Argonaut Games

{{quote box | align=right | width=30% | quote=I told them that this is as good as it's going to get unless they let us design some hardware to make the SNES better at 3D. Amazingly, even though I had never done any hardware before, they said YES, and gave me a million bucks to make it happen.|source=—Argonaut founder and Super FX codesigner, Jez San}}

Founded as Argonaut Software by teenager Jez San in 1982,{{cite magazine|last1=Brookes|first1=Jason|last2=Bielby|first2=Matt|date=May 1993|title=Superplay interview: Jez San, Argonaut|url=https://archive.org/details/Superplay_Issue_07_1993-05_Future_Publishing_GB/page/n25/mode/2up|magazine=Super Play|location=United Kingdom|publisher=Future Publishing}} the company name is a play on his name (J. San) and the mythological story of Jason and the Argonauts.

Its head offices were in Colindale, London,"[https://web.archive.org/web/19961029064517/http://www.argonaut.com/otherinf/compinfo.html#TopofPage Company Summary]" ([https://web.archive.org/web/19961029064517/http://www.argonaut.com/otherinf/compinfo.html Archive]). Argonaut Games. 29 October 1996. Retrieved on 21 May 2016. "Argonaut Technologies Limited Capitol House, Capitol Way, Colindale, London, NW9 ODZ, United Kingdom" and "Argonaut USA Rich Seidner – Head of US Operations 210 Grandview Drive, Woodside, California, 94062, USA" and later in the Argonaut House in Edgware, London.{{cite web|url=http://www.argonaut.com/html/body_argonaut_has_moved_.htm |title=Argonaut Contact information |publisher=Argonaut Games |date=13 January 1998 |access-date=9 November 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19980113111227/http://www.argonaut.com/html/body_argonaut_has_moved_.htm |archive-date=13 January 1998 |url-status=bot: unknown |quote=Argonaut House 369 Burnt Oak Broadway Edgware Middlesex HA8 5XZ}} Its U.S. head office was in Woodside, California in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In 1990, Argonaut collaborated with Nintendo during the early years of the NES and SNES, a notable incident being when Argonaut submitted a proof-of-concept method of defeating the Game Boy's copyright protection mechanism to Nintendo.{{cite web|url=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-07-04-born-slippy-the-making-of-star-fox|title=Born slippy: the making of Star Fox|last=McFerran|first=Damien|date=22 June 2014|work=Eurogamer|access-date=20 August 2016}} The combined efforts from Argonaut and Nintendo yielded a prototype of the game Star Fox, initially codenamed "SnesGlider" and inspired by their earlier Atari ST and Amiga game Starglider, that they had running on the NES and then some weeks later on a prototype SNES. Jez San told Nintendo that his team could only improve performance or functionality of the demonstration if Nintendo allowed Argonaut to design custom hardware to extend the SNES to have true 3D capability. Nintendo agreed, so San hired chip designers and made the Super FX chip. They originally codenamed it the Mathematical Argonaut Rotation I/O, or "MARIO", as is printed on the chip's surface.{{cite web|last=Bolton|first=Syd|author-link=Syd Bolton|title=Interview with Jez San, OBE|website=Armchair Empire|url=http://www.armchairempire.com/Interviews/jez-san-interview.htm|access-date=16 February 2014|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071217092221/http://www.armchairempire.com/Interviews/jez-san-interview.htm |archive-date=17 December 2007|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://blamethecontrolpad.com/argonaut/argonaut2.htm|title=Of argonauts, vectors, and flying foxes: The rise of 3D on Nintendo consoles|access-date=4 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080613053018/http://blamethecontrolpad.com/argonaut/argonaut2.htm|archive-date=13 June 2008|url-status=dead}} So powerful was the Super FX chip used to create the graphics and gameplay, that they joked that the Super NES was just a box to hold the chip.{{cite web |title=Interview with Jez San |website=Arwing Landing |url=http://www.arwinglanding.net/articles.php?page=writeups/jezsan |access-date=4 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928041355/http://www.arwinglanding.net/articles.php?page=writeups%2Fjezsan |archive-date=28 September 2007 |url-status=dead }}

