Elite: Acorn Archimedes vs amiga

[Soviet Conscript]

doing some research on one of my favorite games of my youth, Elite. I only played Elite for my amiga 500 growing up (apperently this version was called elite plus?) but i recently read about the prior Acorn Archimedes version and its various enhancments.

funny thing is i played Elite ALOT but i don't remember alot of specifics, i don't ever remember getting missions or tribbles or anything like that so my question is how does elite differ on the Archimedes and Amiga?

does the amiga offer the enhancments mentioned in the Archimedes version (hermits, improved enemy AI, ect..) i would assume yes since it came after but i don't remember ever seeing things like that. furthermore does the Archimedes version include the tribbles and missions? is one widely considered better then the other?

[Soviet Conscript]

nothing? supriseing seeing as we have so many UK members and that Elite was so popular

[AB Positive]

I'm curious myself, I have an A500 coming in and this was one of the first games I wanted to try out. Being a yank of course I wasn't aware of other ports.

[Soviet Conscript]

I'm curious myself, I have an A500 coming in and this was one of the first games I wanted to try out. Being a yank of course I wasn't aware of other ports.

apperently it was ported like mad, like most computer games of the day were. alot of people seem to have a fondness for the early versions on older computers but i just couldn't get into them after growing up with the amiga version that has better graphics and sound long with some other improvments. but i keep reading about the Archimedes port that is considered the "definitive" versions because of some improvments. i just want to know if those improvments were passed on to the amiga version because as best as i can remember they wern't.

[Bojay1997]

I can only tell you what I've read on Wiki, in the recent Retrogamer article and in a couple interviews with David Braben which is that the Archimedes version of Elite was originally a knock off game that was so good that it became Elite for the Archimedes to avoid legal problems and because there was a sense that the market for the game was there. I know the Amiga version of Elite came out well before the Archimedes version and doesn't have any of the special features or ships listed on the Archimedes version Wiki. As such, I think it's safe to say it's not the same or even a very similar version. On the other hand, because it did start off as another game and wasn't programmed by Braben or his associates, I would hesitate to call it the definitive version of the game.

[blue lander]

I've played the Archimedes version of Elite. I have very little experience with Elite since it was never that popular in the US, but I found the game virtually impossible to control with the mouse. But that might be because my Archimedes mouse is rather old. I've only played the Spectrum and Archimedes version, and I liked the Spectrum version better. Didn't play enough to comment on which version has more features, though.

[tom]

not many UK people played Elite on the 16 bitters, it was really popular on BBC (being the original Elite), and convesions for Spectrum, C64, with the latter being the worst version of the lot.

blue lander said Elite was not popular in USA, i read that it was actually a number 1 there (C64 version perhaps, or Apple ][?)? Anyone can confirm?

[Steve W]

Didn't Elite get released on the NES in England? I wouldn't think it would have the power to do 3D wireframes.

[blue lander]

I guess it's possible it was popular and I never heard of it (until I imported an Acorn Electron), but I don't think it was "sweeping the nation" popular like it was in the UK by any stretch of the imagination. I don't think the average kid in the mid 80's had even heard of the game.

I'm trying to decide if I should hunt down the Electron version of the game or just spend the extra cash and get a proper BBC and buy it for that instead.

[illumicon]

Hi Soviet, I have played elite in just about every form since it was first released on tape for the Beeb in 1984. I begged my father to lend me the £6 I needed to buy it - retail was £14.95

In a word -no- lol, the Amiga version of elite(+) was yet another dodgy port, the game was pretty much identical to the original 8bit version - with 'better' graphics of course, but suffered badly from being more Playable making combat ridiculously easy.

There are maybe Three 'definitive' versions of elite. Only my opinion.

Elite-A - an Incredibly hard but faithful complete re-write of the 1984 game.
in which you start life in an Adder & get to be killer at every opportunity.
In the 1984 game your Cobra was Hugely more powerful than the ships
around it - even the cobras.

In Elite-A it is NOT - god no, really so NOT. Flying the Adder is like piloting
an egg-shell. 3-4seconds is all you get, make the wrong descision and you're
Toast... Again.

It does however let you buy ships if you're patient enough to earn the cash.
You can run elite-A on BeebEm (no links sorry im being lazy) -a fantastic
emulator tho, does an Awesome job - better than the Beeb ever was :o)

ArcElite -A complete an UTTERLY FANTASIC re-write of the entire game Specifically
for Acorn Archimedes 32bit machines.

It has a lot that Elite+ never saw at all, including formation flying (and lethal
syncronised slicing by the police) the AI was EVIL at times, there were
some new mission rewards - yaw boosters etc (may have been on the amiga
too) but most of all other ships around you fight amongst themselves.

Graphically it's ok - solid 3D, simple colours. But -very- demanding and playable.
Unfortunately you could only ever fly the cobra, but its by far the best ship
overall. !arcElite should find it (Ian Bells Elite page?) & RedSquirrel will run it
very happily - as an Arm3 with Risc-os 2 or better...

Ooilte - This is a LIVE Object Oriented re-write onto Windows. Such a shame it's not
multi-player but it is, bloody gorgeous. Plays authentically & lets you trade, in
any ship you like, just like you always wanted. Lucky, lucky boi :n)

My consort wishes me to add that Oolite has OXP mod-files which allow all
sorts of additions to the game. Better/different weapons, even models from
other games - like Star-Wars... u wanna fly the Falcon?

I shan't drone on anymore, Oolite is -well worth- a look, version 1.73 is current I think.
There is also an interesting Elite Multiplayer currently under development, but I aint
played it so I can't comment.

I hope that is helpful Soviet - James, illumiconUK

[Soviet Conscript]

slightly confused. are any of those acual retail releases or just fan made games/mods?

[deMangler]

You can run elite-A on BeebEm (no links sorry im being lazy) -a fantastic
emulator tho, does an Awesome job - better than the Beeb ever was :o)



I agree beebem is great. I play many bbc games in it, especially defender, also the captain pugwash theme never sounded so good....
Please can you say how you get elite-a running in beebem. I currrently play it in beeb-in-c which is not so good. I would be much happier playing it in beebem. Thanks in advance.

[deMangler]

I agree beebem is great. I play many bbc games in it, especially defender, also the captain pugwash theme never sounded so good....
Please can you say how you get elite-a running in beebem. I currrently play it in beeb-in-c which is not so good. I would be much happier playing it in beebem. Thanks in advance.


I found a disk image on Ian Bells website (http://home.clara.net/iancgbell/elite/archive/index.htm)that works with beebem.
:)