NintendoAge http://nintendoage.com/forum/ -Sqooner Ultimate Journey NES http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=35&threadid=96944 2018-02-26T10:23:07 -05.00 Jordiway73 33 Originally posted by: Gazimaluke

So I thought I would add a little update after 5 years of no posts in this thread.
I have e-mailed with Dan MacArthur when doing my The History of Sunsoft research and asked him about Ultimate Journey.

This is what he told me about the game.

"Ultimate Journey was my original concept that I designed and produced, it was developed by Bandai Japan. It was finished, and sent to video game magazines to review. I can't recall the exact reason why Bandai decided not to release it, but as you can imagine I was greatly disappointed by that decision."

"Bandai had a few prototype cartridges of it, but I don't know what happened to them after I left. They sent some to magazines to review, but as far as I know they were all returned. It's a shame that it's not available in some way for people to play now."

"Ultimate Journey was a linear 2D side scrolling action platform game. You played as a Native American who came back from hunting to discover that his tribe was slaughtered by the tribe's former apprentice medicine man who was exiled for practicing dark arts. He kidnapped the elder medicine man to gain even more power, and you set off to rescue him. The evil medicine man could possess the land's wildlife, and have it attack you to try and prevent you from reaching him. The land was also a challenge to traverse, so you had to do a lot of climbing and platforming throughout the levels. But in order to swim the treacherous waters you needed to take on the form of a fish, and in order to reach high mountains you needed to take on the form of a bird. While the elder medicine man was weak, he was still able to grant you the ability to change into these forms for a limited time. And when you finally reached the evil medicine man, the elder granted you the ability to become the ultimate warrior (bigger stronger you) to defeat him. I would compare the core gameplay to the original NES Ninja Gaiden, but not as fast. And the water and flying levels had you change into animal forms to navigate them."
Very cool that you were able to confirm that it was finished. It sounds like it's very possible there are some prototypes still floating around. Have you tried following up on that at all? 
  ]]> Ultimate Journey NES http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=35&threadid=96944 2018-02-08T05:02:07 -05.00 Jordiway73 33 Ultimate Journey NES http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=35&threadid=96944 2018-02-01T13:47:49 -05.00 Jordiway73 33 Originally posted by: AsmikAce

I bet some Japan or US video game magazine employee has some copy somewhere still. Someone must have contacts.
The game was never intended for release in Japan. The only magazines that reviewed it were Nintendo Power, EGM, and Game Players. Nintendo Power is internal Nintendo, that stuff doesn't leak often (plus they mostly used loose EPROMs and recycled boards, so the chance of a game surviving is tiny). EGM's review stuff is mostly accounted for at this point, though there's a TINY chance it's in Steve Harris' storage in Illinois. Game Players' ROMs were all tossed during an office cleanup.
  ]]> Ultimate Journey NES http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=35&threadid=96944 2018-01-31T14:05:24 -05.00 Jordiway73 33 Ultimate Journey NES http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=35&threadid=96944 2018-01-21T03:49:49 -05.00 Jordiway73 33 Ultimate Journey NES http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=35&threadid=96944 2018-01-21T03:44:59 -05.00 Jordiway73 33

By any chance, did you happen to ask him if he had any materials left in regard to the game like original artwork, layouts, more pictures or video of the game in action? If you are still in contact with him would you please be willing to ask him this and if by any chance has he ever tried to contact Bandai or would he be willing to contact them? ]]> Ultimate Journey NES http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=35&threadid=96944 2018-01-15T19:46:13 -05.00 Jordiway73 33 Ultimate Journey NES http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=35&threadid=96944 2018-01-15T18:04:45 -05.00 Jordiway73 33 Originally posted by: Gazimaluke

So I thought I would add a little update after 5 years of no posts in this thread.
I have e-mailed with Dan MacArthur when doing my The History of Sunsoft research and asked him about Ultimate Journey.

This is what he told me about the game.

"Ultimate Journey was my original concept that I designed and produced, it was developed by Bandai Japan. It was finished, and sent to video game magazines to review. I can't recall the exact reason why Bandai decided not to release it, but as you can imagine I was greatly disappointed by that decision."

"Bandai had a few prototype cartridges of it, but I don't know what happened to them after I left. They sent some to magazines to review, but as far as I know they were all returned. It's a shame that it's not available in some way for people to play now."

"Ultimate Journey was a linear 2D side scrolling action platform game. You played as a Native American who came back from hunting to discover that his tribe was slaughtered by the tribe's former apprentice medicine man who was exiled for practicing dark arts. He kidnapped the elder medicine man to gain even more power, and you set off to rescue him. The evil medicine man could possess the land's wildlife, and have it attack you to try and prevent you from reaching him. The land was also a challenge to traverse, so you had to do a lot of climbing and platforming throughout the levels. But in order to swim the treacherous waters you needed to take on the form of a fish, and in order to reach high mountains you needed to take on the form of a bird. While the elder medicine man was weak, he was still able to grant you the ability to change into these forms for a limited time. And when you finally reached the evil medicine man, the elder granted you the ability to become the ultimate warrior (bigger stronger you) to defeat him. I would compare the core gameplay to the original NES Ninja Gaiden, but not as fast. And the water and flying levels had you change into animal forms to navigate them."
Very cool information! This sounds like it would have been awesome to play.

Technically this means there is a chance no matter how slim that it's out there somewhere!

]]> Ultimate Journey NES http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=35&threadid=96944 2018-01-15T06:27:26 -05.00 Jordiway73 33 I have e-mailed with Dan MacArthur when doing my The History of Sunsoft research and asked him about Ultimate Journey.

This is what he told me about the game.

"Ultimate Journey was my original concept that I designed and produced, it was developed by Bandai Japan. It was finished, and sent to video game magazines to review. I can't recall the exact reason why Bandai decided not to release it, but as you can imagine I was greatly disappointed by that decision."

"Bandai had a few prototype cartridges of it, but I don't know what happened to them after I left. They sent some to magazines to review, but as far as I know they were all returned. It's a shame that it's not available in some way for people to play now."

"Ultimate Journey was a linear 2D side scrolling action platform game. You played as a Native American who came back from hunting to discover that his tribe was slaughtered by the tribe's former apprentice medicine man who was exiled for practicing dark arts. He kidnapped the elder medicine man to gain even more power, and you set off to rescue him. The evil medicine man could possess the land's wildlife, and have it attack you to try and prevent you from reaching him. The land was also a challenge to traverse, so you had to do a lot of climbing and platforming throughout the levels. But in order to swim the treacherous waters you needed to take on the form of a fish, and in order to reach high mountains you needed to take on the form of a bird. While the elder medicine man was weak, he was still able to grant you the ability to change into these forms for a limited time. And when you finally reached the evil medicine man, the elder granted you the ability to become the ultimate warrior (bigger stronger you) to defeat him. I would compare the core gameplay to the original NES Ninja Gaiden, but not as fast. And the water and flying levels had you change into animal forms to navigate them." ]]> Ultimate Journey NES http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=35&threadid=96944 2013-09-23T10:06:30 -05.00 Jordiway73 33 Originally posted by: Parodius Duh

Originally posted by: Greg2600

Looked like a Contra/Rygar combination, very cool.


Supposedly it was very much like the Ninja Gaiden games. Chris, please check your PMs and get back to me.  Thanks bro!


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