![]() The box artwork changed with the change of publishers. It featured a 12 page manual, an Atari reference card, an errata flyer and one 5.25” floppy disk. Ultima 1 – The Original was released by Sierra On-Line on 5.25” floppy disks for the Atari 8-bit. Sometime after the release of this version, the publishers declared bankruptcy and Richard Garriott had to negotiate a deal with Sierra On-Line for the publishing rights. The box artwork displayed a knight fighting a dragon in a subterranean environment. It featured a 12 page playbook, an 8.5” x 11’ cover art page, a player reference card and one 5.25” floppy disk. In 1981, Ultima was released by California Pacific Computer Co. The re-release of 1986 sold better, with the series already established and well-known. Reviewers at the time were impressed by its color graphics and detailed gameplay. The original release of Ultima I was successful, at a time when CRPGs were something completely new, and started the Ultima series. Versions for other systems do exist, including versions for Atari 8-bit, FM Towns, and MSX2. There are not many differences between the Apple II, C64 and IBM PC versions of the 1986 re-release, apart from the graphical superiority of the PC-port (by the standards of the time) and a number of bugs newly introduced in the PC-port that do not exist in the other two.Īn enhanced Apple IIgs port was made, but is an extremely rare find. Origin decided to rewrite Ultima in assembly language, change the graphics and some of the towns, names and puzzles in the game. Details were changed and the whole game got a face-lift to make it more appealing to the players of the mid-eighties. Ultima was re-released on December 23rd, 1986 by Origin on a number of other platforms, including Apple II, IBM PC and C64. Versions and Ports Main article: Computer ports of Ultima I This is the first commercial game to use tile graphics to display the surroundings.Įarly on, the title “ Ultimatum” was chosen for the game, but the name was trademarked by a board game already, so the publisher suggested truncating it to " Ultima." Most of the game was written in BASIC by Garriott Arnold wrote routines to paint the tiled world and generate simple sound effects in assembly. ![]() Garriott and Arnold coded the game for the Apple II while they were attending the University of Texas, shortly after the success of Akalabeth. The original version was a two-man production: only Richard Garriott and Ken W. Unlike Akalabeth, Ultima I was from the start a commercial product. Confronting Mondain, the Stranger shatters the Gem of Immortality so that Mondain can be defeated, and Sosaria free of his evil. After this is done, a freed princess reveals the location of a hidden time machine, with which Mondain's fortress can be breached, and at a time when he was vulnerable. The Stranger must fulfill several quests for the various kings of the land, in order to obtain four different colored gems, before venturing into outer space to battle malicious "starwalking" creatures. However, the evil wizard has become immortal thanks to a magic gem, and his fortress is unreachable, making the quest seemingly insurmountable. The player, in the role of the Stranger, travels to Sosaria for the very first time, to stop Mondain's plans from succeeding. The wizard Mondain attacks Sosaria with his hordes of evil creatures and foul magic, threatening to crush the world beneath his heel. Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow. While complex for its time, it lacked practically all features of later installments, making it a simple hack-n-slash game. At a time when computer games were at a much younger stage, Ultima I was something very new and had exceptionally detailed graphics.
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