Skip to navigation

Elite on the BBC Micro and NES

About Elite-A

Information on Angus Duggan's extended version of Elite

Elite-A screenshot

Elite-A is Angus Duggan's epic extended version of Elite, and is a must-play for fans of the original.

In the late 1980s, only a few years after the original game was launched, Angus took the BBC Micro disc version, decrypted it, and disassembled it using his own hand-rolled assembly ROM fitted to a BBC Micro with a 6502 Second Processor. He then reassembled it (again with his own ROM), but only after adding an impressive array of extra features, including a unique set of new ship designs, the ability to buy and fly a selection of different ships, special cargo transport missions, an encyclopedia packed full of Elite lore, a faster version that runs on the 6502 Second Processor, and more.

It's an 8-bit coding tour de force, and comes highly recommended. Ian Bell, co-author of the original Elite, has this to say on his website:

Also available here is Angus Duggan's Elite-A, a comprehensive enhancement of BBC Elite. He created this by disassembling the object code and then reprogramming the resultant source. A significant achievement for which respect is due.

Angus used Acornsoft's VIEW word processor as his IDE, and built the whole thing without the benefit of modern tooling. A significant achievement, indeed.

I am very grateful to Angus for giving me permission to analyse his work on Elite-A, and for providing me with the original source files.

Here are some suggestions for exploring this version of Elite: