Starpath Corporation was a

U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

company known for creating the

Starpath Supercharger The Starpath Supercharger (originally called the Arcadia Supercharger) is an expansion peripheral cartridge created by Starpath, for playing cassette-based proprietary games on the Atari 2600 video game console. The device consists of a long car ...

in August 1982. The company was founded under the name Arcadia Corporation in 1981 by Alan Bayley, Robert Brown, and Craig Nelson. It changed its name to Starpath shortly after for trademark reasons because

Emerson Radio Corporation Emerson Radio Corporation is one of the United States' largest volume consumer electronics distributors and has a recognized trademark in continuous use since 1912. The company product design, designs, marketing, markets, and licenses many pr ...

had released a

video game console A video game console is an electronic device that Input/output, outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can typically be played with a game controller. These may be home video game console, home consoles, which are generally ...

named the

Emerson Arcadia 2001 The Arcadia 2001 is a Second generation of video game consoles, second-generation 8-bit home video game console released by Emerson Radio in May 1982 for a price of US$99, several months before the release of ColecoVision. It was discontinued onl ...

.The Dot Eaters - Epyx , The Dot Eaters>
/ref>Arcadia has a new name
1982-11-07, Arcade Express Newsletter, Volume 1 no.7 The

is a peripheral cartridge for the

Atari 2600 The Atari 2600 is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977 as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS), it popularized microprocessor-based hardware and games stored on swappable ROM cartridg ...

that expands the machine capabilities by adding more

RAM Ram, ram, or RAM most commonly refers to: * A male sheep * Random-access memory, computer memory * Ram Trucks, US, since 2009 ** List of vehicles named Dodge Ram, trucks and vans ** Ram Pickup, produced by Ram Trucks Ram, ram, or RAM may also ref ...

, allowing for higher resolution graphics and larger games, and by providing a connector to which a regular cassette player can be connected, thus permitting larger games, stored on tape, to be loaded. As the video game console market collapsed Starpath's fortunes began to worsen. Sales of their existing titles were in a steep decline as the console market flooded with games. Retailers were also uninterested in stocking new titles as they couldn't sell what they already had. Without enough capital to switch to developing for the

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 ...

market Starpath looked for a buyer.

Epyx Epyx, Inc. was a video game developer and video game publisher active in the late 1970s and 1980s. The company was founded in 1978 as Automated Simulations by Jim Connelley and Jon Freeman, publishing a series of tactical combat games. The Epyx ...

, which shared some board members with Starpath, would purchase the company in 1984. Several development staff continued to work at Epyx after the merger and transitioned to making home computer games. One of the last titles in development at Starpath, 'Sweat! The Decathlon Game' for a Supercharger equipped Atari 2600, was redeveloped as a

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 ...

game. Rechristened Summer Games it became a big hit for Epyx and resulting in a long succession of ports, sequels, and spinoffs. Scott Nelson, the developer of Sweat!, worked on both Summer Games and its direct sequel

Summer Games II ''Summer Games II'' is a 1985 Olympic sports video game developed and published by Epyx in North America, and by U.S. Gold in Europe. Based on sports featured in the Summer Olympic Games, it is a sequel to '' Summer Games'' released by Epyx the p ...

. , rights to Starpath games are owned by Bridgestone Multimedia, a religious multimedia company.

References

* * {{refend Video game companies established in 1981 Defunct video game companies of the United States