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Micro Power was a British company established in the early 1980s by former accountant Bob Simpson. The company was best known as a video game publisher (originally under the name Program Power.〔 (【引用サイトリンク】title=Micro Power company profile ) 〕 It continued using 'Program Power' as a trading name and often both names would appear on its releases.〔 (【引用サイトリンク】title=Micro Power section )〕 It also sold many types of computer hardware and software (both its own and third-party) through its Leeds 'showroom' or via mail order. From 1980 to 1987 the company published a number of video games and other software for various home computers. The earliest programs were released for the Acorn Atom but Micro Power is best remembered for its games for that machine's successor, Acorn's BBC Micro (with all but two of its post-Atom games running on that machine). All games that could be (and weren't considered 'too old') were ported to the Acorn Electron after its release in 1983 and almost all new games were now released for these 2 machines. A few were also ported to other 8-bit platforms including Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum but these never achieved the success of the Acorn originals. == Games == Most of Micro Power's early games were basic single screen games, typically arcade clones (see the list of notable games below). While mostly well received and popular at the time (especially on the Acorn platforms), by the mid 1980s, video games were becoming increasingly complex. While simple early arcade-style games still sold well, it was usually at a budget price. Micro Power themselves released ''Micro Power Magic'' compilations in 1986, each featuring ten of their games that had previously sold at up to £7.95 each (some only two years earlier), for £7.95.〔 (【引用サイトリンク】title=''Micro Power Magic review )〕 From 1985 onwards, Micro Power began to produce a few advanced games as opposed to a high quantity of simpler games. These include the arcade adventure ''Castle Quest'' (BBC only) by Tony Sothcott, billed as ''"Probably the most challenging game ever devised for the BBC Micro"'' (it was never converted for the Electron, probably because it used near full-screen scrolling in an 8-colour mode), ''Doctor Who and the Mines of Terror'' (BBC, C64, CPC), a huge arcade adventure that required its own ROM chip to run on the Model B BBC Micro, and the puzzle/platform game ''Imogen'' (BBC only, later ported to Electron by Superior Software and more recently remade for PC〔 (【引用サイトリンク】title=''Imogen'' 2004 credits )〕) by Michael St. Aubyn which was noted for its witty, original puzzles and cute high-resolution monochrome graphics. These games took more money and time to produce and with significantly fewer releases per year, probably contributed to the downfall of the company. The ''Doctor Who'' game in particular is often cited as crippling the company〔 with a number of problems such as the added cost of producing the ROM chips for the BBC version and the unreleased (but heavily previewed and advertised) ZX Spectrum version which would have required an add-on cartridge.〔 (【引用サイトリンク】title=''Doctor Who and the Mines of Terror'' )〕 There were also two 32-bit games, ''Chess 3D'' and ''Zelanites the Onslaught'' (a ''Space Invaders'' clone) for the Acorn Archimedes, released under the Micro Power name in 1991. It is unknown how these releases relate to the original company as there hadn't been a Micro Power release for four years. Notable earlier games include: *''Adventure'' - a text adventure (Atom, BBC, Electron) *''Alien Destroyers'' - a ''Space Invaders'' clone (BBC only) *''Bandits at 3 O'Clock'' - a 2-player World War II dogfight (BBC, Electron) *''Block Buster'' - a ''Q *bert'' clone (BBC only) *''Bumble Bee'' - a ''Lady Bug'' clone (BBC, Electron, C64) *''Cabman'' - an overhead view taxi driving game (Spectrum only) *''Cowboy Shootout'' - a ''Boot Hill'' clone (Atom, BBC, Spectrum) *''Croaker'' - a ''Frogger'' clone (BBC, Electron) *''Cybertron Mission'' - a ''Berzerk'' clone (BBC, Electron, C64) *''Danger UXB'' - a ''Check Man'' clone (BBC, Electron) *''Dune Rider'' - a ''Moon Patrol'' clone (BBC only) *''Electron Invaders'' - a ''Space Invaders'' clone (Electron only) *''Escape from Moonbase Alpha'' - a graphic adventure (BBC, Electron) *''Felix and the Fruit Monsters'' - a ''Pac-Man'' style overhead maze game (BBC, Electron) *''Felix in the Factory'' - a platform game (BBC, Electron, C64, Memotech MTX) *''Felix Meets the Evil Weevils'' - a platform game (BBC, Electron) *''Frenzy'' - a ''Qix'' clone (BBC, Electron, C64) *''Galactic Commander'' - a ''Lunar Lander'' clone (BBC, Electron) *''Gauntlet'' - a ''Defender'' clone (BBC, Electron, CPC) *''Ghouls'' - a platform game with ''Pac-Man''-like characters (BBC, Electron, C64, CPC) *''Hell Driver'' - an overhead view driving game (BBC only) *''Intergalactic Trader'' - a text-based space trading game (BBC, Electron) *''Invasion Force'' - a ''Space Invaders'' clone (Atom only) *''Jet Power Jack'' - a platform game (BBC, Electron, C64) *''Killer Gorilla'' - a ''Donkey Kong'' clone (BBC, Electron, CPC) *''Laser Command'' - a ''Missile Command'' clone (BBC only) *''The Mine'' - a ''Dig Dug'' clone (BBC, Electron) *''Mr. Ee!'' - a ''Mr. Do!'' clone (BBC only) *''Moon Raider'' - a ''Scramble'' clone (BBC, Electron) *''Nemesis'' - a ''Centipede'' clone (BBC only) *''Plutonium Plunder'' - a ''Pengo''-style overhead maze game (BBC only) *''Positron'' - a fast-paced ''Space Invaders'' style shoot 'em up (BBC, Electron) *''Rubble Trouble'' - a ''Pengo''-style overhead maze game (BBC, Electron) *''Starfleet Encounter'' - a text-based strategy game for 2-8 players (BBC only) *''Stock Car'' - an overhead view racing game (BBC, Electron, C64) *''Swag'' - a 2-player arcade game involving bank robbery (BBC, Electron) *''Swoop'' - a ''Galaxian'' clone (BBC, Electron, C64) 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Micro Power」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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