Bug-Byte

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bug-Byte Software Ltd
Typevideo game developer
IndustryVideo games
FoundedMay 1980[1]
DefunctJune 1985
SuccessorGrandslam Interactive
HeadquartersMulberry House, Canning Place Liverpool, England
Key people
Tony Baden, Tony Milner
ProductsComputer games

Bug-Byte Software Ltd. was a video game company founded in 1980 by Tony Baden and Tony Milner,[2] two Oxford chemistry graduates. It was one of the first to develop a range of 8-bit computer games during the early 1980s, for Sinclair, Commodore and other home computer brands, particularly for the Spectrum. Among the better known titles are Manic Miner and Twin Kingdom Valley.[3]

The company was based in Mulberry House,[4] Canning Place, Liverpool, England, and helped found a number of software houses in that region. In 1983, programmer Eugene Evans and two of the senior staff left to form Imagine Software. Later in the year Matthew Smith, a freelance developer who wrote Manic Miner, left to join Software Projects. In June 1985,[5] after a difficult trading season and a shake-out in the industry, the company went into voluntary liquidation, and the rights to their name and logo were purchased by Argus Press PLC. Argus continued to release both new games and budget versions of their own software under the Bug-Byte name via subsidiary Argus Press Software Ltd. Argus Press Software Ltd became Grandslam Entertainment in 1987 after a management buy-out.[6]

Software products[]

  • Aardvark (1986)
  • Another Vic in the Wall[7]
  • Aquarius[8]
  • Asteroids[9]
  • Automan (1985)
  • Backgammon
  • Birds and the Bees
  • The Birds and the Bees II: Antics (1985)
  • Bomber Bob
  • BOP! (1986)
  • Break Out
  • Cavern Fighter (1983)[10]
  • Chess
  • City Defence (1983)
  • Codename Mat 2
  • Cosmiads
  • Cricket (1985)
  • Diagon (1985)
  • Dictator (1982)[11]
  • Dragon Quest (1982)[12]
  • Droid Dreams (1988)
  • Dunjunz (1987)
  • Elevator Action
  • Flyer Fox (1986)
  • Fridge Frenzy (1985)
  • Galaga (1988)
  • Galaxy Wars (1983)[13]
  • Gladiator
  • Grange Hill[14]
  • Head Start
  • Hoodoo Voodoo (1986)
  • Hunkidory (1986)[15]
  • I-Wizard (1988)
  • Ice Hockey (1985)
  • International Cricket
  • Invaders[16]
  • Jack Attack (1985)
  • Jeep Command (1986)
  • Kat Trap (1987)
  • Kung-Fu (1984)
  • Leaper
  • Little Green Man (1988)
  • Ludoids[17]
  • Manic Miner (1983)
  • Mazogs
  • Megarok (1987)[18]
  • Miami Dice (1986)
  • Monkey Nuts (1988)[19]
  • Nick Faldo Plays The Open (1987)
  • Old Father Time[20]
  • Orbix The Terrorball[21]
  • Panic
  • Piggy (1988)
  • Pi-R Squared
  • Plan B (1986)[22]
  • Plan B2 (1987)
  • Pool (1983)
  • Rapscallion (1984)
  • Roboto (1986)
  • Rubicon (1987)
  • Savage Pond (1985)
  • Sea Lord[23]
  • Scramble
  • Sky Hawk (1986)
  • Space Invaders[24]
  • Space Pirates[25]
  • Spacewarp[26]
  • Spectres[27]
  • Spellseeker (1987)
  • Split Personalities
  • Squeakaliser
  • Star Force Seven (1985)
  • Star Soldier (1987)
  • Star Trader (1984)
  • Stay Kool
  • Strangeloop[28]
  • STI (Search for Terrestrial Intelligence) (1988)
  • Styx[29]
  • Templeton (1987)[30]
  • Tennis (1985)
  • Terramex[31]
  • The Castle (1983)[32]
  • Time Trax (1986)[33]
  • The Damsel and the Beast
  • The Dogboy (1985)
  • The Pay-Off (1984)
  • Turmoil (1984)
  • Twin Kingdom Valley (1983)
  • Uranians (1986)[34]
  • Up up and away (1983)
  • Vic Men (1983)
  • Vic Panic (1983)[35]
  • Zoot (1985)

References[]

  1. ^ "History for Bug-Byte Software Ltd".
  2. ^ "Bug-Byte Software Ltd | Science Museum Group Collection".
  3. ^ "Bug-Byte Software Ltd | Science Museum Group Collection".
  4. ^ "Bug-Byte Software Ltd". www.lysator.liu.se. Retrieved 2018-06-26.
  5. ^ "History for Bug-Byte Software Ltd".
  6. ^ "Bug-Byte Software Ltd | Science Museum Group Collection".
  7. ^ "Commodore User Magazine Issue 07". April 1984.
  8. ^ "PressReader.com - Digital Newspaper & Magazine Subscriptions".
  9. ^ "Asteroids - Software - Game - Computing History".
  10. ^ https://worldofspectrum.org//pub/sinclair/games-inlays/c/CavernFighter.jpg
  11. ^ "Dictator at Spectrum Computing - Sinclair ZX Spectrum games, software and hardware".
  12. ^ "Dragon Quest".
  13. ^ "Galaxy Wars - Software - Game - Computing History".
  14. ^ https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/zxdb/sinclair/entries/0002120/GrangeHill(Bug-ByteSoftware).jpg
  15. ^ "Hunkidory - Software - Game - Computing History".
  16. ^ "Invaders - Software - Game - Computing History".
  17. ^ "PressReader.com - Digital Newspaper & Magazine Subscriptions".
  18. ^ "Megarok".
  19. ^ "Monkey Nuts".
  20. ^ "Old Father Time - Software - Game - Computing History".
  21. ^ "World of Spectrum - Orbix the Terrorball".
  22. ^ "Plan B - Software - Game - Computing History".
  23. ^ "Sea Lord - Software - Game - Computing History".
  24. ^ "Space Invaders - Software - Game - Computing History".
  25. ^ "Space Pirates - Software - Game - Computing History".
  26. ^ "Spacewarp - Software - Game - Computing History".
  27. ^ "PressReader.com - Digital Newspaper & Magazine Subscriptions".
  28. ^ https://worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/games-inlays/Rereleases/s/Strangeloop(Bug-ByteSoftwareLtd).jpg
  29. ^ "PressReader.com - Digital Newspaper & Magazine Subscriptions".
  30. ^ "Templeton - Software - Game - Computing History".
  31. ^ "Terramex - Software - Game - Computing History".
  32. ^ "The Castle".
  33. ^ "Time Trax (1986, MSX, Bug-Byte Software) | Generation MSX".
  34. ^ "Uranians - Software - Game - Computing History".
  35. ^ "Vic Panic - Software - Game - Computing History".
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