Tatung Einstein Elite Information

One of the systems that Elite was converted to in 1985 was the Tatung Einstein home computer, this conversion being carried out by Merlin Software. As can be seen in the image of the front of the box above, no dedicated boxes were produced for this version, a situation it shared with the PC and MSX versions. Instead, small stickers were strategically placed on the boxes to hide the original artwork, although it can be seen that underneath the white sticker is the wording "Spectrum 48K"
In addition, the game manual and keyboard reference card are also the Spectrum versions, with inserts and stickers detailing the differences

Since the disc is heavily protected, it is difficult to ascertain which features are present in this version. What is known is that the iconic Fer-De-Lance is included, as are the Python, Krait and Thargoid ships.

Click on the image to the right to view the complete Tatung Einstein Elite package

Playing Tatung Einstein Elite on your PC

1. Download the Tatung Einstein emulator, at MAME
2. Follow the instructions at Tatung Einstein Reborn! to download and place the necessary files in the MAME folders
3. Download the game from here and place the zipped file in the roms folder
4. Run MAME, select Einstein TC01 and then scroll down and select Elite from the list of games

Tatung Einstein home computer

The Tatung Einstein was a very capable home computer which never captured the public's imagination in the way that the Sinclair Spectrum or Commodore 64 did, largely due to its hefty £499 price tag.

Elite was released for the Tatung Einstein in June of 1987. Click on the image above to read the complete 2+ page review of Elite in Tatung Einstein User magazine, dated June 1987

Einstein Review magazine was a publication by Merlin Software from the mid-1980's which was printed in A5 size and ran to approximately 14 pages. There was an editorial plus adverts and reviews for games. The hardware adverts are particularly interesting, revealing that a 5¼" disk drive would cost around £200 and a good dot matrix printer in excess of £300!

On page 10 of the February 1987 edition of Einstein Review magazine was an advert for Tatung Einstein Elite. As can be seen above, the main graphic is just a reproduction of how the game box itself appears, plus the publisher's logo and the price of £19.95. This was greater than most games retailed for at the time, the usual range being between £10 and £15. However, as with BBC Elite, the game included a manual and novella which to a degree justified the higher price tag.