The Acorn Electron was a lower-cost alternative to the BBC Micro educational/home computer, also developed by Acorn Computers, to provide many of the features of that more expensive machine at a price more competitive with that of the ZX Spectrum. It had 32 kilobytes of RAM, and its ROM included BBC BASIC II together with the operating system. Announced in 1982 for a possible release the same year, it was eventually introduced on 25 August 1983 priced at £199.
Elite is a space trading video game. It was written and developed by David Braben and Ian Bell and was originally published by Acornsoft for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron computers in September 1984. Elite's open-ended game model, and revolutionary 3D graphics led to it being ported to virtually every contemporary home computer system and earned it a place as a classic and a genre maker in gaming history. The game's title derives from one of the player's goals of raising their combat rating to the exalted heights of "Elite".
Acornsoft was the software arm of Acorn Computers, and a major publisher of software for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron. As well as games, it also produced a large number of educational titles, extra computer languages and business and utility packages – these included word processor VIEW and the spreadsheet ViewSheet supplied on ROM and cartridge for the BBC Micro/Acorn Electron and included as standard in the BBC Master and Acorn Business Computer.
Micro Power was a British company established in the early 1980s by former accountant Bob Simpson. The company was best known as a video game publisher, originally under the name Program Power. It also sold many types of computer hardware and software through its Leeds 'showroom' or via mail order.
Artic Computing was a software development company based in Brandesburton, England from 1980 to 1986. The company's first games were for the Sinclair ZX81 home computer, but they expanded and were also responsible for various ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, BBC Micro, Acorn Electron and Amstrad CPC computer games. The company was set up by Richard Turner and Chris Thornton. Charles Cecil, who later founded Revolution Software, joined the company shortly after it was founded, writing Adventures B through D. Developer Jon Ritman produced a number of ZX81 and Spectrum games for Artic before moving to Ocean Software.
The Last Ninja is an action-adventure game developed and published by System 3 in 1987 for the Commodore 64. It was converted to the Apple IIGS, MS-DOS, BBC Micro and Acorn Electron in 1988, the Apple II in 1989, the Amiga and Atari ST in 1990, and the Acorn Archimedes in 1991.
Firetrack is a vertically-scrolling shooter programmed by Nick Pelling and released for the BBC Micro and Commodore 64 platforms in 1987 by Electric Dreams Software. It was also ported to the Acorn Electron by Superior Software in 1989 as part of the Play It Again Sam 7 compilation. It resembles the 1984 arcade game Star Force in style and gameplay. The game was technically advanced and very well received by critics.
Stryker's Run is a video game designed by Chris Roberts and Philip Meller for the BBC Micro and BBC Master which was published by Superior Software in 1986. It was also later converted to the Acorn Electron. It is a 2D side-scrolling action game. It was well received, particularly for its graphics.
Overdrive is a racing game written by Peter Johnson for the Acorn Electron and BBC Micro and published in 1984 by Superior Software.
Elixir is a video game for the Acorn Electron and BBC Micro released in 1987 by Superior Software. It is a platform game in which the player takes the role of a shrunken scientist.
Superman: The Man of Steel is a 1989 video game featuring the DC Comics character Superman. It was developed and published by UK software company Tynesoft under license from First Star Software.
Gauntlet is a clone of Defender written by Chris Terran published in the UK by Micro Power. Described as "a very competent implementation of one of the most popular arcade games", it was initially released for the Acorn Electron, and later made available for the BBC Micro, with an Amstrad CPC version arriving in 1985.
Stock Car is an overhead-view racing video game written by A. W. Halse and published in the UK by Micro Power. It was released in 1984 for the BBC Micro, Acorn Electron, and Commodore 64 computers. Although the cassette inlay gives the release date as 1984, some sources state the release date as 1983, and the game is also known as Stock Car Racer.
Deathstar is multidirectional shooter for the Acorn Electron and BBC Micro developed by Peter Johnson and originally published in the UK by Superior Software in 1985. It is a clone of the arcade game Sinistar.
Galaforce is a fixed shooter video game for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron, written by Kevin Edwards and published by Superior Software in 1986. It spawned a sequel, Galaforce 2 (1988), and later, Galaforce Worlds (2003).
Crazee Rider is a motorbike racing video game created by Kevin Edwards and published by Superior Software in 1987. It was released for the Acorn Electron and BBC Micro with an enhanced version for the BBC Master. The game was particularly well received for the Electron as it was the first 3D racing game with corners for that machine.
Gordon J. Key authored video game software for the Acorn BBC Micro, Electron and RISC OS platforms in the 1980s and 1990s. His most well-known works were published by The Fourth Dimension. He is also credited with additional programming routines in FedNet's futuristic flight combat game Star Fighter 3000 (1994), and authored Party Machine for the Amstrad CPC.
AMX Mouse was a 1985 computer mouse sold by the British company Advanced Memory Systems. The mouse has 3 buttons. It was sold with a dedicated interface, and usually with some accompanying software such as AMX Art, AMX Pagemaker, AMX Palette, AMX Control and Icon Designer.
