Ahh memories. Unless you are old enough to have played this game when it was new and fresh you have no idea how freaked out the sound of incoming fire or being in which space it made you. :)
In the 80's, let it be known, I blew up a TV screen playing this awesome game with such devoted rigour. I believe it was the first truly awesome 'First Person Shootem Up'. I just want to thank David Braben and Ian Bell for their epic vision. It hasn't gone forgotten. I even got an email from David Braben once after I messaged him asking if the space ships were based on star constellations. I had looked into the night sky, stoned as a hero, and seen, ELITE.
Thanks for posting. Brings back so many memories. I brought this game for my electron on a Sunday from the silica shop. Sidcup. Kent. The shop was closed however a few long hair techies were building circuits in the store and let me in.
This game was awesome. It came with a thick instruction manual and a poster with all of the different ships in the universe. I played this way too much. Why are there no games that match the storyline of something like this?
I think back to my early teens when this game was out and the hours of fun myself and my brother had. We had the computer in the dining room and would turn all the lights off and it was like we were there. Still to this day I don't think there is anything that comes close in terms of gameplay. Despite the fact it was pretty basic, it was destined to be a classic, and will always be up there as a game that has so many happy memories :)
Don't forget that the BBC Micro B and B+ and a 6502 processor which ran at an 2MHz :D The thing which made it a greta computer of the time was that it had built in VIA chips which allowed it to do amazing software/hardware stuff (for the time).
OMG!! I'd completely forgotten about this game until recently while finding out about Elite:Dangerous. Such progress, but many hours were spent playing the original and at the time is was considered one of the best games around lol
@M4Mnetwork It's worth holding off on the energy bomb; if you take out the motherships with your lasers and you have some spare room in your cargo bay, you can pick up the deactivated Thargoid drones with your fuel scoop and sell them as 'Alien items'. Half the time I got intercepted by Thargoids though, I didn't have enough hyperdrive fuel left to get to the nearest star system, so I was stuck in deep space and had to eject or load from my last save.
@Myriadis Sorry wrong this was out way way before PC's were used in the home, this game was made for a machine called the Acorn BBC micro model B computer with 32k of memory, running a 1.8 Mhz, PC's back then were huge and filled rooms. This was a time when programing computers was a real art and not just a mish mash of codeing like we have now.
Thanks for this! As a kid, my heart skipped a beat when the game-play went silent momentarily indicating that I'd hit witch space and the inevitable Thargoid attack. This clip brings back those memories. You did an excellent job! This part of the game was about keeping cool and remaining focused on the task.You lost your front shield in a few seconds, but stuck to your guns (beam laser) :-) Woe betide anyone with just a pulse laser!
So excited about the sequel. If you could somehow imagine modern graphics and effects and stuff this game on its own would more than stand up against anything released in the last 20 years. You should understand therefore how excited I am about a sequel from the legendary David Braben. Where is Ian Bell though?
The creator is on Kickstarter, after some pledges so that he can create a new game based on this old one. Since TH-cam won't let me post links, search Elite: Dangerous on Kickstarter.
Developer Marcus Pearson of mine-craft fame has a game codenamed 'Mars Effect' theres no real progress stated on it, just a placeholder website explaining some ideas. It's going to be very-very heavily inspired by Elite
@Zeanu That's not Microsoft Flight Simulator, that's SubLOGIC FS 1. It is created by SubLOGIC. It was written on Apple II in 1980 and ported to TRS-80 in the same year. Two years later, in 1982 microsoft licensed the game and ported it to IBM PC. That port and it's sequels are m$fs. But anyway neither was the first 3D game. It was Maze War in 1973 on an Imlac PDS-1 machine at NASA.
@robjbray Yes, I always wish they would redo this, modern graphics but just the same basic game, no overly complicated controls, cut scenes etc! We can but hope...
@CreedOfTheRanger Definitely, there was a set of missions to achieve and stuff, but you didn't even see them until you reached a certain elite level so you had to build up your ship and travel the galaxy looking for the best trade routes and eventually save up enough for a galactic hyperdrive. Frontier: Elite 2 was even better (you could land on planets and buy different types of ships).
