The First Snake to Eat Apples: How Snake Byte Changed Video Games

In the early 1980s, video games were evolving at incredible speed. In the middle of that creative rush came a small but clever idea that turned into something much bigger. Snake Byte was created by Chuck Sommerville in 1981 and first published in 1982 by Sirius Software for the Apple II, Atari and VIC-20. A Commodore 64 version followed in 1983. It took the simple concept of guiding a snake around a screen and turned it into a game filled with strategy, tension, quick reactions and the kind of fun that keeps you coming back. By today’s standards it may look modest, but Snake Byte reshaped the entire genre and opened the door for later classics like Google Snake and the well known Nokia Snake from the 1990s.

A Fresh Take on a Simple Idea

Before Snake Byte appeared, snake style games were usually very basic. You moved a small line across the screen, it grew a little and that was the whole experience. Earlier games like Blockade from 1976 introduced the idea of leaving a growing trail behind you and Nibbler from 1982 added maze shaped levels and high score challenges. Snake Byte took all of that and pushed it further by giving the game a clear objective. You ate apples and the challenge increased with every bite. Each apple made the snake grow and move faster. That sounds straightforward, but it became tricky very fast. What seemed like a small snake at the start quickly turned into a long moving puzzle and staying alive meant thinking ahead, planning your turns and avoiding crashes with your own tail, a wall or anything else in the way.

A Snake That Keeps Growing and Growing

The single mechanic that defined Snake Byte was the constant growth after each apple. After a few levels your snake could stretch across half the screen, leaving you with very little room to move safely. Earlier snake games treated the length of the snake as a minor feature, but here it became the main source of difficulty. The longer you survived, the harder the game became.

Movement was another challenge. You could only turn in clean right angles with no smooth curves or diagonal shortcuts. Every turn was a commitment. As the levels grew faster and tighter the game forced you to think a few steps ahead rather than simply react. It blended quick reflexes with a thoughtful, puzzle-like rhythm.

Levels That Felt Like Puzzles

Snake Byte was not built as an endless arcade loop. It had structure and progression that kept the experience interesting. The game offered 28 levels, each one with its own layout and rising level of challenge. Many of these levels were packed with walls and barriers that turned them into small mazes.

There was also a built in timing system. If you took too long to eat the 10 apples required to finish a level, the game added three extra apples to the screen as a penalty. That meant two things. You had to move faster and your snake grew even longer once you ate them. It created a lively mix of pressure and reward that made every level feel tense and exciting.

Customizable, Player Friendly Gameplay

One thing that made Snake Byte stand out was how flexible it was for players. Most games of that time gave you one control layout and no choice. Snake Byte let you use the classic I J K M keys or you could fully remap the keyboard to anything you preferred. If you had the Sirius Software Joyport, which allowed an Atari style joystick to connect to an Apple II, you could play with a joystick instead. This level of accessibility was rare at the time and made the game easy to enjoy whether you were a beginner or a more experienced arcade fan.

There was also a setting for a calmer experience. If you wanted a break from stress, you could activate the no plums mode that removed those bouncing obstacles. You lost out on bonus points, but it allowed players who wanted pure apple collecting to enjoy the game without extra hazards.

A Hit with Critics and Players

Snake Byte became an instant favorite among both players and reviewers. Many critics praised how it mixed simple rules with surprising depth. Ahoy Magazine wrote that Snake Byte was as simple as a game could be but also one of the most gripping and challenging programs available. Electronic Games described it as an enjoyable distraction that offered good pacing and explored linear gameplay in a complete way.

The graphics were basic but clean for the era and reviewers appreciated how clearly everything was presented. The charm of the game came from how it played rather than how it looked and that was part of its appeal.

Why Snake Byte Still Matters

The ideas introduced in Snake Byte influenced not only future snake games but many later video games in general. Managing risk and reward, navigating tight paths and turning growth into a challenge became major design ideas that appeared in countless titles after it. You can see parts of Snake Byte’s design in everything from Nokia Snake to multiplayer arena games like Slither.io.

More importantly, Snake Byte showed how a very simple concept can become memorable when it is designed with care and creativity. It proved that smart ideas and solid gameplay can matter more than flashy graphics or huge amounts of content. It was an example of how much can be achieved with limited tools when the design is strong.

So next time you guide a small blocky snake across a screen, take a moment to think about Snake Byte. It is more than an early game. It is a meaningful piece of video game history.