Honouring the Legacy: A Nostalgic Look at the Original Elite on BBC Micro

Welcome to a special episode on Spacefaring Chronicles! 🚀 Today, we’re paying tribute to the game that started it all: Elite on the BBC Micro. As a lifelong fan of space exploration, I’m taking a nostalgic dive into the original Elite box from the 1980s, exploring its contents, and sharing my personal memories of playing this groundbreaking game.

We’ll take a look back at what made Elite so revolutionary, from its wireframe graphics to its open-world gameplay that set the stage for space simulators. I’ll also talk about the incredible impact the game had on the industry and how it influenced the creation of Elite Dangerous decades later.

Whether you're an old-school gamer or curious about the roots of the Elite series, this homage to the original game is a must-watch for any fan of space games. Let’s take a journey back to where it all began! 🌌

#EliteDangerous #BBCMicroElite #GamingHistory #SpaceSim #nostalgia

00:00 Introduction
00:28 Acornsoft Games
00:38 BBC Micro Elite Appears
00:58 Elite Game Development
02:10 Elite Gameplay
02:33 Box Art
02:53 Game Manual
03:21 Dark Wheel Novella
03:50 Keyboard Quick Reference Card
04:19 Ship Identification Poster
05:20 Controlling the Game
06:08 The Micro User Article
06:19 After the BBC Micro
06:46 Elite Dangerous
07:25 Conclusion

[philkitty]

I played on an Acorn Electron, it was all in black and white, no coloured HUD and I don't think it had military lasers or WhichSpace due to Acorn spec limits, but what a game!

[actuallySHRIKE]

Despite being 30 years apart, i felt the very same way booting up Elite on my Xbox. Being a child with an entire galaxy at your fingertips, not much else compares.

[Zeenixx]

This is so funny, I also got a BBC computer when I was a kid and played Elite on it, returned for a year ago but have not really had the time to get into the game before now. Thank you! 😃

[Mecha_Gear]

I remember coming from school, loading up Elite on that C64 and making some coffee in the meantime, because loading from a Datasette would give you enough time to do this and more.

[diagonalcircle]

Great video, I started my elite journey on the Amiga 500. Still flying. Elite making a true galaxy as far as humanly possible remains an amazing feat. Also, the sound design in Dangerous is just beyond belief! Hope to see you in the black.

[emmjaye]

Even today the game remains a technical wonder. You can't deny that a 1:1 ratio recreation of the Galaxy is an amazing feat. I read somewhere that since the Kickstarter, players have only explored about 0.003% of said Galaxy. That may not look like a huge number, but when you consider the size of the Galaxy, that's actually a whooping percentage of the Galaxy.