Game entry

Elite

1984 · Simulation, FPS, Sandbox, Strategy · DOS, NES, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Amiga, Apple II, ZX Spectrum, MSX, Amstrad CPC, Acorn Archimedes, BBC Microcomputer System, Acorn Electron, Tatung Einstein · Hybrid Technology

Elite is ranked no. 3,931 among the best video games of all time by GameForever voters, with an ELO score of 1,411 and 25% of duels won.

World rank

no. 3,931

ELO score

1,411

Wins

25%

Duels played

36

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About Elite

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.