Codex Gamicus
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After being taunted by a mysterious being who calls himself The Guardian, a moongate appears. The Avatar arrives back in Britannia once more, and is immediately confronted with a grisly murder. As he investigates he discovers this is more than just a simple murder. The world is changed from his last visit: magic is failing and unpredictable, the moongates are malfunctioning, and in fact the whole land is in danger of falling prey to The Guardian.

The Super Nintendo version of the game, called simply Ultima: The Black Gate, is significantly different. Its plot (and even the opening cinematic) are very faithful to the original having only had slight adjustments due to Nintendo's censorship policies (for example, the grisly murders have instead become merely kidnappings). It does not support the SNES Mouse (all interaction is via menus), has no party system, and the towns and dungeons have been significantly redesigned.

The game was quickly followed by the Forge of Virtue expansion disk. The following year the pseudo-sequel Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle was released.

Game data[]

DOS[]

  • Published by Origin in North America in 1992.
    • The original version included a cloth map of Britannia and a life-size Fellowship medallion; later releases (and the SNES version) included only a paper map and lacked the medallion.

SNES[]

  • Published by FCI/Pony Canyon in North America in 1994.

External Links[]



Ultima series
Ultima: The First Age of Darkness | Ultima II: The Revenge of the Enchantress | Ultima III: Exodus | Ultima IV: The Quest of the Avatar | Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny | Ultima VI: The False Prophet | Ultima VII: The Black Gate | Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle | Ultima VIII: Pagan | Ultima IX: Ascension
Other games
Akalabeth: World of Doom | Ultima Online
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