Atlantis Software was a
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
-based
UK computer games publisher
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
that published a number of games during the 1980s
and early 1990s.
The company was set up by Michael Cole and Rodger Coghill in January 1984 with the first four games released in May of that year.
The Atlantis Gold label was launched the following year at £2.99, but the Gold tag was soon dropped, with games at both prices being released under the Atlantis logo but with the suggested price on the cover.
The company's primary focus remained on the low-cost cassette-based games for 8-bit machines for £1.99
and £2.99
(commonly known as "budget" games) that formed a significant part of the UK 8-bit software market during the 1980s.
However, they later published games for the 16-bit disk-based
Atari ST and
Commodore Amiga
Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...
formats.
Formats covered included the ZX Spectrum
on which they published several games reviewed by the UK gaming press.
Selected titles
*''Master Mariner'', 1984 (
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer.
Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colou ...
)
*''
Monster Munch
Monster Munch are a British baked corn snack created by Smiths in 1977 and manufactured by Walkers. They are aimed at children and widely consumed in the United Kingdom. Flavours include Roast Beef, Pickled Onion and Flamin' Hot.
On the issue ...
'', 1984 (
Commodore 64)
*''
Cops 'n' Robbers
''Cops 'n' Robbers'' is a video game published by Atlantis Software in 1985 for the VIC-20 and in virtually identical form on the Commodore 64. It was ported to the Commodore 16 and Commodore Plus/4 (1986), Acorn Electron and BBC Micro (1987), ...
'', 1985 (
VIC-20
The VIC-20 (known as the VC-20 in Germany and the VIC-1001 in Japan) is an 8-bit home computer that was sold by Commodore Business Machines. The VIC-20 was announced in 1980, roughly three years after Commodore's first personal computer, the ...
, C64,
Commodore 16
The Commodore 16 is a home computer made by Commodore International with a 6502-compatible 7501 or 8501 CPU, released in 1984 and intended to be an entry-level computer to replace the VIC-20. A cost-reduced version, the Commodore 116, was ...
,
Acorn Electron
The Acorn Electron (nicknamed the Elk inside Acorn and beyond) was a lower-cost alternative to the BBC Micro educational/ home computer, also developed by Acorn Computers Ltd, to provide many of the features of that more expensive machine at a ...
,
BBC Micro
The British Broadcasting Corporation Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, is a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers in the 1980s for the BBC Computer Literacy Project. Designed with an emphas ...
,
Atari 8-bit)
*''Death Race'', 1985 (VIC-20, C64, C16, Atari 8-bit)
*''League Challenge'', 1986 (Spectrum, C64, C16, Electron, BBC, Atari 8-bit,
Amstrad CPC
The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Si ...
,
Amiga,
Atari ST)
*''
Survivors'', 1986 (Spectrum, C64, C16, Electron, BBC, Atari 8-bit, CPC,
MSX)
*''Panik!'', 1986 (C16, Electron, BBC, Atari 8-bit)
*''Gunfighter'', 1988 (Spectrum, C64, Electron, BBC, Atari 8-bit, CPC)
*''Crack-Up!'', 1989 (Spectrum, C64, Electron, BBC, Atari 8-bit, CPC)
*''
Encounter!'', 1989 (Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64)
*''Cavemania'', 1990 (Spectrum, C64, CPC, Amiga, ST)
*''Hobgoblin'', 1990 (Spectrum, C64, Electron, BBC, CPC)
*''Apache Flight'', 1992 (Amiga, ST)
Dates shown are for the first version. In many cases, ports to other machines were released over a number of years (e.g. ''League Challenge'' wasn't ported to Amiga until 1991).
References
External links
*{{official, http://www.atlantiscomputing.com/
Atlantis Software Game Cover Gallery on RetromuseumsAtlantis Softology on Retromuseums
Defunct video game companies of the United Kingdom