issues . please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages this article possibly contains original research . please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations . statements consisting only of original research should be removed . september 2010 learn how and when to remove this template message this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . september 2010 learn how and when to remove this template message learn how and when to remove this template message accolade inc. former type defunct industry video game development and publishing fate acquired successor infogrames founded 1984 ; 32 years ago 1984 defunct 1999 1999 headquarters san jose california u.s. key people alan miller and bob whitehead founders products star control test drive jack nicklaus hardball bubsy website n a accolade inc. was an american video game developer and publisher of the 1980s and 1990s . headquartered in san jose california 1 it was founded in 1984 by alan miller and bob whitehead after leaving another game developer and publisher they had founded activision . history edit early years edit according to legend miller and whitehead named their company accolade because it came before activision alphabetically implying that accolade was superior to their previous company as reportedly the name activision was chosen as it came before atari . later a new game development company acclaim another company formed from ex activision employees apparently formulated their name because it came before accolade . 2 absolute entertainment again a third company formed from ex activision people ended up being first with the first in the alphabet race . hardball here seen on the commodore 64 started a series that went on to become one of accolade s most popular franchises . accolade s revenues grew from 1.5 million in 1985 to 5 million in 1986 . 3 it developed for most 1980s era home computers including the commodore 64 atari 400 & 800 the amiga apple ii and the pc . some of their first titles include law of the west psi 5 trading company the dam busters mean 18 golf test drive and hardball . test drive and hardball went on to become two of accolade s longest running franchises . as the popularity of other systems waned accolade focused on pc and console development including the nintendo entertainment system sega genesis super nes and playstation . all of accolade s initial titles were developed in house . but being a publisher as well as a developer accolade began to publish titles produced by other developers as well . by the mid 1990s most of accolade software development was done by third party developers . in october 1991 accolade was served with a lawsuit regarding copyright infringement that eventually led to the concept of reverse engineering for interoperability purposes . sega wanted to keep a hold on their consoles and wanted all its games exclusive to sega . unwilling to conform to single platform games accolade engineers reverse engineered the genesis console and created their own development systems ; until then game developers had to obtain the systems from sega in order to develop games for the platform . sega sued accolade over the practice and won an initial injunction forcing accolade to remove all genesis product from store shelves . accolade however won on appeal and reached an out of court settlement with sega that allowed accolade to continue building their own genesis cartridges but as an official licensee . this section does not cite any sources . please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . january 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message demise edit the company had marginal successes during the early 1990s . bubsy for the genesis and super nes sold well and was the company s best selling game until test drive 4 came out in 1997 . star control 2 for the pc 1992 dos is still very well regarded and was one of the highest rated games of its time . however beginning in the mid 1990s accolade started publishing a variety of games of differing genres which were perceived to be indistinguishing and lacking polish . during a conference of management and producers accolade decided to focus only on sports and action games . accolade already had several franchises based in these categories . franchises in the sports genre included hardball unnecessary roughness and jack nicklaus golf . in the broad action category they had the long running franchise test drive . bob whitehead left accolade shortly after its founding ; alan miller left in 1995 . before miller left the position of ceo was taken over by peter harris who was placed there by prudential investments prudential had made a us 10 million investment in the company . harris was on the board of directors and was formerly the ceo of fao schwarz and after accolade became the president of the san francisco 49ers . harris left the fate of the company in the hands of game industry neophyte jim barnett . under barnett s direction the company relaunched the successful test drive series began the test drive offroad series and introduced both series to the playstation platform . accolade did well in its early years but by the 1990s accolade s sales suffered and several rounds of lay offs ensued . under barnett s direction accolade was rebuilt around action games and published test drive 4 5 and 6 as well as test drive offroad all of which sold millions of units and become part of sony s greatest hits program . accolade was eventually purchased by french publisher infogrames in 1999 right after publishing their last game redline . accolade was the entry point for infogrames north america expansion and was merged with infogrames other operations and moved to los angeles . all of accolade s assets are now owned by tommo inc. . 