ULTIMATELY PLAYING A RARE GAME
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Articles and Interview by Roger Kean and Nik Wild, Photographs by Cameron Pound (with thanks to Tim's Hasselblad) GETTING A FOOT IN THE DOOR During 1984 and 1985 Ultimate Play The Game, the trading name of Ashby Computers and Graphics, was the most sought after interview. Computer magazine journalists and editors clamoured over the phone, and even hammered at the front door, for that all-important exclusive interview. But the harder everyone tried, the more adamant Ultimate became about its press silence. The nearest anyone got to a foot in the door was CRASH. The magazine found some favour with Ultimate s nearly invisible owners, they ran several competitions and even promised an interview - but always only after the next game was completed, and somehow the interview never seemed to happen. Now, for the first time we can reveal some of the past secrets and, more importantly, provide an insight to the future - and the future looks like the Nintendo. When, in the summer of 1983, W two new Spectrum games called Jetpac and Pssst appeared quietly in the shops, it took only a few weeks for the name of Ultimate (Play The Game) to become a household software word. The packaging boast 'arcade quality graphics' was certainly nearest to being the truth for any game of the time, considering the Spectrum's display limitations: and the amount of gameplay and sheer fun to be had from either game was all the more astonishing for the fact that they were each packed into only 16K of memory. Between 1983 and 1986 Ultimate had an unbroken chain of 14 Spectrum hit games, whose average overall rating (of those rated by CRASH) totalled 93%, making Ultimate the most successful software house of all time. During 1985 they turned, with less success to the Commodore 64 market releasing six games, the first two of which were massive hits. With Sabrewulf, probably Ultimate's best- selling game, Spectrum sales alone they claim, went over the 350,000 mark - almost unheard of, and certainly besting the officially claimed 250,000 all-formats best-seller Activision's Ghostbusters. FILMATION Very little was known about Ultimate. Unlike other software houses, the company never took stands at exhibitions (there was one early exception), never gave interviews and generally avoided any form of magazine coverage. It was frustrating to the numerous fans, and yet, magically, Ultimate avoided the oprobrium normally attached to stand-offish organisations in the entertainment field. It was as though the games really did speak for themselves. Each one was eagerly awaited, any delay resulted in magazines being flooded with complaining let:ers as though the editors could do something about the situation. When rumours circulated, originating from an all-too-rare (and all-too-sparse) press release, that Knight Lore was to feature an entirely new three-dimensional concept with superb animation called Filmation, anxious readers' letters ran riot. And Knight Lore was revolutionary. It heralded a new genre, the forced perspective (or isometric) 3-D arcade adventure game; which, as one CRASH reader claimed, became the second most cloned piece of after Word Star. Ultimate ignored the other major home micro, the Commodore 64 until the very end of 1984. when to high expectations, adverts announcing Staff Of Karnath appeared. With a greater graphical capability at their disposal, Ultimate made a feast for the eye in an arcade adventure where 3-D really played a part. In mid-1985 they followed up with Entombed (a Gold Medal in ZZAP! 64). |  |
 A swinging time in Underwurlde ONCE-GREAT By the end of 1985 there were indications that the magic might be waning. Support failed first on the 64. The four games following Entombed bombed critically. Because they had always supported the Spectrum, and perhaps also because of the aura of veritable hero-worship that surrounded Ultimate, the company's profile remained good with Spectrum games until well into 1986. Something had gone, though; the flair seemed missing, had the originality ossified? we wondered, and letters kept sadly referring to the 'once-great software house'. It was always a matter of professional speculation as to how long Ultimate could keep their supreme position and continue producing original games that would go straight to the top of the sales charts. Envy had been there from the start when, in early 1984, staff at Imagine, while condescendingly admitting the qualities of Jetpac, Pssst, Cookie and Tranz-Am, still felt stung enough to emphasise how much better their games were, reiterating that Ultimate scored because theirs were like arcade games, not deep enough to hold interest for long. Atic Atac may have been one in the eye for that accusation, but nevertheless, detractors almost eagerly awaited Ultimate's downfall. Unlike other successful companies of the time, in keeping with its tradition of reclusiveness, Ultimate never advertised for programmers, it never joined forces with other software houses in associations like GOSH (Guild Of Software Houses) and never became part of the 1986 merger wars, although there were well-founded rumours at one point that British Telecom, in the guise of Firebird, had bought Ultimate. In fact Ultimate licensed two of its Spectrum hits, Sabrewulf and Underwurlde to Firebird for Commodore 64 conversions. Then there was a rumour that Ocean had bought the company, and finally a confirmed notion that in fact it was US Gold that had won out. Nevertheless, the terms of the sale were obscured, Ultimate games continued to appear, though to less and less acclaim, and people wondered what had really happened. A clue, had anyone been able to penetrate the mists of corporate obscurantism, lay before all: the small, typically mysterious, concept and coding credit for some of the later titles - Rare Ltd.  When is wolf not a wolf? When it's a Saberman. |
Humans do claim a great deal for that particular emotion (love).
-- Spock, "The Lights of Zetar", stardate 5725.6
-- Spock, "The Lights of Zetar", stardate 5725.6