"The brightness on the table increased to blinding
intensity, but didn't grow in size... not this time. Instead,
something else appeared - something familiar to me, and yet
strangely alien. It appeared in the air above the center of the
room: an eerie rectangle of blackness, half again the size of an
ordinary door, hanging unsupported in midair... "A moongate," I
answered, incredulous. "They're holes, holes in space and time. I
told you about Lord British - that's how I travel to where he is.
But I've never seen one that looked like this. It's supposed to be
blue, an inviting blue..."
-- from Strange Departures, by the Avatar
|
| When Origin finished Ultima VI, they had a
revolutionary game engine which they had used on exactly one game.
In order to leverage their investment and produce games more
quickly, they used this engine to produce a new series of games:
the Worlds of Ultima series. The idea was that the Avatar's Orb of
the Moons was capable of travelling to many different worlds; this
series shows us two of them. The first game, Savage Empire, takes
place on Eodon, ostensibly similar to the Land of the Lost, where
dinosaurs rule. The second takes place on the planet Mars, but 100
years in the past, where in a twist of history, Percival Lowell's
mythical Martian canals really existed, as did Martians themselves.
Origin had more ideas for this series which never materialized. One
was set in the time of King Arthur; this idea eventually became a
full-scale project named "Arthurian Legends", which wound up being
cancelled. Another involved travelling to ancient Earth and meeting
the Greek gods. This idea metamorphed into what eventually became
Ultima VIII: Pagan. |
 |
Worlds of Ultima:
The Savage Empire
- Platform: PC.
- Publisher: Origin Systems, Inc., © 1990.
- Characteristics: UPC 17814-77310. 3.5" (4), 5.25" LD
(7), 5.25" HD (2).
- Includes: Ultimate Adventures magazine; Eodon glossy
paper map; Reference guide.
- Original List Price: $59.95
Savage Empire is pretty hard to find. But then demand is also
fairly low, so if you're posting on Usenet, you probably won't have
much competition. Like False Prophet,
this game also came in a "special edition" for those who
preordered. The special version had its box autographed by Richard
Garriott, and included the Malone's Guide hint book and a
tee shirt. |
|
|
Ultima Worlds of Adventure 2:
Martian Dreams
- Platform: PC.
- Publisher: Origin Systems, Inc., © 1991.
- Characteristics: UPC 17814-78110. 3.5" (3), 5.25"
(3).
- Includes: Mars glossy paper map; Time Travel booklet;
Mysteries of the Red Planet booklet; Reference guide.
- Original List Price: $59.95
Martian Dreams is also pretty hard to find, though because it is
slightly more recent, it seems to be slightly more abundant than
Savage Empire is. |
|
|
Martian Dreams
GT Software version
- Platform: PC.
- Publisher: Origin Systems, Inc.
- Characteristics: UPC 42725-30485.
- Includes: Same as above, except no map.
This is a later re-release of Martian Dreams that Origin
supposedly distributed through GT Software. This version came in a
smaller box than the original. The one person who has reported the
contents to me said it didn't come with a map, paper or
otherwise. |
|
|
Ultima: The Savage
Empire
for Super Nintendo Entertainment
System
- Platform: Super NES.
- Publisher: FCI/Pony Canyon, © 1995.
After much hunting, this game DOES exist! Samson Dragon has a copy of
the ROM image for this game on his web site. Unfortunately, it is
the Japanese version - and therein lies the problem. Many people
claim that the game was only released in Japan. An insider at
Origin has now told me that they did complete an English
version of this game for the SNES, but FCI decided after its
completion not to release the game in the US. The Japanese version
was released (in Japan, of course) in mid-1995. The English version
of the game was reviewed in the January 1995 issue Electronic
Gaming Monthly magazine (pp. 220-221), and described then as "95%
complete". I'm still trying to contact someone at FCI to confirm
that the English version was withheld from the market. If nothing
else, since the code for the English version of this game exists,
maybe someone could talk FCI or Origin into releasing it as
freeware for play via an SNES emulator. If anyone knows more,
please let me know. |
|
|
Ultima: Martian
Dreams
for Super Nintendo Entertainment
System
This game, on the other hand, is a definite myth. Origin was
planning to port Martian Dreams to the Super NES, but cancelled the
effort only a couple of weeks into development. |
|
|
MegaPak 11, Volume 1
- Platform: PC.
- Publisher: Megamedia.
This is a multi-game package from Megamedia containing 11 CDs filled
with games, one of which contains a copy of Savage Empire. This
product is out of date - I think they're up to Megapak volume 8 now
- but it's nice to know that there is at least one way to get
Savage Empire on CD. Unfortunately, there is no way at present to
get Martian Dreams on CD, making it the only Ultima title not
available in CD format. |
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|
