Ultra Games

The Ultra Games logo.

Ultra Software Corporation was a spinoff company created in 1988 as a subsidiary of Konami of America, in an effort to get around Nintendo of America's strict licensing rules. One of these rules was that a third-party company could only publish up to five games per year for the Nintendo Entertainment System in the US. This was hardly convenient for Konami, which had begun releasing more than ten games a year for both the Famicom and Famicom Disk System in Japan. With a greater library than they were allowed to localize, Konami formed the Ultra Games brand to extend their annual library to ten games a year.

Ultra's first two NES games were Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (based on the TV series) and Metal Gear (a port/adaption of the MSX2 game of the same name). At first, Ultra was dedicated to localizing Konami's pre-existing software from Japan, but later they began publishing works from other companies as well. Some of Konami's most notable games released under the Ultra label include Operation C (a Game Boy game from the Contra series), Snake's Revenge (a semi-sequel to the original Metal Gear) and the various Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles titles for the NES and Game Boy.

After the North American launch of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo became less strict on the number of games third-parties could publish. As a result, Ultra Games began losing its purpose and Konami shortly dropped the label in 1992.

In Europe, Konami established the Palcom Software Limited subsidiary for similar purposes. Their library was similar to Ultra's, but the company also published games that were not released in America such as Parodius and Pop'n Twinbee.

Games published

NES

• Defender of the Crown (NES)
• Gyruss (NES)
• Kings of the Beach (NES)
• Metal Gear (NES)
• Mission: Impossible (NES)
• Nightshade (NES)
• Pirates! (NES)
• Q*bert (NES)
• Road Fighter (NES), as Palcom
• RollerGames (NES)
• Silent Service (NES)
• Skate or Die! (NES)
• Ski or Die (NES)
• Snake's Revenge (NES)
• Star Trek: 25th Anniversary (NES)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Arcade Game (NES)
• Base Wars (NES)

Game Boy

• Motocross Maniacs
• Skate or Die: Bad'N Rad
• Operation C
• Quarth
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan

See also

• Konami

External links

• Ultra Games profile on MobyGames