Elite
- Genres
- Shooter Simulator Strategy
- Platforms
- DOS · Commodore C64/128/MAX · Amiga · Nintendo Entertainment System · Amstrad CPC · ZX Spectrum · MSX · Atari ST/STE · BBC Microcomputer System · Apple II · Acorn Archimedes · Acorn Electron · Tatung Einstein
- Release
- BBC Microcomputer System Sep 20, 1984 Acorn Electron 1984 Month only Apple II 1985 Month only Commodore C64/128/MAX 1985 Month only ZX Spectrum 1985 Month only Amstrad CPC 1986 Month only DOS 1987 Month only MSX 1987 Month only Tatung Einstein 1987 Month only Amiga 1988 Month only Atari ST/STE 1988 Month only Acorn Archimedes 1991 Month only Nintendo Entertainment System 1991 Month only
- Credits
-
I
Imagineer
FD
Frontier Developments
DI
Digital Integration
A
Acornsoft
F
Firebird
HT
Hybrid Technology
MM
Mr. Micro
MS
Merlin Software U.K.
RG
Realtime Games Software Ltd.
T
Torus
IB
Ian Bell
DB
David Braben
- Board status
- —
About
Elite is a space trading video game, written and developed by David Braben and Ian Bell and originally published by Acornsoft for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron computers in September 1984. Elite's open-ended game model, and revolutionary 3D graphics led to it being ported to virtually every contemporary home computer system, and earned it a place as a classic and a genre maker in gaming history. The game's title derives from one of the player's goals of raising their combat rating to the exalted heights of "Elite". Elite was one of the first home computer games to use wire-frame 3D graphics with hidden line removal. It added graphics and twitch gameplay aspects to the genre established by the 1974 game Star Trader. Another novelty was the inclusion of The Dark Wheel, a novella by Robert Holdstock which gave players insight into the moral and legal codes to which they might aspire.
