History VideoGame / XBeyondTheFrontier

The game was criticized for its {{Nintendo Hard}}ness but nevertheless garnered a niche following that has persisted to this day (though the ''X3'' trilogy is more widely played). It was re-released on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} in October 2010 after being carefully updated to run natively on Windows XP.

* BlindIdiotTranslation: Due to someone apparently mistaking the unusual term for a typo, [=BoGas=] is referred to as the nonsensical-in-context "[=BioGas=]" in most of this game's text. It also translated Home of Light's German name, Heimat des Lichts, as "Light home". This is corrected in the later titles.

* EarlyGameHell: ''Beyond The Frontier'' was bad about this, even by ''X'' standards. You start out with almost no money, no [[TimeDilation singularity engine time accelerator]] so you get to enjoy spending 30 minutes real-time flying between stations, no weapons, and truly pathetic shielding in a game where [[CriticalExistenceFailure zero shields = dead]].

* [[LastDiscMagic Last Disc Equipment]]: The 125MW shield, the Gamma HEPT, the most powerful equipment described in the manual, are only available once you complete the main quest.

* PlanetKiller: The Xenon built one of these, the Xenon BMS. This ship is bigger than the Community of Planets/Commonwealth's destroyers, and so is classified as an M0 Mothership. The ship can destroy planets and so part of the game's plot is convincing the Community of Planets' races to fight against it. It acts as the game's FinalBoss.

* YouCantGoHomeAgain: Kyle was stranded in the X Universe due to the X's Gateless Jumpdrive's misjump. The drive was also damaged beyond repair. In ''Farnham's Legend'', Elena also had this happen. Her ship, the ''Getsu Fune'' was able to successfully jump to Argon Prime, without frying its jumpdrive. Unfortunately, it crashed and sank into the planet's ocean. Although Getsu Fune was successfully retrieved and repaired, its Jumpdrive was also destroyed in the crash, stranding Elena too.

* ShoutOut: The penultimate WhatTheHellPlayer the player gets during the tutorial for shooting at the mothership (see NonStandardGameOver) is almost word-for-word what Kittridge says in ''Film/MissionImpossible'' regarding the SCIF room operator who allowed Ethan Hunt to steal classified data out from under him.

* BlindIdiotTranslation: Due to someone apparently mistaking the unusual term for a typo, [=BoGas=] is referred to as the nonsensical-in-context "[=BioGas=]" in most of this game's text. This is corrected in the later titles.

* GameBreakingBug: This game and ''X-Tension'' had high resolution support added years later, but it was done with an extremely clumsy hack. Playing on any aspect ratio other than 4:3 cuts off the top and bottom of the screen -- enough of it to render the game unplayable at most of the high resolutions due to crucial information no longer being visible. This is especially bad in ''X-Tension'', where this issue ''cuts off most of your starting ship's throttle.''

* YouCantGoHomeAgain: Kyle was stranded in the X Universe due to the X's Gateless Jumpdrive's misjump. The drive was also damaged beyond repair. In ''Farnham's Legend'', Elena also had this happen. Her ship, the ''Getsu Fune'' was able to successfully jump to Argon Prime, without frying its jumpdrive. Unfortunately, it crashed and sank into the planet's ocean.

* EleventhHourSuperpower: You receive the most powerful defences, the 125MW shield, after completing the main quest.

* ShortTitleLongElaborateSubtitle

* NonStandardGameOver: Keep shooting at the mothership in the tutorial and the flight controller will threaten to [[ReassignedToAntarctica reassign you to a radar station in Alaska]]. Do it again, and he ''will''.

The first game in the ''VideoGame/{{X}}-Universe'' series, '''''X: Beyond the Frontier''''', or ''X:BTF'' among series veterans, hearkened back to the granddaddy of the WideOpenSandbox, the ''VideoGame/{{Elite}}'' series. It was developed by the then-virtually unknown German studio Egosoft and published by Creator/{{THQ}} in the United States and [[Creator/SouthPeakGames SouthPeak Interactive]] in Europe.

It received an ExpansionPack, ''X-Tension'', in 2000 that allowed the player to fly virtually any ship in the game rather than just the X-Shuttle, and followed Brennan as he set up a trade and engineering company that would eventually become the later games' [[MegaCorp TerraCorp]]. It was also made into a book, ''Farnham's Legend'' by Helge T. Kautz, which was nominated for the Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis (the German equivalent to the NebulaAward) in 2001.

The game was criticized for its {{Nintendo Hard}}ness but nevertheless garnered a niche following that has persisted to this day (though the ''X3'' trilogy is more widely played). It was re-released on {{Steam}} in October 2010 after being carefully updated to run natively on Windows XP.

* FridgeBrilliance: Why are 25 MW shields available only in Split space? Or the Hornet missiles and Docking computer in Paranid space? Because this forces the player to not just visit these factions but to also gain reputation with them. Gaining max reputation with the Teladi, Boron and Argon is easy since you start out on good terms with them, but you have to work hard to make the Split and Paranid even allow you to dock. And to complete the game you need a max reputation with at least one of these two factions too.

* [[InfinityPlusOneSword Infinity +1 Equipment]]: The 125MW shield, the Gamma HEPT, and the Hornet missile.

* WhatTheHellPlayer: Of escalating severity for shooting at the mothership in the tutorial.