PSX-Port of Ultima Underworld

Ultima Underworld I is the only Ultima ever ported to the Sony Playstation (PSX). The game, however, was only released in Japan, so no English version of it exists at all.

The reason for why Origin made this decision is unknown. The port came rather late, compared to when the original came out, in 1997. Since the gaming hardware had made huge steps since then, it was decided to make changes to the game engine so that the game would be acceptable for gamers of the time.

Of course the fact that a gamepad can't replace a combination of mouse and keyboard complicated the control scheme. Also, the fatal inventory bug, which made items disappear and was fixed in the CD-version of the original game, was again present. It is impossible to imagine how this had happened.

Since the game is in Japanese, it is difficult to determine if story differences exist.

Changes

 * All the creatures and NPCs are now polygon models. Since this was done in 1997, the models are rather poor. Everything else, from the surroundings to the items, is still the original graphics in all its pixelated charm, only slightly blurred.


 * The game is fullscreen, with only some indicators visible. The inventory is a separate screen, which of course makes it much more complicated to access.


 * The intro and endgame were completely redone. They also have more dialogue.


 * Numerous character portraits were changed to give them a more anime-like look.


 * All of the music was remixed. While it sounds nicer, most of it now only has a slight resemblance to the original, classic music.


 * The original had no digital sound effects (apart from the voice acting). The PSX-port has lots of sound effects.