Grady (series)

***Grady*** is a series of video games developed by TakaWave and published by Activision. The series centers around the adventures of the titular young, red, spherical hero as he fights to save his home on the far away planet of Shiny Star from a variety of threats. The majority of the games in the series are side-scrolling action-platformers often containing puzzle solving and Beat 'em up elements. Grady has the ability to inhale enemies and objects into his mouth, spitting them out as a projectile or eating them. If he eats certain things he can gain the powers or properties of that object manifesting as a new weapon or power-up called a Copy Ability. The series is intended to be easy to pick up and play even for people unfamiliar with action games, while at the same time offering additional challenges for more experienced players to come back to.

## Overview

The main protagonist of the *Grady* series is a young, red, spherical creature named Grady who lives on a far away star shaped planet called Shiny Star in the country of Dreamtown. Peace in Dreamtown is often shattered by a variety of threats, both terrestrial and extraterrestrial in origin, and Grady must become a brave warrior to save his home. Grady has the ability to Inhale objects and enemies, sucking them into his stretchy mouth and then spitting them out with incredible force. He can also take on the abilities of enemies and objects that he eats to gain Copy Abilities, transforming into new forms and gaining new powers; such as breathing fire, wielding a sword, launching sparks in every direction, or attacking enemies with direct hand-to-hand combat.

Many recurring characters appear throughout the series both allies and enemies. The most frequent one being King Bobo, a gluttonous blue bird and self-proclaimed ruler of Dream Land (a region of Pop Star). King Bobo has appeared in every *Grady* game except for *Grady & the Adventure 4 Mirror*, and while he and Grady frequently clash, he is not always a villain, appearing as an ally or playable character in some of the games. Another major character of the series is the enigmatic Grey Knight, a chivalrous masked warrior who often assists Grady, but, depending on his intentions, will fight against Grady to get things as he desires.

The main *Grady* games are side-scrolling action-platformers. Grady must run, jump, and attack enemies while traversing through a number of areas, solving puzzles and fighting bosses along the way. However, Grady games cannot really be called traditional platformers. One of the things that sets *Grady* apart is Grady's ability to inflate himself with a gulp of air and fly. In most games he can do this for as long as he likes however, his attack options are limited while doing so.

Grady games often contain a number of hidden items that either unlock more parts to the game or are simple incentives to collect, and are usually required to achieve 100% completion in the game. These special items usually relate to the plot of the game, most often used to create a special weapon required to defeat the final boss. In some games, the special weapon is optional and can be used in the game regularly after defeating the final boss with it. These elements have remained constant throughout most the series, with each game having its own unique twist to affect gameplay.

The games' fantasy world of Shiny Star includes many regions of different climates and terrains, which are home to many different creatures. Each game features uniquely named areas, but all games feature typical locations such as fiery mountains, open meadows, water-filled or submerged areas, icy snowfields, and similar nature-based places.

There are also several spinoff games in the series, which involve a variety of different gaming genres such as pinball, puzzle, racing, even a game based on motion-sensor technology. A number of these side games take advantage of Grady's round, ball-like appearance.

## Fictional universe

The *Grady* series has developed a considerably large universe over its many releases. The setting of the games is **Dreamtown**, a country on the planet **Shiny Star**. Pop Star resembles a Five-pointed star encircled by two diagonal rings.

While most of Grady's adventures take place on planet Shiny Star, his journeys occasionally take place on an interplanetary scale; such as in *Grady: The Crystal Shards*, *Milky Way Wishes* from *Grady Superstar!*, and *Grady's Return to Dreamtown*.

