Welcome to Ultima 101

WingNuts, are you curious about how the other half lives? Well, for the past two years a YouTuber named Majuular has been putting together spectacularly detailed histories and playthroughs of the entire Ultima series, starting with Akalabeth and recently reaching 1993's Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds. These videos are well researched, well produced and thoroughly entertaining… even though each one is hours long! You can find the complete playlist here. Here are a few options that might be of special interest to Wing Commander fans... though it's really worth starting from the beginning as the story of Ultima is significantly the story of Origin Systems itself!

Ultima VII: The Black Gate includes what is probably the most famous Wing Commander crossover, a side quest which includes an appearance by Prince Thrakhath's Bloodfang starfighter trapped in a cornfield!

Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss has a smaller Wing Commander Easter egg: the phrase "you cannot defeat the Drakhri" (sic) scrawled on the wall of the game's deepest dungeon.

Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds has a race of cat people it says are descended from the Kilrathi!

Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny has a cameo from Chris Roberts, who helped develop the game before he created Wing Commander!

Ultima VII Part 2: Serpent Isle was intended to feature an area called Cat Island featuring a storyline that tied in to Wing Commander, but it was largely cut during development.

Ultima VI: The False Prophet features the universe-hopping Segallion, initially created by Todd Michael Porter and featured in Knights of Legend. Segallion shows up in Wing Commander I as a Tiger's Claw redshirt and the name of a star system!

Seggallion also shows up in Ultima V and Worlds of Ultima: The Savage Empire.