Bug-Byte Software Ltd. was a company founded in 1980 by Tony Baden and Tony Milner, two Oxford chemistry graduates. It was one of the first to develop a range of 8-bit

8-bit

The first widely adopted 8-bit microprocessor was the Intel 8080, being used in many hobbyist computers of the late 1970s and early 1980s, often running the CP/M operating system. The Zilog Z80 and the Motorola 6800 were also used in similar computers...

 computer games during the early 1980s, for Sinclair, Commodore

Commodore International

Commodore is the commonly used name for Commodore Business Machines , the U.S.-based home computer manufacturer and electronics manufacturer headquartered in West Chester, Pennsylvania, which also housed Commodore's corporate parent company, Commodore International Limited...

 and other home computer brands, particularly for the Spectrum

ZX Spectrum

The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...

. Among the better known titles are Manic Miner

Manic Miner

Manic Miner is a platform game originally written for the ZX Spectrum by Matthew Smith and released by Bug-Byte in 1983 . It is the first game in the Miner Willy series and among the pioneers of the platform game genre. The game itself was inspired by the Atari 800 game Miner 2049er...

and Twin Kingdom Valley

Twin Kingdom Valley

Twin Kingdom Valley was a text adventure game with animated pictures for the BBC Micro, Acorn Electron, Commodore 64, Commodore 16 and ZX Spectrum...

.

The company was based in Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, and helped found a number of software houses in that region. In 1983, programmer Eugene Evans and two of the senior staff left to form Imagine Software

Imagine Software

Imagine Software was a British video games developer based in Liverpool which existed briefly in the early 1980s, initially producing software for the ZX Spectrum and VIC-20...

. Later in the year Matthew Smith

Matthew Smith (games programmer)

Matthew Smith is a British computer game programmer. He is best known for his games Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy for the ZX Spectrum, released in 1983 and 1984 respectively...

, a freelance developer who wrote Manic Miner

Manic Miner

Manic Miner is a platform game originally written for the ZX Spectrum by Matthew Smith and released by Bug-Byte in 1983 . It is the first game in the Miner Willy series and among the pioneers of the platform game genre. The game itself was inspired by the Atari 800 game Miner 2049er...

, left to join Software Projects

Software Projects

Software Projects was the name of a computer game development company which employed Manic Miner developer Matthew Smith. After leaving Bug-Byte as a freelance developer, Smith was able to take the rights to his recently developed Manic Miner game with him, due to an oversight in his freelance...

. In May 1985, after a difficult trading season and a shake-out in the industry, the company went into voluntary liquidation, and the rights to their games and brand were purchased by Argus Press PLC. Argus continued to release both new games and budget versions of their own software under the Bug-Byte name via subsidiary Argus Press Software Ltd. Argus Press Software Ltd became Grandslam Entertainment

Grandslam Entertainment

Grandslam Entertainment was a computer and video games software house based in Britain. It was formed in late 1987 from the ashes of Argus Press Software by former Argus Managing Director, Stephen Hall. Grandslam developed and published many games for home computers during the 1980s and 1990s...

 in 1987 after a management buy-out.

Software products

• Aardvark (1986)
• Another Vic in the Wall
• Aquarius
• Astertroids
• Automan (1985)
• Backgammon
• Birds and the Bees
• The Birds and the Bees II: Antics (1985)
• Bomber Bob
• BOP! (1986)
• Break Out
• Cavern Fighter
• Chess
• City Defence (1983)
• Codename Mat 2
• Cosmiads
• Cricket (1985)
• Diagon (1985)
• Dictator
• Dragon Quest (1982)
• Droid Dreams (1988)
• Dunjunz
  Dunjunz
  Dunjunz is a video game made for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron home computers and released by Bug-Byte in 1987. It is essentially a clone of the popular video game Gauntlet where players controlled fantasy character from a top down view.-Gameplay:...
  
  (1987)
• Elevator Action
  Elevator Action
  is a 1983 arcade game by Taito. It debuted during the "Golden Age of Arcade Games". Innovative in gameplay, this game was very popular for many years, with game music created by musician Yoshino Imamura...
  
