Company:Epyx

Short description: Defunct video game developer and publisher

Epyx, Inc.

Type	Corporation
Industry	Video games
Founded	1978 (as Automated Simulations)
Defunct	1993
Headquarters	San Francisco
Key people	Jim Connelley Jon Freeman Dave Morse (software manager)
Products	Temple of Apshai Jumpman Games series Impossible Mission

Epyx, Inc. was a video game developer and publisher active in the late 1970s and 1980s. The company was founded as Automated Simulations by Jim Connelley and Jon Freeman, originally using Epyx as a brand name for action-oriented games before renaming the company to match in 1983. Epyx published a long series of games through the 1980s. The company is currently owned by Bridgestone Multimedia Group Global.

History

Formation

In 1977, Susan Lee-Merrow invited Jon Freeman to join a Dungeons & Dragons game hosted by Jim Connelley and Jeff Johnson. Connelley later purchased a Commodore PET computer to help with the bookkeeping involved in being a dungeon master, and he came up with the idea of writing a computer game for the machine before the end of the year so he could write it off on his taxes. Freeman had written on gaming for several publications, and he joined Connelley in the design of a new space-themed wargame. Starting work around August 1978, Freeman wrote the basic rules, mission sets, background stories and the manual, while Connelley coded up the system in PET BASIC.

The BASIC era

The two formed Automated Simulations around Thanksgiving 1978 to market the game, and released it in December as Starfleet Orion. Examining contemporary magazines (Byte and Creative Computing) suggests this is the first commercial space-themed wargame for a personal computer. As the game was written in BASIC, it was easy to port to other home computers of the era, starting with the TRS-80 and then the Apple II, the latter featuring rudimentary graphics. They followed this game with 1979's Invasion Orion, which included a computer opponent so as not to require two human players.

The company's next release, Temple of Apshai, was very successful, selling over 20,000 copies. As the game was not a "simulation" of anything, the company introduced the Epyx brand name for these more action-oriented titles. Rated as the best computer game by practically every magazine of the era, Apshai was soon ported from the TRS-80 to additional systems, such as the Atari 8-bit family and Commodore 64. Apshai spawned a number of similar adventure games based on the same game engine, including two direct sequels, branded under the Dunjonquest label. The games were so successful that they were later re-released in 1985 as the Temple of Apshai Trilogy.

Using the same BASIC game engine, a series of "semi-action" games followed under the Epyx brand, including Crush, Crumble and Chomp!, Rescue at Rigel, and Star Warrior, each of which added twists to the Apshai engine.

Growth and action focus

Freeman became increasingly frustrated by Connelley's refusal to update the game engine. He left the company to start Free Fall Associates in 1981, leaving Connelley to lead what was now a large company.

A year later, Epyx was starting to have financial difficulties. Jim Connelley wanted and received money through venture capital, and the venture capitalists installed Michael Katz to manage the company. Connelley clashed with new management, left Epyx, and formed his own development team, The Connelley Group, with all of the programmers going with him, but continued to work under the Epyx umbrella.

With no programmers to develop any games in-house, Michael Katz needed to hire programmers to ensure a steady supply of games. Several venture capital owners involved in Epyx also had ownership of a company called Starpath. While Starpath had several young programmers and hardware engineers, they were facing financial difficulties as well. Around this time, an independent submission to publish a game called Jumpman came through and was a big hit for Epyx. The success of Jumpman made Epyx a lot of money, so Michael Katz had the capital to create a merger between Epyx and Starpath, bringing Starpath's programmers and hardware engineers under the same company. Michael Katz left Epyx in 1984 after being hired away by Atari Corporation as their President of Entertainment Electronics Division (and later, became the President of Sega of America), and was replaced by Gilbert Freeman (no relation to Jon Freeman).

By 1983 Epyx discontinued its older games because, Jerry Pournelle reported, "its managers tell me that arcade games so outsell strategic games that it just isn't cost-effective to put programmer time on strategy." By early 1984, InfoWorld estimated that Epyx was the world's 16th-largest microcomputer-software company, with $10 million in 1983 sales. Many successful action games followed, including the hits Impossible Mission and the sports game Summer Games. The latter created a long run of successful sequels, including Summer Games II, Winter Games, California Games, and World Games. The company produced games based on licenses of Hot Wheels, G.I. Joe, and Barbie. In Europe, U.S. Gold published Epyx games for the Commodore 64, and also ported many of the games to other major European platforms such as the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC.