After building the Super FX, Argonaut designed several different chips for other companies' video game machines, which were never released. These include machines codenamed GreenPiece and CD-I 2 for Philips, the platform codenamed VeggieMagic for Apple and Toshiba, and Hasbro's "virtual reality" game system codenamed MatriArc.{{cite web |title=Feature: Jez San On Star Fox, Super FX And Teaching Nintendo How To Fly |website=Nintendo Life |url=https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2019/12/feature_jez_san_on_star_fox_super_fx_and_teaching_nintendo_how_to_fly |access-date=4 September 2007}}

In 1995, Argonaut Software was split into Argonaut Technologies Limited (ATL) and Argonaut Software Limited (ASL). With space being a premium at the office on Colindale Avenue, ATL was relocated to an office in the top floor of a separate building. The building was called Capitol House on Capitol Way, just around the corner. There, they continued the design of CPU and GPU products and maintained "BRender", Argonaut's proprietary software 3D engine. They won a chip design project with LSI Logic for a potential PlayStation 2 design. LSI Logic became a minor investor in Argonaut.

In 1996, John Edelson was hired as the company General Manager. John Edelson ran the group for two years. Capital was raised in 1996–1998 from Tom Teichman and Apax Partners. According to Jez San, Argonaut remained an independent developer by choice, and had turned down several buyout offers.{{cite magazine|last1=Rider|first1=David|last2=Semrad|first2=Ed|date=December 1997|title=British Invasion|url=https://retrocdn.net/images/1/15/EGM_US_101.pdf|magazine=Electronic Gaming Monthly|publisher=Ziff Davis|issue=101|page=170}}

In 1997, the two arms of the company once again shared an office as the entire company was moved to a new building in Edgware. In September 1997, Croc: Legend of the Gobbos was released by Fox Interactive for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn. A PC version of the game was also later released in 1998.

In 1998, ATL was rebranded ARC after the name of their main product, the Argonaut RISC Core, and became an independent company spun off to the same shareholders. ARC was an embedded IP provider. Bob Terwilliger was engaged as the President.

Argonaut Software Limited became Argonaut Games and was floated in 1999.

In early October 2004, Argonaut Games called in receivers David Rubin & Partners, laid off 100 employees, and was put up for sale.{{cite web|last=Jenkins|first=David|date=3 November 2004|title=Remaining Argonaut Development Staff Laid Off|url=https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/95463/Remaining_Argonaut_Development_Staff_Laid_Off.php|access-date=1 February 2018|website=Gamasutra}} Many former employees would join newly established developer Rocksteady Studios. A lack of a consistent stream of publishing deals had led to cash-flow issues and a profit warning earlier that year. In 2005, the company entered liquidation and was dissolved in early 2007.

On 28 August 2024, Jez San reopened Argonaut Games as a boutique publisher that would focus on re-releasing and remastering Argonaut's existing franchises alongside the publication of third-party independent titles. Its first release is a remaster of Croc: Legend of the Gobbos,{{Cite web |last=Romano |first=Sal |date=2024-08-28 |title=Croc: Legend of the Gobbos remaster announced for consoles, PC alongside Argonaut Games revival |url=https://www.gematsu.com/2024/08/croc-legend-of-the-gobbos-remaster-announced-for-consoles-pc-alongside-argonaut-games-revival |access-date=2024-08-28 |website=Gematsu |language=en-US}} which had previously been teased by San the previous year.{{cite web |last1=McFerran |first1=Damien |title=Croc HD Is In Development, Says Argonaut Founder Jez San |url=https://www.timeextension.com/news/2023/06/croc-hd-is-in-development-says-argonaut-founder-jez-san |website=Time Extension |publisher=Hookshot Media |access-date=7 June 2023 |date=7 June 2023 |archive-date=7 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230607090145/https://www.timeextension.com/news/2023/06/croc-hd-is-in-development-says-argonaut-founder-jez-san |url-status=live }}{{Cite tweet |user=aerobatic |number=1666119518949715969|title=I have news but it's a little premature to announce it. a 'Croc HD' has started early development. |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230607161815/https://twitter.com/aerobatic/status/1666119518949715969 |archive-date=June 7, 2023 |date=June 6, 2023}}

