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The
company we know as Rare has come a long way since the early days of
home computing, advancing and expanding in step with technology,
a resilient dedication to the task at hand ensuring that its pace never
faltered. The first seeds of what would eventually become the modern
Rare were sown way back in the late 1970s, in the quiet English market
town of Ashby de la Zouch, when Tim Stamper found himself helping his
older brother Chris in the conversion of Space Invaders arcade
boards. At the time neither of them could have possibly known how the
whole industry was going to grow astronomically over the next couple
of decades... and yet in many ways the Stamper brothers helped to shape
the future of the gaming world.
When
home computing first really took off in the early 80s with the
release of the Sinclair machines, Tim and Chris transferred the skill
and experience they'd acquired through working with arcade boards to
the Spectrum, and in 1982 Ultimate - Play The Game was born in a terraced
house in Ashby. Basically a trading name for Ashby Computers and
Graphics (the fabled ACG of games such as
Atic Atac),
Ultimate was to attain a near-legendary status among gamesplayers
This first release was a massive hit, selling 300,000 copies over a UK base of 1 million machines, a practically unheard-of figure at that point in time. Pssst was released soon after, and from then on there was no turning back for Tim and Chris. A string of 14 hit games were to be released on the Spectrum between 1983 and 1986, each one earning instant critical acclaim and huge sales: games such as Underwurlde, Sabre Wulf, Lunar Jetman, Knight Lore (the first to feature Filmation, a pioneering concept in isometric 3D) and Alien 8 would rank among the all-time 8-bit classics and leave Ultimate with the reputation as the most enigmatic, quietly confident and downright successful force in the business. Eventually the developers branched out into the Commodore 64 market and released a handful of original titles such as The Staff of Karnath and Entombed alongside conversions of past classics, but never quite made the same impact on Commodore's machine (or others such as the MSX and Amstrad), remaining most proud of their achievements on the Spectrum.
In
the mid-80s, the Stampers experienced their first taste of things to come
when they were introduced to Nintendo's initial foray into the home
videogaming market, the original 8-bit Nintendo Famicom (NES outside Japan).
The obvious potential of this machine, combined with Tim and Chris'
increasing disillusionment with the disorganised UK software scene,
practically made the decision for them: the time had come to move on.
Rare was
So if its all lies, blame them!
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and critics alike over the next few years, breaking sales records and
winning industry awards year after year, and it set out to establish
its name from the very start with the launch of
set up as a specialised subdivision in 1985, with the Ultimate distribution
rights later sold off to software giant US Gold. The last Spectrum game
to be programmed by the Stampers,
