The History of Epyx, Kings of the Commodore 64 | Newstalgia

Cody delves into the history of Epyx, a video game developer and publisher responsible for some of the biggest hits on the Commodore 64.
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[@maddogmcrae]

You guys forgot to mention the Fast Load cartridge!

[@lowpinglag]

This! I was so happy when I got that cartridge, yes the games they made where good, but my god the fast loader cartridge was a must have for people that owned a floppy disk drive, that sweet old 1541.

[@BillSzczytko]

Or that Jack Tremeil was overseeing Commodore when the C64 came out

[@vcv6560]

Impossible Mission, my favorite on the C64. Great story telling here.

[@brucetungsten5714]

Very unique company - loved their titles and designs.

[@1stage]

I believe the kid playing the LYNX in the bathroom stall is a young Tobey Maguire.

[@viewistproductions]

You are correct. We actually found that clip while researching another project and only realized later that he was playing on the Lynx. It's a pretty 80s-tastic commercial.

[@mcd3379]

Epyx and Commodore 64, like burgers and fries :) Great video - Epyx was probably only equalled by Electronic Arts in terms of their mastery of the C64 and the games they produced.

[@viewistproductions]

Cookies and cream, even. I think a lot of people aren't aware how far EA's roots in the industry go back. Say what you will about them today, but not many gaming companies have the staying power. Thanks for watching, hope you enjoyed the video!

[@sulrich70]

Awesome. Amazing company and yep, mastered the c64.

[@mustangs7]

Very neat to know the history finally. Well done vid?

[@scottythegreat1]

You certainly covered pretty much everything. I understand how hard it is to look at the Atari Lynx situation, theres too much bias on what really happened between Epyx and Atari. Ive heard stories of how strict the contract was, and stories about people from Epyx talking about it (many of whom were bitter about what happened). Still, the Tramiel family had a distinctive reputation for being cutthroat businessmen, and thats why people didnt deal with them unless they had to.

[@viewistproductions]

From what I gathered, it may have come down to something as simple as a cable. Epyx may or not have been late delivering the cable used to link two devices which would have been a breach of contract. Who knows if that is true, but it gives you a good idea how tough Tramiel could be.

[@scottythegreat1]

Everyone in the industry knew how tough they were to deal with. As a matter of fact, on the morning of the day Sam Tramiel walked into Epyx to start these negotiations several Epyx staffers walked out the door and never came back (they threatened to do this, and made good on their threat). When people talk about Jack Tramiel and his sons, they talk about him being like Attila the Hun or Jabba the Hutt.

[@theoasisbbs]

Nicely done!

[@RyanDanielG]

man, great job!

[@fastnfuriousformula]

My favorite PC game is Chip's Challenge, which was made by Epyx.

[@RobbieStrike]

I played a lot of Epex games on the Atari Lynx Blue Lighting and California Games.

[@circuitsandcigars1278]

Don't copy that floppy !!! Lol

[@ilcugginocanadese]

Is this narrated by Jesse Eisenberg?

[@viewistproductions]

This one cut me deep

[@curiousottman]

“Truh-mell”, not “truh-meel”.

[@breakfastplan4518]

the atari lynx was 100% more powerful than the game boy, looked better and could display sega genesis levels of colors! Had developers went over and did more of their arcade ports to the lynx the game boy would have been in serious trouble.

[@SchardtCinematic]

Sadly they folded and ECA. Now known as EA has ruined alit of great software companies like Origin with thier buyouts. Who knows if Epyx survived they could have become as evil as EA or been way better than EA. We will never know.

[@MrPsanterIsBack]

Nice video but you are basically blaming Tramiel for Epyx fate which is IMHO way too simplistic.

[@viewistproductions]

Thanks for watching! I tried to stay pretty neutral in that regard and the video reflects that. The Lynx deal went south and there's no solid evidence as to why. A lot of people blame Tramiel because he's the easy target, but it just as easily could have been the fault of Epyx not meeting the contract stipulations. Epyx was already on a huge downward slide by that point so the Lynx deal was really just the final death knell. I'm not pinning everything on Tramiel at all.

[@brownsamurai3070]

Hate to say it, but the ability to copy games via the 1541 didn't help.

[@RP12ification]

...or cassettes.