Digital Eclipse

Last updated

Digital Eclipse Entertainment Partners Co.
FormerlyBackbone Emeryville (2003–2015)
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Video games
Founded1992;32 years ago (1992)
Founders
  • Andrew Ayre
  • Hans Kim
  • John Neil
  • Howard Fukuda
Headquarters,
US
Key people
Parent
Website digitaleclipse.com

Digital Eclipse Entertainment Partners Co. is an American video game developer based in Emeryville, California. Founded by Andrew Ayre in 1992, the company found success developing commercial emulations of arcade games for Game Boy Color. In 2003, the company merged with ImaginEngine and created Backbone Entertainment. A group of Digital Eclipse employees split off from Backbone to form Other Ocean Interactive, which, in 2015, bought and revived the Digital Eclipse brand.

Contents

History

Digital Eclipse was founded in 1992 by Andrew Ayre, Hans Kim, John Neil, and Howard Fukuda. [1] The company's first offices were opened on a "nondescript, factory-filled" street in Emeryville, California, where Ayre (a native of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador) had moved following his graduation from Harvard University to live with his girlfriend. [2] [3] Initially a technology startup company, Digital Eclipse soon found that their software would be useful in the video game industry, and turned to game development instead. [2] Using their technology, the company opted to produce commercial emulations of arcade games, such as Williams Electronics' Joust , Defender , and Robotron: 2084 . [4] For these games, Digital Eclipse developed an interpreter that emulated the games' arcade machines' chipset, including the Motorola 6809 central processing unit. [5] This approach was meant to have the emulations act true to the original versions of these games, and not carry any imperfections direct ports could have introduced. [4] All three emulated games were released as part of The Digital Arcade series for Mac OS in 1995. [5]

Digital Eclipse found further success when the Game Boy Color was released; the new handheld console included a central processing unit based on the architecture of the Zilog Z80, the processor used in a number of older arcade machines. [4] While other developers were moving on to develop for the more powerful PlayStation home console, Digital Eclipse developed about 60 games for their niche market on the Game Boy Color. [4] These games included Klax , Spy Hunter , Moon Patrol , Paperboy , Joust, Defender, and 720° , as well as an original game, Tarzan , which Digital Eclipse produced for Activision. [6] Digital Eclipse also opened a second studio in Vancouver, Canada. [7] In February 2001, the company announced their move into the games market for "wireless Web" devices, hiring Scott Nisbet as director of wireless gaming, as well as Bruce Binder as Nisbet's consultant. [8]

In 2003, Digital Eclipse merged with ImaginEngine, creating Backbone Entertainment; while ImaginEngine remained an independent studio within that structure, Digital Eclipse's studios became Backbone Emeryville and Backbone Vancouver, respectively. [9] [10] By this point, Digital Eclipse had produced 70 games on 11 different platforms. [3] In February 2006, Backbone opened another subsidiary studio, Backbone Charlottetown, in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, under the lead of Ayre. [11] In May 2007, the new studio, including Ayre and several former Digital Eclipse employees, spun off from Backbone and became Other Ocean Interactive, aiming at showcasing Digital Eclipse's former traits in a smaller fashion. [4] [12]

Backbone Vancouver was mostly dismantled in September 2008 and closed entirely in May 2009, while Backbone laid off the majority of its Emeryville-based staff in October 2012. [13] [14] [15] On June 8, 2015, after acquiring the Digital Eclipse name, Other Ocean's parent company, Other Ocean Group, announced that it had reformed Digital Eclipse as part of its Other Ocean Emeryville studio. [16] Co-founders include Ayre, Mike Mika—who had acted as technical director for the original Digital Eclipse—and former Gamasutra writer Frank Cifaldi. [6] [16] The new Digital Eclipse laid its focus on video game preservation, and Cifaldi became the studio's "head of restoration", a title which Cifaldi noted was an industry first. [16] At the time, Cifaldi also stated that Digital Eclipse aimed at becoming the video game equivalent of The Criterion Collection. [17] Cifaldi would leave Digital Eclipse around 2020 to work on the Video Game History Foundation full time. [18]

