Spectrum HoloByte
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 1983 in Boulder, Colorado, United States |
| Founder | Jeff Sauter, Phil Adam, Mike Franklin |
| Defunct | 1999 |
| Fate | Brand discontinued after acquisition by Hasbro Interactive |
| Successor | MicroProse Inc. |
| Headquarters | Boulder, Colorado (original), later California , United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Gilman Louie (Chairman after 1987 merger) |
| Products | Video games, notably Falcon series and initial version of Tetris outside Soviet Union |
| Parent | MicroProse (after 1993 merger) |
Spectrum HoloByte, Inc. was a United States-based video game developer and publisher established in 1983, notable for its simulation titles, particularly the Falcon series of combat flight simulators. The company is also known for releasing the initial version of Tetris outside the Soviet Union in 1988 for MS-DOS. Its portfolio included games created for multiple home computer systems and gaming consoles.
History
Spectrum HoloByte was created in 1983 in Boulder, Colorado by Jeff Sauter, Phil Adam, and Mike Franklin.
In 1987, Spectrum HoloByte combined forces with Nexa Corporation, resulting in the formation of Sphere, Inc., and the company's headquarters moved to California. Gilman Louie, the founder of Nexa, assumed the role of chairman for the merged entity.
By 1992, an investment from Kleiner Perkins allowed Spectrum HoloByte to regain shares that had been held by companies bankrupt under Robert Maxwell. In December 1993, Sphere, Inc. merged with MicroProse, creating MicroProse Inc. Initially, both brands continued to publish independently; however, by 1996 all releases were unified under the MicroProse label.
The acquisition of MicroProse by Hasbro Interactive in 1998 led to the shutdown of Spectrum HoloByte’s development studio in Alameda, California in 1999 and the discontinuation of the Spectrum HoloByte brand.
Games
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| Title | Year and platform | Developer | Publisher | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GATO | 1984 (MS-DOS, Mac) 1985 (Apple II, C64) 1986 (Atari ST) 1987 (Atari 8-bit) |
Spectrum HoloByte | Spectrum HoloByte Atari Corporation (Atari 8-bit) | |||||
| Orbiter | 1986 (MS-DOS, MacOS) 1988 (Atari ST) |
Spectrum HoloByte Sphere, Inc. (Atari ST) |
Spectrum HoloByte | |||||
| Intrigue! | 1986 (Apple II, C64) | Kinemation | Spectrum HoloByte | |||||
| Lunar Explorer: A Space Flight Simulator | 1986 (Apple II, DOS) | Spectrum HoloByte | Electric Transit | |||||
| Solitaire Royale | 1987 (MS-DOS, Mac) 1988 (Amiga) 1989 (Apple IIGS, MS-DOS, Mac, MSX, PC-88, PC-98, Sharp X1) |
Software Resources International | Spectrum HoloByte | |||||
| Falcon | 1987 (MS-DOS, Mac) 1988 (Atari ST) 1989 (Amiga) 1991 (CDTV) |
Sphere, Inc. | Spectrum HoloByte | |||||
| Dondra: A New Beginning | 1987 (Apple II) 1988 (Apple IIGS) 1989 (MS-DOS) |
Spectrum HoloByte | Spectrum HoloByte Electronic Arts (MS-DOS) | |||||
| PT-109 | 1987 (MS-DOS, Mac) | Digital Illusions | Spectrum HoloByte | |||||
| Zig Zag | 1987 (C64) | Zig Zag Software | Spectrum HoloByte | |||||
| Tetris | 1988 (Amiga, Apple II, Apple IIGS, MS-DOS, Mac) 1989 (Atari ST) |
Spectrum HoloByte | Spectrum HoloByte | |||||
| Soko-Ban | 1988 (MS-DOS) 1988 (Apple II, C64) |
ASCII, Thinking Rabbit | Spectrum HoloByte | |||||
| Falcon A.T. | 1988 (MS-DOS) | Sphere, Inc. | Spectrum HoloByte | |||||
| Vette! | 1989 (MS-DOS) 1991 (MacOS) |
Sphere, Inc. | Spectrum HoloByte | |||||
| Falcon Operation: Counterstrike | 1989 (Amiga, Atari ST) | Rowan Software | Spectrum HoloByte | |||||
| Tank: The M1A1 Abrams Battle Tank Simulation | 1989 (MS-DOS) | Sphere, Inc. | Spectrum HoloByte | |||||
| Welltris | 1989 (MS-DOS) 1990 (Mac, Amiga, Atari ST) |
Doka Group, Sphere, Inc. | Spectrum HoloByte Infogrames (Amiga, Atari ST) | |||||
