Data
Production and development information for all published versions of Elite can be found here. The information is displayed in year and production order. Missing information will hopefully be rectified in future updates.
Apparently the MSX disk version was only available direct from TelecomSoft as an upgrade to the cassette version, and the Spectrum Opus Discovery disk version was only available via Boots The Chemist.
Click here to learn more about the barcodes and what they show us.
| Title: | Elite |
| Format: | Commodore 64 |
| Year: | 1985 |
| Media: |  |
| Code: | Ian Bell & David Braben |
| Graphics: | Ian Bell & David Braben |
| Music: | David Dunn & Aidan Bell |
| RRP: | £14.95 |
| Range: | Full Price |
| Label: | Firebird Gold |
| Barcode: |  |
| Production Group: | 0 |
| Production Number: | 205 |
| Title: | Elite |
| Format: | Commodore 64 |
| Year: | 1985 |
| Media: |  |
| Media size: | 5.25 inch |
| Code: | Ian Bell & David Braben |
| Graphics: | Ian Bell & David Braben |
| Music: | David Dunn & Aidan Bell |
| RRP: | £17.95 |
| Range: | Full Price |
| Label: | Firebird Gold |
| Barcode: |  |
| Production Group: | 0 |
| Production Number: | 206 |
| Title: | Elite |
| Format: | Spectrum 48k |
| Year: | 1985 |
| Media: | |
| Code: | Torus |
| Graphics: | Torus |
| Music: | |
| RRP: | £14.95 |
| Range: | Full Price |
| Label: | Firebird Gold |
| Barcode: |  |
| Production Group: | 0 |
| Production Number: | 207 |
| Title: | Elite |
| Format: | Spectrum 48/128k |
| Year: | 1986 |
| Media: | |
| Code: | Torus |
| Graphics: | Torus |
| Music: | |
| RRP: | £14.95 |
| Range: | Full Price |
| Label: | Firebird Gold |
| Barcode: | |
| Production Group: | 0 |
| Production Number: | 207 |
| Title: | Elite |
| Format: | Spectrum (Opus Discovery) |
| Year: | 1986 |
| Media: | |
| Media size: | 3.5 inch |
| Code: | Torus |
| Graphics: | Torus |
| Music: | |
| RRP: | £ |
| Range: | Full Price |
| Label: | Firebird Gold |
| Barcode: | |
| Production Group: | 0 |
| Production Number: | 207 |
| Title: | Elite |
| Format: | Amstrad CPC |
| Year: | 1986 |
| Media: | |
| Code: | Torus |
| Graphics: | Torus |
| Music: | |
| RRP: | £9.95 |
| Range: | Full Price |
| Label: | Firebird Gold |
| Barcode: |  |
| Production Group: | 0 |
| Production Number: | 208 |
| Title: | Elite |
| Format: | Amstrad CPC |
| Year: | 1986 |
| Media: | |
| Media size: | 3 inch |
| Code: | Torus |
| Graphics: | Torus |
| Music: | |
| RRP: | £12.95 |
| Range: | Full Price |
| Label: | Firebird Gold |
| Barcode: |  |
| Production Group: | 0 |
| Production Number: | 209 |
| Title: | Elite |
| Format: | MSX |
| Year: | 1987 |
| Media: | |
| Code: | Mr Micro |
| Graphics: | Mr Micro |
| Music: | |
| RRP: | £ |
| Range: | Full Price |
| Label: | Firebird Gold |
| Barcode: |  |
| Production Group: | 1 |
| Production Number: | 109 |
| Title: | Elite |
| Format: | MSX |
| Year: | 1987 |
| Media: | |
| Code: | Mr Micro |
| Graphics: | Mr Micro |
| Music: | |
| RRP: | £ |
| Range: | Full Price |
| Label: | Firebird Gold |
| Barcode: |  |
| Production Group: | 1 |
| Production Number: | 110 |
| Title: | Elite |
| Format: | IBM PC |
| Year: | 1987 |
| Media: | |
| Media size: | 3.5 inch |
| Code: | Realtime Games Software Ltd |
| Graphics: | Realtime Games Software Ltd |
| Music: | |
| RRP: | £24.95 |
| Range: | Full Price |
| Label: | Firebird |
| Barcode: |  |
| Production Group: | 0 |
| Production Number: | 299 |
| Title: | Elite |
| Format: | Atari ST |
| Year: | 1988 |
| Media: | |
| Media size: | 3.5 inch |
| Code: | Mr Micro |
| Graphics: | Mr Micro |
| Music: | Wally Beben |
| RRP: | £24.95 |
| Range: | Full Price |
| Label: | Firebird |
| Barcode: |  |
| Production Group: | 0 |
| Production Number: | 13 |
| Title: | Elite |
| Format: | Commodore Amiga |
| Year: | 1988 |
| Media: | |
| Media size: | 3.5 inch |
| Code: | Mr Micro |
| Graphics: | Mr Micro |
| Music: | Wally Beben |
| RRP: | £24.95 |
| Range: | Full Price |
| Label: | Firebird |
| Barcode: |  |
| Production Group: | 0 |
| Production Number: | 14 |
| Title: | Elite Plus |
| Format: | IBM PC |
| Year: | 1991 |
| Media: | |
| Media size: | 3.5 inch |
| Code: | Chris Sawyer & Realtime Games Software Ltd |
| Graphics: | Mark L. Scott |
| Music: | David Lowe |
| RRP: | £ |
| Range: | Full Price |
| Label: | Rainbird |
| Barcode: |  |
| Production Group: | 24 |
| Production Number: | 18 |
I was always intrigued by Elite back in my Speccy days, but despite rave reviews, I never bought it.
A few years later, I was in a used game store and found the ST version fairly cheap, so I picked it up - and I’m glad I did.
I loved the open-endedness of the game - pick a system and go - “out there - thataway!” as Kirk says at the end of the first ‘Star Trek’ movie.. (Well, as far as your funds and fuel will take you.. A concept that was obviously nicked by ‘Star Control 2’ - which is another great spacefaring game - and is now open-source! Google it!)
I really enjoyed the physics - like having to match rotation with the Coriolis space stations in order to dock (blatantly nicked from 2001 - a space odyssey) - but of course I bought a docking computer ASAP! 🙂
I also liked how you could go from being running scared in the first instance (like if you came up against a Thargoid, Viper or Wolf MkII, which would likely wipe the floor with you if you only had a pulse laser) and eventually turned it around once you made the credits to acquire a military laser and could start hunting them down.
The only minor gripe I would have with it is that I don’t think there’s any way to finish the game, so you’re just blasting through space forever..