Paradroid on Game Boy Advance: The Other Half of an Unreleased 2-in-1 Prototype
Paradroid started as a Commodore 64 game by Andrew Braybrook, published by Hewson Consultants in 1985. You are the Influence Device, number 001, a weak robot loose on a spaceship full of hostile droids. Shooting is possible, but the real weapon is a takeover: you link up with a droid in a small circuit-board duel and, if you win, you become that machine and inherit its strength. This cartridge carries the Game Boy Advance version of that idea, preserved from an unreleased prototype.
At a glance
- Original game: Paradroid (Commodore 64, 1985) by Andrew Braybrook
- This edition: the unreleased Game Boy Advance prototype of Paradroid
- Credited on the preservation page to: Tin Tiger
- Preserved by: the Forest of Illusion prototype collection on the Internet Archive, uploaded in October 2022
- Genre: top-down action strategy
- Status: unreleased prototype
How it relates to Uridium Advance
The prototype was part of a project that originally aimed at a solo Uridium Advance and was later combined with Paradroid into a 2-in-1 game. The archive release preserves the source code with several builds: one with Paradroid only, two with Uridium Advance only and one 2-in-1.
What makes the original special
Braybrook's development diary in ZZAP! 64 shows how it was built in 1985: a multi-deck ship (he even wanted a physical model to check that the lift shafts and decks lined up), and robots hidden outside your line of sight. The result is a game where choosing which droid to hijack matters more than raw firepower.