Reader G.M. e-mailed this picture and said, "How the f**k I ever believed that THIS was E.T., I'll never know — but I still played it for hours and hours."
The picture unlocked a memory I haven't thought about in a long time, but wanted to share:
Around 1982 or 1983, before City Walk at Universal Studios was even an idea, there was a big E.T. thing at the top of the hill, by the Whomphoppers and Victoria Station restaurants. Part of it was a giant silver spaceship (just like E.T.'s) that had eight or twelve Atari consoles around a pillar in the middle, all of them playing the E.T. video game.
I was seriously into video games then, and my parents had given me permission to play the E.T. game for like an hour or something while they did whatever parents did at an E.T. exhibit. (Eat lots of Reese's Pieces, I suppose.) I was beside myself with glee … until I played it for about ten minutes. It was the most beguiling, horrible, opposite-of-fun experience I'd ever had. I found my parents and asked if we could leave.
We've all heard the legend of the landfill, and the way I remember it, that's probably where this game belongs, but maybe I'll dig up E.T. on Stella and see if it really is as awful as I remember it.
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Yes, it’s as awful as you remember. We actually bought the game for our Atari way back in the day. My brother gave up on it early… but I was stubborn… and stupid. I played it much more before also giving up.
Worst. Game. Ever.
It was a very long time ago, but I vaguely remember playing it and I don’t think it totally sucked. But I could be wrong!
That damn game nearly killed the entire video game industry before it could be built. Shame on E.T.!
Oh, it is. I think the most entertaining thing about it is its weird Indiana Jones easter egg.
It sucked farts out of dead cows. Really. It was that bad.
nice it has a really 80’s look to it.
I had two games that consistently gave me fits of joystick-tossing rage. It wasn’t because they were hard or confusing (they were), but because I had them second hand WITHOUT INSTRUCTIONS. Those two games were E.T. and Swordquest: Fireworld.
I still played the hell out of them…
My 5-year-old played it a while back when I found a version online and she seemed to enjoy it, but she’s never seen the movie, so that might be why she liked it.
I remember that exhibit as well. I actually had my picture taken on the bike with ET in the front basket. I was also selected from the crowd to sit on the bike during the “flying” portion of the special effects tour that was hastily retro fitted from superman to ET.
I gave a kid on my hockey team ET that year as well. I think he slashed me during the next practice.
Wow. I saw the tweet about this post and had to come see it becuase I had rather fond memories of the game. But seeing the screenshot… I obviously remembered through some tinted glasses because that looks awful. Worst of all, I don’t even remember the point anymore.
Anyway, it was still awesome to see a bit of my childhood on display. I wish I could’ve seen the big ET display. That just didn’t come to Alabama.
It was bad but I still played it, the ‘Swordquest Fireworld’ etc games were worse – tied in to a lame contest and equally lame comics (of which I think I still have at least one). But the big mistake was Atari betting the farm on it.
I’ve heard the horror stories and all, but I’ve never played it. Well, my first console was the NES, but I’ve played a handful of Atari games. I’m curious as to how this can be so bad, considering most Atari games are quite… primitive…
…this was actually the first game I beat. Granted, I had to do it on the easy mode, the one without one of the wandering FBI agents, but after about 7 months of playing it as a 5-6 year old I figured out how to beat it.
Not my proudest moment, but it’s true.
When my dad gave me his Atari 2600 (with the oh-so-attractive wood veneer), this was one of the many games that he owned. I absolutely HATED that game.
I actually still have the Atari 2600 cart and my system is still hooked up down in the basement.
Perhaps I will go down there and play it again, and snap a few pics for you.
Or I could just play Pitfall instead.
Don’t do it!! It IS as awful as you remember! Oh the horror…
Yes, it is as horrible as you remember it. I unearthed my old 2600 a while back and attempted to play it — five minutes later, I went back to Missile Command.
I got it for Christmas one year, remember it vividly. Was really excited about the game. Played it until ET went home. A couple of times. Pretty “meh”. I can still here the theme song ringing in my ears actually.
Did you ever play Adventure Wil? Played the hell out of that game back in the day. I’ve still got my 2600 from back in the day ( not sure where my ET cartridge ended up) and I fired that one up the other day. I remember playing it for hours as a kid. Soooo glad technology has come a bit further forward from those days…
My Cousins always had the latest and greatest of video game systems as I grew up.
Sadly they also seemed to have terrible taste in games. I recall sitting around their house trying to enjoy E.T., Rambo and the Smurfs on the 2600.
I’m sure there were other monstrosities that I’m blocking at this point.
I was born a little after the days of Atari, but there was an Atari system kicking around the house in my early childhood, and the ET game was present and accounted for…
I want my fourth year of life back. Not just the little time I spent playing the game…THE WHOLE YEAR.
I just remember constantly falling into a pit and having to float out of it over and over again. I know I spent way more time on it than anyone else would admit. I guess I just refused to believe it was crap.
Am I the only one who liked the game and won the E.T. Game?
Now, see, this would’ve really blown people away if it had been used in the PAX East Omegathon.
I loved that game. Played it over and over. Probably more than most other games (aside from Adventure).
DON’T TOUCH IT, ITS PURE EVIL!!!
Time Bandits aside, all I remember of the gameplay was CONSTANTLY falling into the damn pits.
As Wil mentioned filling in the rest of Adventure, I just couldn’t stand E.T. enough to fill anything but the garbage can with the cartridge.
