What was so bad about ET 2600?

This game was released before I was born. I've heard stories about how it caused a video game crash and so many cartridges were returned that they were buried in a desert. I've seen videos of the game but I don't really see how it was much worse than the other 2600 games. To me, most 2600 games look unplayable including ET. So what was so bad about ET that made it stick out amongst the other games?

There is a lot of press out there about it, I would look a few up since they can tell the story better.

Honestly, the game was awful. Slow, clunky, shameless adverts long before the time of that being the norm. And really, there were a lot of great games for the 2600. River Raid, Adventure, Ice Hockey, Kaboom, Tank!, and the Intellesports games were all great. There are others I can remember but I'll be dammed if I can remember their names off the top of my head, but there were a wealth of awesome 2600 games. You have to look at what was out there at the time, something like River Raid had twitch gameplay long before Doom and Quake, well ahead of it's time.

For its time, the game was tough to play and it had bad graphics. You play as ET and you have to wonder around the screen and collect objects to build a phone so that ET can phone home. After that, you start over and play the same thing again. Sounds kinda lame to me. But I never played it, I just read reviews and press of the time for that info.

There is a lot of press out there about it, I would look a few up since they can tell the story better.

Honestly, the game was awful. Slow, clunky, shameless adverts long before the time of that being the norm. And really, there were a lot of great games for the 2600. River Raid, Adventure, Ice Hockey, Kaboom, Tank!, and the Intellesports games were all great. There are others I can remember but I'll be dammed if I can remember their names off the top of my head, but there were a wealth of awesome 2600 games. You have to look at what was out there at the time, something like River Raid had twitch gameplay long before Doom and Quake, well ahead of it's time.

LOEAnubis

Lets also add that the game had no point to it...there was no point in this game but to fall in holes and even than the goal was not clear.

[QUOTE="LOEAnubis"]

There is a lot of press out there about it, I would look a few up since they can tell the story better.

Honestly, the game was awful. Slow, clunky, shameless adverts long before the time of that being the norm. And really, there were a lot of great games for the 2600. River Raid, Adventure, Ice Hockey, Kaboom, Tank!, and the Intellesports games were all great. There are others I can remember but I'll be dammed if I can remember their names off the top of my head, but there were a wealth of awesome 2600 games. You have to look at what was out there at the time, something like River Raid had twitch gameplay long before Doom and Quake, well ahead of it's time.

TheTrueMagusX1

Lets also add that the game had no point to it...there was no point in this game but to fall in holes and even than the goal was not clear.

The point of the game is to collect the various object that creates who knows what, but you collect them all and try to get back to your ship. That's after 4 hours of falling into pits and having random police officers appear out of thin air to get you.

[QUOTE="TheTrueMagusX1"]

[QUOTE="LOEAnubis"]

There is a lot of press out there about it, I would look a few up since they can tell the story better.

Honestly, the game was awful. Slow, clunky, shameless adverts long before the time of that being the norm. And really, there were a lot of great games for the 2600. River Raid, Adventure, Ice Hockey, Kaboom, Tank!, and the Intellesports games were all great. There are others I can remember but I'll be dammed if I can remember their names off the top of my head, but there were a wealth of awesome 2600 games. You have to look at what was out there at the time, something like River Raid had twitch gameplay long before Doom and Quake, well ahead of it's time.

Emerald_Warrior

Lets also add that the game had no point to it...there was no point in this game but to fall in holes and even than the goal was not clear.

The point of the game is to collect the various object that creates who knows what, but you collect them all and try to get back to your ship. That's after 4 hours of falling into pits and having random police officers appear out of thin air to get you.

There is still no point to the game. Falling into holes for hours with out any idea of what to do makes the game pointless. Sure we foudn it actually had a goal, but it is still pointless, and thus remains pointless.

as far as i'm concerned adventure is still the best atari 2600 game

as far as i'm concerned adventure is still the best atari 2600 game

ohthemanatee

I played adventure a few months back, I think its a fun little game, yeah sure its very simple, but boy is it fun....whacking stick dragons with a stick is awesome!

[QUOTE="ohthemanatee"]

as far as i'm concerned adventure is still the best atari 2600 game

TheTrueMagusX1

I played adventure a few months back, I think its a fun little game, yeah sure its very simple, but boy is it fun....whacking stick dragons with a stick is awesome!

the game is mad fun even to this day

but when it comes to pre-8bit RPG's and adventure games the Intellivision is the console to own

nobody knew what to do in E.T... people were just falling into holes and couldnt get out lol..

thats the thing with 2600 games... some of them are so freakin cryptic! the adventure game was confusing too..

like indiana jones raiders of lost ark... wow look at this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koWxUd30hDo dude with those 4bit graphics its impossible to know what to do!

also check out the swordquest games..oh my.. to figure that game out is a trip check this out http://www.gametrailers.com/video/angry-video-screwattack/61988

look at what your supposed to do on ET lol..impossible to figure out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-pzdPLfy9Y

I know this is off topic, but the Intellivision was actually a 16-bit gaming console. And, just to clarify the matter, there is nothing that is pre 8-bit because binary code starts with 8-bit. Therefore, you cannot have 4-bit.

