Spectrum HoloByte

Spectrum Holobyte, Inc,
Public (defunct)
Industry Video game industry
Fate Acquired by Hasbro Interactive
Founded 1983
Defunct 1998
Headquarters Alameda, California, United States
Key people
Gilman Louie, Phil Adam
Products Video games

Spectrum Holobyte, Inc. (stylized and commonly referred to as Spectrum HoloByte) was a video game developer and publisher. The company, founded in 1983 by Jeff Sauter, Phil Adam and Mike Franklin, was best known for its simulation games, notably Gato (World War II submarine simulation, (1984) # 1 in Billboard Magazine, Falcon series of flight simulators and Vette! (1989) driving simulator, and for publishing the first version of Tetris outside the Soviet Union (in 1987, for MS-DOS). Spectrum HoloByte was founded in Boulder, Colorado but subsequently moved to Alameda, California.

Spectrum HoloByte published games for many platforms, including home computers of the 1980s and early 1990s, IBM PC compatibles, and some video game consoles.

In 1992 Spectrum HoloByte received an investment from Kleiner Perkins, which let the company repurchase shares formerly owned by Robert Maxwell's companies, ending its ties to their bankruptcies.[1] In December 1993, Spectrum HoloByte merged with MicroProse to form MicroProse Inc.[2] For the following years, games from both companies were published under their respective brands, but in 1996 all titles were consolidated under the MicroProse brand.

Hasbro Interactive acquired the merged company in 1998, and what had been Spectrum HoloByte ceased to exist when the development studio in Alameda was closed in 1999.[3] Hasbro subsequently sold all the assets of the various Hasbro Interactive studios to Infogrames, including the Atari brand itself.

The chairman of Spectrum HoloByte, Gilman Louie, also founded Nexa Corporation, a developer of entertainment software, which went on to merge with Spectrum HoloByte and company President Phil Adam prior to the company's move from Colorado to California.

Games

Title Release Platforms Description/Genre
Absolute Zero 1995 MS-DOS Action
Mac OS
BreakThru! 1994 Game Boy Puzzle
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Sega Saturn
ClockWerx 1995 Mac OS Strategy
1994 Microsoft Windows
Crisis in the Kremlin 1991 MS-DOS Strategy
Curse of Dragor 1995 Mac OS Role-playing
Dondra: A New Beginning 1987 Apple II Adventure
Faces 1990 Amiga Strategy
MS-DOS
Mac OS
Falcon 1987 Amiga Combat flight simulator
Atari ST
CDTV
MS-DOS
Mac OS
Falcon 3.0 1991 MS-DOS Combat flight simulator
Falcon 3.0: Operation: Fighting Tiger 1992 MS-DOS Combat flight simulator
Falcon A.T. 1988 MS-DOS Combat flight simulator
Falcon Gold 1994 MS-DOS Combat flight simulator
Falcon Operation: Counterstrike 1989 Amiga Combat flight simulator
Atari ST
Falcon Operation: Firefight 1990 Amiga Combat flight simulator
Atari ST
Fields of Glory 1994 MS-DOS Strategy
Flight of the Intruder 1990 Amiga Combat flight simulator
Atari ST
MS-DOS
Formula One 1994 MS-DOS Racing
GATO 1984 Apple II Submarine simulator
Atari ST
Atari 8-bit family (1987)
MS-DOS
Mac OS
Gazillionaire 1994 Microsoft Windows Financial simulator
Hornet: Naval Strike Fighter 1993 MS-DOS Combat flight simulator
Intrigue! 1986 Apple II Adventure
Commodore 64
Iron Helix 1993 Mac OS Adventure, survival horror
SEGA CD
Microsoft Windows
Knight Moves 1995 Microsoft Windows Puzzle
Lords of Midnight 1995 MS-DOS Adventure, role-playing, strategy
Lunar Explorer: A Space Flight Simulator 1986 MS-DOS Action, simulation
MiG-29: Deadly Adversary of Falcon 3.0 1993 MS-DOS Combat flight simulator
National Lampoon's Chess Maniac 5 Billion and 1 1993 MS-DOS Strategy
Orbiter 1985 Atari ST Educational, simulation
MS-DOS
Mac OS
Out of the Sun 1994 Mac OS Simulation
Perfect Partner Bridge 1995 Mac OS Card game
Microsoft Windows
PT-109 1987 Mac OS Naval simulation
MS-DOS
Qwirks 1995 Mac OS Strategy
Microsoft Windows
Reflux: Issue.01 - "The Becoming" 1995 Mac OS Adventure
Reflux: Issue.02 - "The Threshold" 1995 Microsoft Windows Adventure
Soko-Ban 1984 Apple II Strategy
Commodore 64
MS-DOS
Soldiers of Fortune 1993 Sega Genesis Action
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Solitaire Royale 1987 Amiga Card game
Apple IIGS
MS-DOS
Mac OS
Star Trek: The Next Generation – A Final Unity 1995 MS-DOS Adventure, Strategy
Mac OS
Star Trek: The Next Generation - Futures Past 1994 Game Gear Adventure
Sega Genesis
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Stunt Driver 1990 MS-DOS Racing
Super Tetris 1991 Amiga Puzzle
MS-DOS
Mac OS
Microsoft Windows
Tank: The M1A1 Abrams Battle Tank Simulation 1989 MS-DOS Vehicular combat
Tetris 1987 Amiga Puzzle
Apple II
Apple IIGS
Atari ST
MS-DOS
Mac OS
ZX Spectrum
Tetris Classic 1992 MS-DOS Puzzle
Microsoft Windows
Tetris Gold 1993 MS-DOS Puzzle
Mac OS
Microsoft Windows
Tetris Trio 1992 MS-DOS Puzzle
TinHead 1994 Sega Genesis Action
Top Gun: Fire at Will! 1996 MS-DOS Combat flight simulator
Mac OS
PlayStation
Microsoft Windows
Tornado 1993 MS-DOS Combat flight simulator
Vette! 1989 MS-DOS Racing
Mac OS
Welltris 1989 MS-DOS Strategy
Mac OS
WildSnake 1994 Game Boy Strategy
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Wordtris 1992 MS-DOS Strategy
Game Boy
Mac OS
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Zig-Zag 1987 Commodore 64 Action

References

  1. "Spectrum HoloByte Buy-Back Launches Next Generation". Computer Gaming World. December 1992. p. 116. Retrieved 5 July 2014.
  2. "Spectrum + MicroProse = MicroProse Inc.". GamePro (56). IDG. March 1994. p. 186.
  3. Freudenheim, Milt (8 December 1999). "Hasbro to Cut 20% of Its Jobs and Take $97 Million Charge". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
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