I keep seeing some say that they don’t remember the game being that bad, but that their memories may be fogged by the innocence of childhood. The funny thing is that in my case it was very much the opposite – I was convinced that the game sucked because I was a kid and, as such, was not very good at video games.
We had the 2600 back in the day, but not this game. EGM, I think, had a list of the worst games ever, and ET was at the top of the list. So, yeah, it’s as bad as you remember.
Here’s the link: http://www.seanbaby.com/nes/egm01.htm
I very clearly remember sitting in my brother’s room, watching him play this game. He hated it, but was determined to beat it, so he kept punishing himself by playing it over and over. I personally think it’s why he is so screwy now 😛
http://www.livingwithanerd.com
My parents bought a HUGE box of Atari video games for us around the time the Nintendo came out. So rather than Mario, my brother and I were raking in the high scores on Pong, Qbert, Frogger, and Joust…
The 2 Atari games that stand out in my mind the most will always be the nightmarishly horrible E.T. AND Superman. E.T. was one of those games that you passed over to your parents and said “Here! You try to get me out of the hole so I can play the rest of the game”. When both parents tried and failed…my soul was crushed. I thought maybe my family wasn’t cut out to be cool video game players.
It is good to know that shortly after, that this was an IMPOSSIBLE GAME. Although hours were lost trying to get from screen to screen…I feel better knowing that this game truly was a piece of shit and has a place in gamer history.
The game had very little in the way of gameplay. The music was horrendous and repetitive and you always kept falling in the damn holes.
I hated that game and it contributed in making me a Intellivision fanboi more than the actual Intellivision games! 🙂
Yes, it sucked big ones! The only reason my brother & I ever played it after we beat it was to make E.T.’s head go up & down at bad times.
I had this game when I was about in the 3rd grade. I played and played and played then suddenly one day I had beat the game. I was overjoyed! Then I tried playing again and could never win and I did all the same things I did the first time around. What’s up with that?
E.T. is at the top of the list of Top Ten Worst Video Games. http://www.pcworld.com/article/127579-2/the_10_worst_games_of_all_time.html
It remains every bit as bad as you remember, probably in no small part due to the fact that it wasn’t even finished.
Is there another example of a product so poor that it was more worthwhile to bury it in a landfill rather than sell it for even a penny?
If you don’t remember, it’s probably better to not remind yourself. I wasn’t alive for the release but people still complain about how much it sucked.
When I used to play ET at my nan’s house, I was very young, and not the most discerning of gamers. It never occurred to me that it was anyone’s fault but my own that I found it endlessly frustrating. Yes, it was the worst game we owned – certainly not a patch on Pacman or Pitfall! – but I’d happily play it again; because I just know that settling down to that game would bring back powerful memories of my childhood and my grandmother. That’s well worth getting stuck in one of those damn pits again.
It was. Trust me. Just burn it and let it die.
I beat that damn thing at the age of, like, 6. Took me HOURS. all it did was start again. That’s it. I don’t even remember a reward beyond E.T. leaving.
I actually still own my copy of E.T. and it really is that bad. For some reason, though, I didn’t think so as a kid. I’m not entirely sure why.
Speaking of Horrible and 8 bit
http://www.doctoroctoroc.com/8-bit-dr-horrible/watch.html
Yeah, I always liked E.T. as a kid. You really have to read the instructions to figure out how to play it, though, since it’s not intuitive at all. And I always played at difficulty “3”, which gets rid of the doctor and FBI agent. But given that there are certainly worse games on Atari.
I saw the picture, and new exactly what it was, and I know I owned it, but I have no real memories of playing it, which means it must have sucked.
It seems most people remember ET on the 2600 just like you, Wil. You immediately recognized it as unfun.
I always had a different reaction. To me, it felt like a fun game that was never really fleshed out; which based on what I hear about its development, is exactly what happened.
“Gameplay” consisted of continually falling in pits and using your power to levitate out until you ran out of power and died. I think you were supposed to collect the pieces necessary to “phone home” (while avoiding the evil G-men), but I could never find more than like one or two.
It would have been fun if you could have actually found all those pieces, and completed the game by racing the clock or something, but it seems like they just made it impossible. Too bad.
it is probably worse than you remember. at least it was for me :/
What I really love about the E.T. game is that they produced more game cartridges of the game than there were 2600s to play them on!
Either they thought that this game was so awesome that people would want two copies, or they thought that this game was so awesome people will go out a 2600 just so they can play it. Either way, someone high up in Atari thought that this game was in fact, awesome.
It’s worse than you remember, I’d bet. Nothing like using those awesome Atari controllers to push the button and try to levitate out of the holes… over… and over…
I had a 2600 and this is one of the games my parent’s bought me. Looking back, I wonder what I did wrong to deserve it….
I wonder if I’m the only one that somewhat enjoyed the endless frustration and complete black hole that this game provided me.
I’m surprised there isn’t some sort of geek idiom about “that’s like trying to keep ET out of the pit”. This game was sooooo bad. Yes, the whole 2600 experience tended to be kinda primitive, but there were games like Adventure to make it all worthwhile.
*lowers voice with shame* I liked it…
Don’t do it! It’s really seriously as bad as you remember… probably worse. In fact if you search Google for “worst atari game” the top link is the wikipedia article for it.
I liked it too!
That and the 2600 Raiders of the Lost Ark too.
doo dee doo doo doo…doo doo dee doo doo doo doo doo…