[ Retro Scan of the Week ] Tiny Pocket Ultima

Monday, January 7th, 2013

Origin FCI Ultima Runes of Virtue for Game Boy ad - 1991Ultima: Runes of Virtue for the Game Boy

I’m not a huge fan of Ultima: Runes of Virtue for the Game Boy. However, its sequel, Runes of Virtue II on the SNES (which was also released on the Game Boy) is quite an interesting action RPG to me — despite its general clunkiness. It feels sort of like a Zelda title set in the Ultima universe with Ultima VII-style graphics.

Just a small administrative note: I’m moving the Retro GIF of the Week column to Fridays. So expect the next entry in that column this Friday.

[ From Video Games and Computer Entertainment, August 1991, p.27 ]

Discussion Topic of the Week: If EA made a new core Ultima game today (think Ultima X — and no, not the failed MMO), would you buy it?

[ Retro Scan of the Week ] Ultima VII Immortality Contest

Monday, July 9th, 2007
Ultima VII Contest Flier

Once upon a time, Origin ran a contest in conjunction with the 10th anniversary of the Ultima series. The developer included a “black orb of the moons” (a piece of polished obsidian) in most boxed copies of Ultima VI, released in 1990. But in the case of ten lucky owners, they included a reproduction of an Ultima rune (I assume ten, anyway — it’s the number of runes pictured on the flier). Folks who found a rune in their box automatically won a spot as an NPC character in Ultima VII. Click on the image above to see the full flier describing the contest.

I’ve read about people winning the Ultima VII contest somewhere before, so I assume Origin went through with it. Did anybody out there get a rune or otherwise become an NPC in Ultima VII? By all means, let us know!

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