| Faces...tris III | 1990 (MS-DOS, Mac) 1991 (Amiga) |
Sphere, Inc. | Spectrum HoloByte | |||||
| 'Flight of the Intruder' | '1990' 'MS-DOS', '1991' 'Amiga', 'Atari ST' | 'Rowan Software', 'Spectrum Holobyte' ('Amiga', 'Atari ST') | 'Spectrum Holobyte', 'Mirrorsoft' ('Amiga', 'Atari ST') | |||||
| 'Falcon Operation: Firefight' | '1990' ('Amiga', 'Atari ST') | 'Rowan Software', 'Sphere, Inc.' | 'Spectrum Holobyte' | |||||
| 'Super Tetris' | '1991' ('MS-DOS', 'Windows 3.x'), '1992' ('Amiga', 'Mac') | 'Sphere, Inc.' | 'Spectrum Holobyte' | |||||
| 'Falcon 3.0' | '1991' ('MS-DOS'), '1992' ('TG-16') | 'Sphere, Inc.', 'Spectrum Holobyte' ('TG-16') | 'Spectrum Holobyte', 'Turbo Technologies' ('TG-16') | |||||
| 'Falcon MC (Macintosh Color)' | '1992' ('Mac') | 'Spectrum HoloByte' | 'Spectrum HoloByte' | |||||
| 'Crisis in the Kremlin' | '1992' ('MS-DOS') | 'Barbu Corporation', 'Spectrum HoloByte' | 'Spectrum HoloByte' | |||||
| 'Wordtris' | '1991' ('MS-DOS'), '1992' ('Game Boy', 'SNES'), '1993' ('Mac') | 'Spectrum HoloByte', 'Armenica' ('MS-DOS') | 'Spectrum HoloByte', 'Sphere, Inc.' ('Game Boy'), 'Nintendo' ('SNES') | |||||
| 'Falcon 3.0: Operation: Fighting Tiger' | '1992' ('MS-DOS') | 'Sphere, Inc.' | 'Spectrum HoloByte' | |||||
| 'Tetris Classic' | '1992' ('MS-DOS', 'Windows 3.x') | 'Spectrum HoloByte' | 'Spectrum HoloByte' | |||||
| 'Iron Helix' | '1993' ('Mac', 'Windows 3.x'), '1994' ('Sega CD') | 'Drew Pictures' | 'Spectrum HoloByte' | |||||
| 'Tetris Gold' | '1993' ('MS-DOS', 'Mac', 'Windows 3.x') | 'Sphere, Inc.' | 'Spectrum HoloByte' | |||||
| 'Hornet: Naval Strike Fighter' | '1993' ('MS-DOS') | 'Spectrum HoloByte' | 'Spectrum HoloByte' | |||||
| "National Lampoon's Chess Maniac 5 Billion and 1" | "1993" ("MS-DOS") | "Spectrum HoloByte" | "Spectrum HoloByte" | |||||
| "TinHead" | "1993" ("Genesis") | "MicroProse" | "Ballistic" | |||||
| "Soldiers of Fortune" | "1993" ("Genesis", "SNES") | "The Bitmap Brothers" | "Spectrum HoloByte" | |||||
| "MiG-29: Deadly Adversary of Falcon 3.0" | "1993" ("MS-DOS") | "Spectrum HoloByte" | "Spectrum HoloByte" | |||||
| "Tornado" | "1993" ("MS-DOS") | "Digital Integration" | "Spectrum HoloByte" | |||||
| "Gazillionaire" | "1994" ("Windows 3.x") | "LavaMind" | "Spectrum HoloByte" | |||||
| "Out of the Sun" | "1994" ("Mac") | "Domark" | "Eidos Interactive" | |||||
| "Formula One" | "1994" ("MS-DOS") | "Lankhor" | "Domark" | |||||
| "Star Trek: The Next Generation - Futures Past" | "1994" ("Genesis", "SNES") | "Spectrum HoloByte" | "Spectrum HoloByte", "Sega" ("Genesis") | |||||
| "BreakThru!" | "1994" ("SNES", "Windows 3.x"), "1995" ("GB") | "Zoo Corporation" | "Spectrum HoloByte" | |||||
| "Falcon Gold" | "1994" ("MS-DOS") | "Spectrum HoloByte" | "Spectrum HoloByte" | |||||
| "Fields of Glory" | "1994" ("MS-DOS") | "MicroProse" | "Spectrum HoloByte" | |||||
| "WildSnake" | "1994" ("Game Boy", "SNES") | "Bullet-Proof Software" ("GB"), "J.S.C. Gamos" ("SNES") | "Spectrum HoloByte" | |||||
| Lords of Midnight " | "1995" ("MS-DOS") | "Maelstrom Games" | "Domark" | |||||
|
("Mac", "Windows") |
Callisto Corporation | Spectrum Holobyte | - | Reflux: Issue.01 - "The Becoming" | 1995(Mac , Windows 3.x) | Inverse Ink | Inverse Ink | |
| Reflux: Issue.02 - "The Threshold" | 1995(Windows 3.x) | Inverse Ink | Inverse Ink | |||||
| Star Trek: The Next Generation – A Final Unity | 1995(MS-DOS , MaS) | Spectrum Holobyte | Spectrum Holobyte | |||||
| Qwirks | 1995(Mac , Windows , Windows 3.x) | Big Bang Software | Spectrum Holobyte | |||||
| Perfect Partner Bridge | 1995(Mac , Windows 3.x) | Positronic Software | Spectrum Holobyte | |||||
| Absolute Zero | 1995(MS-DOS , Mac) | Domark | Domark | |||||
| Knight Moves | 1995(Windows) | Kinesoft | Spectrum Holobyte | |||||
| Curse of Dragor | 1995(Mac) | Banshee Software | Domark | |||||
| Top Gun: Fire at Will! | 1996(MS-DOS , Mac , PlayStation , Windows) | Spectrum Holobyte | Spectrum Holobyte MacSoft(Mac) |