Epyx

Epyx was an American designer and manufacturer of computer games and known by the pixel Olympics Summer Games.

The beginnings

Epyx was founded as Automated Simulations in 1978 by the computer role-playing game developers Jon Freeman and John Connelley, left the company back in the early 1980s.

Under new management, the company was renamed Epyx, reinforced by the video game and hardware developers Starpath and focused on the development of action games. With Jumpman by Randy Glover released in 1983 the first global Epyx success. In the same year Jumpman Jr. followed

The " golden years "

It followed the games and Pitstop Pitstop II is special about these racing games, is that wear out the tires during the race and the player is forced to insert a pit stop. The second part includes a two -player mode with horizontal split screen, is considered visually succeeded, but has deficiencies in the control system.

In 1984, the Games took place in Los Angeles. Epyx decided to develop Summer Games. This was based on the game Sweat! by Scott Nelson, a former Starpath programmers. The game was written entirely in assembly language, and the first time a graphic designer was involved in the development. It was completed in just six months and more than 100,000 copies.

After Summer Games and Summer Games II appeared in the following years, among other things, Winter Games, World Games and California Games.

Also in 1984 Impossible Mission was completed, one of the most successful Jump ' n' Run of the 1980s. Impossible Mission made ​​its name, for the players noted the high level of difficulty a particular challenge Positive fell the animation of the character and the clear voice output on. Followed in 1988 Impossible Mission II which, although easier to play, but was equipped with less expensive graphics.

Success is Nelson's Fast Load module for the slow C64 floppy drive VC1541, the Epyx in 1984 surrendered. The "golden" period ended a year later, when the competitor Electronic Arts, the Summer Games designers and other experienced programmers from Epyx withdrew and built EA's first -home development department with them.

The end

1989 handheld from Epyx was developed under the project name " mobile ". Since it financially Epyx went from bad to worse, the project was sold to Atari. The company developed from the later Atari Lynx. The number of employees at Epyx declined in the following years, from 200 to 20 employees.

This was followed by some minor titles for the PC, up Epyx eventually stopped operating. The rights to Epyx went to the Bridgestone Multimedia Group, the rights to the games were mostly sold to Atari, changed in the 1990s, however, often the owner. Today, there are parts of the rights at System 3 In Europe Magnussoft has the rights to " epyx ".

Title overview

• 4x4 Offroad Racing (1988 )
• Battle Bugs (1994 )
• Blue Lightning ( 1989)
• California Games (1987 )
• Crush, Crumble and Chomp (1981 )
• Destroyer (1986 )
• Dragon Riders of Pern (1983 )
• G.I. Joe (1985), see also G.I. Joe ( Action Figure )
• Impossible Mission (1983 )
• Mission Impossible II ( 1988)
• Jumpman (1983 )
• Jumpman Jr. ( 1983)
• Pitstop (1983 )
• Pitstop II ( 1984)
• Rogue (1985 )
• Sub Battle Simulator ( 1988)
• Starfire (1983 )
• Summer Games (1984 )
• Summer Games II (1985 )
• The Sword of Fargoal (1982 )
• The Worlds Greatest Baseball Game ( 1984)
• Winter Games ( 1987)
• World Games (1986 )