![]() | |
Type | Product brand |
---|---|
Industry | Software development industry Video game industry |
Founded | 1987 |
Founder | Thomas Meiertoberens |
Key people | Rolf Lakämper, Bettina Wiedner |
Website | www |
Magic Bytes is an international video game publishing label. It originated in Germany as the primary computer game brand of micro-partner Software GmbH, already active since 1986 and dedicated to the internal development of some of the games. Initially, Bertelsmann subsidiary Ariolasoft and Gremlin Graphics in the United Kingdom distributed most Magic Bytes games. [1] [2] [3] [4]
Micro-Partner was founded by Thomas Meiertoberens, coming from Rainbow Arts of which he was co-founder, in 1986 in Gütersloh, Germany. At that time the initial team was formed by the owner Meiertoberens, the programmer Rolf Lakämper and the graphic designer Bettina Wiedner, all three in their twenties, and made itself known with the success of Mission Elevator, published in different countries of the world, the first German video game to have notable international success. In 1986, Meiertoberens obtained licenses to produce and market video games in Europe of comic characters Clever & Smart, Pink Panther and Tom & Jerry. The Magic Bytes brand was created in 1987 and was subsequently used to publish almost all micro-partner's games. Magic Bytes debut took place in 1987 with the European release of Western Games and Clever & Smart. Most games were adapted for Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore C64 & Amiga, some for MSX, ZX Spectrum and later mostly for PC's. [1] [5] [4] [6] [7] [8]
On May 20, 1988, Meiertoberens founded an US counterpart, Magic Bytes USA Inc., in Tampa and agreed with US company Digitek, also in Tampa, to mutually publish the other company's titles on their continent and micro-partner published Digitek games in Europe under the Magic Bytes label. [4] [9] [3]
In 1991, micro-partner ceased operations due to non-payment of some of their wholesalers and publishing rights for Magic Bytes games changed to Magic Bytes Verlag R. Kleinegräber in German speaking countries and Magic Bytes Verlag started selling video games directly to end-users by mail-order or to Karstadt department stores. Magic Bytes Verlag started publishing video games from external German game developers and had notable success in Germany with BIING [10] from reLINE in 1993 and Have a N.I.C.E. day from Synetic in 1997. [11] In 2000, the last Magic Bytes game was released for that time period. [4]
In 2017, Thomas Meiertoberens, who in the meantime had moved to the United States in 1997 to manage a real estate company, brought the brand back into business by founding Magic Bytes LLC, of which he is CEO. The new US company, headquartered in Lewes and operating with representatives in Orlando and Bielefeld, Germany, is developing an Android game called Toonworld of which an early access version has been released in February 2021.
Year | Game [12] [13] | Genre |
---|---|---|
1987 | Western Games | Sport |
1987 | Clever & Smart | Action-Adventure |
1988 | Powerstyx | Strategy |
1988 | Minigolf | Sport |
1988 | Pink Panther | Action-Adventure |
1988 | Vampire's Empire | Action-Adventure |
1989 | Beam | Action |
1989 | Blue Angel 69 | Puzzle |
1989 | Eskimo Games | Sport |
1989 | Nightdawn | Action |
1989 | Tom & Jerry | Action |
1989 | Wall$treet | Educational |
1990 | Air Supply | Action |
1990 | Big Business | Business Simulation |
1990 | Domination | Action-Adventure |
1990 | USS John Young | Simulation |
1990 | North Sea Inferno | Action-Adventure |
1990 | Cyberworld | Action-Adventure |
1991 | Dinowars | Action-Strategy |
1991 | The Second World | Adventure |
1992 | Dynatech | Economy Simulation |
1992 | Elysium | Economy Simulation |
1993 | Penthouse Hot Numbers | Puzzle |
1995 | Biing! | Economy Simulation |
1996 | Abenteuer Weltraum | Educational |
1997 | Have a N.I.C.E. day! | Racing |
1997 | Drilling Billy | Action |
1998 | N.I.C.E. 2 | Racing |
1998 | Rent-a-Hero | Fantasy |
1999 | Biing! 2 | Economy Simulation |
1999 | Dark Secrets of Africa | Action-Adventure |
2000 | Crystal Hammer | Action |
Loopz is a puzzle video game designed and programmed by Ian Upton for the Atari ST in 1989. He previously worked as head game designer for Audiogenic, who acquired exclusive rights to the game, then in 1990 arranged for Mindscape to publish it for computers in North America and consoles worldwide.
