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

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, UK-based

video game developer A video game developer is 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 business with em ...

and

publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

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, fighter aircraft, attack aircraft, bombers, attack helicopters, and drones. The official d ...

'', English Software focused on

Atari 8-bit computers The Atari 8-bit computers, formally launched as the Atari Home Computer System, are a series of home computers introduced by Atari, Inc., in 1979 with the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The architecture is designed around the 8-bit MOS Technology 650 ...

of home, then expanded to 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 A video game or computer game is an electronic game 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 generate visual fe ...

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'') was a British magazine aimed at users of Atari 8-bit computers and Atari ST home computers. The first issue was in 1982, and it was renamed to ''Page 6 Atari User'' and then ''New Atari User'' be ...

, 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 computing, 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 ...

,English Software
at Lemon64

BBC Micro The BBC Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, is a family of microcomputers developed and manufactured by Acorn Computers in the early 1980s as part of the BBC's Computer Literacy Project. Launched in December 1981, it was showcased across severa ...

,Games by Publisher: E
at Stairway to Hell

Acorn Electron The Acorn Electron (nicknamed the Elk inside Acorn and beyond) was introduced as a lower-cost alternative to the BBC Micro educational/home computer, also developed by Acorn Computers, to provide many of the features of that more expensive mach ...

,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 ZX Spec ...

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

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer developed and marketed by Sinclair Research. One of the most influential computers ever made and one of the all-time bestselling British computers, over five million units were sold. ...

,English Software
at World of Spectrum

Atari ST Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the company's Atari 8-bit computers, 8-bit computers. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985, and was widely available i ...

,English Software (ST)
at Atari Mania and

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers produced by Commodore International, Commodore from 1985 until the company's bankruptcy in 1994, with production by others afterward. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16-b ...

.English Software
at Hall of Light Popular games include

platformers A platformer (also called a platform game, and sometimes a jump 'n' run game) is a subgenre of action game in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are characterized by levels wi ...

'' Jet-Boot Jack'' (1983) and '' Henry's House'' (1984), racer ''

Elektra Glide ''Elektra Glide'' is a futuristic motorcycle racing game developed by designer Adam Billyard for the Atari 8-bit computers, Amstrad CPC, and Commodore 64. It was published in 1985 by English Software. Mastertronic also published the game in the ...

'' (1985), the multi-event '' Knight Games'' (1986) and

shoot 'em up Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs) are a Video game genre, subgenre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain typ ...

''Leviathan'' (1987). English had licensing deals that saw some of their games released internationally e.g. through Dynamics Marketing in Germany and

Datamost Datamost was an American computer book publisher and computer game company founded by David Gordon and based in Chatsworth, Los Angeles, Chatsworth, California. Datamost operated in the early 1980s producing games and other software mainly for th ...

in the US.The English Software Company
at Moby Games A number of English's games were sold at budget price by

Mastertronic Mastertronic was originally a publisher and distributor of low-cost computer game software founded in 1983. Their first games were launched on April 2, 1984. At its peak the label was one of the largest software publishers in the UK, achieved ...

in the US, which included exclusive ports such as the Atari version of ''Henry's House'' and the

IBM PC compatible An IBM PC compatible is any personal computer that is hardware- and software-compatible with the IBM Personal Computer (IBM PC) and its subsequent models. Like the original IBM PC, an IBM PC–compatible computer uses an x86-based central p ...

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) *''

Diamonds Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of electricity, and insol ...

'' (Atari 8-bit) *''Firefleet'' (Atari 8-bit) *'' Jet-Boot Jack'' (Atari 8-bit, C64, BBC Micro, Acorn Electron, Amstrad CPC) *''Krazy Kopter'' (Atari 8-bit) *''Neptune's Daughter'' (C64, 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) *'' Dan Strikes Back'' (Atari 8-bit) *'' Henry's House'' (C64), released for the Atari 8-bit by

*'' Legend of the Knucker-Hole'' (C64) *''Spaceman Sid'' (BBC Micro, Acorn Electron) *''Stranded'' (Atari 8-bit, C64), ports of the BBC/Electron game first published by

Superior Software Superior Interactive (formerly known as Superior Software Ltd) is a video game publisher. It was one of the main publishers for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron computers in the 1980s and early 1990s, and occasionally published software to the C ...

1985

*''

Chop Suey Chop suey (usually pronounced ) is a dish from American Chinese cuisine and other forms of overseas Chinese cuisine, generally consisting of meat (usually chicken, pork, beef, shrimp or fish) and eggs, cooked quickly with vegetables such as bea ...

'' (Atari 8-bit) *''

'' (Atari 8-bit, C64, Amstrad CPC) *''Hijack!'' (Atari 8-bit) *''Hyperblast!'' (Atari 8-bit) *'' Kissin' Kousins'' (Acorn Electron, Atari 8-bit, BBC Micro) *''Mediator'' (Atari 8-bit, C64) *''

Timeslip ''Timeslip'' is a British children's television series, children's science fiction television series made by Associated TeleVision, ATV for the ITV (TV network), ITV network, and broadcast in 1970 and 1971. It was first shown on Monday evenings ...

'' (Atari 8-bit, Commodore 16, Plus/4) *''Topper the Copper'' (C64)

1986

*'' Knight Games'' (C64, Amstrad CPC), ported to MS-DOS by Mastertronic * ''Q-Ball'' (Atari ST, Amiga)

1987

* ''Leviathan'' (C64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, Atari ST, Amiga) * ''

Octapolis Octapolis or Oktapolis () was a city of ancient Caria or Lycia. Per the Stadiasmus Patarensis it included the town of Lyrnai as one of eight constituent settlements implied by the name "8-city". It is noted by Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ...

'' (C64) * ''Knight Games 2: Space Trilogy'' (C64)

References

{{reflist Atari 8-bit computers 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