The greatest game ever made for the BBC Micro - that's always been the general consensus for Elite and who am I to fly in the face of that? Yes, Elite - that seminal game from Acornsoft, developed by David Braben and Ian Bell - soars to the top of the list and claims the number one spot in my Top 85 Games for the BBC Micro series. The space trading and dogfighting game has been ported and enhanced for many years since, but it was on the Beeb that this game first came to the attention of the world. Bursting with creative and innovative coding, this really pushed the BBC Micro to its limits to create something incredible. Possibly the first ever open-ended game, Elite would pave the way for a whole genre to come in its wake. Truly a tour de force in the gaming world, it had to be the one to win gold.

If you want to play Elite, I highly recommend the flicker-free version produced by Mark Moxon. You can download and play that version here: https://www.bbcelite.com/disc/

You can also delve into the 6502 source code for Elite, expertly annotated by Mark on his website here: https://www.bbcelite.com/

CREDITS

Cosmic Glow, an original piece of music, from Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/music/ambient-cosmic-glow-6703/

Starfield video, also from Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/videos/starfield-personal-location-16870/

Spaceship video, from Dantegráfico: https://pixabay.com/videos/spacecraft-stars-universe-cosmos-82659/

Space tunnel video, from SAHN_VIT: https://pixabay.com/videos/tunnel-space-abstract-science-line-23411/

Comedy piano music from LesFM.net: https://lesfm.net/track/comedy/