  
• Galaga
  Galaga
  is a fixed shooter arcade game developed and published by Namco in Japan and published by Midway in North America in 1981. It is the sequel to Galaxian, released in 1979. The gameplay of Galaga puts the player in control of a space ship which is situated on the bottom of the screen...
  
  (1988)
• Galaxy Wars (1983)
• Gladiator
• Grange Hill
  Grange Hill (video game)
  Grange Hill was a video game made for 8-bit computers including the Commodore 64, Sinclair ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC. It was based on Grange Hill, a popular children's television show...
  
  
• Head Start
• Hoodoo Voodoo (1986)
• Hunkidory (1986)
• I-Wizard (1988)
• Ice Hockey (1985)
• International Cricket
• Invaders
• Jack Attack (1985)
• Jeep Command (1986)
• Kat Trap (1987)
• Kung-Fu (1984)
• Leaper
• Little Green Man (1988)
• Manic Miner
  Manic Miner
  Manic Miner is a platform game originally written for the ZX Spectrum by Matthew Smith and released by Bug-Byte in 1983 . It is the first game in the Miner Willy series and among the pioneers of the platform game genre. The game itself was inspired by the Atari 800 game Miner 2049er...
  
  (1983)
• Mazogs
• Megarok
• Miami Dice (1986)
• Monkey Nuts (1988)
• Nick Faldo Plays The Open (1987)
• Old Father Time
• Orbix The Terrorball
• Panic
• Piggy (1988)
• Pi-R Squared
• Plan B (1986)
• Plan B2 (1987)
• Rapscallion (1984)
• Roboto (1986)
• Rubicon (1987)
• Savage Pond
  Savage Pond
  Savage Pond is an arcade-style pond simulation game which was written by Peter Judd for the Acorn Electron and BBC Micro and Gwyll Jones for the 16k versions of the Atari 8-bit family of home computers in 1983 and the Commodore 64 in 1984...
  
  (1985)
• Sea Lord
• Scramble
• Sky Hawk (1986)
• Space Invaders
  Space Invaders
  is an arcade video game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, and released in 1978. It was originally manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and was later licensed for production in the United States by the Midway division of Bally. Space Invaders is one of the earliest shooting games and the aim is to...
  
  
• Space Pirates
  Space Pirates (video game)
  Space Pirates is a live-action laserdisc video game, released by American Laser Games for the arcade and various platforms between 1992 and 1994...
  
  
• Spacewarp
• Spectres
• Spellseeker (1987)
• Split Personalities
• Squeakaliser
• Star Force Seven (1985)
• Star Soldier (1987)
• Star Trader (1984)
• Stay Kool
• Strange loop
• STI (Search for Terrestrial Intelligence) (1988)
• Styx
• Templeton
• Tennis (1985)
• Terramex
• The Castle (1983)
• Time Trax (1986)
• The Damsel and the Beast
• The Dogboy (1985)
• The Pay-Off (1984)
• Turmoil
  Turmoil (1984 video game)
  Turmoil is a computer game released in for the ZX Spectrum, and in for the MSX by Bug Byte.The player takes control of Mechanic Mick who has been employed by a rich Arabian Sheikh. the Sheikh has refused to pay Mick for work done, so Mick decides to steal his collection of expensive cars in lieu...
  
   (1984)
• Twin Kingdom Valley
  Twin Kingdom Valley
  Twin Kingdom Valley was a text adventure game with animated pictures for the BBC Micro, Acorn Electron, Commodore 64, Commodore 16 and ZX Spectrum...
  
  (1983)
• Uranians
• Vic Men (1983)
• Vic Panic (1983)
• Zoot (1985)

External links

• Bug Byte at MobyGames
  MobyGames
  -Platforms not yet included:- Further reading :* Rusel DeMaria, Johnny L. Wilson, High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games, McGraw-Hill/Osborne Media; 2 edition , ISBN 0-07-223172-6...
  
  
• This Tormented Business