Appaloosa Interactive

Last updated
Appaloosa Interactive
Industry Video game industry
Founded1982; 41–42 years ago as Novotrade International in Budapest, Hungary
FounderAndras Csaszar
Stephen J. Friedman
Defunct2006; 17–18 years ago
Headquarters,
U.S.
Key people
Andras Csaszar (president)
Stephen J. Friedman (CEO)
Products Video game development

Appaloosa Interactive (formerly Novotrade International) was a corporation, founded in 1982 in Hungary, that produced video games, [1] computer programs and television commercials during the 1980s and 1990s. [2]

Contents

History

Andras Csaszar and Stephen J. Friedman founded Novotrade International. Csaszar served as the company's president, while Friedman served as chief executive officer. [1] [3] Novotrade began operating branches in the United States in 1989, [1] and was renamed Appaloosa Interactive (after the horse breed of the same name) in November 1996. [3] [4] That month, the company unveiled its 10-month-old Internet technologies division, Appaloosa Online. [3] The company's headquarters were in Mountain View, California. [3] Appaloosa was the parent company and owner of two software development companies in Budapest, Hungary. [5] Appaloosa was known for its Ecco the Dolphin game series for Sega. [1] Appaloosa also developed two Contra games on the PlayStation and Sega Saturn for Konami.

Appaloosa had 100 employees as of January 2001 and had produced over 150 video games up to that point, many of which were released in Europe. At that time, Friedman said, "In all the years we have been in business, we have only failed to complete a project because of our own inability once or twice." [1] Appaloosa's final game was Jaws Unleashed , released in 2006, and based on the Jaws series of films. The company ceased operations in 2006.

Games

Unreleased

Related Research Articles

<i>Zoop</i> 1995 video game

Zoop is a puzzle video game originally developed by Hookstone and published by Viacom New Media in 1995 for the Genesis, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, MS-DOS, Macintosh, PlayStation, Game Gear, and Game Boy, then in 1996 for the Saturn and Jaguar. Zoop has similarities to Taito's 1989 arcade video game Plotting, but Zoop runs in real-time instead. Players are tasked with eliminating pieces that spawn from one of the sides of the screen before they reach the center of the playfield. By pointing at a piece and shooting it, the player can either swap it with the current player color and thus arrange the same color pieces in a row or column, or match the color.

<i>Ecco the Dolphin</i> (video game) 1992 video game

Ecco the Dolphin is an action-adventure game developed by Ed Annunziata and Novotrade International and published by Sega for the Mega Drive/Genesis in 1992. Versions for the Sega CD, Master System, and Game Gear were released the following year. It is the first installment in the Ecco the Dolphin video game franchise. The player character is a bottlenose dolphin who travels through time to combat hostile extraterrestrials in Earth's oceans and on an alien spacecraft.

<i>Batman Returns</i> (video games) 1992 video game

Batman Returns is the name of several video games for various platforms based on the 1992 film of the same name.

Rage Games was a British video game developer. Formed in Liverpool in 1992, its video games were marked by an emphasis on graphical effects with arcade gameplay.

<i>Flashback</i> (1992 video game) 1992 video game

Flashback, released as Flashback: The Quest for Identity in the United States, is a 1992 science fiction cinematic platform game developed by Delphine Software of France and published by U.S. Gold in the United States and Europe, and Sunsoft in Japan.

<i>Primal Rage</i> 1994 arcade video game

Primal Rage is a fighting game developed and released by Atari Games to arcades in 1994. The game takes place on a post-apocalyptic version of Earth called "Urth". Players control one of seven large beasts that battle each other to determine the planet's fate. Matches feature many of the conventions of fighting games from the era, including special moves and gory finishing maneuvers. Ports were released for home consoles and personal computers. Efforts to perfectly emulate the arcade original have been unsuccessful due to the use of an unusual copy protection method. Toys, comics, a novel and other merchandise tie-ins were produced. More than 1.5 million copies of the game were sold.

