Elite

Elite is an unreleased Sega Mega Drive game developed by Hybrid Technology in 1994. It is assumed, though not confirmed, to have been an enhanced port of the 1984 BBC Micro and Acorn Electron game, Elite – numerous official ports of the game were released between 1984 and 1991, but none as late as 1994 (though a Game Boy version set to be released in the same time frame was also scrapped).

The game was announced in mid-1994 and at one point set for a November 1994 release date, however Sony pulled out of the project, leaving the game without a publisher. Despite talks of the team continuing to work on a Sega 32X version and a unique Mega Drive/32X hybrid cartridge, a publisher was never found and the project was cancelled.

Ian Bell, one of the original developers of Elite, released a very early tech demo of the Mega Drive version to the public.

Elite is a free-form space trading and combat simulation, commonly considered the progenitor of this sub-genre. The player initially controls a character referred to as “Commander Jameson”, starting at Lave Station with 100 credits and a lightly armed trading ship called Cobra Mark III. Most of the game consists of traveling to various star systems, trading with their inhabitants, gaining money and reputation. Money can also be gained by other means besides trading; these include undertaking military missions, bounty hunting, asteroid mining, and even piracy. As the player character earns money, he becomes able to upgrade his ships with enhancements such as better weapons, shields, increased cargo capacity, an automated docking system, etc.

Elite is notable for its expansive game world, consisting of eight galaxies and 256 planets. The player is free to travel to any of these planets, provided his ship has enough fuel for the trip (the ship’s fuel capacity is limited for a journey to the distance of seven light-years).