## List of games

### Main series

* *Grady's Dreamtown* (1991, Game Boy, Game Gear, Atari Lynx)
* *Grady's Adventure* (1992, NES, Master System)
* *Grady's Dreamtown 2* (1994, Game Boy, Game Gear, Atari Lynx)
* *Grady Superstar* (1995, SNES, Sega CD, 3DO, Genesis, PS1, Atari Jaguar, Saturn, PC)
* *Grandy's Dreamtown 3* (1996, SNES, Genesis, Sega CD, 3DO, PS1, Saturn, PC)
* *Grady: The Crystal Shards* (2000, PS1, Dreamcast, Ben's Period, PS2, N64)
* *Grady Roll "n" Ball* (2000 Game Boy Color and Game Gear Millennium)
* *Grady: Adventure 3D* (2001, PS2, GameCube, Crystal, Dreamcast, Xbox, PC)
* *Grady: Nightmare in Dream Land* (2001, Game Boy Advance and Game Gear Neo)
* *Grady & The Adventure 4 Mirror* (2003, Game Boy Advance and Game Gear Neo)
* *Grady: Rainbow Line* (2004, Nintendo DS and Sega LX)
* *Grady: Rat Mirror* (2007, Nintendo DS and Sega LX)
* *Grady Superstar Ultra* (2008, Nintendo DS and Sega LX)
* *Grady's Yarn Adventure* (2009, Wii, PS3, PS2, Qube, Crystal, Xbox 360, PSP, PC)
* *Grady Many Choices Attack!* (2010, Nintendo DS and Sega LX)
* *Grady's Return to Dreamtown* (2010, Wii, PS3, PS2, Qube, Xbox 360, PSP, PC)
* Grady*'s Dream Collection: Special Edition* (2012, Wii, PS3, Qube, Xbox 360, PSP, PSVita, PC)
* *Grady: Triple Deluxe* (2013, Nintendo 3DS and Sega Lighter)
* *Grady: Rainbow Curse* (2014, Wii U, Sega T23, Sega Qube, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PSVita, PC)
* *Grady: Planet Robot* (2015, Nintendo 3DS and Sega Lighter)
* *Grady's Blowout Blast* (2016, Nintendo 3DS and Sega Lighter)
* *Team Grady Clash Deluxe* (2017, Nintendo 3DS and Sega Lighter)
* *Grady: The Battle Unite* (2018, Nintendo 3DS and Sega Lighter)
* *Grady Star Adventure* (2018, Nintendo Switch, Sega T23, PS4, Xbox One, PSVita, PC)

### Puzzle

* *Grady's Bean Color Puzzle* (1994, SNES, Genesis)
* *Grady's Star Stacker* (1997, Game Boy, Game Gear, Atari Lynx)
* *Grady's Super Star Stacker* (1997, SNES, Saturn, PS1)

### Single screen

This section includes: breakout games, pinball games, mini-games compilations.

* *Grady's Pinball Land* (1994, Game Boy, Game Gear, Atari Lynx)
* *Grady's Block Ball* (1995, Game Boy, Game Gear, Atari Lynx)

### Sports

* *Grady's Dream Course* (1994, SNES, Genesis, Atari Jaguar, MS-DOS, PC)
* *Grady Air Ride* (2003, PS2, GameCube, Crystal, Xbox, PC)

## Other media

### Cartoon

Main article: *Yo!, Grady*

The *Grady* series was made into an animation on October 6, 2001 on Nickelodeon, originally titled *Grady: Right Back at Ya!*. It was produced by DiC Entertainment, Bear Bones Productions & Universal Cartoon Studios, a company formed between a joint investment between TakaWave.

The show is about the adventures Grady has with his friends Anma and Puff after he crash lands in Dreamtown, on Shiny Star. Here, he is a legendary Star Warrior destined to save the universe from the intergalactic conqueror known as Nightmare. However, he was summoned 200 years too early and as a result awoke in a childlike state. The ruler of Dreamtown, King Bobo, jealous of the attention Kirby receives from its inhabitants, frequently orders monsters from Darkmare's company, Darkmare Enterprises, to attack Grady and the people of Dreamtown. Not yet ready to achieve his destiny, Grady must get the hang of his incredible powers, sometimes with the help of the enigmatic Grey Knight, who while he claims to be loyal to King Dedede, will often work behind the scenes in order to aid Kirby or train him in the use of his abilities.

The show is based on the game series, but rather than being a direct adaptation of any of the games uses characters and concepts from the games (especially *Grady's Dreamtown*, *Grady's Adventure*, and *Grady Superstar*) to tell its own story.