Superior Software Ltd (also known as Superior Interactive) is a

video game publisher A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that have been developed either internally by the publisher or externally by a video game developer. They often finance the development, sometimes by paying a video game developer ...

. It was one of the main publishers for the

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 empha ...

and

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 p ...

computers in the 1980s and early 1990s. It currently releases games for Microsoft Windows, iOS and

Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

; mostly updates of its original games.

History

Superior Software was established in 1982 by Richard Hanson and John Dyson, two graduates of the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

, England. They had previously programmed software published by Micro Power, and they wrote Superior's first four-game releases for the

: three were written by Hanson and one by Dyson. Describing the early days, Hanson commented: Superior mostly focused on the machines of Acorn Computers Ltd and also published software for other platforms including the Oric-1 and Commodore 64. Key management personnel have included Steve Botterill, Chris Payne and Steve Hanson. Major software developers Peter Johnson, Tim Tyler, Martin Edmondson, Nicholas Chamberlain, Kevin Edwards, David Hoskins, Matthew Atkinson, Chris Roberts, Tony Oakden, Peter Scott, Gary Partis, Peter Irvin, Jeremy Smith, David Braben,

Ian Bell Ian Ronald Bell (born 11 April 1982) is an English former cricketer who played international cricket in all formats for the England cricket team and county cricket for Warwickshire County Cricket Club. A right-handed higher/middle order batsm ...

, Geoff Crammond, Jonathan Griffiths and Nick Pelling have all produced software published by Superior, sometimes released under the joint Superior Software /

Acornsoft Acornsoft was the software arm of Acorn Computers, and a major publisher of software for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron. As well as games, it also produced a large number of educational titles, extra computer languages and business and u ...

brandname.

Releases

Their best-known games are the '' Repton'' series of games, which have sold over 125,000 units in total. Other notable Superior Software games for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron include '' Overdrive'', ''

Citadel A citadel is the core fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of "city", meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. In ...

'', ''

Thrust Thrust is a reaction force In physics, a force is an influence that can change the motion of an object. A force can cause an object with mass to change its velocity (e.g. moving from a state of rest), i.e., to accelerate. Force can al ...

'', ''

Galaforce ''Galaforce'' is a fixed shooter video game for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron, written by Kevin Edwards and published by Superior Software in 1986. It spawned a sequel, ''Galaforce 2'' (1988), and later, ''Galaforce Worlds'' (2003). Gameplay ...

'', ''

Stryker's Run ''Stryker's Run'' is a video game designed by Chris Roberts and Philip Meller for the BBC Micro and BBC Master which was published by Superior Software in 1986. It was also later converted to the Acorn Electron. It is a 2D side-scrolling action g ...

'', '' Ravenskull'', ''Codename: Droid'' (sequel to ''Stryker's Run''), ''

Palace of Magic ''Palace of Magic'' is a platform game released on 1 November 1987 for the Acorn Electron and BBC Micro by Superior Software. Combining platform elements with problem solving, it similar gameplay to the earlier ''Citadel''. Both are early example ...

'', '' Bonecruncher'', ''Quest'', '' Pipeline'', '' Exile'' and ''

Ricochet A ricochet ( ; ) is a rebound, bounce, or skip off a surface, particularly in the case of a projectile. Most ricochets are caused by accident and while the force of the deflection decelerates the projectile, it can still be energetic and almost ...

''. They also published the seminal ''

Zarch ''Zarch'' (also known under its ported name of ''Virus'') is a computer game developed by David Braben (better known as the co-author of ''Elite'') in 1987, for the release of the Acorn Archimedes computer. ''Zarch'' started off as a demo ca ...

'' for the

Acorn Archimedes Acorn Archimedes is a family of personal computers designed by Acorn Computers of Cambridge, England. The systems are based on Acorn's own ARM architecture processors and the proprietary operating systems Arthur and RISC OS. The first models ...

, as well as follow-up games using the same engine, '' Conqueror'' and ''Air Supremacy''. As well as their high quality original games, Superior released a number of official Acorn conversions of big games from other systems including ''

Barbarian A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be less ...

'', ''

The Last Ninja ''The Last Ninja'' is an action-adventure game originally developed and published by System 3 in 1987 for the Commodore 64. It was converted to the Apple IIGS, MS-DOS, BBC Micro, and Acorn Electron in 1988, the Apple II in 1989, the Amiga, and ...

'', ''

Predator Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill ...

'', '' Hostages'' and ''

Sim City ''SimCity'' is an open-ended city-building video game series originally designed by Will Wright. The first game in the series, '' SimCity'', was published by Maxis in 1989 and were followed by several sequels and many other spin-off "''Si ...

''. Superior also published a number of educational and utility software titles including the

speech synthesis Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware products. A text-to-speech (TTS) system converts normal languag ...

program ''Speech!''. 150px, ''Play It Again Sam 2'' compilation (Acorn Electron cassette) The "Play It Again Sam" series of compilations included re-releases of their old titles, with four games for the usual price of one. The original ''Play It Again Sam'' featured four Superior games which had each made No. 1 individually (''Citadel'', ''Thrust'', ''Ravenskull'', and ''Stryker's Run''), while subsequent compilations increasingly featured games licensed from other software houses such as Micro Power or Alligata. These compilations also occasionally included some new games that were thought to be not quite up to the standard of their full price games. The series eventually ran to 18 issues for the BBC Micro, although the latest ones were released on disc only, well into the demise of the 8-bit scene with lower sales as a result. Superior, under the brandname Superior Interactive, now mainly develops and publishes software for computers and devices running Microsoft Windows, iOS and

; and they have released several updated versions of some of their popular 1980s hits for these systems. This includes the original three ''Repton'' games, additional ''Repton'' levels, ''Galaforce Worlds'', ''Ravenskull'', ''Pipeline Plus'' and ''Ricochet''.

References

External links

Superior Interactive website

Superior Interactive profile
from

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...

{{BBC Computer Literacy Project Video game companies of the United Kingdom Video game publishers Acorn Computers RISC OS Video game companies established in 1982 1982 establishments in England

History

Releases

See also

References

External links