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. Others from the Stamper family were involved in the initial management and the support of the business, which was initially located in a building next to the family's newsagent. Both Tim and Chris were involved on arcade games and, as per one report, Konami's Gyruss, and claimed to be "the most experienced arcade video game design team in Britain" until they got tired of working for others and departing to form Ashby Computers and Graphics. The first trade being in creating arcade conversion kits, and later moving into the home computer software market creating games under the Ultimate Play the Game name. Ashby launched four arcade games, Blue Print for Bally-Midway, as well as 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 due to their smaller size meant that they could develop faster. They could develop one or two games in 16K in a month. Jetpac was a commercial hit. The Spectrum version sold over 300,000 copies, which provided the company with a turnover of more than PS1 million. Jetpac, Pssst and Tranz Am were just four of ten games to ever be released with 16K ROM formats. Four of the ten games which were ever released in the 16K ROM format, which was used in conjunction with the ZX Interface were Jetpac Pssst Am Cookie, Jetpac, and Lunar Jetman. The games were very well received by the gaming press, with CRASH magazine especially applauding what Ultimate was able to accomplish with the additional memory Lunar Jetman utilized. [15] Sabre Wulf was released in 1984, which was the first in the Sabreman series and at the suggested retail price (PS9.95). The cost of Ultimate titles had previously been just PS5.50 that was the norm for Spectrum arcade-style games at the time This increased price was to discourage piracy, with the idea being that if people bought a game at a higher price, they'd be less likely to give away copies. This coincided with the introduction in Ultimate of the distinctive "big box" packaging. The packaging was made available in every Spectrum releases , except for Gunfright. Sabre Wulf was able to sell over 350,000 copies on the Spectrum. In late 1984, the Sabreman Series' next two installments came out. Underwurlde was quickly followed by Knight Lore. Knight Lore which was a forced-perspective isometric viewpoint , also known as Filmation it was a major leap forward in the home-game market. Others would follow its example, such as Batman and Head Over Heels, both made by Ocean Software. Knight Lore and some of its Filmation sequel Alien 8 were actually completed before Sabre Wulf. However, Ultimate felt that it could be detrimental to Sabre Wulf's business, so it was delayed until 1984.