The Epyx 500XJ Atari CX40-compatible joystick

For the Commodore 64, Epyx made the Fast Load cartridge which enables a fivefold speedup of floppy disk drive accesses through Commodore's very slow serial interface. Another hardware product was the Epyx 500XJ Joystick, which uses high-quality microswitches and a more ergonomic form factor than the standard Atari CX40 joystick while remaining compatible.

Starting in 1986, Epyx realized that the Commodore 64 was starting to show its age, and they needed to think about the future of the company. They hired Dave Morse to explore the next generation of consoles and computers and to learn about their strengths. David's son wanted his father to come up with a portable game system, so he had a meeting with former colleagues at Amiga Corporation, RJ Mical and Dave Needle, to see if there was a way to design a portable gaming system. Internally, the handheld gaming system they were working on was called the Handy. Unable to continue due to high costs, it was sold to Atari Corporation which brought it to market in 1989 as the Atari Lynx.

Litigation

In 1987, Epyx faced an important copyright infringement lawsuit from Data East USA regarding Epyx's Commodore 64 video game World Karate Championship. Data East thought the whole game, and particularly the depiction of the referee, looked too much like its 1984 arcade game Karate Champ. Data East won at the US District Court level and Judge William Ingram ordered Epyx to recall all copies of World Karate Championship. Epyx appealed the case to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, who reversed the judgment and ruled in favor of Epyx, stating that copyright protection did not extend to the idea of a tournament karate game, but specific artistic choices not dictated by that idea. The Court noted that a "17.5 year-old boy" could see clear differences between the elements of each game actually subject to copyright.

Bankruptcy and asset sales

Epyx had become heavily dependent on the Commodore 64 market, which accounted for the bulk of its revenues most years, but by 1988 the C64 was an aging machine now in its sixth year and the focus of computer gaming was shifting to PC compatibles and 16-bit machines. Although the console market, dominated by the Nintendo Entertainment System, was highly lucrative, Epyx objected to Nintendo's strict rules and licensing policies and instead initiated a failed attempt to develop their own game console.

Epyx was unable to fulfill its contract with Atari to finish developing Lynx hardware and software, and the latter withheld payments that the former needed. By the end of 1989, Epyx discontinued developing computer games, began making only console games, and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. According to Stephen Landrum, a long-time game programmer at Epyx, the company went bankrupt "because it never really understood why it had been successful in the past, and then decided to branch out in a lot of directions, all of which turned out to be failures."

Epyx had shrunk from 145 employees in 1988 to fewer than 20 by the end of 1989. After emerging from bankruptcy the company resumed game development but only for the Lynx, with Atari acting as publisher. In 1993, with eight employees left, they decided just to sell off the rest of the company. Bridgestone Media Group eventually acquired the rights the rest of Epyx's assets. Job offers were extended to the eight remaining employees, but only Peter Engelbrite accepted.

In 2006, British publisher System 3 announced it had licensed certain Epyx's assets on a time limited basis to release games such as California Games and Impossible Mission for Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, and Wii in 2007.

