Synapse Software Corporation (marketed as SynSoft in the UK) was an American video game development and publishing company founded in 1981 by Ihor Wolosenko and Ken Grant. It initially focused on the Atari 8-bit family, then later developed for the Commodore 64 and other systems. The company was purchased by Broderbund in late 1984 and the Synapse label retired in 1985.
The company's first release was the database File Manager 800, written by Grant and Wolosenko, followed by the game Dodge Racer, a clone of Sega's Head On programmed by Rob Re. 1982's Shamus established Synapse as a creator of high-quality action games. It was followed by additional well-received games including Rainbow Walker, Blue Max, and The Pharaoh's Curse, and some others based on unusual concepts, like Necromancer and Alley Cat. First-person game Dimension X was promoted for its "altered perspective scrolling" technology, then released in a cut-down form over nine months later to disappointing reviews. The company also sold databases, a 6502 assembler, and a suite of biofeedback hardware and software. A line of productivity applications published in 1983, including a spreadsheet, led to financial difficulties and the company's downfall.
The box cover art for most of Synapse's games was done by Tim Boxell, a friend of Ihor Wolosenko.
Action games
Synapse's first releases were for the Atari 8-bit computers, starting in 1981. Some of their early games were based on elements of contemporary arcade games. Dodge Racer (1981) is a clone of Sega's Head On, and Protector (1981) uses elements of Defender. Chicken (1982) has the same basic concept as Kaboom! for the Atari 2600, which itself is similar to the arcade game Avalanche.
Nautilus (1982) uses a split-screen so two players can play at once. In single-player mode the user controls a submarine, the Nautilus, in the lower screen while the computer controls a destroyer, the Colossus, on the upper screen. In two-player mode, another player controls the destroyer. The same basic system was later re-used in other games, including Shadow World.
Survivor (1982) supports up to four simultaneous players, via the four joystick ports on the Atari 400 and Atari 800 computers. Each player commands a different part of a single spaceship. In single-player mode it operates like the ship in Asteroids, while in two player mode one drives and the other fires in any direction.
In an interview with Antic, Wolosenko agreed that 1982's Shamus was the beginning of Synapse's reputation for quality products. Other similar caliber, better advertised games followed in 1982-3. These include Necromancer, Rainbow Walker, Blue Max, Fort Apocalypse, Alley Cat, and The Pharaoh's Curse. It was during this period that the company branched out and started supporting other systems, especially the Commodore 64, which became a major platform. Many of Synapse's games made their way to the UK as part of the initial wave of U.S. Gold-distributed imports (under the "Synsoft" imprint). Some were also converted to run on more popular UK home computers, such as the ZX Spectrum.
Synapse was an early developer for the unsuccessful graphics-accelerated Mindset computer project and created the first-person game Vyper (1984) for it.
Ports and re-releases
Synapse developed an official port of the arcade video game Zaxxon for the Commodore 64. The Atari 8-bit port was from Datasoft. Synapse also published Encounter! in 1983, which was originally released in the UK by Novagen Software without the exclamation mark in the name. Salmon Run, the first game from Necromancer and Alley Cat designer Bill Williams, was published by the Atari Program Exchange in 1982; Synapse released a VIC-20 port under the "Showcase Software" label the following year.
Utilities and productivity software
Although it is for their success with arcade-style games that it is primarily remembered, Synapse started out selling database software for the Atari 8-bit computers. In 1982 Synapse released SynAssembler, a 6502 development system which was much faster than Atari's offerings at the time. SynAssembler is a port of the S-C Assembler II Version 4.0 from the Apple II. The port was done by Steve Hales, who also wrote a number of games for Synapse.
Synapse was developing a series of home productivity and financial applications: SynFile+ (written in Forth by Steve Ahlstrom and Dan Moore of The 4th Works), SynCalc, Synfilet, SynChron, SynComm, SynStock, and SynTrend.
