Alligata Software Ltd. was a computer games developer and publisher based in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

in the UK in the 1980s. The company was founded by brothers Mike and Tim Mahony and their father J.R. Mahony in 1983. They produced games for a number of

home computer Home computers were a class of microcomputers that entered the market in 1977 and became common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a s ...

s including the Commodore 64,

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 ...

, Acorn Electron,

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. ...

and Dragon 32. The company published many of Tony Crowther's early Commodore 64 games, including Aztec Tomb, Blagger and Loco. Chris Butler was another programmer whose earlier games were released by Alligata. The company also published budget priced software under the Budgie label. Tim Mahony took over the day-to-day running of the company in 1987 and closed the company nine months later. The name and back catalogue were sold to Superior Software. Two titles were released under the joint Superior/Alligata label for ports of Superior's BBC/Electron games to other systems. Superior also included some old Alligata games on their ''Play It Again Sam'' compilations.

Games

* 1983 ''Aztec Tomb'' ( C64) * 1983 ''Here Comes The Sun'' (

) * 1983 ''Bug Blaster'' (C64,

, Acorn Electron) * 1983 ''Lunar Rescue'' (BBC Micro, Acorn Electron) * 1983 '' Blagger'' (C64, BBC Micro, Acorn Electron,

MSX MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, the director at ASCII Corpo ...

, Commodore 16) A version was also released through Amsoft for the

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 ...

* 1984 '' Loco'' (C64, ZX Spectrum, Atari 8-bit) * 1984 '' Son of Blagger'' (C64, ZX Spectrum, BBC Micro) * 1985 ''Who Dares Wins'' (C64) * 1985 ''Jack Charlton's Match Fishing'' (C64, ZX Spectrum) * 1985 ''Blagger Goes to Hollywood'' (C64) * 1986 '' Who Dares Wins II'' (C64, ZX Spectrum, BBC Micro, MSX, Amstrad CPC) * 1986 ''Night World'' (BBC Micro, Acorn Electron) * 1987 ''Kettle'' (C64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC) * 1987 ''Livingstone, I Presume?'' (C64, ZX Spectrum, MSX, Amstrad CPC) UK release of Spanish Opera Soft game ''Livingstone, Supongo'' * 1987 ''Addicta Ball'' (C64, MSX,

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 ...

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 ...

) * 1988 '' By Fair Means or Foul'' (C64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC) A Superior/Alligata release * 1989 ''Repton Mania'' (ZX Spectrum) Ports of the first 2 '' Repton'' games - A Superior/Alligata release

Budgie label

Alligata published budget games under the Budgie label from 1985. When a typical Alligata game would cost around £6.95, Budgie games sold for only £1.99 in order to compete with the likes of budget software pioneer Mastertronic, already selling games at that level. Almost all titles were original rather than re-issues of Alligata games. Probably the most well known game is space shoot 'em up ''Video's Revenge'' (BBC Micro, Acorn Electron) with others including ''Convoy'' (ZX Spectrum), ''Super Sam'' (ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC), ''Raskel'' (C64) and ''Shuffle'' (BBC Micro, Acorn Electron).

References

{{Reflist

External links

''Alligata'' at ''World of Spectrum''''Alligata'' at the ''BBC Games Archive''''Budgie'' at ''World of Spectrum''Who Dares Wins game ending by Alligata Software
Defunct video game companies of the United Kingdom Video game companies established in 1983 1983 establishments in England