Products

Games

Name	Year	Platforms	Description
4x4 Off-Road Racing	1988	Amiga	An off-road racing game
		Amstrad CPC
		Atari ST
		Commodore 64
		DOS
		MSX
		ZX Spectrum
Alien Garden	1982	Atari 8-bit	An early "art game" that required experimentation to understand and win
Armor Assault	1982	Atari 8-bit	A turn-based tank strategy game between Soviet and NATO forces
Barbarian	1987	Acorn Electron	Also known as Death Sword, a fighting game, players fight gory combat against one another or for the sake of a bikini-clad princess. Controversy over the game's packaging in the UK stoked this game's success.
		Amiga
		Amstrad CPC
		Apple II
		Atari ST
		BBC Micro
		Commodore 64
		DOS
		ZX Spectrum
Barbarian II: Dungeons of Drax	1988	Acorn Electron	Also known as Axe of Rage, a fighting game, garnered much less attention than its predecessor
		Amiga
		Amstrad CPC
		Atari ST
		BBC Micro
		Commodore 64
		DOS
		MSX
		ZX Spectrum
Barbie	1984	Commodore 64	Players must successfully prepare for a date with Barbie's male counterpart, Ken
Battle Bugs	1994	DOS	A real-time tactics game featuring bugs battling in common household environments
	1997	PlayStation
	1994	Windows
Blue Lightning	1995	Atari Jaguar CD	One of the first games for the Lynx, a pseudo-flight simulator where the pilot commands a military aircraft
	1989	Atari Lynx
Break Dance	1984	Commodore 64	A rhythm game similar to Simon inspired by the then-current fad of breakdancing
Boulder Dash Construction Kit	1986
California Games	1987	Amiga	A hit for Epyx, a collection of sport games purportedly popular in California , such as half-pipe skateboarding and surfing
		Amstrad CPC
		Apple II
		Apple IIGS
		Atari 2600
		Atari Lynx
		Atari ST
		Commodore 64
		DOS
		MSX
		Nintendo Entertainment System
		Master System
		Genesis/Mega Drive
	2008	Virtual Console
	1987	ZX Spectrum
California Games II	1992	Amiga	A sequel to California Games, a collection of more California-themed sports games
		Atari ST
	1990	DOS
	2008	PlayStation Network
	1993	Master System
		Super Nintendo Entertainment System
	2008	Virtual Console
Championship Wrestling	1986	Apple II	A professional wrestling sports game
		Atari ST
	1987	Commodore 64
Chip's Challenge		Amiga	Originally designed for the Atari Lynx, this puzzle game was subsequently ported to several other platforms, sometimes more than once.
		Amstrad CPC
	1989	Atari Lynx
		Atari ST
		Commodore 64
		DOS
		Windows
		ZX Spectrum
Crush, Crumble and Chomp!	1981	Apple II	A movie monster strategy game where the player controls a monster and tries to destroy a city without getting killed
		Atari 8-bit
		Commodore 64
		VIC-20
		DOS
		TRS-80
Crypt of the Undead	1982
Curse of Ra	1982		An expansion to Temple of Apshai, requiring the original game to play. Included in Temple of Apshai Trilogy
Danger in Drindisti	1981		An entry in the loosely tied Dunjonquest series of fantasy role-playing video games
The Datestones of Ryn	1979	Apple II	A "prequel" to Temple of Apshai and part of Epyx's loosely tied Dunjonquest series, a role-playing video game, perhaps the first example of an action role-playing game
		Atari 8-bit
		Commodore PET
		TRS-80
Destroyer	1986	Amiga	A well-received naval combat simulation
		Apple II
		Apple IIGS
		Commodore 64
		DOS
Dragon's Eye	1981
Dragonriders of Pern	1983	Atari 8-bit	A strategy video game based on the series of books by Anne McCaffrey
		Commodore 64
ElectroCop	1989	Atari Lynx	An action game where the player has to rescue the President's daughter
Escape from Vulcan's Isle	1982
Fax	1983
Final Assault	1987	Amiga	A mountain climbing simulation. Released as Chamonix Challenge in Europe.
		Amstrad CPC
		Apple IIGS
		Atari ST
		Commodore 64
		DOS
		ZX Spectrum
Fore!
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero	1985	Apple II	An action shoot 'em up game based on the popular action figure
		Commodore 64
The Games: Summer Edition	1988
The Games: Winter Edition	1988
Gates of Zendocon	1989	Atari Lynx	A sci-fi shoot 'em up
Gateway to Apshai	1983	Atari 8-bit	An action-adventure role-playing video game that served as a prequel to the earlier Temple of Apshai
		ColecoVision
		Commodore 64
Hellfire Warrior	1980		An entry in the Dunjonquest series of role-playing video games
Hot Wheels	1984	Commodore 64
Impossible Mission	1985	Acorn Electron	The player is a secret agent trying to thwart an evil genius's nefarious plans. Debuting on the Commodore 64, this widely hailed game featured aspects of various different game genres, such as action games, adventure games and platform games.
	1986	Amstrad CPC
		Apple II
	1987	Atari 7800
	1985	BBC Micro
	1984	Commodore 64
	2007	Nintendo DS
		Nintendo Entertainment System
	2010	Oric Atmos
	2007	PlayStation 2
	2007	PlayStation Portable
	1988	Master System
	2007	Virtual Console
	2007	Wii
	1985	ZX Spectrum
Impossible Mission II	1988	Amiga	Rewritten from scratch with the plot a direct follow-on of the original, this game failed to perform nearly as well
		Amstrad CPC
		Apple IIc
		Apple IIe
		Apple IIGS
		Atari ST
		Commodore 64
		DOS
	1989	Nintendo Entertainment System
	1988	ZX Spectrum
Invasion Orion	1979	Apple II	A science fiction strategy video game
		Atari 8-bit
		PET
		TRS-80
Jabbertalky	1982
Jet Combat Simulator	1985	Commodore 64	Also known as Fighter Pilot. Developed by Digital Integration Ltd. Game Program Designed by David K. Marshall; Adapted for the Commodore 64 by Darrel Dennies.
Jumpman	1983	Apple II	Designed and programmed by Randy Glover, a platform game, a very successful game for Epyx, who sold it for years after its initial release
		Atari 8-bit
		Commodore 64
		DOS
		TI-89
	2008	Virtual Console
Jumpman Junior	1983	Atari 8-bit	A "lite" version of Jumpman with only 12 levels
		ColecoVision
		Commodore 64
The Keys of Acheron	1981		An entry in the loosely tied Dunjonquest series of fantasy role-playing video games
King Arthur's Heir	1982
L.A. Crackdown	1988