Atari SA announced it would acquire Digital Eclipse in October 2023 for $4 million in cash and newly issued ordinary shares worth $2.5 million, alongside a possible earn-out of up to $13.5 million. [19] Atari closed the deal by November 6, 2023. [20]

Eclipse Engine

Part of Digital Eclipse's work include their own Eclipse Engine, a tool that allows them to decompile the code from older games into a machine-readable format that is then used by the Eclipse Engine to play them on modern systems. While it may take some extra work by the company to decompile the older game into the proper format one time, this approach allows them to rapidly port the Eclipse Engine version to any modern gaming system, including personal computers, consoles, and portable and mobile devices, with minimal effort. This engine has been used in Digital Eclipse's Mega Man Legacy Collection and The Disney Afternoon Collection . [21] [22] The Eclipse Engine was primarily developed by Digital Eclipse's studio head, Mike Mika, and Other Ocean engineer Kevin Wilson, branched off from Other Ocean's Bakesale engine. [16]

Games developed

As Digital Eclipse (1992–2004)

YearTitlePlatform(s)
1994 Joust Mac OS
Robotron: 2084
Defender
1995Activision's Commodore 64 15 PackMicrosoft Windows
1996 Williams Arcade Classics Dreamcast, Game.com, Microsoft Windows, MS-DOS, PlayStation, Sega Genesis, Sega Saturn, Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Ms. Pac-Man Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Arcade's Greatest Hits: The Atari Collection 1 PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Super Nintendo Entertainment System
1997 Arcade's Greatest Hits: The Midway Collection 2 Microsoft Windows, PlayStation
1998 NFL Blitz Game Boy Color
Arcade's Greatest Hits: The Atari Collection 2 PlayStation
Rampage World Tour Game Boy Color
1999 Knockout Kings
Disney's Tarzan
720°
Atari Arcade Hits: Volume 1Microsoft Windows
Arcade's Greatest Hits: The Atari Collection 2
Arcade Classic No. 4: Defender / Joust Game Boy Color
Klax
Arcade Hits: Moon Patrol / Spy Hunter
Rampart
Rampage 2: Universal Tour
Arcade Party Pak PlayStation
Mortal Kombat 4 Game Boy Color
Marble Madness
Ghosts 'n Goblins
2000 Little Nicky
Alice in Wonderland
2001 Dragon's Lair
Batman: Chaos in Gotham
X-Men: Wolverine's Rage
Rayman Advance Game Boy Advance
Spyro: Season of Ice
2002 Spider-Man
Disney's Lilo & Stitch
Monster Force
Spyro 2: Season of Flame
Disney's Kim Possible: Revenge of Monkey Fist
Phantasy Star Collection
XXX
2003Lizzie McGuire: On the Go!
Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over
Spyro: Attack of the Rhynocs
Mucha Lucha! Mascaritas of the Lost Code
2004 Spider-Man 2
Grand Theft Auto Advance
Mortal Kombat Plug-and-play

As Backbone Entertainment (2004–2012)

As Digital Eclipse (2015–present)

YearTitlePlatform(s)
2015 Mega Man Legacy Collection Microsoft Windows, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Amazon Luna
2017 The Disney Afternoon Collection Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
2018 Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
SNK 40th Anniversary Collection
2019Disney Classic Games: Aladdin and The Lion King
2020 Samurai Shodown NeoGeo Collection
2021Blizzard Arcade Collection [a]
Space Jam: A New Legacy - The Game Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Disney Classic Games CollectionMicrosoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
2022 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Candy CreepsMicrosoft Windows
Garbage Pail Kids: Mad Mike and the Quest for Stale Gum [b] Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Digital Eclipse Arcade: Invasion of the Buffet SnatchersMicrosoft Windows
Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Atari VCS
Digital Eclipse Arcade: JollyballMicrosoft Windows
2023Digital Eclipse Arcade: Q.P.I.DMicrosoft Windows
The Making of Karateka Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord (remake) [23]
2024 Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story [24]
Volgarr the Viking II
Worms Armageddon Anniversary Edition
Tetris Forever [25]
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita's Rewind

Notes

  1. Co-developed with Blizzard Entertainment
  2. Co-developed with Retrotainment Games and published by iam8bit.

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