I’ve already covered the re-made “Paradroid Metal Edition” on this website, but haven’t yet featured the original Paradroid – the highly-rated scrolling action game designed and programmed by Andrew Braybrook and published for the Commodore 64 by Hewson Consultants in 1985.

Paradroid is basically a scrolling shooter/maze game where you explore various decks of a large spaceship, trying to locate and transfer to hostile robots who are rated higher than you, eventually reaching the top of the robot hierarchy and eliminating all your opponents.

Each robot’s rating is indicated by the number on their chassis – from “001” (your “Influence Device” at the beginning), to “999” (the highest-rated hostile robot on the ship). The higher the number: the better the robot’s capabilities (ie. the faster and deadlier it is). The lower the number: the more vulnerable it is. Colliding with, or being shot by, other robots will damage the player’s robot and if it starts to flash then it’s in danger of dropping down to “001” unless a transfer is completed immediately. And: the “001” Influence Device will explode if it takes fire from, or collides with, hostile robots, and that will be ‘game over’ if that happens, so you need to be careful when you’re exploring.

To initiate a transfer (basically a “take-over” of another robot) you must first explore the corridors and find and identify a target. Hostile robots only reveal themselves when they are in direct view, and otherwise stay hidden, which creates great tension. Holding down the fire button puts you into transfer mode, and bumping into another robot while in that mode will attempt a transfer. The screen then switches to a timed single-screen puzzle game where you have to direct power down a series of logic gates in order to finish with more coloured tiles on the central chip than your opponent. Higher-ranked robots have more power (ie. more attempts) than lower-ranked robots, which stops you making too great a leap upward. If you win the game the transfer occurs and you return to the scrolling overhead view, but as the higher-ranked robot. If you fail you’re knocked back down to the Influence Device at “001” again. It’s also possible to draw this minigame, and if that happens an immediate replay occurs.

The idea is to creep your way up the rankings by transferring upwards a bit at a time, because if you try to take on a much higher-ranked robot when you’re very low-levelled it’s potential suicide. So you jump from “001” to “123”, then from “123” to “420”, and so on. The hostile robots go all the way up to “999”, of which there’s only one instance of the top robot, and it is apparently unstable, so transferring to it is as risky as it is thrilling.

As well as taking over robots you can also blast them with a jab of the fire button. Lower-ranked robots are usually sitting ducks for a more powerful, higher-ranked robot, and your ultimate goal is to clear each deck, and eventually the entire ship. So when you have the opportunity to reduce the hostile robot population you need to take it, although you do need to make sure you leave a enough robots around to transfer to when your current one wears out. When a deck has been cleared of all hostiles the lights go dim and the floor is greyed-out.

Other features include: elevators that move you up and down between decks (a side view is shown of the ship when using these); energizers (repair laser damage at a points cost); and computer consoles that – when activated – show details of all the robots you’ve encountered so far (of equal or lower rank); a plan map of the deck, and the deck level.

Paradroid is much-celebrated for good reason: it’s a timeless classic and is still brilliant to play, even now – some 38 years after its initial release. If you’ve never played Paradroid before then you should probably rectify that.

As well as the aforementioned “Metal Edition” another version of Paradroid, called “Paradroid Championship Edition“, was published in 1986. This was part of a Christmas double pack with Uridium Plus. It plays 50% faster than the original Paradroid, due to code enhancements.

A variety of Paradroid clones and remakes have been made over the decades, and there’s also Paradroid Redux, which is an interesting-looking fan-made remake of the game. Paradroid experts recommend playing either the Championship Edition, the Metal Edition, or Redux, over the original Paradroid as it is faster, smoother and has fewer bugs. The grabs shown here are from the original version of the game and they show the first ship being completed, from start to finish.

More: Paradroid on Wikipedia
More: Paradroid on c64-wiki.com
More: Paradroid on CSDb