FrontierAstro

I was pleasantly surprised by the Fantastic 4 movie. Enjoyed it way more than I expected to.

That Dalek must be *so* embarrassed.

Two-page magazine advert for Frontier Elite 2, including review excerpts and scores from seven computer game magazines, with scores ranging from 90% to 97%.

Frontier Elite 2 attracted some excellent magazine review scores when released in October 1993. Amiga Power's dissenting score of 65% is strangely absent from this advert; they described the program as "disappointing", "pointless" and "tedious". Not a game for everyone then!

They should give you a ticket for every match. Except when you play Liverpool 😉

27 different versions of the Elite computer game.

A few years ago collecting the Elite games was very affordable, but the same cannot be said now, with some crazy prices being asked on Ebay. This lot would probably cost in excess of £2500 today! 😲

Advert for Frontier Elite 2.

The big moment, in the Autumn of 1993, when Frontier Elite 2 was released for the PC, Commodore Amiga and Atari ST. A sure-fire best-seller, it expanded on the concept of Elite with missions, lots of ships to buy & fly and real-life star systems to explore. A landmark in gaming.

Magazine advert for Acornsoft Elite in 1984.

This two-page magazine advert for Elite would have whetted the gaming appetite of any BBC Micro user, back in 1984. Released in September of that year, it was the must-have Christmas game, and drew envious looks from Spectrum and Commodore 64 owners.

Ship Identification Chart - included in retail packages of Elite by Firebird.

When Firebird won the rights to publish the non-Acorn versions of Elite, they included a new Ship Identification Chart with the game. Confusingly, it included boulders and asteroids - which aren't ships - and left out the Cobra Mk I and the Worm, which are! Nice poster though.

Advert for Elite on the Acorn Archimedes.

Retail box contents for Archimedes Elite.

Ship data cards for Archimedes Elite.

On the subject of amazing extras included with computer games in the 90's, surely nothing beats Elite for the Acorn Archimedes? £40 was quite expensive at the time, but look at what you got! 😍

Full colour star map, which was included in the retail package for Frontier Elite 2 (1993).

The late 80's and early 90's were a great time for purchasing computer games, as they often came with physical extras rather than the downloads of today.
This is the beautiful star map that was included with Frontier Elite 2. I still have a framed copy of this!

BBC Elite with the original scanner design (not used on release).

BBC Elite with the new, improved scanner design.

It's amazing to think how different Elite would have looked if David Braben hadn't had his last-minute brainwave and invented a new, improved scanner for the game. Ian Bell did the coding and the iconic elliptical scanner was born.

Bulletin board from development phase of Frontier Elite 2. Offers escort duties, which didn't appear in the final game.

Frontier Elite 2 was a huge success when it was released in 1993, but this screen from a development phase shows that there were features which didn't make it into the finished game. Escort duty to Alpha Centauri? That won't be quick!

Tatung Einstein Elite - Opening Screen

Nintendo NES Elite - Opening Screen

As promised, lots more pictures and information on the Tatung Einstein and Nintendo NES versions of Elite are now online. This pretty much concludes the updates of the 8-bit Elites!
Einstein Elite - tinyurl.com/5ycfy5md
Nintendo Elite - tinyurl.com/5h4p5xua

Amstrad CPC Elite - Opening Screen

Amstrad CPC Elite - Retail Box

IBM PC Elite - Opening Screen

IBM PC Elite - Retail Box

Two more Elite updates today - the versions for the PC and Amstrad CPC. Extra pictures and detailed information for both games.

PC Elite - tinyurl.com/3rcwvdsj
Amstrad CPC Elite - tinyurl.com/4wnnvhsd

Einstein and NES Elite coming soon!

I just had a quick look through binoculars. Unable to see Saturn's rings, of course, but I love its orangey contrast to the super bright Moon.

BBC Elite - Opening Screen

BBC Master Elite - Space Battle

Acorn Electron Elite - Opening Screen

More FrontierAstro updates. This time it's a load of information about the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron versions of Elite.
BBC Elite - tinyurl.com/5t4src5k
Electron Elite - tinyurl.com/yfuh6wa2

Apple II Elite - retail box (front)

MSX Elite - retail box (front)

As part of the ongoing site updates, more information about Apple II and MSX Elite is now available!
Apple II Elite - tinyurl.com/37xn7evw
MSX Elite - tinyurl.com/33bzk9er

Screenshot of the original Elite, as seen on the back of the Acornsoft retail box in 1984.

Happy 41st birthday to Elite - the game by Ian Bell and David Braben which started a whole new genre of computer games #Elite41

Sinclair ZX Spectrum Elite by Firebird - Retail Box

Sinclair ZX Spectrum Elite by Firebird - Retail Box Contents

More information now about the Sinclair Spectrum version of Elite and how it compares to the other 8-bit incarnations. One of the most popular, but was it the best? frontierastro.co.uk/Elite/spectr...

Commodore 64 Elite - Retail Box (Front)

Commodore 64 Elite - Opening Screen

Commodore 64 Elite - Retail Box Contents

Hot on the heels of my last Elite-related post... I'm in the process of adding more information and pictures to the FrontierAstro pages covering the 8-bit versions of the game. First up - the Commodore 64, with more to come soon™ 🙂 www.frontierastro.co.uk/Elite/c64.html

Partially eclipsed Moon 07.09.2025

I managed this with my smartphone, from the loft window!

I believe there is something called ethical fois gras, which avoids the cruelty inflicted on geese by the traditional method. I hope that's what they're using.

I was so happy the first time I saw the Andromeda Galaxy through binoculars 👍🏻

Different versions of Frontier Elite 2 and Frontier First Encounters. Various languages plus releases on floppy disk and CD.

Like Elite, Frontier had a number of different versions. #FrontierElite2 was made for PC, Commodore Amiga and Atari ST, whereas #FrontierFirstEncounters only ever came out on PC. A number of different languages here, on disk and CD. The box art for the US release of FFE was by far the best.

Firebird MSX Elite - disk version

Yes, I have the disk version too.

29 versions of Elite.

It's been a while, but here's the FrontierAstro Elite games collection. Plenty of different versions in there, plus some re-issues etc. The rarest would have to be the MSX and Tatung Einstein editions, plus the Acornsoft BBC Master release.

Elite on cartridge for the ZX Spectrum computer, with interface and game box.

I'm not too familiar with the #ZXSpectrum retro scene, but I did come across this item recently: a cartridge version of #Elite together with an interface to connect it to the computer and even a tiny game box to store it in 😎