E.T. on the atari 2600

[Soybomb]

I was packing stuff for my move and came across my old atari 2600 and games. I had a flash back thinking of some of my favorite gmaes like pole position, barn storming, the human cannon ball, and the keystone cops. Then I had nightmare like images of the worst 2600 game, or worst game I've ever played, E.T. Did anyone else have this and figure out how to play it? I could make his neck go up and down. That was it. It sucked so bad

 

[Valhalla1]

thats so funny

 

[Soybomb]

Ohh valhalla your sarcasm is biting and hurtful. If you've played the game, you'd understand. More importantly I want to know if anyone was actually able to play it. Most of the kids here are too young though I guess.

 

[SSP]

I KNOW!!! I put the cartridge in. I make his head move up and down... and game over.. WTF!!! The worst Atari game ever!


BTW, I still have it in its original packaging.

 

[Soybomb]

I've always wanted to see an instruction manual like telling me how to play......I wonder if I could rerelease it for the ps2........

 

[snakesnfrogs]

I remember that POS game---I never could get it to do anything---not even moving the neck. If I remember correctly, I gave the damn cartridge to my dog to chew on.

Pole Position was the best and I spent many hours playing pac-man. I remember when my cousin got the Atari 5200----I was sooooo jealous 'cause it was so much better.

 

[Valhalla1]

<< Ohh valhalla your sarcasm is biting and hurtful. If you've played the game, you'd understand. More importantly I want to know if anyone was actually able to play it. Most of the kids here are too young though I guess >>





No you dumbass..

I said it was funny.

Like really, I was laughing.


foot.. mouth.

 

[SSP]

Pac-Man, Space invaders, pole position, astroids are my fav. Donky kong was ok, but it didn't last too long.

 

[Soybomb]

'eh sounded like sarcasm

Thats it i'm pluggingit in for a while. I also have an urge to play duckhunt........damn old video games

 

[JohnnyKnoxville]

Was Missile Command on the Atari that was a cool one.
Remember Pole Position at the arcades,one of the first good car racing games.

 

[yllus]

Best Atari game ever? JOUST.

E.T. was so so bad...didn't they pay nearly $20 million for the licence too? I could get E.T. to board and unboard the ship but nothing else.

 

[Valhalla1]

my favorite old arcade game is Robotron

 

[FrontlineWarrior]

I remember E.T. being the ROM of the day at Classicgaming.com a few years back. I believe the rom is still available. The reviews at classicgaming said it was probably THE worst game in history.

 

[Valhalla1]

http://www.classicgaming.com/rotw/et.shtml

 

[SSP]

The developers comments:

&quot;E.T. was one of the few cases where the game had to go out. They needed the game by September 1st to meet the Christmas market... they needed the game in five weeks... I spent the next few days just designing up the game and figuring out what I was going to do with it. [Then he and a few of the Atari big cheeses flew up to present it to Spielberg] And I lay out the design and we go through the whole thing and he looks at me and goes? 'Couldn't you do something like Pac-Man'?.. And I just said 'You know Steven? no. Could you do E.T. again? Could you make the same movie again?? Everybody's doing that!' But then in retrospect? it may not have been a bad idea! But the game had to be done in five weeks so you did it. What you did was design a game you could do in five weeks? and, you know? well, they didn't return all of 'em.&quot;

 

[snakesnfrogs]

Was the developer Microsoft by any chance?

 

[Soybomb]

Nah if it were microsoft they would have just pushed teh release date back until the next year

&quot;And I just said 'You know Steven? no.&quot; And then spielberg sent thousands of animatronic monsters after the man

 

[N8Magic]

Seems all the licensed games for the 2600 were pretty bad... ET and Star Wars Jedi Arena come to mind right away.

My fav games have to be Decathlon (don't know how many joysticks I destroyed playing that game!), Adventure, Ice Hockey, Combat, Basketball, Pitfall, Starfighter, and Kaboom!

Ahhh, the good old days, where games were centered on gameplay and not just fancy schmancy graphics.

 

[snakesnfrogs]

Pifall! how did I forget that one----excellent game.

 

[Sgt.Speculum]

c'mon guys, it wasn't that hard to figure out. I used to play it all the time, the object was to find the three pieces you needed to make the telephone so you could phone home. They were scattered about in these wells, (the dark green splotches on the light green backgrounds). To get out of the wells, you made the head go up and he floated out of the well. After you got the three pieces of the phone (and in one well made a dead plant come back to life, i don't remeber if you had to do it or not) you go to the screen where the telephone booth dropped you off, stretched your neck, which activated the phone, then you had one minute to move around the landing field to find out where the telephone booth was going to come down

Then you got picked up, and you win. And you see a big E.T. head on the screen, and they play the movie music. Wow,I was so easily entertained when I was young.

 

[Time2Kill]

I remember that game...I hated it

I could get in and out of the wells and make the plant come back to life...that was about it, never knew the point of it

 

[kami]

I remember the game...I remember buying it.

I couldn't even get E.T.'s head to move as far as I can remember. (seriously)

<comic book guy voice>
worst game ever
</comic book guy voice>

 

[Modeps]

I didnt play it for very long back in the day, but the whole point, (as previously stated) was to get the phone. so ... ahem... &quot;ET PHONE HOME&quot;...

no, it wasnt good. no it wasnt fun. and i dont think there was a point to making his head go up and down.

 

[sphinctor]

Apparently Atari didn't like the game much either. It looks like they burried what they couldn't sell. (Interesting web site for other known/unknown facts.)

 

[TravisBickle]

i remember the landfill mountains of Atari cartridges too! good old capitalist absurdity.