Grady's Dreamtown

March 6, 1992

***Grady's Dreamtown*** is a video game developed and published by TakaWave for the Game Boy, Game Gear, and Atari Lynx. Released in 1991, it is both the first video game in the *Grady* series and the debut of Grady himself. As the inaugural *Grady* title it created many conventions that would appear in later games in the series. However, Grady's iconic "copy" ability would not appear until *Grady's Adventure*, released less than one year later.

*Grady's Dreamtown* was designed by Mala M., who intended it to be a simple game that could be easy to pick up and play even by those unfamiliar with action games. For more advanced players, he offered additional optional challenges such as an unlockable hard mode and the ability to edit Grady's maximum HP and starting number of lives.

## Plot

One night, under the cover of darkness, the gluttonous King Bobo and his minions steal all the food in Dreamtown as well as the *Double Stars* used to obtain more food. The next morning as the residents are discussing what to do, Grady, a young resident of Dreamtown, steps forward and volunteers to retrieve the food and stars, and stop Bobo.

## Gameplay

Grady battling the first stage's boss, Tree Woods.

*Grady's Dreamtown* is an action-platformer. Like many other platformers of the 8-bit and 16-bit era of video games, levels are side-scrolling, played on a two-dimensional plane in which Grady can move left or right as well as jump. Grady's main method of attack is to inhale enemies and objects into his mouth, after which the player can either swallow them or spit them out as a projectile attack. In addition to running and jumping, Grady can also fly by inflating himself with a mouthful of air and flapping his arms. Flying can be done indefinitely; however, while flying, Grady's only method of attack is to release the air puff held in his mouth which cancels his flight.

The game consists of a total of five levels. Levels are made up of a series of large "rooms" rather than the single continuous corridors typical of platformers at the time connected by doors that lead Grady to different areas. Some of these doors lead to hidden areas or alternate pathways through the level. The doors act as checkpoints returning the player to the beginning of a "room" should they die rather than starting the level over.

Unlike the copy abilities of later titles, *Grady's Dreamtown* has more traditional power-ups that offer Grady temporary abilities when he picks them up. These often appear in the form of food, such as Spicy Food that gives Grady fire breath or a Mint Leaf (Sweet Potato in the Japanese version) that gives lets Kirby fire air puffs rapidly without losing flight. At the end of each level is a boss Grady must fight to obtain one of the Double Stars. Most bosses are fought by sucking up small objects or projectiles created by the boss' attacks and spitting them back at the boss. The third boss, Hot Balloon Tom, however is fought using an unlimited version of the Mint Leaf item temporarily turning the game into a Shoot 'em up. The last level before the final boss consists of a boss rush, where Grady must fight all of the game's bosses again going through a short area based on that boss's home level.

Like many 1980s-era platformers, the player can accumulate points by defeating enemies and collecting items, with an extra life granted when the player has enough points. However, because *Grady's Dreamtown* lacks a save function, scores are not recorded. Also, there are no save files, so the player has to start over again when the Game Boy is turned off, if the player chooses to return to the title screen after a Game Over, or if the player resets the game. Once the game has been completed, a code is offered to play an optional Extra Game, in which the difficulty is significantly increased. Completing the extra game offered a second code that lets the player adjust lives and vitality settings to play an even easier or harder game, and listen to music and sound effects freely. Since there is no save function, these codes can be entered even on a new session where the game has not been beaten yet so long as the player knows them.