Epyx

Infobox Company
company_name = Epyx, Inc.
company_
company_type = Corporation
foundation = 1978 (as Automated Simulations) (defunct 1993)
location = San Francisco, California
key_people = Jim Connelley
Jon Freeman
area_served =
industry = Computer and video games
products = Temple of Apshai
Summer Games
Winter Games
California Games
revenue =
operating_income =
net_income =
num_employees =
parent =
subsid =
homepage =
footnotes =

Epyx, Inc. was a video game developer and publisher in the late 1970s and entire 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 "hits" through the 1980s, but nevertheless went bankrupt in 1989 before finally disappearing in 1993.

History

Automated Simulations was founded in 1978 as a vehicle for publishing Freeman and Connelley's first video game, "Starfleet Orion", written in PET BASIC for the Commodore PET. The game was easily ported to other platforms, starting with the TRS-80 and then the Apple II, the latter featuring rudimentary graphics. They followed this game with "Invasion Orion", which included a computer opponent so as not to require two human players.

The company's 1979 release of "Temple of Apshai" was a major success. 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 400/800 and the 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". A series of "semi-action" BASIC games followed under the Epyx brand, including "Crush, Crumble and Chomp!", "Rescue at Rigel", and "Star Warrior", each of which added little twists to the "Apshai" engine.Fact|date=September 2008

Freeman left the company to start Free Fall Associates in 1981, leaving Connelley to lead what was now a large company. In 1983 the company assumed its brand name, becoming known simply as Epyx. Connelley reorganized his own development team as The Connelley Group, but continued to work under the Epyx umbrella, releasing "Dragonriders of Pern". However 1983 was the year that "Jumpman" was released and became a big hit. Management decided the future was in action games, and Connelley eventually left the company.

A string of successful action games followed, including the hits "Impossible Mission" and "Summer Games". The latter created a long run of successful sequels, including "Winter Games", "California Games", and "World Games".

The company also branched out into "Computer Activity Toys", licenses of "Hot Wheels", "GI Joe", and "Barbie". In Europe, the British home computer game company 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.

For the bestselling Commodore 64, Epyx made the "FastLoad" cartridge which enabled a fivefold speedup of floppy disk drive accesses through Commodore's very slow "serial IEEE-488" interface. Additionally, the FastLoad featured convenient disk access commands (for directory listings and program loads/saves, etc.), and a disk editor—a hacking tool allowing for direct low-level access to floppy disks. Another hardware product was the Epyx 500XJ Joystick, which used high-quality microswitches to produce a well-liked joystick.

Starting in 1986 Epyx also developed a handheld game system called the Handy. Unable to continue due to high costs, it was sold to Atari, renamed, and sold as the Atari Lynx.

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 the lawsuit and 9th Circuit US District Court Judge William Ingram ordered Epyx to recall all copies of "World Karate Championship". Epyx appealed the case to the United States Federal Court, who reversed the judgement and ruled in favor of Epyx, stating that copyright protection did not extend to the idea of a karate game, but specific artistic choices not dictated by that idea.huh The Court noted that a "17.5 year-old boy" could see clear differences between the elements of each game actually subject to copyright.Fact|date=September 2008

In 1989, Epyx 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." [ [http://www.fomalhaut.de/c64.shtml Interview with Stephn Landrum] from The Unofficial Epyx & SummerGames Homepage, with a timeline of Epyx's history]

At this time, Epyx moved to a smaller office in downtown Redwood City and laid off nearly everyone. Epyx still developed games, but gave up their publishing rights and all the rights to the handheld game console they were developing to Atari (the company they owed most of the money to), eventually becoming the Atari Lynx. Epyx eventually came out of bankruptcy, but in 1993, with eight employees left, they decided just to sell off the rest of the company. Bridgestone Media Group eventually got the rights to everything else Epyx had, only Peter Engelbrite took the job offers issued to the remaining eight employees.

In 2006, British publisher System 3 announced it had acquired Epyx's assets to release games such as "California Games" and "Impossible Mission" for Nintendo DS, Sony PSP, and Wii in 2007.

List of games

* "Barbie (for Commodore 64)" (1984)
* "4x4 Off-Road Racing" (1988)
* "Axe of Rage" (aka "") (1988)
* "Battle Bugs" (1994)
* "Blue Lightning" (1989)
* "Break Dance" (1984)
* "Boulder Dash Construction Kit" (1986)
* "California Games" (1987)
* "California Games 2" (1990)
* "Championship Wrestling" (1986)
* "Chip's Challenge" (1989)
* "Chipwits" (1984)
* "Crush, Crumble and Chomp!" (1981)
* "Death Sword" (aka "") (1987)
* "Destroyer" (1986)
* "Dragonriders of Pern" (1983)
* "" (1979)
* "" (1979)
* "ElectroCop" (1989)
* "Fax" (1983)
* "Final Assault" (1987)
* "" (1985)
* "" (1988)
* "" (1988)
* "Gates of Zendocon" (1989)
* "Gateway to Apshai" (1983)
* "Impossible Mission" (1983)
* "Impossible Mission II" (1988)
* "Invasion Orion" (1979)
* "Jabbertalky" (1982)
* "Jumpman" (1983)
* "Jumpman Junior" (1983)
* "L.A. Crackdown" (1988)
* "Legend of Blacksilver" (1988)
* "Mind-Roll" (1988)
* "Morloc's Tower" (1979)
* "The Movie Monster Game" (1986)
* "Oil Barons" (1983)
* "Omnicron Conspiracy" (1989)
* "Pitstop" (1983)
* "Pitstop II" (1984)
* "PlatterMania" (1982)
* "Project Neptune" (1989)
* "Purple Saturn Day" (1989)
* "Puzzle Panic" (1984)
* "Rad Warrior" (1986)
* "Rescue at Rigel" (1980)
* "Revenge of Defender" (1988)
* "" (1983)
* "Showstrike" (1991)
* "Silicon Warrior" (1984)
* "Space Station Oblivion" (1987)
* "Spiderbot" (1988)
* "Starfleet Orion" (1978)
* "Star Warrior" (1981)
* "Street Sports Basketball" (1987)
* "Street Sports Soccer" (1988)
* "Sub Battle Simulator" (1987)
* "Summer Games" (1984)
* "Summer Games II" (1985)
* "Super Cycle" (1986)
* "Sword of Fargoal" (1982)
* Dunjonquest family:
**"Temple of Apshai" (1979)
**"Hellfire Warrior" (1981)
**"Upper Reaches of Apshai" (1982)
**"" (1982)
**"Gateway to Apshai" (1983)
** Morloc's Tower
** Sword of Fargoal
** The Datestones of Ryn
** "Temple of Apshai Trilogy" (1985)
* "Winter Games" (1985)
* "World Games" (1986)
* "World Karate Championship" (1986)
* "Zarlor Mercenary" (1990)

References

External links

* [http://www.mobygames.com/company/epyx-inc Epyx profile] on MobyGames
* [http://www.thedoteaters.com/p4_stage3.php "An Epyx Tale"] – An in-depth history of Epyx
* [http://www.geocities.com/conspiracyprime/e2_epyx.htm History of Epyx] – A brief history of the company
* [http://gotcha.classicgaming.gamespy.com/epyx.htm Epyx history and game list] – GOTCHA on GameSpy.
* [http://www.c64sets.com/epyx_brochures.html Images of some early Epyx brochures]
*WoS pub|id=^Epyx+Inc$