4 many employees from the time of the acquisition still work for both tommo and atari . citation needed games edit accolade was responsible for publishing many influential games . some of the best known and best selling series include star control test drive jack nicklaus golf hardball and bubsy . directory 0 9 a b c d e f g h i j k l m p q r s t u w z name year platforms description 4th & inches 000000001988 01 01 00001988 amiga a critically hailed american football sports game 000000001987 01 01 00001987 commodore 64 000000001 988 01 01 00001988 apple ii apple iigs dos 4th & inches team construction disk 000000001988 01 01 00001988 an expansion that allowed for the editing and creation of teams for 4th & inches accolade comics 000000001987 01 01 00001987 apple ii an adventure game with arcade sequences . allows players to affect the story with branching choices . commodore 64 accolade in action 000000001990 01 01 00001990 ace of aces 000000001986 01 01 00001986 amstrad cpc a world war ii combat flight simulator where the player pilots a raf mosquito fighter bomber atari 8 bit atari 7800 commodore 64 dos msx master system zx spectrum altered destiny 000000001991 01 01 00001991 amiga a graphic adventure game featuring an average man sucked into an alien world who has to save the galaxy 000000001990 01 01 00001990 dos anatomic man 000000001988 01 01 00001988 apollo 18 mission to the moon 000000001987 01 01 00001987 ballz 000000001995 01 01 00001995 3do a widely derided fighting game where the fighters are represented as a collection of spheres 000000001994 01 01 00001994 genesis super nes bar games 000000001989 01 01 00001989 dos a collection of games typical of a bar such as darts and pool including picking up women barkley shut up and jam 000000001994 01 01 00001994 a basketball sports game featuring charles barkley genesis super nes battle isle 2200 000000001 993 01 01 00001993 dos a turn based tactics game ; released as battle isle 2 in europe big air 000000001999 01 01 00001999 playstation a sports game bill and ted s excellent adventure 000000001991 01 01 00001991 based on the movie of the same name blue angels formation flight simulation 000000001989 01 01 00001989 brett hull hockey 95 000000001 994 01 01 00001994 dos an ice hockey sports game genesis super nes bubble ghost 000000001987 01 01 00001987 amiga an arcade action game where the player controls a ghost trying to protect a bubble amstrad cpc apple iigs atari st commodore 64 dos 000000001990 01 01 00001990 game boy bubsy 3d furbitten planet 000000001996 01 01 00001996 playstation a widely derided and last entry in the bubsy series of games bubsy ii 000000001995 01 01 00001995 game boy a widely derided sequel to 1993 s bubsy 000000001994 01 01 00001994 genesis super nes bubsy in claws encounters of the furred kind 000000001993 01 01 00001993 genesis a highly anticipated but ultimately just warmly received debut of the bubsy series of games super nes 000000001995 01 01 00001995 windows bubsy in fractured furry tales 000000001994 01 01 00001994 atari jaguar the only bubsy game released exclusively for the atari jaguar card sharks 000000001987 01 01 00001987 cardinal of the kremlin thethe cardinal of the kremlin 000000001990 01 01 00001990 combat cars 000000001994 01 01 00001994 sega genesis mega drive a racing and vehicular combat game cyclemania 000000001994 01 01 00001994 dos a motorcycle racing game the cycles international grand prix racing 000000001989 01 01 00001989 amiga a motorcycle racing game featuring all the tracks of the 1989 grand prix motorcycle racing season amstrad cpc commodore 64 dos zx spectrum dam busters thethe dam busters 000000001984 01 01 00001984 apple ii a world war ii combat flight simulator colecovision commodore 64 dos day of the viper 000000001989 01 01 00001989 amiga a first person shooter adventure game where the user plays a robot atari st dos deadlock planetary conquest 000000001996 01 01 00001996 windows an ambitious turn based strategy game that failed to impress critics deadlock ii shrine wars 000000001998 01 01 00001998 windows a sequel to the earlier deadlock don t go alone 000000001989 01 01 00001989 double dragon 000000001992 01 01 00001992 sega genesis mega drive based on the original arcade game of all the ports of this game this one comes closest to the original game elvira mistress of the dark 000000001990 01 01 00001990 amiga generally better received than its namesake the 1988 film elvira mistress of the dark atari st commodore 64 dos elvira ii the jaws of cerberus 000000001991 01 01 00001991 amiga a disappointing sequel to the first game elvira mistress of the dark atari st commodore 64 dos eradicator 000000001996 01 01 00001996 dos a first and third person shooter fast break 000000001989 01 01 00001989 amiga a basketball sports game apple iigs commodore 64 dos macintosh fight night 000000001985 01 01 00001985 apple ii a boxing sports game atari 7800 atari 8 bit atari st atari xegs commodore 64 fireteam rogue 000000001995 01 01 00001995 genesis an unreleased action game super nes game of harmony thethe game of harmony 000000001990 01 01 00001990 amiga a puzzle strategy and action game involving manipulating spheres amstrad cpc atari st commodore 64 dos game boy zx spectrum games summer challenge thethe games summer challenge 000000001991 01 01 00001991 games winter challenge thethe games winter challenge 000000001992 01 01 00001992 grand prix circuit 000000001987 01 01 00001987 amiga a grand prix motor racing game amstrad cpc apple iigs commodore 64 dos macintosh zx spectrum grand prix unlimited 000000001992 01 01 00001992 gunboat 000000001990 01 01 00001990 amiga a warmly received combat simulation of a pbr during the vietnam war . dos turbografx 16 zx spectrum