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Elite on the BBC Micro and NES

About the Electron version of Elite

Information on the cut-down version of Elite for the Beeb's little brother

Electron Elite screenshot

Although it isn't a BBC-branded machine, the Acorn Electron is very much cut from the same cloth as the BBC Micro, so it's no surprise that Elite was released for the Electron only a matter of weeks after the original BBC Micro version.

Unfortunately, because the Electron doesn't contain a 6845 CRTC chip like the BBC Micro, the screen mode can't be reprogrammed in the same way, so the memory-saving square screen mode of the BBC version had to be dropped, along with a few core features that would no longer fit into the reduced memory available.

The Electron version of Elite is essentially a cut-down version of the cassette version that's missing the split-screen mode, suns and Thargoids, but otherwise it is still very much Elite. It is also noticeably slower than the BBC Micro version, but that arguably makes it a bit easier to play.

Here are some suggestions for exploring this version of Elite: