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Aackosoft International B.V. or simply Aackosoft, was a short-lived Dutch video game developer and publisher which was founded in 1983. The company mainly made and published MSX games, though they did publish several titles for the ZX Spectrum and the Commodore 64. The company became one of the biggest publishers for the MSX. They are most well-known for the infamous MSX game, Oh Shit!.

Overview[]

The company started distributing and developing games around 1984. At this time, the company mainly developed miscellaneous programs for the MSX. Starting around 1985 to 1987, the company would start to release some of their own games as budget titles on cassettes.

A lot of these games were direct ports/clones of preexisting games, Boom! (Galaxian), Hopper (Frogger), MacAttack (Burgertime), Oh Shit! (Pac-Man), Scentipede (Centipede), Jet Bomber (Zaxxon), Kick It! (Check Man), Moon Rider (Moon Patrol), Space Busters (Space Invaders), Star Wars (Missile Command), Time Curb (Time Pilot) and Robot Wars (Berzerk). Many of these games are infamous for the voice samples used in-game. The company would also publish various (mostly Japanese) MSX games in Europe. Such as ones released by Jaleco, Pony Canyon and various other developers.

Most of these were released directly under Aackosoft's name or Eaglesoft. But later on, the company would start to release games under the Methodic Solutions, Eurosoft and Premium III Software Distribution brands. These names were only used in later releases and re-releases from around 1987 to 1988.

Due to declining popularity of the MSX, In 1988, Aackosoft would file for bankruptcy. Little is known about what happened to the company after.

Relationship with Al Alamiah[]

AL Screen

Splash Screen

Unlike most of the Al Alamiah's releases, the company seemed to of licensed Aackosoft's games for distribution in Kuwait and Egypt on cartridges. As these releases feature a splash screen reading "Copyright 198x by BYTEBUSTERS All rights reserved. Published by ALALAMIAH". This screen is even seen on games which are credited to Methodic Solutions.

Sometimes, these splash screens break the voice samples used by overwriting them. An example of this is Mac Attack, where the "Welcome to Mac Attack" sample is corrupted around the 4th word. Fixes for these problems have been made.

Aacksoft's games would also be featured on their 30-in-1 series of compilations.

Game List[]

Name Date Published System Description
Break In 1987 Eaglesoft, MegaCom MSX
Chopper 1986 Eaglesoft MSX
Chopper 2 1986 Eaglesoft MSX 2
Dawn Patrol 1986 Eaglesoft MSX
Drome 1987 Eaglesoft MSX
Exterminator 1987 Eaglesoft MSX
Fuzzball 1986 Aackosoft, Eaglesoft, Al Alamiah MSX Port of Q*bert. Later rereleased as Quebert by Eurosoft.
Hype 1987 Methodic Solutions, Al Alamiah MSX Also known as Starbuster
Ice 1986 Eaglesoft, Al Alamiah MSX Port of Pengo. Released as Penguin by Eurosoft.
Jet Bomber 1986 Aackosoft, Al Alamiah, MegaCom MSX Clone of Zaxxon. Uses the Star Wars theme.
Kick It! 1986 Eaglesoft, Al Alamiah, Aackosoft MSX Port of Check Man
Life in the Fast Lane 1987 Methodic Solutions, Aackosoft MSX
Oh Shit! 1985 Aackosoft, Eaglesoft, Eurosoft, Premium III Software Distribution MSX Also known as Oh No! and Shit.
Mac Attack 1986 Eaglesoft, Al Alamiah MSX Port of Burgertime. Specifically based off an unofficial C64 port.
Meaning of Life 1986 Eaglesoft, Al Alamiah MSX
Moonrider 1986 Eaglesoft, Al Alamiah MSX Port of Moon Patrol
Mr. Jaws 1987 Eaglesoft MSX Port of Jawbreaker 2. Logo on the title screen is based off the Jaws logo.
Panel Panic 1986 Eaglesoft MSX Clone of Amidar.
Panique 1986 Eaglesoft MSX A clone of Space Panic. The box art depicts a lady with a head of a lizard-like creature, with one of it's breasts exposed.
Police Academy 1986 Eaglesoft MSX
Red Lights of Amsterdam 1986 Eaglesoft MSX 2
Robot Wars 1986 Eaglesoft MSX A port of Berzerk
Sailor's Delight 1987 Eaglesoft, Al Alamiah MSX
Science Fiction 1986 Eaglesoft, Al Alamiah MSX
Skooter 1987 Eaglesoft, Al Alamiah MSX
Smack Wacker 1986 Eaglesoft, Al Alamiah MSX A port of Jawbreaker with new stages
Snake 1987 Eaglesoft MSX Unrelated to Snake It
Snake It 1986 Eaglesoft, Al Alamiah MSX
Space Busters 1985 Aackosoft, Eaglesoft MSX Clone of Space Invaders
Space Rescue 1986 Eaglesoft, Premium III Software Distribution MSX Clone of Lunar Lander
Speedboat Racer 1987 Methodic Solutions MSX
Sprinter 1986 Eaglesoft MSX
Spy Story 1986 Eaglesoft MSX
Star Fighter 1986 Eaglesoft MSX
Star Wars 1986 Eaglesoft, Al Alamiah, Eurosoft MSX Port of Missile Command. Later rereleased as Missile Command.
The Apeman Strikes Again 1985 Eaglesoft, Al Alamiah, Eurosoft MSX Port of Donkey Kong. Rereleased as Kong.
The Chess Game 1986 Eaglesoft MSX
The Chess Game 2 1986 Eaglesoft MSX
Thunderbal 1986 Eaglesoft MSX 2

Trivia[]

  • Most of Aackosoft's games were commonly pirated and released on multitapes/multidisks.
  • Some of Aackosoft's games are known to not properly work on some MSX machines. This usually happens with any Japanese MSX system, though this can sometimes even happen to all MSX 2 systems.
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