Formerly | Argonaut Software Limited (1982–1999) |
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Company type | Public limited company |
Industry | Video games |
Founded | 23 February 1982 in Colindale, London (original) 28 August 2024 (relaunch) |
Founder | Jez San |
Defunct | 1 October 2004 (original) |
Fate | Liquidated (original incarnation) |
Headquarters | Edgware, London, UK |
Key people | Gary Sheinwald (Co-CEO) Mike Arkin (Co-CEO) |
Divisions | Argonaut Sheffield (2002–2004) |
Subsidiaries |
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Website | www |
Argonaut Games PLC is a British video game developer founded in 1982. It was known for the Super NES video game Star Fox and its supporting Super FX chip, and for Croc: Legend of the Gobbos and the Starglider series. The company was liquidated in late 2004, and ceased to exist in early 2007. It was relaunched in 2024.
I told them that this is as good as it's going to get unless they let us design some hardware to make the SNES better at 3D. Amazingly, even though I had never done any hardware before, they said YES, and gave me a million bucks to make it happen.
—Argonaut founder and Super FX codesigner, Jez San [3]
Founded as Argonaut Software by teenager Jez San in 1982, [4] the company name is a play on his name (J. San) and the mythological story of Jason and the Argonauts .
Its head offices were in Colindale, London, [5] and later in the Argonaut House in Edgware, London. [6] Its U.S. head office was in Woodside, California in the San Francisco Bay Area. [5]
In 1990, Argonaut collaborated with Nintendo during the early years of the NES and SNES, a notable incident being when Argonaut submitted a proof-of-concept method of defeating the Game Boy's copyright protection mechanism to Nintendo. [7] The combined efforts from Argonaut and Nintendo yielded a prototype of the game Star Fox , initially codenamed "SnesGlider" and inspired by their earlier Atari ST and Amiga game Starglider , that they had running on the NES and then some weeks later on a prototype SNES. Jez San told Nintendo that his team could only improve performance or functionality of the demonstration if Nintendo allowed Argonaut to design custom hardware to extend the SNES to have true 3D capability. Nintendo agreed, so San hired chip designers and made the Super FX chip. They originally codenamed it the Mathematical Argonaut Rotation I/O, or "MARIO", as is printed on the chip's surface. [3] [8] So powerful was the Super FX chip used to create the graphics and gameplay, that they joked that the Super NES was just a box to hold the chip. [9]
After building the Super FX, Argonaut designed several different chips for other companies' video game machines, which were never released. These include machines codenamed GreenPiece and CD-I 2 for Philips, the platform codenamed VeggieMagic for Apple and Toshiba, and Hasbro's "virtual reality" game system codenamed MatriArc. [10]
In 1995, Argonaut Software was split into Argonaut Technologies Limited (ATL) and Argonaut Software Limited (ASL). With space being a premium at the office on Colindale Avenue, ATL was relocated to an office in the top floor of a separate building. The building was called Capitol House on Capitol Way, just around the corner. There, they continued the design of CPU and GPU products and maintained "BRender", Argonaut's proprietary software 3D engine. They won a chip design project with LSI Logic for a potential PlayStation 2 design. LSI Logic became a minor investor in Argonaut.
In 1996, John Edelson was hired as the company General Manager. John Edelson ran the group for two years. Capital was raised in 1996–1998 from Tom Teichman and Apax Partners. According to Jez San, Argonaut remained an independent developer by choice, and had turned down several buyout offers. [11]
In 1997, the two arms of the company once again shared an office as the entire company was moved to a new building in Edgware. In September 1997, Croc: Legend of the Gobbos was released by Fox Interactive for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn. A PC version of the game was also later released in 1998.
In 1998, ATL was rebranded ARC after the name of their main product, the Argonaut RISC Core, and became an independent company spun off to the same shareholders. ARC was an embedded IP provider. Bob Terwilliger was engaged as the President.
Argonaut Software Limited became Argonaut Games and was floated in 1999.
In early October 2004, Argonaut Games called in receivers David Rubin & Partners, laid off 100 employees, and was put up for sale. [12] Many former employees would join newly established developer Rocksteady Studios. A lack of a consistent stream of publishing deals had led to cash-flow issues and a profit warning earlier that year. In 2005, the company entered liquidation and was dissolved in early 2007.
In 2024, the company was reopened, now simply known as Argonaut, with its first release being a remaster of Croc. [13]
BRender (abbreviation of "Blazing Renderer") is a development toolkit and a realtime 3D graphics engine for computer games, simulators, and graphic tools. It was developed and licensed by Argonaut Software. [14] The engine supports Intel's MMX instruction set and Windows, MS-DOS, and PlayStation platforms. Support for 3D hardware graphics accelerator cards was added. [15] Software made with BRender includes Carmageddon , [16] Croc: Legend of the Gobbos , FX Fighter , [17] I-War , [18] and 3D Movie Maker . It was released as free and open-source software under the MIT License on May 3, 2022. [19] [20]
Title | Development period | Platform |
---|---|---|
8-Kings [23] | — | N-Gage |
Crash vs. Spyro Racing [24] | 2004 | Xbox |
Orchid [25] [26] [27] | 2003 | GameCube, PS2, and Xbox |
Bionicle: City of Legends [28] [29] | 2004 | Xbox, PS2 |
I-Ninja 2 [30] | 2004 | PS2, Xbox, GameCube |
Zero Hour [31] | 2004 | PS2, PSP |
Cash on Delivery [32] | PS2 | |
Croc 3 | 2001 | PS1 |
Kanaan [33] | PC | |
Unnamed Yoshi Game | 1995 | N64 |
Transformers: Generation 2 [34] | 1994 | SNES |
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Europe and Oceania and 1993 in South America. In Japan, it is called the Super Famicom (SFC). In South Korea, it is called the Super Comboy and was distributed by Hyundai Electronics. The system was released in Brazil on August 30, 1993, by Playtronic. In Russia and CIS, the system was distributed by Steepler from 1994 until 1996. Although each version is essentially the same, several forms of regional lockout prevent cartridges for one version from being used in other versions.