I thougt Elite was quite hard to play, i have it on the ZX Spectrum, i really admire the vision from Braben and Bell to make such a game, being bedroom programmers in there late teens, amazing. I really enjoyed Frontier Eilte II for the PC and Amiga, played it for months trying mining, slaving and pirating lol fantastic game, way ahead of its time. Sort of game that sould be re-engineered for the PS3/Xbox/PC with better graphics and the online aspect would make it a modern gem.
@TharTassakahn Actually, it's not impossible, but it's harder. Unlike Elite, real physics is involved, so once you get a lot of thrust in one direction it becomes VERY hard to turn. Of course if you're going 1/3rd the speed of light you're not going to stop on a dime and do a 180 degree turn or anything.
wow this game is massive, I remember getting totally lost when I tried it back when it was released, I could not afford a BBC Micro so was stuffed! ;-) sounds corny but I will write it anyway "they sure dont make em like this any more" there said it!
Huh? I don't remember that ship! 4 lasers? I thought you only got the 2... what's happening to my childhood? Seriously though, is that just what the different game was? I'm used to being stuck with the Cobra and only having 2 lasers up front. Edit: I think I might be misremembering. Maybe there were 4 beams close together so I thought it was only 2 beams as a kid...
did they have tese games in the usa or was it just in england this is the first time ive seen it in colour. i only had a black and white tv to use as a monitor. none of this HD lead etc shit back then. good times simple times elite was good. repton was better
Eve`s battles are not the same as in elite, though i believe trading is similar. Besides, who wants to pay a subscription for a video game these days when there are so many quality games out there that don`t need money pumped into them month after month? Elite: Dangerous is coming from braben and Frontier developments if the target funding is met on kickstarter. This will have single and multiplayer gameplay.My money is already pledged!
Elite style games that get it right are difficult to find. Also besides Oolite (An open source, updated version of Elite), expecting a game like this to be released for single player mode is just wishful thinking. Everything is gonna be online. Freelancer had a ridicules story mode (which force you from the start to go aboard, and not simply make the whole story optional), and an online mode that was actually more challenging.
Why don't you just buy a fuel scoop? You can get fuel if you have a fuel scoop by flying close to the sun✧ which will save you a lot of credits on fuel. Just like this ☺ watch?v=NR7NIwY5y1A
Brings back fond memories of one of my 1980s obsessions on a BBC Micro.
And now look at the new Elite: Dangerous. What a massive difference!!
Ahh memories. Unless you are old enough to have played this game when it was new and fresh you have no idea how freaked out the sound of incoming fire or being in which space it made you. :)
In the 80's, let it be known, I blew up a TV screen playing this awesome game with such devoted rigour.
I believe it was the first truly awesome 'First Person Shootem Up'.
I just want to thank David Braben and Ian Bell for their epic vision.
It hasn't gone forgotten.
I even got an email from David Braben once after I messaged him asking if the space ships were based on star constellations. I had looked into the night sky, stoned as a hero, and seen, ELITE.
Thanks for posting. Brings back so many memories. I brought this game for my electron on a Sunday from the silica shop. Sidcup. Kent. The shop was closed however a few long hair techies were building circuits in the store and let me in.
Ah that noise :-) Good old BBC Master - I learnt to program BBC Basic and machine code on that, as well as Elite of course! Thanks for the memories.
The BBC didn't get very many games, but it was a really solid machine, both physically and to learn to program on.
I reached Elite, it took me six months and required the player to destroy over 250,000 ships. First game to ever make pull an all nighter.
Classic game! Bring back the old childhood memories.
I remember spending hundreds of hours playing Elite - so far ahead of anything else at the time!
argh! a jump to witch space always made me feel physically sick!
My number 1 game of all time! Even after many hours I never made it past Deadly, and it still amazes me how anyone can really reach Elite status :)
Yes Elite have always been The One game for me, too. Damn I'm happy about E Dangerous too
This game was awesome. It came with a thick instruction manual and a poster with all of the different ships in the universe. I played this way too much. Why are there no games that match the storyline of something like this?
STILL one of my favourite games of all time. Just awesome even today.
I think back to my early teens when this game was out and the hours of fun myself and my brother had. We had the computer in the dining room and would turn all the lights off and it was like we were there.
Still to this day I don't think there is anything that comes close in terms of gameplay. Despite the fact it was pretty basic, it was destined to be a classic, and will always be up there as a game that has so many happy memories :)
I may be young but this game looks incredible
A friend and me we both got to Elite and sent of to Bluebird for our Elite Badges have mine still knocking around here somewhere.
