Ultima: Quest of the Avatar (NES)
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- For other games in the series see Ultima.
Ultima: Quest of the Avatar is a fantasy role-playing game using the common top-down perspective. It is based on the original Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar (A2), but with numerous changes, many of which improve the gaming experience. The menu system is much friendlier than the old keyboard hotkeys of the computer versions, the graphics are superior, and the engine has an overall more-polished feel.
As far as the story is concerned, you play the Avatar returning to the land of Britannia. In your previous visits, you destroyed the three fiends and brought an end to the Age of Darkness. Now, and Age of Enlightenment is set to begin, but not until a great leader can be made as a hero to the people. It is your job to become the personification of the eight virtues and three principles. During your quest for enlightenment, you must also defeat many monsters, collect artifacts, and destroy the skull of Mondain by casting it into the Stygian Abyss.
Screenshots
Music
The soundtrack composed by Seiji Toda is quite an improvement over the Apple and Commodore 64 versions from several years earlier. All of the traditional music from the series has been replaced, which takes away a little from their Ultima feel, but the new music is very good and refreshing.
Though he's not listed in the game's credits, Kazuo Sawa most likely handled arranging Toda's music to the NES. His son spoke of his father's involvement with the game on an X post. Below is his post translated:[1]
Recording
Credits
- Ripper: Neill Corlett
- Recorder: TheAlmightyGuru
- Game Credits:
- Music: Seiji Toda
- Not Credited Arranger: Kazuo Sawa
- Not Credited Programmer: Hiroshi Yamazaki
- Not Credited Composer: Thomas Arne
- Box Credits:
- 音楽 (Music): Seiji Toda credited as 戸田誠司（ＦＡＩＲ ＣＨＩＬＤ） (Seiji Toda)
- Manual Credits:
- ミュージック (Music): Seiji Toda credited as 戸田 誠司 (Seiji Toda)
(Source)
Seiji Toda is listed in the game's credits, but a screenshot has yet to be taken. He used a sound driver by Hiroshi Yamazaki.
The back box of the Japanese Famicom version credits Seiji Toda for music, along with his band name Fair Child. Also, the back of the Japanese Famicom version's manual credits Seiji Toda for music as well.
Kazuo Sawa's son confirmed that his father worked on the game. However, he was unsure of his exact role, whether he was solely an arranger, or composed music as well. Since the game's packaging and in-game credits attribute the music only to Toda, it is most likely Toda wrote all of the music and Sawa implemented his music into the sound driver.
Game Rip
The order of the NSF tracks is quite jumbled. Some of the music follows the order you hear it from the game, but many tracks are well out of sequence. This may be an issue with the ripping though.
The rip contains several other brief sound effects that are not included in the recording.
Ripping NES music is a very arduous process that is beyond the scope of this site.
Releases
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Links
- mobygames.com/game/nes/ultima-iv-quest-of-the-avatar - MobyGames.
- gamefaqs.com/nes/587741-ultima-quest-of-the-avatar - GameFAQs.
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultima_IV:_Quest_of_the_Avatar - Wikipedia.
- w.atwiki.jp/gamemusicbest100/pages/10774.html - Atwiki.jp (Japanese).
- Games Released In 1989
- Games Developed By Infinity
- Games Developed By Newtopia Planning
- Games
- Ultima: Quest of the Avatar (NES)
- Games By Seiji Toda
- Games By Kazuo Sawa
- Games By Hiroshi Yamazaki
- Games By Thomas Arne
- Games That Use NSF
- Games Released In Japan
- Famicom Games
- Games Published By Pony Canyon
- Games Released In USA
- Nintendo Entertainment System Games
- Games Published By FCI
