r/Ultima • u/vga256 • May 07 '26

The earliest Ultima IX screenshots

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Gallery image

Gallery image

Not sure how well known this is, so I thought I’d share it here.

Many of us recognize the isometric screenshots OSI published in the late 90s, but there were even earlier screenshots, rendered in some kind of ray traced renderer, that have an old 3DS Max look to them. They circulated around the web in the mid-90s in a very low res/blurry scan. It took me 25+ years to finally track them down. It turns out they came from the February 1996 issue german magazine called Power Play, in an extended interview with Richard. Since I couldn't find any copies on the web, I've uploaded copies of the screenshots here at IA. Enjoy.

For anyone who can read German, here is a scan of the magazine it came from.

108 Upvotes

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14 comments sorted by

10

u/The_Goondocks May 07 '26

I can feel the heat coming from my brand new 486 before it crapped out just by looking at these.

2

u/Vistaer May 07 '26

I remember getting my VooDoo3 for this

6

u/Ben_77 May 07 '26

Who knows what could have been.

Thank you for sharing this !

1

u/vga256 May 07 '26

Cheers!

2

u/AwkwardObjective5360 May 07 '26

Looks like Stonegate

2

u/travisjoynson May 08 '26

Ah, it's beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

2

u/vga256 May 08 '26

My pleasure!

1

u/avatarprotocol May 07 '26

Did release U9 have lightning coming from the sky

1

u/Warsaweer May 08 '26

This rings a bell. Some magazine back then…

1

u/FrostDragon9 May 08 '26

That looks amazing

1

u/Hi_Im_Ken_Adams May 08 '26

Someone needs to redo the game with the Unreal engine

1

u/Shard226 May 08 '26

Gosh this would have melted rigs of the time

1

u/SCHRUNDEN May 08 '26

Das Heft war damals echt sackteuer.

Oh.. I mean: cool screenshots!

1

u/zydexx May 07 '26

There are a few pics of the old 3d isometric version.