I know this is off topic, but the Intellivision was actually a 16-bit gaming console. And, just to clarify the matter, there is nothing that is pre 8-bit because binary code starts with 8-bit. Therefore, you cannot have 4-bit.

tiki_tidalwave

when i hear the bit term i think connections per inch on the cpus and its somehow true

are you kidding me facts do not lie,

movie based games arent actually that good in most cases , such as et!

but there are rare occasions when a movie tie in would be good enough to play,

---mostly disney made ones but theres also the very first double game of the year multiplayer console fps known to every one by one name---goldeneye

it w as not until goldeneye where a movie game has been so so popular , even rugrats started going good , ,

for a bou t 2 games in until that series died,

so ya et is not somthing youd want to play again , falling into holes, as some one said before that made no sense!

if i fell in a hole in any other game ,i would die,

there for its pointless

are you kidding me facts do not lie,

movie based games arent actually that good in most cases , such as et!

but there are rare occasions when a movie tie in would be good enough to play,

---mostly disney made ones but theres also the very first double game of the year multiplayer console fps known to every one by one name---goldeneye

it w as not until goldeneye where a movie game has been so so popular , even rugrats started going good , ,

for a bou t 2 games in until that series died,

so ya et is not somthing youd want to play again , falling into holes, as some one said before that made no sense!

if i fell in a hole in any other game ,i would die,

there for its pointless

mariokart64fan

you speak of facts yet I only see opinion in your post

It's not that its the worst 2600 game. It just epitomized the entire video game crash.Rocky32189

If you'd played it then you'd see how bad it is. Speaking of ET, I'd forgotten to rate it, I'll go do it now and give it the lowest rating possible because it's one of the absolute worst games in existence.

[QUOTE="Rocky32189"]It's not that its the worst 2600 game. It just epitomized the entire video game crash.ohthemanatee

Yeah, for sure. And it doesn't help that the instruction booklets for most of the Atari 2600 games out there no longer exist.

apparently ET was made for the 2600 in under 5 weeks, which is crazy, Atari management rushed the programmer of the game to get the game out fast, and forgot that quality takes time.

I have played ET and yeah its a bad game (though I have played worse on the 2600) , but I won't blame the guy who made it as he was rushed.

ironically the same guy also made Yar's Revenge, which is actually a very good game, so the guy is talented, and its a shame ET was rushed like it was.

It was bad for the same reason why Pac Man was bad on the 2600.

Poor quality control and rushed development.

It wasn't for the 2600 either.

For the NES in terms of rushed development I have four words for you: Back To The Future.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.T._the_Extra-Terrestrial_%28video_game%29

Got this for x-mas the year it was released. It was BAD!!!!! I spent more time in that darn hole!!!!!!!

The point of the game is to collect the various object that creates who knows what, but you collect them all and try to get back to your ship. That's after 4 hours of falling into pits and having random police officers appear out of thin air to get you.

Emerald_Warrior

[QUOTE="Emerald_Warrior"]

The point of the game is to collect the various object that creates who knows what, but you collect them all and try to get back to your ship. That's after 4 hours of falling into pits and having random police officers appear out of thin air to get you.

Orion_Pimpdaddy

Sorry I couldn't tell a police officer from FBI agents with rudimentary 2600 graphics. What was I thinking? And the same problem applies to the phone pieces; I didn't say they were anything in particular, I said they create who knows what.

And if you never fell down any pits, did YOU play the game?

[QUOTE="Orion_Pimpdaddy"][QUOTE="Emerald_Warrior"]

The point of the game is to collect the various object that creates who knows what, but you collect them all and try to get back to your ship. That's after 4 hours of falling into pits and having random police officers appear out of thin air to get you.

Emerald_Warrior

Sorry I couldn't tell a police officer from FBI agents with rudimentary 2600 graphics. What was I thinking? And the same problem applies to the phone pieces; I didn't say they were anything in particular, I said they create who knows what.

And if you never fell down any pits, did YOU play the game?

It's not just that E.T. was bad as there where an avalanche of bad games as anybody could make games for the 2600 without need of a licence .

Atari secured the movie licence for 25 million from Spielberg they only had 5 weeks left to make the game before the holiday sales started  and they printed an incredible 5 million copies .The game was in the top 3 of the holiday sales and sold 1.5 million but when people realized the game was bad and sales halted Atari where left with 3.5  million unsold cartridges no one wanted so they buried them in the Desert .

The video game crash was mainly an North American thing because Japan got the Famicom in '83 and in the EU the Home computers where already bigger then consoles like Atari and Coleco and so took the role of game systems for some years  .

The reason why E.T. got so much bad press, despite there being plenty of worse games for the 2600, was because it was from Atari, one of the best developers of that era, and received considerable hype because it was based on the highest-grossing movie of that time. With one of the best developers and such a high-profile license, gamers never expected it to turn out as terrible it did. That's why it often gets remembered as the "worst game" of all time, regardless of whether or not it rightly deserves this title.