That Thargoid attack looked really awesome. This is an old game but a good one.
Don't forget that the BBC Micro B and B+ and a 6502 processor which ran at an 2MHz :D
The thing which made it a greta computer of the time was that it had built in VIA chips which allowed it to do amazing software/hardware stuff (for the time).
OMG!! I'd completely forgotten about this game until recently while finding out about Elite:Dangerous. Such progress, but many hours were spent playing the original and at the time is was considered one of the best games around lol
Andrew James The best not one of......lol
this game was a revolution back in those days.....
This was one of the games I have played at secondary school.
I remember once destroying a Thargoid ship with a rear pulse laser. It took over 10 minutes of shooting at it.
thanks for posting havent seen this one in years.
If ever there was a game that needed to be remade as an MMO version, this is it. :-)
@M4Mnetwork It's worth holding off on the energy bomb; if you take out the motherships with your lasers and you have some spare room in your cargo bay, you can pick up the deactivated Thargoid drones with your fuel scoop and sell them as 'Alien items'. Half the time I got intercepted by Thargoids though, I didn't have enough hyperdrive fuel left to get to the nearest star system, so I was stuck in deep space and had to eject or load from my last save.
I like how your first move is to literally leave the Coriolis station and jump to a new system xD
Apparently the much rumoured Elite III will be along those lines, but only David Braben knows for sure!
This was the game that got me gaming..!!
@Myriadis Sorry wrong this was out way way before PC's were used in the home, this game was made for a machine called the Acorn BBC micro model B computer with 32k of memory, running a 1.8 Mhz, PC's back then were huge and filled rooms. This was a time when programing computers was a real art and not just a mish mash of codeing like we have now.
Woah,and this game is just around 20 kilobytes big?That's indeed some Genius Programming.
Thanks for this!
As a kid, my heart skipped a beat when the game-play went silent momentarily indicating that I'd hit witch space and the inevitable Thargoid attack. This clip brings back those memories.
You did an excellent job! This part of the game was about keeping cool and remaining focused on the task.You lost your front shield in a few seconds, but stuck to your guns (beam laser) :-)
Woe betide anyone with just a pulse laser!
Part of me misses the innonence of the era when 3D games were state of the art. :p
@TheBazzUnit Look up Rescue on Fractalus, Koronis Rift and The Eidolon... all 3D in various ways, solid graphics too, and all released before Elite.
So excited about the sequel.
If you could somehow imagine modern graphics and effects and stuff this game on its own would more than stand up against anything released in the last 20 years.
You should understand therefore how excited I am about a sequel from the legendary David Braben. Where is Ian Bell though?
Well, no, that was Battlezone, but Elite was the first open-ended 3D space game, for sure.
so, is this the game that has been reworked? if so, holy crap.
This is a game which never saw release on the TI-99a nor the Atari XL/XE computers. Why?
The creator is on Kickstarter, after some pledges so that he can create a new game based on this old one. Since TH-cam won't let me post links, search Elite: Dangerous on Kickstarter.
I'd love to see this on PS3. Exactly the same game, exactly the same physics and playability just fantastic graphics.
Developer Marcus Pearson of mine-craft fame has a game codenamed 'Mars Effect'
theres no real progress stated on it, just a placeholder website explaining some ideas.
It's going to be very-very heavily inspired by Elite
what a beautiful game....
i was always jealous of my mates bbc versions, the frame rate/speed was way better than the spectrum
Yeah, captain - I remember that, too :))
`wicked!! you got yourself 150 credits or so with those Alien Items.
Can't wait for the new version!!!
@Zeanu
That's not Microsoft Flight Simulator, that's SubLOGIC FS 1. It is created by SubLOGIC. It was written on Apple II in 1980 and ported to TRS-80 in the same year.
Two years later, in 1982 microsoft licensed the game and ported it to IBM PC. That port and it's sequels are m$fs.
But anyway neither was the first 3D game. It was Maze War in 1973 on an Imlac PDS-1 machine at NASA.
@robjbray Yes, I always wish they would redo this, modern graphics but just the same basic game, no overly complicated controls, cut scenes etc! We can but hope...
