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Elite: "The game that couldn't be written"

Alexander the ok · documentary · Watch on YouTube

Game history & retro gamingDemoscene & retrocomputingComputer graphics & rendering

What it is

An hour-long video essay on Elite, the 1984 BBC Micro game by David Braben and Ian Bell. It covers how they fit a 3D engine, economy and universe into 22KB on a 2MHz 6502.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN commenters recommend it as an amazing overview of the technical feats and history behind Elite, and cite it for what the 6502 could do.

  • 2 people recommended it
  • 2 different months
  • 1 strong recommendations
  • first 2024, last 2025

What HN commenters said

  1. “has an amazing video on this”

    Amazing overview with historical facts on Elite.

    hyperbrainer, 2025-02 · Strong recommendation · in “Elite on the 6502: The original 6502 assembly source, heavily commented”

  2. “An hour long video essay about the classic game Elite, the BBC Micro”

    Hour-long essay on how Elite delivered open-world 3D in the 1980s.

    maxbond, 2024-04 · Recommendation · in “Oolite: An open source open-world space opera”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: elite, bbc micro, 6502, retro games, 3d graphics

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