@thecoldheart2012]

... very fast shooting-sequences (because of their "exterminator-weapon"). On lower ships you can also try to defeat them with a fresh 821 (although this is a bit tricky); on higher ships it would mostly be suicide to attempt such an attack on an 883 with an 821. ... so better use a 711 or a 742 to destroy these Daleks! So far for now.

[@westsideboy78]

Excellent game!

[@thecoldheart2012]

... 742 - so always be careful about that while using a disrupter-weapon. Concerning the 883: Yes, it's a Dalek, indeed! ",,, which, for some unknown reason, instills great fear in human adversaries..." :) While playing the game, these 883er are best disrupted! One should always avoid to transfer into a 883 - because these droid are very slow, underpowered (when the player uses one of them) and their energy drains very fast. But as an enemy the 883er can be quite dangerous, because of their ...

[@thecoldheart2012]

... really "see" the droids as numbers anymore - so I really see the droids (as they are shown by picture at the consoles) moving! So, it ain't necessary for me to see the droids in that way like they are watchable in Paradroid 90. After all these years I also created some nick-names for most of the droids... (I know and admit I`m truly "nerdish" concerning this game :)) So, let's see... maybe Andrew Braybrook will revisit his masterpiece once again for good! I won't give up hoping!

[@Tome4kkkk]

If you're watching this you need to check out Droid Assault by puppygames!

[@paulkrueger260]

Please explain

[@lurkerrekrul]

Maybe I'm just bad at the transfer game, but I don't understand how the player in this video manages to place the pulsers so quickly. He does it almost as fast as the computer. It's just boom, boom, boom, done! When I play it, they ALWAYS overshoot the line I want unless I tap the joystick for each movement, which is slow and causes me to run out of time. I waste most of the time trying to position them accurately.

[@thecoldheart2012]

The player who plays Paradroid in this video here is a very routined player, also concerning the transfer-game. But anyway, his speed there while doing it is correct and not a fake. So maybe you just need some more practice at the transfer-game, because to win the tranfer-games is one of the most important challenges in this game; so when you loose those transfer-games too often, you won't get very far here... By the way - what kind of joystick do you use? Maybe there is something wrong with it or with the set-up of your joystick? Because normally you don't have to tap your joystick for each line during the transfer-game; just roll it down (or up) to the line you want to entry as fast as you can. I - for myself - use a good old Competition Pro-Joystick from 1987 when playing this game on my C-128D and it works perfectly, accurate and fast!

[@lurkerrekrul]

thecoldheart2012 I know that the transfer game is very important to succeeding, why is why I never even managed to clear the first ship. I always seem to get crappy setups for the transfer game, where both sides are equally complex and confusing. Combine that with an inability to select the lines I want fast enough, and it's a recipe for failure. Also, I have to admit that I never completely understood how the energizers work. The instructions say that they can restore energy lost due to damage, but how do you know the difference? I mean, one time your droid starts flashing and moving onto an energizer recharges it. Another time it starts flashing and moving onto an energizer does nothing. It seems as if each droid can only be recharged once. Is that correct?

[@thecoldheart2012]

lurkerrekrul Here are some hints for a successful transfer-game, maybe these are helpful for you: 1) Choose a side where there are line-splitters and line-keepers; and - when you currently control a droid with many entries - choose a side where you do have more room and space. And in general: Always first look for those fields your opponent cannot reach here and colour them in your colour. And: When you currently control a droid with only very few entries and you your opponent droid has got many entries, then wait a while until about your time is around -20 / -15 until you start (but then you have to be very fast for sure!). 2) Don't choose a side when there are too much colour-changers, blockers and line-narrowers. A few words to the "healing-stations" now: These healing-points only(!) repair damages which were caused by weapons, ramming and explosion-fire. They don't(!) repair "damages" which are caused, because you control a droid for a too long time (for the 001-device can't control another droid too long - and as higher the class of the droid you control as faster your energy here drains down). So if your droid is flashing this can have two different causes: 1) Damages caused by weapons etc -> go to an energizer or transfer. 2) "Damage" because your "droid-control-time" seriously is running out -> transfer immediately! (By the way - even your 001-device can start to flash, when you wait far too long with a transfer.) And: As long as your droid is still "fresh" you can heal damages caused by weaponfire etc. as often as you want to.

