Bug-Byte Software Ltd. was a video game company founded in 1980 in Liverpool, initially producing software for the Acorn Atom and ZX80. Bug-Byte's first hit was Don Priestley's Mazogs which was one of the most successful titles for the ZX81. In 1983, it published Manic Miner, considered to be one of the most influential platform games of all time. The company went into liquidation in 1985 but their name and logo were purchased by Argus Press PLC for use as a budget software label. Formation Bug-Byte was founded by Tony Baden and Tony Milner, two Oxford chemistry graduates. In 1981 they paid £75 for The Damsel and the Beast for the ZX81, the first game produced by Don Priestley, a former teacher who had learned programming from a night school course. Priestley produced two further games considered to be classic ZX81 titles, Dictator and Mazogs, before becoming a director of rival publisher DK'Tronics. Early success In 1982, Bug-Byte published the first commercially produced games for the BBC Micro and ZX Spectrum, Spacewarp and Spectral Invaders, both developed by David Lawson. Lawson used the profits from his next game, Spectres, to set up Imagine Software with Mark Butler, another Bug-Byte employee. Spectral Invaders was the number one game for the ZX Spectrum in the first UK video game charts published by Popular Computing Weekly in December 1982. In 1983, Bug-Byte published Styx, the first game from a three-game contract with Matthew Smith. His second, Manic Miner, originated in a request from Bug-Byte's Despatch Manager Alan Maton for a Donkey Kong style-game. Manic Miner became the best selling video game in the country within weeks of its release, but a dispute over royalties led to Smith creating his own publishing company Software Projects, and taking Manic Miner, and Maton, with him. The company had several lesser hits over the next year including The Birds and the Bees (written by Matthew Smith's school friend Adrian Sherwin), the sequel Antics and the text adventure Twin Kingdom Valley which reached number one in the BBC micro charts. In early 1985 it was being reported that the company was having cash flow problems which soon led to liquidation. Use as a budget label Later in 1985 the rights to their name and logo were purchased by Argus Press PLC for use as a budget software label. Along with original releases, they re-issued titles from the Argus