Aug 3, 2021
Title screens for Ultimate Play the Game’s Sabreman series (1984-1986)
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seen from Brazil
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Title screens for Ultimate Play the Game’s Sabreman series (1984-1986)
Underwurlde - Once Upon A Time...
Once upon a time ( which is the best way all good stories start) , there was a 12 year old girl , she dreamt of magenta mountains and a large cyan wolf. But that was okay, because her trusty friend Sabreman was always at her side . Their adventures in the jungle carried on for years, as we have already told , but there is another story.....a story far from the lush forests and lazy rhinos of Sabrewulf . The story from beyond the jungle...... You have to feel sorry for Sabreman, after battling his way through Sabrewulf to that final cave, in a cruel twist of fate , he finds himself landed into the Underwurlde. The year is 1984 and 'Ultimate ' are not prepared to let Sabreman retire just yet! With a loading screen to die for , another gigantic adventure was about to start. The first thing that struck me about this game is that the nasty bugs, eagles, jellyfish that fly around in this game don't sap your energy. But don't be fooled, they do something that is far worse, they push you. So, dear reader, you may be wondering why that would cause a problem. Well, picture yourself having spent a good few minutes clambering your way on pieces of furniture to the top of about three screens and then some little , cheerfully coloured jellyfish comes along and ........weeeeeeeeeeee.......splat! You see now ?
Not only that but a lot of the game is spent in underground caverns where you travel by standing on bubbles of volcanic gas. You can imagine just how much of my early game play was spent watching Sabreman fall to his death. Now, there are crystals that can give him immunity if he can snatch one on his majestic fall and a rope that is attached to the cave roof , but wiggle around too much on that one and a large chunk of rock is dislodged and weeeeeeeeeeee........splat! On the upside at least Sabreman gets a weapon to shoot the little....er.....darlings with. This is a long way from a walk in that lush summer jungle . The goal is to find one of the three exits from the Underwurlde , to do that you need the correct weapon to get past a guardian. Only one weapon works for each guardian , this is not an easy game. Where as Sabrewulf was forever summer , this game , for me anyway, is a game for winter. It's a game for firelight and hearing the wind and rain pound on the windows. So, being as the game is fiendishly difficult, frustrating and I never finished it without using a poke why is it here? Is it the lure of my little explorer buddy? I suppose that is part of it, it was an extension to Sabrewulf and I felt obliged to try and finish the story, to almost gain closure for the jungle experience and for the months I had spent trying to finish that game. Being able to boast that I had finished Sabrewulf and then suddenly realising I had only finished part one, I felt compelled to do more. But there is more than that.... As a child I had been bullied through out my school career , whether it was for a speech impediment , lack of coordination or my ability to turn bright red and become tongue tied with shyness if anyone so much as looked at me I will never know. But to see Sabreman , going through what I went through at school, to see him getting pushed around and knocked over struck a chord. In fact I often wondered if this game had been written with these sort of experiences in mind. Where as Sabrewulf had been an escape from reality into a fantasy world , Underwurlde in my mind was like a fantasy representation of a school day. So to come back to the original question, why would I want to revisit something that reminded me of this? I think the phrase is, to rise above. What made the game for me were the bubbles, to escape those who are pursuing and pushing you, by rising above. (Bubbles, good in a drink, good in a bath and a great way to travel!) . This game although dark and frustrating was also uplifting , I know that sounds a contradiction, but somehow 'Ultimate' managed it. I returned again and again , eventually resorting to a poke to gain infinite lives ( and with the aid of a map from Crash magazine ) I did eventually escape from the Underwurlde. But as there are three exits, there was still reason to revisit, each game Sabreman was pushed and knocked , but always rising above, floating free on the bubbles. As the years have passed I still return to this game, Sabreman and I still jump on the furniture before plunging into the caverns and riding on the bubbles. It's a game that still frustrates me but yet still draws me in.
Once upon a time , there was a 12 year old girl, she dreamt of darker places and bullies . But that was okay , her trusty friend Sabreman had one more lesson to teach her, to rise above.
Sabre Wulf - Caution Hippos Crossing
I'd like to think that in every game player's life there is a game that enables them to leave behind the troubles of the present and just escape. No matter what is happening in the current reality this game can transport them to a place of peace and calm (or a mass blood bath depending on the player's mind set!)
Let me introduce you to my happy place, it's a jungle , far, far away....
Sabre - man is trapped in a jungle and has to find the four parts of an amulet ( or omelette as I used to pronounce it ) to get past the shaman and escape the jungle . This involves 256 screens , featuring a multitude of wild animals , stampeding hippos and rhinos and bad tempered tribes-people. It features jungle orchids which can poison Sabreman , lakes and native huts. It also features beautiful magenta mountains and a very deadly cyan wolf. It controls smoothly and once you understand that killing either tribes-people or stampeding hippos and rhinos can't happen, instead you have to employ a little dance step called the Do-Si-Do and side step round them (whilst encouraging them to keep their distance with your sabre) the fun can really begin.
The first time I saw this game in action was in 1984, in a small independent software shop in Yeovil ,Somerset. The owners's daughter was playing the game in the back office and she had just reached those bottom magenta mountains for the first time. It was love at first sight ( for me and the game , not for the shop owner's daughter!) I sat at her side transfixed as she introduced me to the cyan wolf and those wonderful , beautiful jungle borders. I watched as strange creatures materialised, parts of the amulet were found, a little tune played and then even more strange creatures were introduced into the mix. Needless to say we bought a copy. Don't be beguiled by this game's pretty appearance , dear reader, it is difficult. This is no 15 minute jaunt, this is the full rainy Sunday afternoon expedition with kitkats and orange squash. In fact there is the first reason I love this game, no matter what the weather is doing outside, this game feels sunny. It can be raining cats and dogs (and cows,pigs and chickens for that matter) but this game still grows pineapples, melons and orchids. It is forever summer.
The sound effects of this game are wonderful and varied, no music playing all the way through but upon finding a piece of the amulet you are treated to a short little ditty as a reward. There is something so soothing about the sound effects from Ultimate games of this vintage, it's the audio equivalent of a big fluffy blanket and a giant mug of tea. Over the next few weeks and possibly months I played this game constantly , even Atic Atac was given a well earned rest (I'd like to imagine the Serf, Knight and Wizard went to Weymouth for a well earned break!) I learnt about the magic of pokes , feeding in numbers during a break in loading of a game to gain infinite lives , this then enabled me to fall deeper in love with this game. Some people would argue that this is cheating, but for me it enabled me to discover more and it enriched my experience . Sabre-man and I had become inseparable. After many more weeks of exploring , poking hippos and dancing round tribes-peoples, I did finish the game albeit by cheating/enriching my gaming experience. But I still returned to play it time and time and time again. In fact still today it remains ( along with Atic Atac) my go to game.
When I am down, when I am despondent , when the sensory processing disorder I suffer from drives me to want to scream. I do one thing....I go to the jungle , to meet my special little guy , where it is forever summer by those magenta mountains and we escape.
Rareware (or should I say Ultimate Play The Game) veteran Sabreman! Perhaps better known in my age bracket as being the guy who shows up frozen in Banjo-Tooie’s Hailfire Peaks!
Sabre Wulf (ZX Spectrum) Ultimate Play The Game - 1984
Yet another old thing. It is based on the old game Sabrewulf. I will post some new stuff soon I promise.