Big Five Software

{{for|the present-day Big Five software companies|Big Tech}}

{{More citations needed|date=May 2016}}

{{Infobox company

| name = Big Five Software

| logo = Big Five Software logo.jpg

| caption =

| type =

| foundation = 1980

| location_city = Van Nuys, California

| location_country = US

| key_people = Bill Hogue
Jeff Konyu

| industry = Video games

| products = Miner 2049er
Bounty Bob Strikes Back!

| revenue =

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| owner =

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| homepage = {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190914002341/http://www.bigfivesoftware.com/index.asp |title=bigfivesoftware.com |date=14 September 2019}}

}}

Big Five Software ({{aka}} Big 5 Software) was an American video game developer and publisher in the first half of the 1980s founded by Bill Hogue and Jeff Konyu.{{cite web|url=http://www.trs-80.org/big-five/ |title=Big Five Software |website=TRS-80.org |accessdate=2016-05-25}}{{cite news |editor-last=Giles |editor-first=Robert H. |date=28 March 1982 |title=Call them 'microteens' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/28340736/call_them_microteens_by_money/ |newspaper=Democrat and Chronicle |publisher=Gannet Co. Inc. |location=Rochester, NY |volume=3 |issue=13 |pages=1F, 7F |via=Newspapers.com}} The company developed games for the Tandy TRS-80 and later Atari 8-bit computers. Most of its TRS-80 games were clones of arcade video games, such as Galaxy Invasion (Galaxian), Super Nova (Asteroids), Defense Command (Missile Command), and Meteor Mission II (Lunar Rescue).{{cite magazine |last=Hawken |first=Kieren |editor-last=Jones |editor-first=Darran |year=2016 |title=Big Five Software |magazine=Retro Gamer |publisher=Imagine Publishing |location=Bournemouth, UK |issue=157 |pages=70–75 |issn=1742-3155}} Big Five also sold an Atari joystick interface called TRISSTICK which was popular with TRS-80 owners.{{cite web |last1=Reed |first1=Matthew |title=TRISSTICK |url=http://www.trs-80.org/trisstick/ |website=TRS-80.org}}

The company's biggest release came after moving away from the black and white TRS-80. The ten stage platform game Miner 2049er, designed and programmed by Bill Hogue for Atari 8-bit computers,{{cite web |url=http://www.bigfivesoftware.com/company/company.htm |title=The Company |publisher=Big Five Software |accessdate=2016-05-25 |archive-date=2016-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160330231358/http://www.bigfivesoftware.com/company/company.htm |url-status=dead }} was a commercial and critical success. It shipped on a custom 16 kilobyte ROM cartridge (compared to standard 8 KB Atari 8-bit cartridges) and the game was ported to other computers and consoles. Miner 2049er was awarded "Electronic Game of the Year" in the 1984 Arkie Awards,{{cite magazine |last1= Kunkel |first1= Bill |author-link1= Bill Kunkel (journalist)|last2= Katz |first2= Arnie |date= January 1984 |title= Arcade Alley: The Arcade Awards, Part 1 |journal= Video|publisher= Reese Communications|volume= 7|issue= 10|pages= 40–42|issn= 0147-8907}} among other accolades for the game and Hogue.

A planned sequel, Scraper Caper, was advertised, but cancelled. A sequel, Bounty Bob Strikes Back! was published in 1985 after which Hogue stopped developing games and Big Five ramped down. In 2001,{{efn|The first version of the emulator, published in 2001, contains the "20010720" timestamp on its "Help/About..." window.{{cite web |last=Hogue |first=Bill |title=Big Five Software - Emulator |website=Big Five Software |url=http://www.bigfivesoftware.com/Emulator/emulator.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010909140838/http://www.bigfivesoftware.com/Emulator/emulator.htm |archive-date=9 September 2001}}}} he released a free, custom emulation of the Atari 8-bit versions of Miner 2049er and Bounty Bob Strikes Back! for Microsoft Windows.{{cite web |last=Hogue |first=Bill |title=Big Five Software - Emulator |website=Big Five Software |date=18 January 2007 |orig-date=First published in 2001 |url=http://www.bigfivesoftware.com/Emulator/emulator.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190914002339/http://www.bigfivesoftware.com/Emulator/emulator.htm |archive-date=14 September 2019}}