Artworx was a Naples, Florida software company that produced and supported a line of computer games from 1981 to 2020. It is named after the founder's given name. At first the company published a variety of games, including titles in adventure and arcade-action genres, but were later best known for a strip poker series.
Monster Business is a 1991 vertically scrolling platform game developed by Eclipse Software Design and published by Ascon that was released for the Amiga and Atari ST.
Hard Nova is a role-playing video game developed by Malibu Interactive and published by Electronic Arts in 1990 for DOS, Amiga and Atari ST. It is a follow-up to Sentinel Worlds I: Future Magic.
Black Crypt is a role-playing video game. It was Raven Software's debut title, and was published for the Amiga by Electronic Arts in 1992. Its 3D realtime style is similar to FTL Games' popular Dungeon Master, where the player leads a party of four heroes through a large dungeon to ultimately confront and defeat a powerful enemy. A version for the Sega Mega Drive was in development but never released.
Inferno is a space combat simulator video game developed by Digital Image Design and published by Ocean Software in 1994 for the PC. It is a sequel to the 1992 game Epic.
P-47: The Phantom Fighter is a 1988 horizontally scrolling shooter arcade video game originally developed by NMK and published by Jaleco. Set during World War II, players control a Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighter aircraft to face against the Nazis, who are occupying multiple countries around the world. Its gameplay involves destroying waves of enemies, picking up power-ups and new weapons, and destroying bosses. It ran on the Mega System 1 hardware.
Clive Barker's Nightbreed: The Interactive Movie is a 1990 arcade adventure video game developed by Impact Software and published by Ocean Software on Atari ST and DOS. It is based on Clive Barker's movie Nightbreed, which in turn is based on Barker's novella Cabal. It was originally supposed to be part of a trilogy, alongside Clive Barker's Nightbreed: The Action Game and an ultimately-unreleased RPG.
Die Kathedrale is a 1991 German text adventure game developed by Weltenschmiede and published by Software 2000 for the Amiga and DOS. Die Kathedrale is part of a text adventure trilogy; it is preceded by Das Stundenglas (1990) and succeeded by Hexuma (1992). The trilogy lacks an overarching plot, and in each entry the setting, role of the protagonist, and goal differ between each game. Games in the trilogy do not require knowledge of the other entries and may be played as standalone games.
Das Stundenglas is a German text adventure game published in 1990 by Software 2000 and developed by Weltenschmiede, and released for Amiga, Atari ST and DOS. Das Stundenglas is part of a text adventure trilogy; it is succeeded by Die Kathedrale (1991) and Hexuma (1992). The trilogy lacks an overarching plot, and in each entry the setting, role of the protagonist, and goal differ between each game. Games in the trilogy do not require knowledge of the other entries and may be played as standalone games.
Cover Girl Strip Poker, alternately titled Cover Girl Poker, is a 1991 erotic video game based upon five-card strip poker and originally developed and self-published by Emotional Pictures; it was released for the Amiga, DOS, Commodore 64, CDTV, and CD32. Cover Girl Strip Poker is the original Danish title; it was retitled Cover Girl Poker outside of Denmark in the rest of Europe, and the title was subsequently reverted to Cover Girl Strip Poker for the European CDTV and CD-ROM DOS releases. Emotional Pictures was a subsidiary of Danish company InterActive Vision A/S.
Abenteuer Europa is a 1994 German video game developed by Ego Software and published by Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands for DOS.
Wall$treet is a 1989 video game published by Magic Bytes.
Méwilo is a 1987 French adventure video game by Coktel Vision.
Dragonflight is a 1990 role-playing video game developed and published by Thalion Software for the Amiga, Atari ST, and MS-DOS. The game started development in January 1987 by two German programmers Udo Fischer and Erik Simon.
The Seven Gates of Jambala is a 1989 platform video game developed by Thalion Software and published by Grandslam Entertainments for the Amiga and Atari ST. An Amiga CD32 port was released in 1994. 8-bit ports for the Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, and ZX Spectrum were cancelled.
Leavin' Teramis is a 1990 run and gun video game developed and published by Thalion Software for the Atari ST. A port for the Amiga was released a few months later.
Trex Warrior: 22nd Century Gladiator is a 1991 action video game developed and published by Thalion Software for the Amiga and Atari ST. Previously unreleased in the United Kingdom, the game was released in 1993 on The One magazine cover disk as public-domain software.
Tie Break is a 1990 tennis video game developed and published by Starbyte Software for the Amiga. Ports for other home computers were released later. The game is known as Adidas Championship Tie Break on the ZX Spectrum.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)