Back To Ultimate Games | Software Houses | C64GG Main

Ultimate play the game

For many years, Ashby Computers & Graphics, the company behind Ultimate Play the Game, were the undisputed kings of Spectrum software, releasing a string of classic games that still look good and play well today. As well as writing better games than their contemporaries, they were also amongst the most professional of the early software companies - positively oozing class compared with the rather amateurish and seedy image of the rest of the fledgling games industry.

The Beginning

ACG/Ultimate was founded by John Lathbury and brothers Tim and Christopher Stamper, three former arcade game designers who had worked at Associated Leisure and Zitec Electronics on projects such as Gyruss and Blue Print. Other games programmed and designed by the trio were marketed by giants such as Sega and Konami.

Ultimate's axis was the Stamper family. Tim and Christopher were, of course, both directors and their sister, Louise also worked for the firm. Tim's wife, Carol Ward, was an employee too.

Arcade Heritage

Experience in the competitive Arcade games industry had taught Ultimate the secret of great software. Before Sega developed the idea of the Arcade game as a virtual roller-coaster ride (witness the very pretty but rather unchallnging games from Space Harrier onwards), arcade games had to rely on instantly appealing gameplay and attractive graphics to get money in the slot.

PR or P.O.?

Ultimate had a reputation for secrecy and had, by accident or design, cultivated a mysterious aura that increased the games buying publics' interest in the company. In an industry that was geared around the PCW show and Microfairs, Ultimate bucked the trend and only ever exhibited once. Ultimate also ruffled a few feathers when they pulled out of the Soft Aid charity compilation, fearing that it would devalue their products.

Perhaps in keeping with their arcade past, the inlay instructions to their games were brief and often in riddles. Adverts, except for the first batch of games, were teasers in the true sense of the word giving little away except for the name and the format. Such marketing created a real feeding frenzy - so much so that it took a while for the press and public to notice the eventual decline in quality of the games.