@CreedOfTheRanger Definitely, there was a set of missions to achieve and stuff, but you didn't even see them until you reached a certain elite level so you had to build up your ship and travel the galaxy looking for the best trade routes and eventually save up enough for a galactic hyperdrive.
Frontier: Elite 2 was even better (you could land on planets and buy different types of ships).
I thougt Elite was quite hard to play, i have it on the ZX Spectrum, i really admire the vision from Braben and Bell to make such a game, being bedroom programmers in there late teens, amazing.
I really enjoyed Frontier Eilte II for the PC and Amiga, played it for months trying mining, slaving and pirating lol fantastic game, way ahead of its time. Sort of game that sould be re-engineered for the PS3/Xbox/PC with better graphics and the online aspect would make it a modern gem.
I used to spend hours on this game. And used to shit myself when the Thargoids yanked me into witch space.
It was probably hard to play on the Spectrum because your fingers kept bouncing off the rubber keys.
@TharTassakahn Actually, it's not impossible, but it's harder. Unlike Elite, real physics is involved, so once you get a lot of thrust in one direction it becomes VERY hard to turn. Of course if you're going 1/3rd the speed of light you're not going to stop on a dime and do a 180 degree turn or anything.
wow this game is massive, I remember getting totally lost when I tried it back when it was released, I could not afford a BBC Micro so was stuffed! ;-) sounds corny but I will write it anyway "they sure dont make em like this any more" there said it!
I had made it to "deadly" but no matter how many ships I blew up I never got to "elite"
@robjbray EVE online does a decent job of emulating Elite's "infinite space" atmosphere (Mainly because the producers of it were inspired by Elite)
Elite 4 is an urban myth.
watch with FF7 soundtrack going...its amazing...
Cassette, PHA, I had the 5.25 inch floppy version. :-p
Crescendo.. I know your comment is like 3 years old and I can't reply but all the games you named came out in 1985. Elite was 1984.
I made it to *** ELITE *** status on my old Spectrum Plus. :)
A new version of Elite is being developed visit Kickstarter or google search for Elite: Dangerous
Pledge your support
Have you ever heard about Ev Nova?
Could it be possible to do shaded polygons with the BBC Master?
Ditto, I made Deadly, and then got fed up trying. :(
Sounds depressingly familiar. :(
wow these computers were pretty fast...
Would this be considered a sandbox game? I sense some form of roaming..
Eve Online is its heir.
Huh? I don't remember that ship! 4 lasers? I thought you only got the 2... what's happening to my childhood?
Seriously though, is that just what the different game was? I'm used to being stuck with the Cobra and only having 2 lasers up front.
Edit: I think I might be misremembering. Maybe there were 4 beams close together so I thought it was only 2 beams as a kid...
Read more about the video game Elite at the gaming site 80scomputergamecom!
did they have tese games in the usa or was it just in england
this is the first time ive seen it in colour. i only had a black and white tv to use as a monitor. none of this HD lead etc shit back then. good times simple times
elite was good. repton was better
scoop the tharglets!
yeah but this game ran on 24kb of ram
@robjbray ever heard of eve online?
the original sandbox game, GTA = "elite in a city"
Eve`s battles are not the same as in elite, though i believe trading is similar. Besides, who wants to pay a subscription for a video game these days when there are so many quality games out there that don`t need money pumped into them month after month?
Elite: Dangerous is coming from braben and Frontier developments if the target funding is met on kickstarter. This will have single and multiplayer gameplay.My money is already pledged!
play Eve online, its the best game since Elite, and has many of the same qualities just a 'modern' version
the hours i spent on this and repton. God they look crap now
THARGOID!!!!!!!
Elite style games that get it right are difficult to find.
Also besides Oolite (An open source, updated version of Elite), expecting a game like this to be released for single player mode is just wishful thinking. Everything is gonna be online. Freelancer had a ridicules story mode (which force you from the start to go aboard, and not simply make the whole story optional), and an online mode that was actually more challenging.
Pew Pew Pew!
Yeah
@ThePeeper1968 Search either You Tube or the web for Infinity Universe.
EVE Online prequel :)
I would have just dropped an energy bomb
why so slow?!
@robjbray eve online anyone?
No.
witch
Why don't you just buy a fuel scoop? You can get fuel if you have a fuel scoop by flying close to the sun✧ which will save you a lot of credits on fuel. Just like this ☺ watch?v=NR7NIwY5y1A