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.
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Not in ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
igdb-2951
Formats/platforms
PC DOS
Commodore C64/128
Amiga
Amstrad CPC
Atari ST/STE
Apple II
Tatung Einstein
ZX Spectrum
Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
MSX
Acorn Archimedes
BBC Microcomputer System
Acorn Electron
Subject categories
IGDB
2951