Ultima 1: The First Age of Darkness was originally titled "Ultima" before any of the sequels were developed. The initial version of the game was written in BASIC and was essentially a re-working and upgrade of Akalabeth. After its original release, Richard Garriot re-did the game in assembley language, and it was re-released in 1986 under the Origin Systems label. All releases were apparently on 5 1/4" diskettes.

Ultima 1 told the tale of the battle between the Stranger from Another World and the evil wizard Mondain. As with the other pre-Avatar Ultimas, this game features a science-fiction component in addition to its fantasy world.
Ultima 1 for PalmOS
Produced by: SoftwareByPaul
Website: SoftwareByPaul
Releases:
* Ultima 1 Demo 1.0.3

This novel port of Ultima 1 to the PalmOS offers a number of improvements over the original game, including the addition of a party-system - you can have up to a 4-person party. This version also features top-down dungeon navigation (instead of the forward-facing view of the originals) and battle sequences. Now you can battle monsters and overthrow the wizard Mondain on your PDA, as long as you have PalmOS 5 or better.

This development does come at a price, however, because this port is shareware. There is a demo available for download, but the noteable limitations in it are that you cannot purchase food, and you cannot reach Mondain. The full-version can be purchased from the developer.

Ultima Classics Revisited
Produced by: prmths
Website: UCR
Releases:
* Version 0.1.0 (Windows)
* Version 0.1.2 (*nix)

This interesting collection of Ultima remakes currently offers a fully implemented engine for Akalabeth, and a partial engine for Ultima 1 as well. The current beta version is 0.1.2, and is hosted here for download. Akalabeth is fully playable now in UCR.

Featuring enhanced graphics and offering full compatibility with modern operating systems, this ambitious project aims to re-create the first two Ultima trilogies.

Ultima 1 for Java
Produced by: Philippe Goetz
Website: Ultima Java
Releases:
* Ultima 1 Java 0.0.9

This ambitious project is an OS-independent engine for Ultima 1, written in Java and run through a website. It requires you to specify the path to the Ultima 1 data files (yes, you need to have the original game installed already) on your computer's hard drive.

Initially, it seems the project was to include the ability to run Ultimas 1 through 5, although at the current time development seems to have halted.

Ultima 1 - A Legend is Reborn
Produced by: Peroxide (defunct)
Website: Peroxide
Releases:
* Original Tech Demo
* Tech Demo 2.0
* Tech Demo 2.5.1 (Win)
* Tech Demo 2.5.1 (Linux)

This project began as an ambitious remake of Ultima 1. However, due to legal issues with EA, the project ceased to be a formal Ultima remake in January 2003.

However, Peroxide kept their stunning custom-made 3D engine alive for a new project inspired by Ultima 1: Era: The Arken Throne. This was supposed to be a published game, inspired (but not actually) Ultima 1.

Sadly, Peroxide has shut ERA down, and has ceased to be under their current name. The team's website now contains a message that seems to promise that they will reappear, with the ERA engine still in development and ERA under a new name.

Fortunately, Voyager Dragon managed to grab copies of the Ultima 1 Remake's tech demos. Thanks also goes to Dino the Dark Dragon, who found a copy of tech demo 2.0.

Ultima 1 Graphics Patch
Produced by: Arthur DiBianca
Website: Ultima 1 to 6 CD-ROM FAQ
Releases:
* Graphics Patch

Ultima 1 is an old game, and the routine it uses to display graphics (out.exe) occasionally encounters glitches with some graphics cards that cause the graphics to lose colour and eventually get garbled.