Elite Systems
is a British
video game
developer and publisher established in 1984 as
Richard Wilcox Software
.
[1]
It is known for producing
home computer
conversions of popular
arcade games
.
[2]
Elite also published compilations of games on the
Hit-Pak
label and budget price re-releases on the
Encore
label.
History
[
edit
]
Under the name
Richard Wilcox Software
, only one title was published:
Blue Thunder
for the
ZX Spectrum
,
Atari 8-bit computers
, and
Commodore 64
. In August 1984, the group was relaunched as
Elite Systems
,
[3]
expanding the team to include graphic designers Rory Green and Jon Harrison; programmers Neil A. Bate, Chris Harvey, Andy Williams and Stephen Lockley; administrators Paul Smith and Pat Maisey; and Wilcox's brother Steve handled sales and marketing.
[1]
Its first release under the new Elite Systems label was
Kokotoni Wilf
,
[1]
which also carried the first of their anti-counterfeiting holograms on the cassette inlay card.
[3]
By 1986, the company was developing many home computer licenses of arcade machines. Their
Aldridge
-based headquarters housed a row of arcade cabinets for games that were being converted. Their hardware had been hacked so the team could analyse the games to ensure an accurate, licensed conversion.
[2]
Three of their conversions,
Commando
,
Ghosts 'n Goblins
and
Paperboy
, were among the UK's top ten best-selling home video games of 1986.
[4]
At the 1986
Golden Joystick Awards
, Elite was awarded "Software House of the Year" by
Computer and Video Games
magazine
[5]
and received a "Game of the Year" award for
Paperboy
from the British software industry the following year.
[6]
Elite launched its first budget label,
£2.99 Classics
in July 1986
[6]
achieving chart success with re-releases of older titles from other software houses such as
Scuba Dive
,
Full Throttle
and
Skool Daze
. The label was closed before the end of the year when developers took legal action against the company for non-payment of royalties.
[7]
A new budget label,
Encore
, was launched in 1988
[8]
[9]
with its first 5 titles,
Airwolf
,
Bomb Jack
,
Battleships
,
Saboteur
, and
Frank Bruno's Boxing
all coming from Elite's back-catalogue.
[9]
Elite Systems began creating video games for the
NES
and
Game Boy
in the early 1990s through its associated development house MotiveTime.
[10]
In 2010, the company began selling versions of classic ZX Spectrum games licensed from the original developers for iOS and Android systems and in January 2014 they announced plans to crowdfund a Spectrum-themed
bluetooth
keyboard, the
Recreated ZX Spectrum
, that would attach to mobile devices.
[11]
[12]
[13]
Elite Systems took down the
ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection
app the following month, due to complaints from authors that they had never been paid royalties.
[14]
[15]
Steve Wilcox responded in a statement on their website
[16]
where he claimed he was "working towards" making all outstanding payments with 28 days and that the games were being withdrawn from sale in the meantime.
In April 2014, it was reported that Elite Systems had fully repaid the overdue royalties and cancelled the contracts it had with the unpaid developers.
[17]
Wired
described the finished device, which was styled as an original Spectrum 48k keyboard, as "absolutely gorgeous"
[18]
but said it was ultimately more of an expensive novelty than an actual Spectrum. In July 2019,
Eurogamer
reported that many of the orders had yet to be delivered due to a dispute between Elite Systems and their manufacturer, Eurotech.
[19]
List of mobile games
[
edit
]
List of older games
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
"News Input - Elite Under Way"
.
CRASH
(9): 43. October 1984.
- ^
a
b
Smith, Rachael (May 1986). "Your Sinclair" (5): 56?57.
- ^
a
b
"Frontlines ? Holo Victory?"
.
Your Spectrum
(9): 3. October 1984.
- ^
"Yie Ar tops charts for 1986"
.
Popular Computing Weekly
. 12 February 1987. p. 6.
- ^
"Golden Joystick Awards"
.
Computer and Video Games
. No. 66 (April 1987).
EMAP
. 16 March 1987. pp. 100?1.
- ^
a
b
David Crookes (2009-06-18). "From The Archives - Elite Systems".
Retro Gamer
. No. 65. Imagine. pp. 53?54.
- ^
"Storm breaks over Elite's budget label"
.
Popular Computing Weekly
. No. 49. Sunshine Publications. 4 December 1986. p. 6
. Retrieved
15 December
2022
.
- ^
"Re-release City"
.
Zzap
. No. 40. Newsfield. 14 July 1988. p. 9
. Retrieved
15 December
2022
.
- ^
a
b
"Advert: "Only Elite Games Are Good Enough For An Encore"
"
.
Zzap
. No. 39. Newsfield. 9 June 1988. pp. 2?3
. Retrieved
15 December
2022
.
- ^
"The British Invasion".
Nintendo Power
. Vol. 23. Nintendo of America. April 1991. p. 47.
- ^
Sharwood, Simon (29 January 2014).
"Sinclair's ZX Spectrum to LIVE AGAIN!"
.
The Register
.
Archived
from the original on 31 January 2014
. Retrieved
31 January
2014
.
- ^
Hamilton, Alex (2 January 2014).
"ZX Spectrum is coming back as a Bluetooth keyboard"
.
TechRadar
.
Archived
from the original on 4 February 2014
. Retrieved
31 January
2014
.
- ^
Curtis, Sophie (2 January 2014).
"ZX Spectrum to be resurrected as Bluetooth keyboard"
.
The Daily Telegraph
.
Archived
from the original on 6 January 2014
. Retrieved
31 January
2014
.
- ^
Alex Hern.
"ZX Spectrum Kickstarter project stalls over unpaid developer bills"
.
The Guardian
.
Archived
from the original on 27 June 2015
. Retrieved
26 June
2015
.
- ^
F, Casey (2014-02-03).
"Elite Systems Blaster"
.
Leviathyn.com
. Retrieved
14 May
2016
.
- ^
Wilcox, Steve.
"Temporary Withdrawal From App Stores"
.
Elite Systems
. Elite Systems. Archived from the original on March 6, 2014
. Retrieved
14 May
2016
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (
link
)
- ^
Corriea, Alexa Ray (2014-04-30).
"ZX Spectrum keyboad maker pays overdue royalties"
.
Polygon.com
. Vox Media
. Retrieved
14 May
2016
.
- ^
Rundle, Michael (2015-10-01).
"Which of the 'retro' Spectrum remakes is worth your £100?"
.
Wired UK
.
ISSN
1357-0978
. Retrieved
2020-07-30
.
- ^
Yin-Poole, Wesley (2016-07-08).
"When Kickstarters go bad: chasing down the Recreated ZX Spectrum"
.
Eurogamer
. Retrieved
2020-07-30
.
External links
[
edit
]