[@lurkerrekrul]

thecoldheart2012 Thanks for the tips. :) I'm still not clear on damage vs. normal energy drain. If your droid starts flashing how do you know if it's because you took too much damage in battle or because your control is running out? You might assume it's battle damage, run to an energizer and find that nothing happens because you got hit right as your control was running out. I really wish that AB had implemented a more clearly defined system of energy use and control time. Maybe two countdown timers, one for your energy, which could be recharged an infinite number of times, and one for when your control will run out and you'll need to transfer to a new droid.

[@thecoldheart2012]

lurkerrekrul Normally, you can hear it, when you droid is damaged by weaponfire*, ramming or by an explosion - for each of these damages there is a certain FX-sound. So when you hear such a sound, you know, that you are hit - and those damages can all be healed at an energizer (but only if your droid is still "fresh" enough for sure, because you always can heal those damages only to the best level of your current "droid-control-time"! - with other words - when your "droid-control-time" is almost running out, it is useless to heal damages caused by weaponfire etc. at an energizer anyway). Concerning the "droid-control-time" again - when you play this game very often, you'll soon find out about how long approx. you can control a droid of a certain class of droids. And: When you're not sure anymore if your droid is flashing because of damages caused by weapons etc. or because of the energy drain, then better transfer immediately and don't search for an energizer - so here transfering is mostly always the best alternative. * except: damages caused by disrupter-weapons have no special "hurt-FX-sound" on your droid. P.S.: In the later Paradroid '90 there are kind of two "countdown-timers" for your droid-energy / damages. But I must say, that I see no special need for such a second "energy-timer" here in the classic Paradroid from 1986. If you are new to this game, then Paradroid is a game which has a lot to do with try and error. But as often you play it, the more you'll learn and find out (develop certain strategies and so on). And you'll see more and more then, how perfect this game is! Even a player who plays this game for decades now can still experience some surprises here!

[@thecoldheart2012]

One more: Also there could be the option to transfer to a human-controlled device - so your opponent in the transfer-game is a human-player and you try to "steal" his / her currently controlled droid! Or: Working teamwork by using to disrupter-droids to clear a deck - ...then the alert-status maybe would jump immediately from green to red...! That far... I've got a whole list in my mind to improve this even perfect game even still more, as you can see... maybe Andrew Braybrook read this here. :)

[@tonzatube]

I never played this, but the Amiga version Paradroid 90 it looked much better too in my opinion, man i loved that game but never really figured what you were supposed to do, i cleared ship found some key and then there was no other option but to cause red alert by destroying green lamps.

[@thecoldheart2012]

Okay, I understand. I still have this game on original floppy disk for my C-128D and it's still working (after almost for 28 years now!) without any failure. If you'll gonna ever buy this game again, only buy the original one (on ebay for example); because all these new versions of this game (especially those for Wii and the emulated PC-version are mostly very bad). Accept no imitations! ;)

[@JohnSmith-sy6zm]

This Game is NOT available on the ZX Spectrum! Haha!!!!!!!!!!

[@JouMxyzptlk]

One of the games I actually finished! On a Plus 4 though, but I made it...

[@thecoldheart2012]

For sure it should be written "two disrupter-droids" and "reads" not "read". Sorry, my english-writing is not always perfect, but I try my best.

[@Thomas1984.]

NUMBER 1

[@xDaimstarX]

Really like this game, but can´t play it myself.

[@melomerito]

I never understood those stations for recharging the energy: completely useless!

[@rogergilmour8805]

Controlling other droids drained the energy of both units. The 001 influence device could be re-energised but the controlled robot could not. Hence the need to constantly transfer to new droids. It was a part of the strategy but made it very challenging as you got through higher-end robots, where the length of control was less and the need to find a new "host" is greater.

[@TheCodedtestament]

A true classic.Life really is good, got a copy from ebay not so long ago, I load it up, Wow it is still just so good, Braybrook at his best...

[@TiburNeltoben]

i love paradroid 90 (-;

[@bsdetector6908]

I thought this game was vastly overrated. I got bored playing it. However, reading the comments here, people loved it so guess its just me.

[@ThanksIfYourReadIt]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA I remember i played this once and i missplaced it and i couldnt play it ever since and i never had any idea how to find it and ITS HERE NOW OMFG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1985 :OOO i was fucking 3 when i played this??? HOly shit!!!

[@Holodoc76]

I never understood that game :D

[@GouganeBarra-u4t]

Though I enjoyed the game, it was rather monotonous. All the ships were the same... and it was next to impossible to raise the alert level for higher drama. The droids should also have had varying firepower, and different vulnerabilities to your firepower ! Good but Gribblys Day Out was better.