Superior Software Explained

Superior Software Ltd
Genre:Video game publisher
Foundation:1982
Founder:Richard Hanson, John Dyson
Location City:Leeds
Location Country:England
Key People:Steve Botterill, Chris Payne
Products:Repton, Citadel, Thrust, Zarch, Exile

Superior Software Ltd (now known as Superior Interactive) is a video game publisher. It was one of the main publishers for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron computers in the 1980s and early 1990s, and occasionally published software to the Commodore 64, Amiga, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC. It currently releases games for Microsoft Windows, iOS and Android, mostly updates of its original games.

History

Superior Software was established in 1982 by Richard Hanson and John Dyson, university graduates with degrees in Computational Science and Physics of Natural Resources respectively. They had previously programmed software published by Micro Power, and they wrote Superior's first four game releases for the BBC Micro;[1] three were written by Hanson and one by Dyson. Describing the early days, Hanson commented:

Key management included Steve Botterill as general manager, and Chris Payne as marketing manager.[2]

Releases

In 1983, its unauthorised version of Hunchback reached the number one position in the BBC charts.[3] Century Electronics took out an injunction to prevent the game from being sold,[4] later reaching a licensing agreement.[5] [6]

In 1986, it acquired the rights to use the Acornsoft brand name and back catalogue as Acorn wanted to focus on hardware. This led to the re-release of some of Acornsoft's most popular titles under the joint Superior Software / Acornsoft label, including David Braben and Ian Bell's Elite and Geoff Crammond's Revs.

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, Thrust, Galaforce, Stryker's Run, Ravenskull and Exile. They also published Zarch for the Acorn Archimedes, as well as follow-up games using the same engine, Conqueror and Air Supremacy.[7]

As well as original titles, Superior also released a number of official conversions of popular games from other systems including Barbarian, The Last Ninja, Predator, Hostages and Sim City. They also published a number of educational and utility software titles including the speech synthesis program Speech!.

thumb|right|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 (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 entries for the BBC Micro.

Current activity

Under the brandname Superior Interactive, the company now mainly develops and publishes software for computers and devices running Microsoft Windows, iOS and Android. They have released several updated versions of some of their popular 1980s hits for these systems, including the original three Repton games, additional Repton levels, Galaforce Worlds, Ravenskull, Pipeline Plus and Ricochet.

Software

Games

Compilations

Educational / utility software

External links

Notes and References

  1. From the Archives: Superior Software. Retro Gamer. 79. Imagine. 22 July 2010. 46.
  2. Web site: Payne . Christopher . Working at Superior Software . Christopher John Payne . 12 January 2024.
  3. Charts. Popular Computing Weekly. 38. Sunshine Publications. 22 September 1983. 47. 17 April 2023.
  4. For whom the bell tolls. Popular Computing Weekly. 35. Sunshine Publications. 1 September 1983. 1. 17 April 2023.
  5. Century collapses. Popular Computing Weekly. 5. Sunshine Publications. 2 February 1984. 5. 17 April 2023.
  6. The Making of Hunchback. Retro Gamer. 164. Future Publishing. 26 January 2017. 58–61.
  7. Web site: Computing Games published by Superior Software Ltd at the Centre for Computing History.