Ultimate Play the Game

 In 1982, Ultimate Play the Game was founded in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, by Tim and Chris Stamper. [8] Their friends John Lathbury and Tim's girlfriend, Carole Ward, founded the business. Other members of the Stamper family were involved in the initial operation and management of the company it was originally located in a house that was located next to the family-owned newssagent. Chris and Tim both had previous experience in arcade game development. Chris was, according to one source, Konami's Gyruss. They claimed to be the "most knowledgeable arcade game design team in Britain" prior to deciding to leave their jobs to begin Ashby Computers and Graphics. The company's first trade in the development of arcade conversion kits. The company then began entering the market for home computer software creating games under the Ultimate Play the Game name. 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. Tim Stamper, in 1983 interview, claimed that 16K computers were targeted because their smaller sizes meant they could be developed more quickly. The machines could make one or two games in 16K within a month. Jetpac was a massive 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 releases, Pssst in June, Tranz Am, and Cookie in the fall, and then Ultimate moved to the 48K Spectrum. Jetpac, Pssst. Tranz Am. and Cookie were the only four games released on 16K ROMs to the ZX Interface 2. They were also republished onto cassettes, sporting 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 were released in the late summer of 1983. Both games were well-liked by the gaming press, with CRASH magazine specifically noting how well Ultimate was able to accomplish using the additional memory Lunar Jetman employed. [15] Sabre Wulf appeared in 1984. It was the first Sabreman title and the first release with a suggested retail price of PS9.95. The initial price for Ultimate titles was PS5.50. This was standard for Spectrum arcade-style games at the time. The reason for this was to stop pirates. This was in conjunction with the introduction of the distinct Ultimate "big box" packaging (used in all subsequent Spectrum releases until Gunfright and in a variety of releases on other platforms) The company felt might also help justify the price increase and encourage users to purchase the game instead of copying it. Sabre Wulf was able to sell over 350,000 copies on its own on the Spectrum. This was followed by the release in late 1984 of the next two installments of the Sabreman series. The series was quickly and then Knight Lore. Knight Lore was an interesting revolution in the home computer game market. It featured a forced perspective isometric view branded Filmation which was the design which was extensively replicated in other games, notable examples of this being Batman and Head Over Heels from Ocean Software. Knight Lore and some of its Filmation sequel Alien 8 were actually completed prior to Sabre Wulf. However, Ultimate felt that it could affect negatively Sabre Wulf's sales, so it was delayed until the latter part of 1984.