This game had lots of issues, but I actually enjoyed it. This was the first game I had ever played that had an ending, and the first one I ever beat. I had never seen a game that could be completed and that was a moment that changed my view of video games in the future.
I know the game flopped, but I loved it and played the heck out of it! It took me a while to master it, but I did manage to. My friend, who we used to go to each other’s houses all the time, had the game, too, and we would try to see who could complete it the fastest on all of the variations (game selects) it had. My friend mastered it before I did, but I eventually managed to get a faster time. I still have the console and game along with all the others I had and even the box with cover that was made for it. Everything still works perfectly, and it never gets old!
I got a 2600 late in it's lifespan. It was the all black "Darth Vader" unit. I did have ET but it never caught my interest enough to complete the game. I couldn't figure out what to do within the first few minutes of gameplay and because of the crash, I had plenty of other games. So it sat in the VCS organizer/carry case unused.
The game was a technical tour de force - it's one real fault was the collision detection on the pits as it was counter intuitive. Once you account for that it plays OK but it was kind of ahead of its time as it was a proper adventure game and it's clever in that the objects are in different places every time you play. The younger target audience probably found it all a bit baffling. That worked for the Raiders game but that was a different audience. Atari/Warner bet the farm on it too which was silly - they produced far too many cartridges to sell and paid a huge amount for the licence.
The quality of games really had little if anything to do with the crash. Really it was all due to retail glut and because stores demanded full refunds on unsold copies of games. Games like Pepsi Wars for instance, wasn't even sold in stores, so it literally couldn't affect anything at Atari at all
I always enjoyed the Atari adventure style games such as Superman, Adventure, Haunted House, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. E.T. was not as good as the others, but it was a decent game that required a reasonable strategy. The main drawback to the game was the way you would fall right back into the pits if you did not exit the right way. That could have easily been fixed if they had just tested the game a little before releasing it. E.T. was much better than those horrible, boring, pointless Swordquest games.
The game was too buggy. It was almost impossible to get out of the pit with the flower ET bring back to life. If the scientist chases you (or your call Elliot) into the frame where the spaceship come to rescue ET, the spaceship would appear where the scientist would be, and ET couldn’t move (the game basically froze at the end). You had to work around so many bugs. Played it often due to the movie, but it was too buggy to maintain. Combat and Adventure and Riverwars(?) we’re the best. Oh. And, that earth then fire then sea and then what was supposed to be air game that had a promotion was god awful.
This game had lots of issues, but I actually enjoyed it. This was the first game I had ever played that had an ending, and the first one I ever beat. I had never seen a game that could be completed and that was a moment that changed my view of video games in the future.
Been an OG gamer on the Atari, trust me, there's a lot worst games than E.T. on that console. It never felt horrible when playing it in the 80s.
I know the game flopped, but I loved it and played the heck out of it! It took me a while to master it, but I did manage to.
My friend, who we used to go to each other’s houses all the time, had the game, too, and we would try to see who could complete it the fastest on all of the variations (game selects) it had.
My friend mastered it before I did, but I eventually managed to get a faster time.
I still have the console and game along with all the others I had and even the box with cover that was made for it. Everything still works perfectly, and it never gets old!
I got a 2600 late in it's lifespan. It was the all black "Darth Vader" unit. I did have ET but it never caught my interest enough to complete the game. I couldn't figure out what to do within the first few minutes of gameplay and because of the crash, I had plenty of other games. So it sat in the VCS organizer/carry case unused.
E.T. was just too complicated to be sold to little kids. I didn't appreciate it until I was older
I'm glad I wasn't born yet.
The game was a technical tour de force - it's one real fault was the collision detection on the pits as it was counter intuitive. Once you account for that it plays OK but it was kind of ahead of its time as it was a proper adventure game and it's clever in that the objects are in different places every time you play. The younger target audience probably found it all a bit baffling. That worked for the Raiders game but that was a different audience. Atari/Warner bet the farm on it too which was silly - they produced far too many cartridges to sell and paid a huge amount for the licence.
"Couldn't you make a game like Pac-Man?"
Yea, Spielberg always had vision, it could at least not bomb if it was as such.
The quality of games really had little if anything to do with the crash. Really it was all due to retail glut and because stores demanded full refunds on unsold copies of games.
Games like Pepsi Wars for instance, wasn't even sold in stores, so it literally couldn't affect anything at Atari at all
Great video.
I always enjoyed the Atari adventure style games such as Superman, Adventure, Haunted House, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. E.T. was not as good as the others, but it was a decent game that required a reasonable strategy. The main drawback to the game was the way you would fall right back into the pits if you did not exit the right way. That could have easily been fixed if they had just tested the game a little before releasing it. E.T. was much better than those horrible, boring, pointless Swordquest games.
Oh jesus what happened at 8 minutes? Glad it was only coming out my phone speaker.
Nothing out of the ordinary.
This game was no for normies. It was developed for more intuitive minds.
The game was too buggy. It was almost impossible to get out of the pit with the flower ET bring back to life. If the scientist chases you (or your call Elliot) into the frame where the spaceship come to rescue ET, the spaceship would appear where the scientist would be, and ET couldn’t move (the game basically froze at the end). You had to work around so many bugs. Played it often due to the movie, but it was too buggy to maintain. Combat and Adventure and Riverwars(?) we’re the best. Oh. And, that earth then fire then sea and then what was supposed to be air game that had a promotion was god awful.