SNES-port of Ultima VII

Box art

Ultima VII was the last Ultima released to a console by Origin, and a version of the game was released for the Super Nintendo in 1994.

Like the SNES-port of Ultima VI, and most of the console ports, this version was released in Japan. Unlike the other console ports, this version was released in Japan and the United States at the same time, and the Japanese version still bears The Black Gate as a subtitle. In fact, the Japanese box art is based on the original box; pure black with a blue logo.

Description

Title screen

The introduction

In-game

The technical limitations of the Super Nintendo made it necessary to cull a fair amount of the content which had been present in the PC version of Ultima VII, which had been approximately 20 megabytes in size and had featured VGA graphics, a full soundtrack and a deeply interactive game world. In order to compress the game into a one-megabyte module, a great deal of material had to be removed – resulting in a product with simplified graphics, a limited musical score and a greatly simplified world map.

In addition to this, Nintendo of America appeared to impose a great deal of editorial control over the games content – leading to the removal of many of the original versions darker aspects for the sake of keeping the game family-friendly. As such, the game's plot was changed from focusing on a spree of mutilation killings to focusing on a rash of unsolved kidnappings, and macabre or sexual imagery was removed. It is likely that the Japanese version has less censorship, as usual.

Nintendo Power praised Ultima VII's interface, sound, and exploration, but criticized the uncomfortable combat and movement. The game received a 2.9/5 for graphics and sound, 2.5 for play controls, 2.9 for challenge, and 3.1 for play and fun.

In 2006, this version of The Black Gate was made available on the Sony PSP by Electronic Arts (EA) as part of their Retro Replay package, along with thirteen other older EA games.

Included with the Game

• Instruction booklet (international release)
• The Book of Fellowship (Japanese release)
• Paper map of Britannia (only international release)

Changes from the Original

Several changes made this remake more similar to Ultima: Runes of Virtue II:

• The game does not support a party system, leaving the player only able to control the Avatar. Unlike the Runes of Virtue, he is defaulted to their male version and cannot be named.
• The combat system lacks any automation and plays similarly to many action-adventure games (e.g. the aforementioned Ultima: Runes of Virtue II).
• Several plot-relevant items were relocated to former nameless caves. The latter were each given a name and were expanded to large dungeons.
• Conventional ship travel is not available, limiting exploration to islands which may be reached via an item known as the Magic Boat. The moongates are also completely non-functional throughout the game.
• The game world is much smaller than the original, and there are far fewer NPCs – all of whom lack daily schedules. Many characters have been replaced or altered drastically to conform to the new story, and the amount of dialogue in the game has been reduced.
• The game is divided into outdoor and indoor maps, which prevents the player from using the isometric view to look inside of unentered buildings.
• Several spell-casting items were added (e.g. Hail Storm Amulet, Sword Storm Amulet). Many of them use the Avatar's magic points.

Further changes from the original version:

• Both the introduction and ending have been greatly reduced in size, and are limited largely to narrative text rather than animations.
• The spell-casting system is streamlined such as to exclude reagents and spell purchasing, and there are only 16 available spells instead of 72. Spells not seen in the original game have also been added, such as Water Walk and Lifting.
• A set of elemental swords was added: earth sword, fire sword, frost sword, water sword, wind sword.
• The function of the day and night cycle has changed, with visibility being greatly reduced at night and certain items (such as the bedroll, or magic lantern) being only usable after sundown.

Talking to Iolo

New dungeon list

Dungeons	Treasure	Notes
Covetous	Caddellite helm	Quest item (destroy Cube Generator)
Deceit	Tetrahedron Generator	Guardian’s generator n.1
Despise	Sphere Generator	Guardian's generator n.2
Destard	Empty chest	Quest item
Hythloth	Black Gate	Guardian's gate
Wrong	?	-
Shame	Gem of Paralysis	Magic weapon (3MP; paralyzes enemies)
Bee cave	Tseramed arrows	Weapon (inflicts sleep)
Buccaneer's Cave	Power bolt wand	Magic weapon (1MP)
Vesper mine	Blackrock talisman	Quest item (obtain the Ethereal Ring)
Caves originally nameless	Treasure	-
Cyclops Cave (originally: nameless cave near Spiritwood)	Plate armour	Armour
Heftimus Cave (originally: nameless cave near Jhelom)	Potions	Item
Heroes' Hole (originally: nameless cave near Shrine of Honor)	Scale boots	Armour (walk on lava)
Pirate Cave (originally: nameless crypt on Dagger Isle)	Lightning wand	Magic weapon (2MP)
Scorpion Cave (originally: nameless cave north of the Drylands)	Energy crystal	Magic weapon (1MP)
Sutek’s dungeon (originally: nameless mines on Terfin island)	Enchanted hourglass	Quest item (destroy Sphere Generator)
Swamp Cave (originally: nameless cave near Cove)	Rudyom's wand	Quest item (destroys the Black Gate)
Dungeon of Serpents Undertaker (originally: nameless cave of the Meditation Retreat)	Cube Generator	Guardian's generator n.3
SNES-only dungeons	Treasure	-
Dungeon of Unknown Fears (it replaces Martingo’s palace on Spektran)	Ethereal Ring	Quest item (destroy Tetrahedron Generator)
Dungeon Sagatious (it replaces Alagner’s storehouse in New Magincia)	Alagner's notebook	Item
The Crypts (it replaces the Dark Tower in Skara Brae)	Ghostly armour	Armour

Enemy elemental resistance

The five exclusive elemental swords are ineffective against some enemies. Default sorting is by number of elemental resistances.

Enemy	Resistance(s)
Ethereal monster	-
Giant bees	-
Giant rats	-
Gremlins	-
Liches	-
Snakes	-
Wolves	-
Cyclops	Frost
Headless	Frost
Trolls	Frost
Acid slugs	Water
Alligators	Water
Gazers	Water
Giant spiders	Water
Slimes	Water
Mongbats	Wind
Bats	Earth, wind
Fairies	Earth, wind
Dragons	Fire, wind
Drakes	Fire, wind
Scorpions	Fire, water
Skeletons	Fire, water
Ghosts	Fire, water, wind
Stone harpies	All

Trivia

• One strange piece of merchandise associated with the game was the Japan-exclusive Ultima VII boomerang. The Boomerang is a hidden weapon in this port.

Gallery

• 

  Ultima Black Gate SNES advertisement

See Also

• Ultima VII transcript (SNES)
• Ultima VII (SNES) magic
• SNES map for Ultima VII
• Ultima VII (SNES) walkthrough

External Links

• Silellak played through the entirety of Ultima VII for the SNES, and recorded his experience at: here.
• He also has recorded the last 5 minutes here.
• YouTube – Ultima VII (SNES) Gameplay Video

References

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Console Ports
Games	Ultima III ☥ Ultima IV ☥ Ultima V ☥ Ultima VI ☥ Savage Empire ☥ Ultima Underworld ☥ Ultima VII