The Ultimate year: 12 months that forged a legend
With the multiplayer plundering game Sea Of Thieves creating waves, it's an appropriate time to think back to 35 years ago, when Rare's founders, the Stamper brothers, Tim and Chris, first gave gamers a glimpse of their creative skills. 1983 was the year of the ZX Spectrum, at least in the UK; the computer had been released in April the year before, but with Sinclair's high-falutin' ideals of the machine assuming a central role for the entire family - an artistic tool, office and school all rolled into one - it wasn't until later in 1982 that most people realised there was a huge potential in the field of entertainment software. In other words, video games, and the Stampers were one of many entrepreneurs starting up early in 1983 with the sole purpose of producing games for the Spectrum and, eventually, its rival computers.
Ultimate Play The Game became the trading name for Ashby Computers and Graphics Ltd, based in the brothers' home town of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire. While Ultimate would be rightly famous for its isometric games of the mid-Eighties, it was the below sextet of impressive titles released in its first year of trading that established the software house as a home for high-quality gaming and a testament to the simple, joyous entertainment of these games that they still retain much of their charm 35 years later. In their day they caused a stir graphically, and while in the cold light of 2018 the games may not look like much, that purity of gameplay never fades. So here they are, those six enthralling, challenging, frustrating and energetic games from the Ultimate first year...
Released in late spring 1983, Jet Pac was Ultimate's first game, and like most of its early efforts, coded in just 16k. It began the story of Jetman, a test pilot assigned the task of assembling rockets for the Acme Interstellar Transport Company. Within its one-screen display lay individual parts of each rocket; each had to be collected and assembled, in the correct order, before also collecting fuel for the spaceship. Jetpac began Ultimate's tradition of technically impressive, yet also amiably fun videogames. Jetman's colourful laser and the swift momentum-infused movement was a marvel to behold in an era where many commercial games were still being produced in BASIC, and it secured the inaugural Golden Joystick award of game of the year while gaining flattering comparisons with arcade machines of the time. Not bad for a first effort and, as with several of Ultimate's early titles, Jetpac was also released on ROM cartridge - for almost three times the price of the cassette version.
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