The English Software Company, later shortened to English Software, was a

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, UK-based

video game developer A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...

and

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 operated from 1982 until 1987. Starting with its first release, the horizontally scrolling shooter ''

Airstrike An airstrike, air strike or air raid is an offensive operation carried out by aircraft. Air strikes are delivered from aircraft such as blimps, balloons, fighters, heavy bombers, ground attack aircraft, attack helicopters and drones. The offic ...

'', English Software focused on the

Atari 8-bit family The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

of home computers, then later expanded onto other platforms. The company used the slogan "The power of excitement".

History

The company was set up in 1982 by Philip Morris, owner of the Gemini Electronics computer store in Manchester, to release

video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

for the

. By the end of 1983, English Software was the largest producer of Atari 8-bit software in the UK and Morris closed Gemini Electronics to concentrate on English Software."News and Views"

Page 6 ''Page 6'' (subtitled ''Atari Users Magazine'' and later known as ''Page 6 Atari User'', then ''New Atari User'') was an independent British publication aimed at users of Atari home computers. It was published between 1982 and 1998. The magazi ...

, Page 6 Publications, Issue 6, Nov/Dec 1983 The company continued to concentrate on the Atari 8-bit marketEnglish Software (8-bit)
at Atari Mania but also released games for other home computers including

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

,English Software
at Lemon64

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 ...

,Games by Publisher: E
at Stairway to Hell

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 ...

,English Software
at Acorn Electron World

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 Sin ...

,Amstrad CPC ''Leviathan''
at Genesis 8-bit

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 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 t ...

,English Software
at World of Spectrum

Atari ST The Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the Atari 8-bit family. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985 and was widely available in July. It was the first pers ...

,English Software (ST)
at Atari Mania and

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 ...

.English Software
at Hall of Light Popular games include platformers ''

Jet-Boot Jack ''Jet-Boot Jack'' (also called ''The Music Machine starring Jet-Boot Jack'') is a platform game written by Jon Williams for the Atari 8-bit family and published by English Software in 1983. It was ported to the Acorn Electron, Amstrad CPC, BBC Micr ...

'' (1983) and '' Henry's House'' (1984), racer '' Elektra Glide'' (1985), the multi-event '' Knight Games'' (1986) and shoot 'em up ''Leviathan'' (1987). English had licensing deals that saw some of their games released internationally e.g. through Dynamics Marketing in Germany and Datamost in the US.The English Software Company
at Moby Games A number of English's games were sold at budget price by Mastertronic in the US, which included exclusive ports such as the Atari version of ''Henry's House'' and the IBM PC compatible version of ''Knight Games''. Philip Morris said in 2013 that he did not license the Atari version to Mastertronic UK, even though English Software had the option to do this.

Games

1982

*''

'' (Atari 8-bit) *''Time Warp'' (Atari 8-bit)

1983

*'' Airstrike II'' (Atari 8-bit) *''Batty Builders'' (Atari 8-bit) *''Bombastic!'' (Atari 8-bit) aka ''Bomb Blast It!'' *'' Captain Sticky's Gold'' (Atari 8-bit) *''

'' (Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, BBC Micro, Acorn Electron, Amstrad CPC) *''Krazy Kopter'' (Atari 8-bit) *''Neptune's Daughter'' (Commodore 64, Atari 8-bit) *''Steeple Jack'' (Atari 8-bit) *''Xenon Raid'' (Atari 8-bit)

1984

*''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' (Atari 8-bit) *'' Colossus Chess 3.0'' (Atari 8-bit) *'' Henry's House'' (Commodore 64), released for the Atari 8-bit by Mastertronic *''

Legend of the Knucker-Hole ''Jet-Boot Jack'' (also called ''The Music Machine starring Jet-Boot Jack'') is a platform game written by Jon Williams for the Atari 8-bit family and published by English Software in 1983. It was ported to the Acorn Electron, Amstrad CPC, BBC Micr ...

'' (Commodore 64) *''Spaceman Sid'' (BBC Micro, Acorn Electron) *''Stranded'' (Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64), ports of the BBC/Electron game first published by Superior Software

1985

*'' Chop Suey'' (Atari 8-bit) *'' Elektra Glide'' (Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC) *''Hijack!'' (Atari 8-bit) *'' Kissin' Kousins'' (Acorn Electron, Atari 8-bit, BBC Micro) *''Mediator'' (Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64) *'' Timeslip'' (Atari 8-bit, Commodore 16, Plus/4) *''Topper the Copper'' (Commodore 64)

1986

*'' Knight Games'' (Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC), ported to PC by Mastertronic * ''Q-Ball'' (Atari ST, Amiga)

1987

* ''Leviathan'' (Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, Atari ST, Amiga) * '' Octapolis'' (Commodore 64) * ''Knight Games 2: Space Trilogy'' (Commodore 64)

References

{{reflist Atari 8-bit family Video game companies established in 1982 Video game companies disestablished in 1987 Defunct video game companies of the United Kingdom 1982 establishments in England 1987 disestablishments in England Defunct companies based in Manchester