Ultimate Play the Game

 aIn 1982, Ultimate Play the Game was founded in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, by Tim and Chris Stamper. [8] Their acquaintance John Lathbury and Tim's girlfriend, Carole Ward, founded the company. The company was initially located in a house near the family-owned newsstand. Tim and Chris both Tim and Chris were involved on arcade games as well as, according to one article Konami's Gyruss and were credited as "the most experienced arcade video game design team in Britain" before tiring working for others and left to create Ashby Computers and Graphics. The company's first business was developing an arcade conversion kit, then ACG moved into the home market and developed games under the Ultimate Play the Game trademark. Ashby launched four arcade games, Blue Print for Bally-Midway and Grasspin, Dingo and Saturn for Jaleco.Ultimate's first game was Jetpac in May 1983 for the 16K Spectrum. In a 1983 interview, Tim Stamper said that they intentionally targeted machines of 16K because their smaller size meant that development time was shorter, claiming they could produce two 16K games in one month and one game that was 48K. Jetpac was a huge commercial success; the Spectrum version sold more than 300,000 copies , providing the company with a revenue of excess of PS1 million.This was followed by three further 16K games, Pssst in June,Tranz Am, and Cookie, before Ultimate made the leap to the 48K Spectrum. Jetpac, Pssst, Tranz Am and Cookie were four of the ten games ever to be released in the 16K ROM format to use with the ZX Interface 2. Four of the ten games that were ever released in the 16K ROM format, which was used with the ZX Interface 2. They were Jetpac Pssst Am Cookies, Jetpac, and Lunar Jetman. Both were well-received in the gaming press, CRASH magazine particularly noting how well Ultimate could do with the extra memory Lunar Jetman employed. The year 1984 saw Sabre Wulf, the first of the Sabreman series and the first game to be released with a suggested retail price of PS9.95. The initial price for Ultimate titles was PS5.50. It was common for Spectrum arcade-style games of the time. This was done in order to discourage piracy. This was in conjunction with the introduction of the distinct Ultimate "big box" packaging (used for all future Spectrum releases until Gunfright and in a variety of releases for other platforms), which the company felt might also assist in justifying the increase and encourage players to purchase the game rather than copy it. Sabre Wulf was able to sell over 350,000 copies on its own on the Spectrum. The next installment of the Sabreman series came out in 1984. Underwurlde came next, followed by Knight Lore. Knight Lore, a forced-perspective perspective isometric viewpoint that was called Filmation and was a major breakthrough in the home game market. The other games that followed its lead, such as Batman and Head Over Heels, both by Ocean Software. Knight Lore as well as its Filmation sequels Alien 8 were actually completed before Sabre Wulf. However, Ultimate thought that it would have a negative impact on Sabre Wulf's revenue, so it was delayed until 1984.