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Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Video games |
Founded | 1982 |
Founder | Mark Nunan and Martin Ford |
Defunct | 1984 |
Fate | Folded |
Headquarters | Bedford , United Kingdom |
Area served | UK |
Key people | Mark Nunan (marketing director) |
Products | video games |
Abbex Electronics was a video games developer.
Company history
editAbbex was founded by Mark Nunan and Martin Ford in 1982 at Middlesex University (then called Middlesex Polytechnic). The company launched after licensing Cosmos, a game written for the ZX81 by Costa Panayi and converted to the ZX Spectrum.
The company released other games like All or Nothing and Spookyman.[1] The games sold well, enabling them to move to offices in Bedford.
The company was approached by Amstrad and VTech to write games for the release of their respective platforms (the Amstrad CPC and the VTech Laser 200).[2] They chose VTech and wrote 8 games for the Laser 200, with 30 more planned. A version of BASIC for Laser was planned and a forth package. Software for the Comx-35 and the Newbrain were also in development.[3]
The Laser 200 games were never released in the UK. Sales of the Laser 200 were disappointing and Abbex went into receivership, unable to recover from the financial loss.[4]
List of Games
editName | Release date | Origin | System |
---|---|---|---|
Cosmos (Cosmos: The Ultimate Challenge) |
October 1982 | Vortex Software | ZX Spectrum 16K |
Spookyman | October 1982 | Pacman clone | ZX Spectrum |
Pilot 64 | 1983 | Original | Commodore 64 |
Faust's Folly | March 1983 | Original (Paul Canter) | ZX Spectrum 16K |
High Noon | 1983 | Work Force | ZX Spectrum 16K |
Galactic Invasion | 1983 | Original | Laser 200 |
ETX | June 1983 | ET clone | ZX Spectrum 16K/48K |
Android Run | 1983 | Android One: The Reactor Run clone? | ZX Spectrum 48K |
Asteroids | 1983 | Asteroids clone | ZX Spectrum 48K |
Galaxian 5 | 1983 | Galaxian clone | ZX Spectrum 16K |
Harrier | 1983 | Harrier Attack clone ? | ZX Spectrum 16K |
Invasion | 1983 | ? | ZX Spectrum 16K |
Super Talk | August 1983 | Original (Dr. David A. Jones) | ZX Spectrum 48K |
Krakatoa (Escape from Krakatoa) |
February 1984 | Scramble clone (Paul Reynolds[5]) | ZX Spectrum |
War Game | 1984 | Missile Command clone (Paul Reynolds) | ZX Spectrum |
All or Nothing | October 1984 | Original (Paul Reynolds) | ZX Spectrum |
Music Master | 1984 | Original | ZX Spectrum 48K |
Task Force | 1984 | Original (Brian W. Wright) | ZX Spectrum 16K |
Smuggler | 1984 | Original? | ZX Spectrum |
A conversion of Krakatoa for the Commodore 64 titled Krakatoa 64 was announced in 1984.[6]
After the company folded, Krakatoa and All Or Nothing were re-released by Prism Leisure Corporation.
References
edit- ^ Gilbert, John (1984). "Leading the pac". Sinclair User Annual 1984: 24–25.
- ^ "Laser 200". Personal Computer News (39): 309. 7 Dec 1983.
- ^ "Abbex opens fire with Laser". Personal Computer News (17): 7. 6 July 1983.
- ^ Abbex Electronics Ltd at MobyGames
- ^ Walker, John (11 May 1984). "Krakatato (sic) review". Home Computing. The Northern Echo (North ed.). Darlington, Durham, England. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
Paul Reynolds' Krakatato (Abbex £5.50 (equivalent to £22 in 2023) ) for the 48K Spectrum
- ^ "Krakatoa". Your Computer Magazine: 4. March 1984.
External links
edit- Abbex Electronics on World of Spectrum
- Works by or about Abbex Electronics at the Internet Archive (games)
- Works by or about Abbex Software at the Internet Archive (games)
- Abbex Software on Lemon 64
- Abbex Electronics on Gamebase64
- http://wozx.org/abbexelectronics.html
- Abbex Electronics on Retroisle