<i>Contra</i> (series) Video game series

Contra is a video game series produced by Konami composed primarily of run and gun-style shooting games. The series debuted in February 1987 with the Japanese coin-operated arcade game of the same name, which has since spawned several sequels produced for various platforms.

<i>The Jungle Book</i> (video game) 1994 video game

Disney's The Jungle Book is a series of platform video games based on the 1967 Disney animated film of the same name. The game was released by Virgin Interactive Entertainment in 1994 for the Game Boy, Nintendo Entertainment System, Master System, Genesis/Mega Drive, Game Gear, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and MS-DOS. While gameplay is the same on all versions, technological differences between the systems forced changes – in some case drastic – in level design, resulting in six fairly different versions of the 'same' game. This article is largely based upon the Genesis version.

<i>The Lion King</i> (video game) 1994 video game

The Lion King is a platform game based on Disney's 1994 animated film The Lion King. The game was developed by Westwood Studios and published by Virgin Interactive Entertainment for the Super NES and Genesis in 1994, and was ported to MS-DOS, Amiga, Game Gear, Master System, and Nintendo Entertainment System. The Amiga, Master System, and NES versions were only released in the PAL region. It is the final licensed NES game worldwide. The game follows Simba's journey from a young cub to the battle with his uncle Scar as an adult.

<i>Richard Scarrys Busytown</i> 1993 educational video game and its 1999 remake

Richard Scarry's Busytown is a 1993 educational video game that was developed by Novotrade for preschool gamers. It was released for DOS, Macintosh, and Sega Genesis. This game was based on the series of Best...Ever! series of VHSes distributed by Random House's home video division preceding the TV series' The Busy World of Richard Scarry that was produced by CINAR and Paramount Television. It was remade in 1999 by Pearson Software for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS, with the visuals and animation updated to resemble that of The Busy World of Richard Scarry, and the dialogue re-recorded with Boston actors.

Micro Machines is a series of video games featuring toy cars, developed by Codemasters and published on multiple platforms. The series is based on the Micro Machines toy line of miniature vehicles.

Ecco the Dolphin is a series of action-adventure video games developed by Appaloosa Interactive and published by Sega. They were originally developed for the Mega Drive/Genesis and Dreamcast video game consoles, and have been ported to numerous systems. The story follows the eponymous Ecco, a bottlenose dolphin, who fights extraterrestrial threats to the world. The games are known for their high difficulty level. Ecco was created by Ed Annunziata, who also produced Chakan: The Forever Man, which was also released in December 1992.

Perfect Entertainment was an independent British computer game developer, which ceased production in 1999. It began in 1991 as Teeny Weeny Games headed by Angela Sutherland but changed names when merging exclusively with Gregg Barnett's Perfect 10 Productions, a company previously known as Beam Software (UK).

<i>FIFA Soccer 96</i> 1995 video game

FIFA Soccer 96 is a football simulation video game developed by Extended Play Productions and released by Electronic Arts in 1995. It was released for the Mega Drive/Genesis, Sega Saturn, Sega 32X, Game Gear, PlayStation, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and MS-DOS compatible operating systems.

Jurassic Park typically refers to the Jurassic Park franchise, a series of books, films, and video games centering around a fictional theme park.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Appaloosa". Next Generation . January 2001. p. 58. Retrieved September 25, 2016.
  2. "Appaloosa Interactive Corporation". MobyGames. Retrieved 2023-09-04.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Largest Developer of Entertainment Software Expands into World Wide Web; Novotrade International Changes Name to Appaloosa Interactive". The Free Library. November 4, 1996. Archived from the original on September 27, 2016. Retrieved September 25, 2016.
  4. "In the hot seat with Andras Csaszar". Official Dreamcast Magazine (UK) . Dennis Publishing (12): 103. 7 September 2000.
  5. "Appaloosa Interactive". Sega Retro. 2023-03-11. Retrieved 2023-09-04.