New Gallery: Ultima 1 Manuals
Courtesy of Pix and Natreg Dragon, Ultima Aiera is pleased to present over 60 images of the pages for the manuals (and, in the case of the Apple II, quick reference card) for the Atari, Apple II, and PC versions of Ultima 1. As you can well imagine, Dragons and Dragonettes, the manuals for each version of the game were about as different from each other as were the platforms the game was released on!
In fact, it’s really quite interesting to see how different each version of the game’s manual really was. The PC manual is the most elaborate and art-heavy, with ornate borders on each page and illustrations of many of the playable classes, locations, professions, and enemies that one encountered in the game…and doesn’t once describe how to actually interact with the game proper. The Apple II manual is a bit less ornate, and still features some artwork and a few descriptions of things encountered in-game, but is also more focused on game controls and how things work in Sosaria.
The stark Atari manual, meanwhile, is all business; it details how to control the game, and that’s about it. It is entirely devoid of art, save for the cover.
Anyhow, enjoy! Pull up the images, download the documents, and pore over them. Search out every little detail, and ponder just how deep the differences were between the different platforms on which Ultima 1 was released. Ultima Aiera is indebted to Pix for collecting all these documents, to Richard Garriott, and to anyone else who worked on the original documents at Origin Systems, Atari, and California Pacific.
The “Ultima 1 for PC” manual shipped with all the 1986 ports most likely. It is exactly the same for the c64 release.
Yeah, it should be noted that all the 1986 releases of Ultima I all had manuals like the PC version. There was no PC release of the original port of Ultima I.
I believe those Apple II manuals you posted were from the 1980 version, and aren’t really fair to compare to the 1986 version.
That’s kind of what I expected, though it’s still interesting to see. The Apple II manuals, despite being older, actually compare rather well to the PC manuals; they don’t lack for art, and the increased focus on gameplay isn’t a bad thing by any measure.
It’s the Atari manual that really sticks out like a sore thumb here.
I was glancing through these and did a double-take when I saw the heading “Fellowship” on a page. 🙂
The Atari scan isn’t one of mine as I’ve never seen that version before. I expect LB didn’t have much input into the manuals while he was at Sierra.
There was a reference card with the Ultima 1 remake which covered gameplay to a degree. I suppose it made sense to keep the manuals general when there were going to be so many ports. I always liked the way the early Origin manuals and clue books never actually refer to the game. It all added to the immersion.
WTF – If you are going through the rest of the Ultima manuals, feel free to let me know if anything is missing or needs re-scanning. With the stuff on replacementdocs, my old scanner wasn’t ideal for books and the editors overcompressed some of the pdf’s.
Pix:
Fair enough, though you did find it and send me the link.
Are you sure that was me? I’d never claim to have a great memory but I don’t remember finding this or sending you anything. You’ve got me wondering if someone is borrowing my id.
On a different note, browsing round that atarimania site, I noticed that someone has created Ultima 2 and 3 pinball tables in pinball construction set. My hopes aren’t high but I’m going to have to give them a go.
Hmmm…perhaps I’m insane…need to look over some stuff now.
Update: Argh! I had you confused with Natreg Dragon! I am a cad and a boor!
That’s IT!: From now on, everyone who corresponds with me about Ultima-related things is getting added to my iPhone’s contact list using their Dragon name/online handle. I’ve officially hit the point where I can’t keep track of everyone’s names.
Of course, I should probably have been doing that from the start. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
Cool pics, thank you for sharing. I have never seen these as I don’t have a copy of Ultima I. I sure love Loubet’s art style.
Don’t worry Pix, no one was using your ID. It was me who send the links to your manuals and the atari one from that other site.
Hope you don’t mind I sent WtF the links. I was not trying to get any credit for those or anything.
WTF already cleared it up. No problem anyway. I wouldn’t have been all that concerned if someone was using my id. I was just confused about being given credit for something I hadn’t done.
Well, you did scan most of the manuals. 🙂 Except, as noted, for the Atari stuff.
Did they ever officially release Ultima as “Ultima I” other than in the Trilogy pack or other collections?
Also, manual scans at high res are awesome. I’ve scanned a few and found that transforming the paper line art into two colors is difficult without error. Anyway, we should treat it like old film restorations and constantly refine the images. I have the IBM PC manuals for IV, V and VI (Trilogy too, but that’s a collection). Have some other old games with artwork, but will have to look.