TIL Ultima Underworld for PS1

[Spalls Hurgenson]

Today I Learned...

...that there was a port of Ultima Underworld for the original
Playstation. Not only did it feature voice-acting and a CD audio
soundtrack, but the engine had been improved so it used 3D models for
the monsters, and played in full-screen. Unfortunately, it was only
released in Japan and -as such- there is no official English-version
of the game.

The keyword being "official" since, apparently, fans have made a patch
that translates the game's text into English, rendering the game
playable again for the people who don't speak or read Japanese. The
patch is freely available* but the original PS1 game is harder - but
not impossible - to acquire.

I must have it.

So off to EBay I go... hopefully to snag my copy before news of this
wonderous port drives the prices up to high as everyone else rushes
out to get the game for themselves. ;-)



(I know there was also a similar version for the FM Towns platform...
but it's a bit easier to get a Playstation than one of those devices,
and anyway the FM Towns version used the same engine as the DOS game.
I wanna see Underworld running full-screen! ;-)


-------------
* one source of the patch here:
https://underworld.ultimacodex.com/?sdm_process_download=1&download_id=460