Legend of Blacksilver	1988	Apple II	A fantasy role-playing video game that was met with lukewarm reception due to its stale graphics and unimaginative presentation
		Commodore 64
Mind-Roll	1988	Amiga	Also known as Quedex. A marble dexterity game made by Thalamus.
		Commodore 64
Monster Maze	1982	VIC-20
Morloc's Tower	1979		An entry in the loosely tied Dunjonquest series of fantasy role-playing video games
The Movie Monster Game	1986	Apple II	An action game where the player gets to assume the role of one of various monster movie standards
		Commodore 64
New World	1982
The Nightmare	1982
Oil Barons	1983	Apple II	A peculiar hybrid of video game and board game, this game sold poorly upon its release and is very rare today
		Commodore 64
		DOS
Omnicron Conspiracy	1989
Pitstop	1983
Pitstop II	1984	Apple II	A widely hailed racing game, the first to implement a split-screen for simultaneous two-player racing
		Atari 8-bit
		Commodore 64
		IBM PC (self-booting disk)
	1985	TRS-80 Color Computer
	2008	Virtual Console
PlatterMania	1982	Atari 8-bit
Project Neptune	1989
Purple Saturn Day	1989	Amiga	A sports game with a variety of Olympic-themed sci-fi events that garnered high praise
		Amstrad CPC
		Atari ST
		DOS
		ZX Spectrum
Puzzle Panic	1984	Atari 8-bit	A puzzle game featuring a lightbulb named "Benny"
		Commodore 64
Rad Warrior	1986	Commodore 64	Published as The Sacred Armour of Antiriad outside of North America and set in a post-apocalyptic Earth, a combination action puzzle and platform game; came with a 16-page comic book
		DOS
		TRS-80
Rescue at Rigel	1980	Apple II	Probably inspired by the Iran hostage crisis, the player must rescue hostages on an asteroid orbiting the star Rigel
		Atari 8-bit
		Commodore PET
		IBM PC (self-booting disk)
		TRS-80
		VIC-20
Revenge of Defender	1988
Ricochet	1981
Rogue	1983	Amiga	A groundbreaking dungeon crawler that introduced a number of game innovations. Originally developed on the Berkley Unix distribution, Epyx paid for three ports to home computers.
		Atari ST
		TRS-80 Color Computer
Snowstrike	1991
Silicon Warrior	1983	Atari 8-bit	An action-puzzle game developed by The Connelley Group
		Commodore 64
Sorcerer of Siva	1981		An entry in the loosely tied Dunjonquest series of fantasy role-playing video games
Space Station Oblivion	1987	Amiga	Released as Driller outside North America, a sci-fi puzzle game
		Amstrad CPC
		Atari ST
		Commodore 64
		DOS
		ZX Spectrum
Spiderbot	1988	Commodore 64	Originally released in Europe as Arac by Addictive Software in 1986.
Starfleet Orion	1978	Apple II	The first game by Epyx, then Automated Systems, a sci-fi turn-based strategy video game. A success, leading to their development of further games.
		Commodore PET
		TRS-80
Star Warrior	1981	Apple II	Branded as being part of their loosely related "Starquest" series, an early sci-fi role-playing video game when Epyx was still "Automated Systems"
		Atari 8-bit
		TRS-80
Street Sports Baseball	1987	Apple II	A baseball sports game.
		Commodore 64
		DOS
Street Sports Basketball	1987	Amiga	A sports game of basketball featuring 3-a-side games
		Amstrad CPC
		Apple II
		Commodore 64
		DOS
		ZX Spectrum
Street Sports Football	1988	Commodore 64	A football sports game
		Apple II
Street Sports Soccer	1988	Commodore 64	Another in Epyx's "street sports" line, this one featuring soccer
		Apple II
		DOS
Sub Battle Simulator	1987	Amiga	A naval combat simulation game set during WWII where players can play as the American or German forces
		Apple II
		Apple IIGS
		Atari ST
		Commodore 64
		DOS
		Macintosh
		Tandy Color Computer 3
Summer Games	1984	Amiga	A sports game including several games featured in the Summer Olympic Games such as pole vaulting, platform diving and gymnastics, among others
		Apple II
		Atari 2600
		Atari 7800
		Atari 8-bit
		Commodore 64
		Master System
		ZX Spectrum
	2005	Windows Mobile
Summer Games II	1985	Amiga	A sequel to Summer Games, this sports game features additional events from the Summer Olympic Games
		Amstrad CPC
		Apple II
		Atari ST
		Commodore 64
		DOS
		ZX Spectrum
	2008	Virtual Console
Super Cycle	1986	Amstrad CPC	A motorcycle racing game.
		Atari ST
		Commodore 64
		ZX Spectrum
Sword of Fargoal	1983	Commodore 64	A popular but difficult dungeon crawler featuring several aspects of the roguelike games
	1982	Commodore PET
		VIC-20
Temple of Apshai	1979	Amiga	An early role-playing video game released during the height of the initial popularity of Dungeons & Dragons, the first entry in the Dunjonquest series was an enormous hit for Epyx, then known as Automated Systems
		Amstrad CPC
		Apple II
		Atari 8-bit
		Atari ST
		Commodore 64
		Commodore PET
		VIC-20
		DOS
		Macintosh
		TRS-80
Temple of Apshai Trilogy	1985		A repackaging of Temple of Apshai with its two expansion packs, Upper Reaches of Apshai and Curse of Ra
Tuesday Morning Quarterback	1980
Upper Reaches of Apshai	1982		An expansion pack for Temple of Apshai that required the original program to run. Included in Temple of Apshai Trilogy
Winter Games	1984	Atari 2600	A sports game including several events featured in the Winter Olympic Games such as alpine skiing, ski jumping and biathlon, among others
		Atari 8-bit
		Commodore 64
World Games	1986	Amiga	A continuation of their successful Olympic-themed games such as Summer Games and Winter Games, this sports game features several events that are popular in different parts of the world, but not necessarily featured in the Olympic Games, such as log rolling and sumo wrestling.
		Amstrad CPC
		Apple IIe
		Apple IIGS
		Atari ST
		Commodore 64
		DOS
		MSX
		Master System
	2008	Virtual Console
	1986	ZX Spectrum
World Karate Championship	1986	Amstrad CPC	A karate fighting game, known as International Karate outside North America
		Apple II
		Atari 8-bit
		Atari ST
		Commodore 16
		Commodore 64
		DOS
		Game Boy Advance
		Game Boy Color
		MSX
	2008	Virtual Console
	1985	ZX Spectrum
Zarlor Mercenary	1990	Lynx	A vertical scrolling shooter, praised for its graphics, but overall unevenly received

