Label: Ultimate
Author: In-house
Price: £9.99
Memory: 48K
Reviewer: Jerry Muir

Once upon a time, Spectrum computers didn't have 128K memories. Some had 48K. Some even had only 16K.

And in those dim and distant days programmers were still discovering how best to use those limited kilobytes. Now some slaved away in their bedrooms, churning out those old invaders in Basic, while others pushed forward, producing new and exciting programs.

It was about this time that Ashby Computers and Graphics became a legendary name. "Ashby who?" you ask. Agreed, it is a bit of a mouthful, which is probably why they changed it to Ultimate, a word which became synonymous with Quality!

Now newcomers to Spectrum computing (Hi - what kept you so long?) and veterans possessed of short memories can re-live those pioneering days with two compilations of the Ultimate hits.

Unbelievable Ultimate I takes off with Jet pac the game that transformed Spectrum software. Now it looks rather old-hat with the plot of picking up objects while blasting the nasties, and it's restricted to single screens. However, it's fast and furious, so it should fill an hour or two.

Tranzam is a driving game, and again it's no doddle. You steer your car, which is seen from above, around the good ol' US of A. avoiding obstacles and the Deadly Black Turbos while picking up petrol and cups which litter the landscape.

Lunar Jetman sees the return of the hero from the earlier game, and when it came out many reviewers thought it was just too difficult. I'm inclined to still go along with that, though die-hard dodge and shooters should have a field day.

Finally, Pssst! No, I'm not being crude. That's the sound of the aerosol bug killers in a shooting game where success, in the shape of a blooming bloom, depends on choosing the right coloured spray.

The four games may look a little unsophisticated now but they were state-of-the-art way back when. Go grab yourself a piece of programming history.

US Gold/Ultimate
£9.99

US Gold have just released two compilation tapes of old Ultimate games, both entitled Master Games (and with only the track listing allowing you to tell the two apart). The first of the two contains the first four games that Ultimate ever produced, which were themselves amongst the first proper arcade games ever produced for the Spectrum (and if memory serves all but one of them load in under 16K as they were produced in the days when the 16K Spectrum was still going strong).

Ultimate's very first game was Jetpac, a simple but highly addictive shoot 'em up in which you have to collect fuel pods and treasure on a number of planets all of which are swarming with deadly aliens. At the time, Jetpac was head and shoulders above any other game for the new Spectrum machine with smooth, fast animation and good sound effects. I showed Jetpac to someone who didn't see it when it first came out and their reaction was that it looked a bit dated but was still fun to play.

The same is true of Lunar Jetman, the sequel to Jetpac. This was Ultimate's first 48k game and is a bit more complicated, though it's still essentially a shoot 'em up. This time around the Jet Man has a moon buggy to control, as well as a number of objects to collect and aliens to blast. But while the two Jet Man games have remained enjoyable over the years, the other two titles on the tape have dated rather badly.

PSSST is a variation on the shoot 'em up style in which you have to spray worms with a number of spray cans while Trans Am was an early driving game. Neither of these games really stand up any more being about the same standard as the average budget game.

So, whilst the two Jet Man titles are a tribute to the quality of early Ultimate games, this compilation as a whole doesn't really stand out when compared to some of the others available. On the other hand, the second Ultimate Compilation (reviewed elsewhere in this issue) is worth a closer look.