Ultima: Exodus (NES)

Ultima: Exodus

Platform: NES Year: 1987 Developer: Newtopia Planning Buy: Amazon

For other games in the series see Ultima.

Ultima: Exodus is a fantasy role-playing game for the NES. The game takes place in the land of Sosaria, ruled by the king, Lord British, but the vile monster Exodus is about to take over. You must create a party of adventurers and defeat Exodus. To do this, you must fight the many monsters that inhabit the land. As you vanquish them, you are awarded experience and gold which allows you to raise levels and purchase better weapons, armor, items, and stat bonuses at temples. As you talk to the villages in the various towns, you will discover clues about the land, and find helpful items. Eventually, you will become powerful enough to infiltrate the castle of Exodus and take over.

This game is a port of Ultima III: Exodus (A2), but has been highly redesigned by Newtopia Planning giving the game superior graphics and music compared to the PC versions of the time. Even the title was changed slightly by dropping the series number (and adding a subtitle in Japan). Although a competent RPG of the day, the game has its fair share of flaws; there is an obscene amount of grinding, the NPC messages are rather cryptic, and without a hintbook, you'll be pretty lost.

Screenshots

The title screen. Creating a new party. Taking refuge in the Royal City. Encountering enemies in the overworld. Fighting some goblins. Exploring the Cave of Gold.

Music

Ultima Exodus' music was composed by Tsugutoshi Goto which is rather surprising considering he usually works in more professional areas than video games. Most of the tracks are very melodic and mysterious sounding. The titles come from the Ultima Mix album, though they are unofficially translated into English. One of the tracks found in the ROM isn't played in the game anywhere and is also not on the album. If anyone has any information on the unknown track please contact us.

Recording

#	Title	Composer	Arranger	Length	Listen	Download
01	The Underground Labyrinth	Tsugutoshi Goto	Unknown	1:40		Download
02	The Eternal Castle Britannia	Tsugutoshi Goto	Unknown	2:18		Download
03	The Heroes' Journey	Tsugutoshi Goto	Unknown	1:55		Download
04	A Peaceful Town	Tsugutoshi Goto	Unknown	1:51		Download
05	Eyes of Knives	Tsugutoshi Goto	Unknown	3:29		Download
06	Sacred War	Tsugutoshi Goto	Unknown	0:47		Download
07	Voyage to the Unknown	Tsugutoshi Goto	Unknown	1:40		Download
08	The Enigma of Ambrosia	Tsugutoshi Goto	Unknown	2:35		Download
09	Exodus the Terrible	Tsugutoshi Goto	Unknown	1:35		Download
10	The Return of the Champion	Tsugutoshi Goto	Unknown	2:08		Download
11	Unknown	Tsugutoshi Goto	Unknown	0:59		Download

Credits

• Ripper: Daniel Kalabakov
• Recorder: TheAlmightyGuru
• Game Credits:
  • Music: Tsugutoshi Goto
  • Not Credited Arranger: Unknown
• Box/Manual Credits (Japan):
  • ミュージック (Music): Tsugutoshi Goto credited as 後藤次利

(Sources: Game, Box, Manual)

Under most circumstances, Japanese composers also arranged their music to work with their company's audio driver. However, as Tsugutoshi Goto was a pop music composer, it is unlikely, though not impossible, that he also arranged his music. Research should be made on the actual arranger.

The back box of the Japanese version credits Goto for music as well.

Albums

Tsugutoshi Goto rearranged his music for the Ultima Mix album. It features all of the game's music rerecorded on more powerful synthesizers as well as two songs composed with real instruments and vocals by Noriko Hidaka. A single was released which just features the two vocal tracks off Ultima Mix.

Ultima Mix 1987-08-21 Ultima: Eyes of Knives / Magnet of the Heart 1987-08-21

Game Rip

Format	Download
	Download (Info)

Ripping NES music is a very arduous process that is beyond the scope of this site.

Audio Devices

The game uses the 2A03 of the NES. It uses a custom sound driver shared with the Japan-exclusive title Matsumoto Tohru no Kabushiki Hisshou Gaku, which lists Tomohiro Hori as a programmer, who may have went uncredited as this game's arranger.

Releases

Japan Title: ウルティマ 恐怖のエクソダス (Ultima: Fear of Exodus) Platform: Famicom Released: 1987-10-09 Publisher: Pony Canyon, Inc.     USA Title: Ultima: Exodus Platform: NES Released: 1989-02-?? Publisher: FCI

Links

• mobygames.com/game/nes/exodus-ultima-iii - MobyGames.
• gamefaqs.com/nes/587740-ultima-exodus - GameFAQs.
• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultima_III:_Exodus - Wikipedia.