Synapse Software
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| Corporation / Subsidiary | |
| Fate | Defunct (purchased by Brøderbund) |
| Successor | The Learning Company |
| Founders | Ihor Wolosenko Ken Grant |
| Defunct | 1984 |
| Products |
Computer Games Productivity software |
Synapse Software Corporation (marketed as SynSoft in the UK) was an American computer game development and publishing company active from 1981 through 1984. They developed primarily for the Atari 8-bit computers, then later the Commodore 64 and other systems.
Synapse is known for a series of highly regarded action games such as Fort Apocalypse, Blue Max, Pharaoh's Curse, and Shamus, including some unusual games not based on established concepts, like Necromancer and Alley Cat.
Synapse was founded by Ihor Wolosenko and Ken Grant. The company was purchased by Brøderbund in late 1984.
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. Protector (1981) uses elements of Defender, and Dodge Racer (1981) is a clone of Sega's Head On. Chicken (1982) has the same basic concept as Kaboom! for the Atari 2600 (which itself is similar to the arcade game Avalanche),
A notable early release is Nautilus, which features a split-screen so two players can play at once. In one-player mode the user controls a submarine, the Nautilus, in the lower screen while the computer controls a destroyer, the Colossus, in the upper screen. Similar to Atari's Combat, in two-player mode another player takes control of the destroyer. The same basic system was later re-used in other games, including Shadow World.
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