Translations of Ultima Games

Besides the various translations of Ultima VII, Ultima VIII and Ultima IX, there also are other titles that did get a translation into another language. However, these efforts are far less known and catalogued, thus here is a small overview of the various translations, offical and unofficial, that do exist for the other games. Please note that this does not include console ports.

Note that releases where just the documentation was translated do not count on this list; look instead at the articles for the documentation in question. Official translations always mean documentation and the game software itself.

Ultima I
Japanese Versions In Japan, the ports for the MSX2, PC-88 and PC-98 were all translated to Japanese (though they also featured an English mode) by the company Ponycanyon. The FM-Towns translation in turn was done by Fujitsu.

Ultima II
French Version It's little known, that Monacoan software distributor MCC did translate Ultima II into French on the Atari ST, Atari 800 and C64. Next to nothing is known about this translation, other than that is does exist.

Japanese Versions In Japan, the ports for the MSX2, PC-88, PC-98 and FM-Towns were all translated to Japanese. Except for the FM-Towns, all translations were done twice, first by Starcraft and then by Ponycanyon. The translations for the PC-88 and PC-98 were done by both companies, while Ponycanyon alone translated for the MSX2. The FM-Towns translation was done by Fujitsu and is bilingual - it also offers an English mode.

Ultima III
French Version It little known, that French publisher Ediciel did translate the game fully to French on the Apple II. Translation work was done by Pierre Rosenthal. Next to nothing is known about this translation, other than that is does exist.

Japanese Versions In Japan, the ports for the MSX2, PC-88, PC-98 and FM-Towns were all translated to Japanese. Except for the FM-Towns, all translations were done twice, first by Starcraft and then by Ponycanyon. The translations for the PC-88 and PC-98 were done by both companies, while Ponycanyon alone translated for the MSX2. The FM-Towns translation was done by Fujits and is bilingual - it also offers an English mode.

Ultima IV
French Version Ultima IV had the dubious honor of being translated into French, with both manuals and in-game text fully translated. While the translation for the manual was decent (albeit with some obvious mistakes), the in-game translation appears to have been done by people with no understanding of French. An example of the mistakes in the translation is the translation of the traditional "Board Frigate" message seen when boarding a boat. It was translated as "Tableau Frégate", which translates "Board" as a noun, not a verb.

The French version contains a very severe bug which prevents the use of any items - items to be used are supposed to typed, and the game recognizes neither the French nor the English spelling. As such, it is extremely difficult to become an 8-part Avatar since the player can't use the Silver Horn to get to the Shrine of Humility, and impossible to complete the game since the player can't use the Virtue Stones on the altars to get the Three Part Key, or the required items to open the Abyss.

Japanese Versions In Japan, the ports for the MSX, PC-88, PC-98, X68000 and FM-Towns were all translated to Japanese. Except for the FM-Towns, all translations were done by Ponycanyon. The FM-Towns translation was done by Fujitsu and is bilingual - it also offers an English mode.

Ultima V
Japanese Versions In Japan, the ports for the PC-98, X68000 and FM-Towns were all translated to Japanese. The translations for the PC-98 and X68000 were done by Ponycanyon. The FM-Towns translation in turn was done by Fujitsu and is bilingual - it also offers an English mode.

Ultima VI
Japanese Versions In Japan, the ports for the PC-98, X68000 and FM-Towns were all translated to Japanese. The translations for the PC-98 and X68000 were done by Ponycanyon. The FM-Towns translation in turn was done by Fujitsu and is bilingual - it also offers an English mode. The voice acting of the FM-Towns port of course only is in English.

German Fan Translation Ultima VI auf Deutsch is a fan translation of the game, done by Sir John. The game is fully translated into German, with only small compromises in the intro and magical system due to hardcoding.

Savage Empire
Japane Versions Ponycanyon did create a Japanese version of Savage Empire for the PC-98 and X68000. It basically follows the same rules as the translation work done for Ultima VI.

Ultima Underworld
Japane Versions The game was fully translated to Japanese by Electronic Arts for the PC-98 and the FM-Towns.

Ultima Underworld II
Japane Versions The game was fully translated to Japanese by Electronic Arts for the PC-98 and the FM-Towns.

Ultima VII Part Two
Spanish Version Ultima VII Part Two did get a full translation into Spanish (including the Expansion), which includes the voice work. The translation work was done by the same team that translated Ultima VII, and thus also the same problem arises. This version didn't bother to prepare the game for any common special characters. So there are no accented letters in the Spanish translation, making part of it ambigious.

German Fan Translation Ultima VII Part Two auf Deutsch is a fan translation of the game, done by Sir John. The project is ongoing and aims for a complete translation, including the expansion.

French Fan Tanslation Serpent Isle in French is an Exult mod that translates the game plus expansion into French. The project is finished and available.

Italian Fan Translation A patch is available that translates the entire game plus expansion to Italian.