By Olivia Richman,Paul McNally

Copyright escapistmagazine

Elite is probably the first home computer game that captured my imagination to any great level. When you look back at the wireframe graphics and janky, difficult controls, it should have been consigned to distant memory like so many other games from the era. For whatever reason, David Braben and Ian Bell’s video game space opera got right into your head. You were Captain Jameson, and you were the one who decided how you would live your spacefaring life. Would you run narcotics between systems and run the risk of a run-in with the law? Or do you ferry medical supplies instead? Whatever you chose to do, it was exactly that, your choice.

Elite has lived on through a few follow-ups, and currently, Elite Dangerous is still out there after nearly a decade, but there is still a soft spot for the original. In fact, I have an original disc copy of the Amstrad CPC version within arm’s reach on my shelf as I type this.

So, with that said, the news that this very same original 8-bit version is getting some new love is heart-warming, as a dev called Rensoupp has released an early beta for the trusty old Atari XL/XE, probably the least popular of the computers at the time.

Based on the tape version of the original BBC Micro version, which was the only game I ever played in school, it is unlikely this will ever get completed or released, but as a proof of concept, it is a testament to the skill on show here.

According to Indie Retro News, who discovered the port, the latest on this is, “This port doesn’t allow saving progress, has little sound, and is generally untested. It was merely an interesting dive into digital archeology. Performance on the A8 is decent, even though its CPU is about 30% slower than the BBC Micro’s when using hires graphics mode. This version retains the 192 scanlines screen height of the original, unlike the C64, which uses 144, a relevant parameter when drawing lines. Some optimizations and features, such as reduced flickering, were backported from other versions of the game. Extra optimizations were added to reach a playable state, but there is room for plenty more, requiring even more work.”

You can check out the Elite beta right here.