Ultimate Play the Game

 Ultimate Play the Game was established in the Leicestershire town of Ashby-de-la-Zouch in 1982 by Tim Chris and Chris Stamper,[8] their close friend John Lathbury, and Tim's girlfriend (later wife) Carole Ward. Other Stamper family members were involved in the beginning of the operation and the support for Ultimate Play the Game that was originally located adjacent to a family-run newsagent. Chris and Tim both had experience in the development of arcade games. Chris was, according to one account, Konami's Gyruss. They claimed to be the "most skilled arcade game design team in Britain" before they decided to leave their jobs and start Ashby Computers and Graphics. The company's first trading in arcade conversion kits before entering the home computer software market making games under the Ultimate Play the Game name. Blue Print for Bally-Midway, Dingo, Grasspin and Saturn for Jaleco were the first arcade games launched by Ashby. The first release of Ultimate, Jetpac, was May 1983 and was a 16K Spectrum. Tim Stamper, in 1983 interview, stated that 16K machines were chosen because their smaller size meant that they could be developed more quickly. They could develop one 48K or two games in 16K in a month. Jetpac was a massive commercial success. It sold more than 300,000. Spectrum versions alone. Jetpac, Pssst. Tranz Am. and Cookie were the only four games released with 16K ROMs for the ZX Interface 2. They were also republished on cassettes, featuring distinctive silver inlay cards, by Sinclair Research for inclusion in ZX Spectrum bundles.Ultimate's first 48K releases included Lunar Jetman - a sequel to Jetpac as well as Atic Atac, both of which came out in late 1983. Both games were well-received the media for gaming. CRASH magazine praised Ultimate's use of the extra memory Lunar Jetman offered. [15] Sabre Wulf was released in 1984, the first of the Sabreman series, and was priced at a suggested retail price (PS9.95). The original price for Ultimate titles was only PS5.50. This was the norm for Spectrum arcade-style games of the time. This was to try to deter the practice of piracy. This coincided with the launch of the distinctive Ultimate "big box" packaging (used with all further Spectrum releases until Gunfright and also with other games on other platforms), which the company believed could assist in justifying the increase and encourage gamers to buy the game instead of copying it. The strategy paid off in the end, as Sabre Wulf went on to sell over 350,000 copies on the Spectrum all by itself. The game was released in late 1984. Sabreman Series' subsequent two installments were released. Underwurlde quickly was followed by Knight Lore. Knight Lore was an interesting revolution in the computer games for home market, utilizing a forced-perspective, isometric perspective that was branded Filmation that was the model that was later extensively replicated in other games, notable examples being Batman and Head Over Heels from Ocean Software. Knight Lore along with some of its Filmation sequels, like Alien 8, was actually developed prior to Sabre Wulf but Ultimate decided that it could potentially have a adverse effect on sales of the less than stellar Sabre Wulf, so it was delayed until late 1984.