On 25 September 2024, Argonaut announced they had made a strategic investment in Ancient Machine, the developer of the forthcoming PC narco-thriller VICE Undercover.https://x.com/ArgonautGames_/status/1838988037390221542{{Unreliable source|certain=y|date=January 2025}}

BRender (abbreviation of "Blazing Renderer") is a development toolkit and a realtime 3D graphics engine for computer games, simulators, and graphic tools. It was developed and licensed by Argonaut Software.{{cite web|title=BRender Web page|publisher=Argonaut Software|url=http://www.argonaut.com/brender/index.html|access-date=22 June 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19961029050559/http://www.argonaut.com/brender/index.html|archive-date=29 October 1996}} The engine supports Intel's MMX instruction set and Windows, MS-DOS, and PlayStation platforms. Support for 3D hardware graphics accelerator cards was added.{{cite web|title=The Wave Report on Digital Media Issue 606 8/16/96|publisher=4th WAVE, Inc.|url=http://www.3dlinks.com/waveissue.cfm?issue=606#voodoo|access-date=22 June 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707063518/http://www.3dlinks.com/waveissue.cfm?issue=606#voodoo|archive-date=7 July 2011|url-status=dead}} Software made with BRender includes Carmageddon,{{cite magazine|date=January 1997|title=NG Alphas: Carmaggedon|url=https://archive.org/details/NEXT_Generation_25/page/n125/mode/2up|magazine=Next Generation|issue=25|pages=125–6}} Croc: Legend of the Gobbos, FX Fighter,{{cite magazine|date=May 1995|title=3D Graphics Help|url=https://archive.org/details/GamePro_Issue_070_May_1995/page/n139/mode/2up|magazine=GamePro|publisher=IDG|issue=80|page=139}} I-War,{{cite magazine|date=October 1997|title=NG Alphas: I-War|url=https://archive.org/details/NEXT_Generation_34/page/n107/mode/2up|magazine=Next Generation|issue=34|page=104}} and 3D Movie Maker. It was released as free and open-source software under the MIT License on 3 May 2022.{{Cite tweet |last=Turing |first=Foone |author-link= |user=Foone |number=1521574394761383936 |date=2022-05-03 |title=I just got approval from Jez San, former CEO of Argonaut Games, to open source the BRender engine. |access-date=2022-05-04 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220504050032/https://twitter.com/Foone/status/1521574394761383936 |archive-date=2022-05-04}}{{Cite web |last=Wright |first=Steven |date=2022-05-04 |title=At last, Microsoft 3D Movie Maker is now open-source... Wait, what? |url=https://www.inputmag.com/gaming/microsoft-3d-movie-maker-croc-carmageddon-open-source |access-date=2022-05-05 |website=Input |language=en}}

{{notelist|refs=

{{efn|name=RaceDrivin|Race Drivin{{'}} was ported from the arcade.}}

{{efn|name=FXChip|Argonaut Games provided assistance in programming with the FX Chip.}}

{{efn|name=StarFox2|Star Fox 2 was originally planned for release on SNES in 1996 (build date: 12 September 1995). However, the game was not officially released until 2017 when it was included in the Super NES Classic Edition.}}

{{efn|name=HarryPotter|Known as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in North America.}}

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{{reflist}}

• {{Official website|https://www.argonautgames.com/}}

{{Argonaut Games}}

{{Star Fox}}

Category:Video game companies established in 1982

Category:Video game companies disestablished in 2004

Category:Video game development companies

Category:1982 establishments in England

Category:2004 disestablishments in England

Category:Star Fox

Category:2024 establishments in England

Category:Video game companies of the United Kingdom