Other software

Name	Year	Platforms	Description
Microsoft Multiplan	1985	Commodore 64	An early spreadsheet program developed by Microsoft. Although the Multiplan article states it was distributed by Human Engineered Software for the Commodore 64, it was later distributed by Epyx.
Vorpal Utility Kit	1985	Commodore 64	Floppy disk utilities, including 1541 Head Alignment, File Recovery, Super-Fast Disk Format, Super-Fast File Backup, Super-Fast Disk Backups, Disk Drive Speed Check, and Vorpal* Save/Load.
		Commodore 128
Programmers' BASIC Toolkit	1985	Commodore 64	An extension to the Commodore BASIC V2.0 programming language. It adds over 100 new commands to the BASIC language, providing an easy-to-use API to the relatively advanced (at the time) graphics and sound hardware capabilities of the Commodore 64.
Print Magic	1988	Apple II	A home desktop publishing suite, it outperformed the contemporary market leader at the time, The Print Shop, on all levels, though not a great commercial success
		DOS

Hardware

Name	Year	Description	Image
Epyx Fast Load	1984	A powerful disk drive loading accelerator, one of the most widely used peripherals for the Commodore 64, it also contained a number of other useful software tools
500XJ joystick		An Atari compatible joystick that was innovative in that its base was molded to more naturally fit a player's hand, so it was easier to use than traditional rectangular-based joysticks. Variations were released that were compatible with the NES and Master System.
Handy	1989	A handheld game console that was innovative in many ways. Short on capital at the time, however, Epyx licensed it to Atari, who christened it the Atari Lynx

External links

• Epyx profile on MobyGames
• "Epyx Journey" – An in-depth history of Epyx
• Epyx history and game list – GOTCHA on GameSpy.
• Images of some early Epyx brochures
• Epyx Consumer Software Catalog Winter 1984
• Epyx 500XJ Joystick Brochure
• Epyx 500XJ Joystick Commercial (1986)