== History ==
Formed in 1983, Mastertronic established itself as a one of the premier budget software houses of the 8-bit era, producing games for the CPC as well as its main competitors the [[ZX Spectrum]] and [[Commodore 64]].
Mastertronic paved the way for companies like [[Alternative Software]] and [[Codemasters]] to follow in their stead (and in fact published [[The Darling Brothers]] first game - the C64 only BMX Racers).
Success allowed the company to expand and as well as their self-titled orginal label, they were soon releasing games under their offshoot labels most notably '''M.A.D.''' (Mastertronic Added Dimension) which retailed at a slightly higher price than the basic line. As well as M.A.D., Mastertronic also ran the shortlived '''Entertainment USA''' and '''Bulldog''' labels designed to showcase the best in American and British releases respectively.
Mastertronic continued to grow and in 1988 acquired the Australian software outfit [[Melbourne House]]. Keeping the label name alive, Mastertronic used the Melbourne House moniker to enter the full price software market. Around the same time, Mastertonic launched '''Ricochet''' a re-release label that they used to re-market games from publishers such as the afore-mentioned Melbourne House, [[Gargoyle]], [[Hewson]], [[UltimateBubble Bus]] and [[Activision]].
With great expansion comes great risk and as the budget market became saturated Mastertronic's position as the leading light began to wane. Several big projects for the group (including an attempt to enter the arcade market) proved to be finacially challenging. Thanks, however, to being able to secure the distribution rights to Sega's [[Master System]] console in the UK, France and Germany, the company remained a viable acquisition. Spotting an opportunity to expand, Richard Branson's [[Virgin Games]] bought a controlling interest in Mastertronic, eventually merging the two companies into '''Virgin Mastertronic'''.
== Releases ==
Please also see [[Melbourne House]] and [[Virgin Games]] for details of games released under those guises after they joined that banner following the Mastertronic familymerger.
=== Mastertronic ===
* [[Action Biker]]
* [[Agent X II: The Mad Prof's Back]]
* [[The Apprentice(the)]]
* [[Back To Reality]] (a.k.a. Project Genesis)
* [[Bomb Fusion]]
* [[Locomotion]]
* [[Master Chess (Mastertronic)|Master Chess]]
* [[Megaplay 1]]
* [[Milk Race]]
* [[Mindtrap]]
* [[One Man And His Droid]]
* [[Super Pipeline II|Pipeline 2]] (re-release)
* [[Nonterraqueous_2_(Soul_of_a_Robot)|Soul of a Robot]]
* [[Pulsoid]]
* [[The Quest For The Golden Eggcup]]
* [[Rogue]]
* [[Rollaround]]
* [[Soul Of A Robot]]
* [[Speed King]]
* [[Speedzone]]
=== M.A.D. ===
* [[180]]
* [[Action Force]] (re-release)
* [[Amaurote]]
* [[AngleBall]]
* [[Strike!]]
* [[Terminus]]
* [[Vectorball]]
* [[ZUB]]
* [[Tau Ceti]] (re-release)
* [[Trailblazer]] (re-release)
* [[Way Of The Exploding Fist]] (re-release) === Melbourne House (Post Mastertronic takeover) ===* [[Aaargh!]]* [[Barbarian (Melbourne House)|Barbarian]]* [[Double Dragon]]* [[Obliterator]]* [[Terrorpods]]* [[War in Middle Earth]]* [[Xenon]]
=== Virgin Mastertronic ===
* [[Infection]]
* [[Jungle Warfare]]
* [[Megaplay Volume 1]]
* [[Missile Ground Zero]]
* [[Robot Attack]]
* [[Jonah Barrington's Squash]]
* [[Micro Mouse Goes De-Bugging]]
* [[Protector]]* [[Psycho Hopper]]
* [[Rad Ramp Racer]]
* [[Raster Runner]]
=== Tronix ===
* [[Double Dragon II|Double Dragon II: The Revenge]] (re-release)* [[Golden Axe]] (re-release)
* [[Italia 90|Italia '90: World Cup Soccer]] (re-release)
* [[Ivan 'Ironman' Stewart's Super Off Road]] (re-release)
* [[Monty Python's Flying Circus]] (re-release)
* [[The Ninja Warriors]] (re-release) == Missing in Action / Vapourware == As with all major software companies (and a number of minor ones!), Mastertronic didn't manage to release every game that was originally planned or rumoured. The following are a list of titles that don't appear to have been released publically. If you have any further information on any of these titles please share with the community in the discussion forums, we've love to hear some more about these or any other titles. === Action Biker === Mentioned in a feature on Mastertronic on Page 44 of Issue 7 of Amstrad Action (April 1986), very little is given away about the game other than a brief blurb that it was a joint promotion with KP Skips, a popular brand of crisps in the UK. Looking to other 8-bit machines and Action Biker was released on the [http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0000072 ZX Spectrum], [http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-action-biker_70.html Atari 8-Bit] & [http://www.lemon64.com/?game_id=48 Commodore 64]. Interestingly, while the Spectrum and Atari provide the same, generally panned maze exploration game, the C64 version was a completely different game from a more 3D perspective and while not universally loved, appeared to be a far better proposition. Of course, any Amstrad version was likely to crib heavily from the Spectrum but we'll never know... unless it's found... because a purported cover of Action Biker has been doing the rounds for a number of years. First appearing on the late [[CPC Zone]] website, it's still unclear whether the game ever was actually released or produced and the providence of the scan is unknown. It is possible that even if the game was not fully released that a prototype exists with the game potentially being pulled either because of Action Biker's poor recepiton on the Spectrum or Skips dropping of the Clumsy Colin character, on whom the game was based, around the same time.
You can view the scan for yourself at [http://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&onglet=package&num=4139 CPC Power]
[[Category:CPC related companies]] [[Category: Computer and video game companies]]