The Ultimate Arena

Wax on, wax off...

The Ultimate Arena was released in 1995 by STeam and must rank as one of the last commercial releases. It's a beat'em up and the first thing to do is choose our character: Sandy or Terry. Now we can proceed to the first match against a series of dodgy villains, each of whom has their own skillset and special abilities. Some might say it is Atari Mortal Kombat and, why not because we fight in various arenas against several lunatics whilst watched by a bloodthirsty crowd.

Each arena offers a different environment and I chuckled to myself when I noticed the electrified fence - just one touch and you're crispy burnt toast!! Each warrior has their own trippy personality with a varying degree of speed, talent and special abilities. Watch out for a T800 which I thought was really well done and there is also an Indiana Jones wannabe who is an incredibly tough opponent. Interestingly, your energy bar isn't fully replenished at the start of the following round, thus increasing longevity for determined gamers to figure out all the moves. This is a fun beat'em up!

Now let's check out a couple of screenshots of a Terminator and some silly fighting...

Whether you're Samantha Fox or a Terminator - this game is kick ass!! Love it!!

Showing off some cool moves there? Or is he just defying gravity? You decide.

Don’t forget to breathe, very important!

No beat 'em up would be worth its salt without fast and responsive controls to kick seven bells outta your opponent. The Ultimate Arena has what it takes and I found it easy to learn the various moves along with their special abilities. The two-player mode is great and allows us to play as the other characters (all except the final guy). A turbo mode is optional but I found that pointless so I cannot say I was impressed too much. Blood can also be turned on/off (what... why?)

Like Domark's Pit Fighter, each character is digitised and they try their best to look macho whilst kicking seven bells outta you. It's quite remarkable the amount of detail squeezed into each pixel with smooth animations and the backgrounds are always interesting: like the Terminator watching you on a screen and the crowd with their silly movements. However, I'm not so sure about the colour palette which is too brownish. Okay, I was tempted to let that slide but then I remembered other Atari ST games make better use of colour, ala Black Lamp. Yeah, umm, it is rather too brown!

Let's kick, punch and electrify through a couple more screenshots...

Kick people to death while they're already being electrocuted. It's all allowed!!

Or just pounce from a great height until they are splattered. All good fun!

The CryptO'pinion?

As I've said in the past, I'm no expert when it comes to beat 'em up games. However, I am genuinely shocked at how much fun I've had with this Mortal Kombat wannabe. I half expected it to suck, especially being released long after the gaming side of the ST had died. Surprisingly, even though the STe has no hardware to move the sprites, it's shockingly brisk and lively. A delightful game and a possible replacement for Double Dragon 3 as my favourite game?

Also, I love how it doesn't take itself too seriously and the fact I can try my luck against a Terminator is kinda cool. It's obvious that a lot of hard work and love went into its production - and all during the twilight years which is extra impressive. Beating the hell out of digitised guys is a great way to spend a couple of hours!! Play this.

The floppies can be found via Old Games Finder. (but stay away from the beta downloads as they are rubbish!)