NES-Port of Ultima III

The NES-Port of Ultima III is the first Ultima port to a console, in this case Ultima III to the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The port was released in 1989, six years after the original version,.

Although FCI is credited for the port, all the work was actually done by Origin. The reason were problems with Nintendo's developer licensing restrictions scheme, which forced Origin to nominally have a third party sell the game.

Since the original game by that time was already six years old, it was clear that the port wouldn't graphically resemble the original release. However, what Origin did proved to be somewhat controversial. The NES had a reputation for being a kid's toy, and numerous publishers perpetuated this by releasing their games in colorful and cute cartoon, mostly anime-like, graphics. Origin obviously felt that they needed to do this as well, resulting in a graphical representation that gives the impression that the game was made in Japan.

The sound was changed as well, with none of the original music remaining. Reviewers felt that the new music was rather repetitive and annoying after some time. Yet, there was a CD produced with remixes.

Other changes concern the interface. While it is logical that a console can't have the same interface as a computer due to the lack of a keyboard, Origin went a step further and hid everything behind pop-ups. The only thing always visible is the moon phase-indicator. Movement is also shown differently, with all party members following the leader.

Other points of interest:


 * The NES port has a bug that can short-circuit the plot. The Four Cards aren't actually needed; it is enough to make it to Exodus himself. This can be done the quick way just by misusing the Moongate to the Isle of Fire until a pirate ship spawns in the small pond behind the snake (impossible in the computer versions), enabling access to the castle.


 * Japanese Ultima Mangas were released with the game in a big advertising campaign. Their content is rather bizarre, as described in the article.
 * The NES opening theme was actually a digitized instrumental version of an image song, "Hitomi no Naifu" ("Knife of the Eye"), released in conjunction with the game. Its singer, Noriko Hidaka, appears as a character in the game, giving the player the Compass Heart item; the character's theme music also has its own image-song counterpart, "Haato no Jishaku" ("Magnet of the Heart"). Noriko's character was renamed to Sherry in the English version.


 * The game added a short intro with the party appearing before Lord British. Lord British has a cross on his scepter, while it should have been an Ankh (see screenshot at the right).


 * The gender of the classes is fixed, meaning that a member of a certain class always has the same gender. For example, mages are all male, clerics all female.


 * Many common monsters had different appearances for each version, while the PC versions use a single graphic for multiple creatures (the daemons-gargoyles-manes being a good example).
 * There is a new endgame sequence where, after Exodus has been destroyed, the player must escape the rapidly-collapsing castle.

Trivia
The MSX-2 port of Ultima III was identical to the NES version.