Star Fox is an arcade style rail shooter, space flight simulator, and third person action-adventure video game series created by Shigeru Miyamoto, developed and published by Nintendo. The games follow the Star Fox combat team of anthropomorphic animals, led by chief protagonist Fox McCloud. Gameplay involves many adventures around the Lylat planetary system in the futuristic Arwing fighter aircraft, in other vehicles, and on foot. The original Star Fox (1993) is a forward-scrolling 3D rail shooter, but later games add more directional freedom.
Star Fox, known as Starwing in PAL regions, is a 1993 rail shooter game developed by Nintendo and Argonaut Software, and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The first entry in the Star Fox series, the story follows Fox McCloud and the rest of the Star Fox team defending their homeworld of Corneria against the invading forces of Andross.
Wisdom Tree, Inc. is an American developer of Christian video games. It was an offshoot of Color Dreams, one of the first companies to work around Nintendo's 10NES lockout chip technology for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Color Dreams formed the Wisdom Tree subsidiary in 1990 in an effort to circumvent Nintendo's restrictions against publishers of unlicensed video games for the NES by selling their games at Christian book stores which was not subject to pressure by Nintendo.
Star Fox 2 is a rail shooter game developed by Nintendo and Argonaut Software and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It was completed in 1995 but did not see an official release until 2017 on the Super NES Classic Edition.
The Super FX is a coprocessor on the Graphics Support Unit (GSU) added to select Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) video game cartridges, primarily to facilitate advanced 2D and 3D graphics. The Super FX chip was designed by Argonaut Games, who also co-developed the 3D space rail shooter video game Star Fox with Nintendo to demonstrate the additional polygon rendering capabilities that the chip had introduced to the SNES.
Jeremy Elliott "Jez" San OBE is an English game programmer and entrepreneur who founded Argonaut Software as a teenager in the 1980s. He is best known for the 1986 Atari ST game Starglider and helping to design the Super FX chip used in Star Fox for the Super NES.
Stunt Race FX, known in Japan as Wild Trax, is a racing video game developed by Nintendo and Argonaut Software and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the second game to use the 3D-centric Super FX powered GSU-1.
Croc: Legend of the Gobbos is a 1997 platform game developed by Argonaut Software and published by Fox Interactive for the PlayStation. It was originally released in September 1997, with ports for Sega Saturn and Microsoft Windows following. Taking place in the fictional setting of the Gobbo Valley, Croc: Legend of the Gobbos follows a young crocodile named Croc, who sets out to rescue a group of furry creatures known as Gobbos from the evil magician Baron Dante.
FX Fighter is a 3D fighting game for MS-DOS. It was developed by Argonaut Software and published by GTE Entertainment in June 1995. It is an early realtime 3D fighter, originally meant for Super NES using the Super FX chip, on which Argonaut was collaborating together with Nintendo. OEM versions have support for 3D acceleration, bundled with 3D graphics accelerator cards such as the Diamond Monster 3D. A sequel, FX Fighter Turbo, was released in 1996.
Starglider is a 3D video game published in 1986 by Rainbird. It was developed by Jez San under his company name Argonaut Software. The game is a fast-moving, first-person combat flight simulator, rendered with colourful wireframe vector graphics inspired by San's love of the 1983 Atari coin-op Star Wars.
Vortex is a 3D shooter game developed by Argonaut Software and released by Electro Brain for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in September 1994. Titled Citadel during development, it is one of a few games designed to use the enhanced graphics of the Super FX powered GSU-1.
X is a 1992 space combat simulation video game developed by Nintendo and Argonaut Software and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy in Japan. The player assumes the role of the VIXIV starship as it must protect the planet Tetamus II from a mysterious race of aliens. Gameplay involves completing missions assigned by the "Training Academy Coach", ranging from protecting bases from enemy fire or delivering cargo to a certain area.
Catwoman is an action-adventure video game based on the 2004 film of the same name based on the fictional character. It features the likeness of the film's lead actress Halle Berry, while the character's voice is provided by actress Jennifer Hale. This would end up being developer Argonaut Software's final game in 19 years until the company's relaunch in 2024.
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System Game Pak is the system's default ROM cartridge medium. It is called Game Pak in most Western regions, and Cassette in Japan and parts of Latin America. While the Super NES can address 128 Megabits, only 117.75 Megabits are actually available for cartridge use. A fairly normal mapping can easily address up to 95 Megabit of ROM data with 8 Megabits of battery-backed RAM. However, most available memory access controllers only support mappings of up to 32 Megabits. The largest games released contain 48 Megabits of ROM data, while the smallest games contain 2 Megabits.
ARC embedded system processors are a family of 32-bit and 64-bit reduced instruction set computer (RISC) central processing units (CPUs) originally designed by ARC International.
Winter Gold is a 1996 winter sports video game developed by Funcom and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. In the game, players participate in six winter sports disciplines across four distinct olympic venues. Its gameplay focuses on time trials in three playable modes, using a main five-button configuration. The 3D visuals are powered by the Super FX2 chip, an enhancement of Argonaut Software's Super FX processor previously used in Doom and Yoshi's Island.
Croc is a video game series developed by Argonaut Software and published by Fox Interactive. It consists of two main games, plus three mobile games. A third main game was proposed but cancelled as Argonaut was "going through a rough patch", and an animated TV series based on the video game series was proposed by Fox Interactive but never came into fruition.
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