Ultimate Play the Game

 In 1982, Ultimate Play the Game was established in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, by Tim and Chris Stamper. [8] Their acquaintance John Lathbury and Tim's girlfriend, Carole Ward, founded the business. The other Stamper family members participated in the initial running and supporting of Ultimate Play the Game which was first located near a family-owned newsagent. Tim and Chris both Tim and Chris were involved in the development of arcade games, and, as per one article Konami's Gyruss, and were credited as "the most knowledgeable gaming design team for arcades in Britain" before tiring of working for others , and leaving to start Ashby Computers and Graphics. The company's first business was developing a kit to convert arcade games, then ACG moved into the market for home-based games under the Ultimate Play the Game trademark. Blue Print was released by Ashby for Bally-Midway and Grasspin for Dingo. The Ultimate Play the Game's first release was Jetpac for the 16K Spectrum in May 1983. Tim Stamper, in 1983 interview, claimed that 16K machines were targeted because their smaller size meant that they could be developed more quickly. The machines could make one 48K or two 16K games in a month. Jetpac was a commercial hit. The Spectrum version sold over 300,000 copies, which provided the company with a revenue of over PS1 million. Jetpac, Pssst. Tranz Am. and Cookie were the only four games released on 16K ROMs to ZX Interface 2. ZX Interface 2. They were also republished onto cassettes, featuring distinctive silver inlay cards by Sinclair Research for inclusion in ZX Spectrum bundles.Ultimate's first 48K releases were Lunar Jetman - a sequel to Jetpac - and Atic Atac, both of which came out in the latter half of 1983. The games were well-received by the gaming media. CRASH magazine was particularly impressed with the feats Ultimate managed to accomplish using the additional memory Lunar Jetman was equipped with. In 1984 came Sabre Wulf, the first in the Sabreman series and the first game released with a recommended retail price of PS9.95. The original price for Ultimate games was PS5.50. This was the norm in Spectrum arcade-style games of the day. This was done in order to stop piracy. It was also when Ultimate introduced the "big box" packaging. It was included with all subsequent Spectrum releases up to Gunfright as well as other games for other platforms. Ultimate believed that it would serve to justify the higher price and also encourage players to not duplicate the game. Sabre Wulf was able to sell more than 350,000 copies on its own on the Spectrum. This was followed by the release in the latter half of 1984 of the following two installments in the Sabreman series, Underwurlde quickly and then Knight Lore. Knight Lore, a forced-perspective perspective isometric viewpoint , also known as Filmation which was a huge leap forward in the home-game market. Others would follow the same path, including Batman and Head Over Heels, both made by Ocean Software. Knight Lore as well as its Filmation sequel Alien 8 were actually completed prior to Sabre Wulf. However, Ultimate thought that it would be detrimental to Sabre Wulf's revenue, so it was delayed until the latter part of 1984.