Paradroid

Enemy forces have hijacked a space fleet by turning its robot consignment against the crew. The goal is to neutralize all the robots, thereby rescuing the humans. The players control a prototype influence device that allows them to move the hostile robots. The game is set on a spaceship viewed from a top-down perspective.

The ship consists of numerous rooms and levels, each one populated by hostile robots or androids . The player, in control of a special droid called the Influence Device, must destroy all the other droids on the ship. Each droid (including the player) is represented as a circle around a three-digit number. The numbers roughly correspond to the droid's power or level, in that higher-numbered droids are tougher to destroy; there are 24 droid types.

The Influence Device is numbered 001. The primary way in which the Influence Device destroys other droids is by linking with them, effectively taking over them. When the player takes over another droid, the previously controlled droid is destroyed. Taking over a droid is done via a minigame involving basic circuit diagrams and logic gates .

Each droid has one side of the screen, with a series of logic gates and circuits connected together. The droids have a number of power supplies that can apply power to one circuit. Higher-numbered droids have more power supplies. At the end of a short time period, the droid supplying the most power to the circuit wins.

The logic gates are the key to allowing lower-numbered droids to beat higher-numbered droids. There is also a strategy in timing when power is applied to a circuit (as two supplies of power to the same circuit result in the later supplier of power gaining control of the circuit). It is possible for the transfer game to end in a draw. A replay will take place If this occurs.

In either case, the droid being controlled by the player is destroyed. If the player beats the droid in this minigame, they take control of that droid. If not, either the droid is destroyed and the player is returned to the game simply as the Influence Device (if they were previously controlling a different droid), or the player is killed, ending the game, if they were not already controlling another droid before the takeover attempt. While in control of another droid, the player effectively acts as that droid, meaning the player has access to its maneuverability, armor, weapons and power supplies (used during the droid-control minigame).

If the droid has weapons, the player can destroy other droids by shooting them instead of taking them over, though higher-numbered droids can require several shots to destroy and might fire back. The player has control of a droid only for a limited amount of time (which is inversely proportional to the droid's number). If that time elapses, the controlled droid self-destructs and the player reverts to the Influence Device (001). The spaceship has 20 decks, each with many rooms; the game has more than 400 screens.

Doors and elevators connect the rooms and the decks. Only droids in the player's line of sight are visible, although doors being operated by out-of-sight droids can be seen moving. Many rooms have computer terminals that provide access to maps of the current deck and the entire ship as well as droid information. Each droid can access information about itself and all lower-numbered droids (this access is available to the player based on the droid being controlled).

Goals and challenges As well as achieving a high score , Paradroid players can aim to completely clear one or more ships of robots and to attain a successful transfer from the 001 Influence Device to the unstable 999 droid. Despite the instructions referring to a finite fleet, the Commodore 64 game never ends. When clearing the eighth ship called "Itsnotardenuff", the players are just placed back on the ship with higher-ranking droids on each deck.