E.T. Appreciation Page

The place for perceptive people to participate in praise.

This is where you can read positive things others have to say about E.T. for the Atari 2600. You may see a few negative things mixed in with the praise, but it's positive for the most part. You can also submit your own praise and short personal stories if you want. I might have to edit your comments for space considerations, spelling, foul language, and so on, but if it's fairly coherent, I'll usually add any pro-E.T. submission. Be sure to tell me what name you want me to use, such as your real name, your favorite username, or anonymous.

It doesn't matter if what you have to say is similar to what is already on this page, your contribution is needed. It will help show those who blindly follow the 'E.T. sucks' parade without giving it a chance that there are many people who really like the game.

Inky

I think the whole reason people thought E.T. sucked is because it was one of the few 2600 games you had to read the manual for. Most of us just pop-n-play and do relatively well with most games. I remember reading a magazine review of E.T. in which the reviewer gave it a low score because he was following the arrows and getting nowhere.

Joel D. Park

I never played E.T. right, that's why I enjoyed it. Though in later years I was able to play it and beat it.

Being a youngin' like I was, I used to set the game on higher levels and just run around and try to stay way from the scientist dude.. It was always kind of funny to get into high-speed E.T. mode and go buzzing around all over the place. Especially when the scientist is carrying you around. It was also fun to call in Eliot and run away from him…just silly stuff.

Even now, E.T. doesn't really seem like a rushed game, it's just kind of complex for a 2600 game. There are a lot of neat things about the game. Easter eggs, and the fact that the game has a real ending, either if you die or win the game.. All that stuff I thought was really neat. Once you learn your way out of the wells, it's not bad at all.

Duane Alan Hahn

My own little personal story

I loved E.T. It was just the right game for a semi-poor kid who needed replayable games (since I couldn't buy a new game every week as so many other kids seemed to do). Sure, I thought it was strange that there were wells all over the place, but after I got over that shock, E.T. ended up being one of my favorite games. Thank God E.T. wasn't just one more lame "toilet paper game" where you finish it once and then flush it.

I love most games that use randomness effectively, but to me, E.T. is much better and more fun than games such as Adventure, Superman, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. It makes sense that I would like E.T. more since it was born from those games.

To me, E.T. is also a million times better than that so-called adventure game Pitfall II: Lost Caverns where things are always in the same place and you jump over mindless enemies that just bounce up and down or move back and forth and usually don't even know you're there. Pitfall II: Lost Caverns did have some cool things in it such as being able to swim, but for the most part, it was just another lame exercise in perfect timing with nothing else to offer except the frustration of going back many screens to do it all over again. At least the original Pitfall let you skip or retry the screen you were on (your choice depending on whether you went left or right). The idiotically frustrating idea of making you go back multiple screens was not an advance, it was a giant step backwards and that model is still used today by misguided game designers.

Back on topic, I thank Howard Scott Warshaw, Warren Robinett, John Dunn, and others who created replayable games. All programmers who used the mighty power of Controlled Randomness in their games should be praised.

D. O. A.

Here-here it's about time!! I've had E.T. since it was new, Dad bought it for me and I thought it was great from day one and could never understand the bad rap it got, even to this today. Sure it's aged, and it has a lot of potential "flaws" that we'd like to think aren't in modern games, but back in those days you accepted them and got on with it, thought of them as features and had an enjoyable game, far more enjoyable than a certain "Adventure" game I could mention.

Bryan G.

Well, first off let me say thanks for putting up a pro-E.T. page. I agree with many of your comments about how E.T. gets a bad rap. It's often lumped in with Pac-Man as a major contributor to the "great crash" but I don't see it that way at all. Whereas Pac-Man is clearly not anything like the real Pac-Man (and I remember being disappointed when it first came out, even for Atari), E.T. was different.

I got E.T. on Christmas morning 1982. I was 11 years old, and couldn't wait to get it. In fact, I talked my mother into giving me the cartridge at Midnight on Christmas Eve as it was technically Christmas, and I played it for a long time, well past my bedtime.

To make a long story short, I loved the game. I remember the anxiety I went through listening to the ship timer tick down and hoping that the FBI Agent or the scientist wouldn't show up near the landing pad before my ship got there. I was impressed with the large title screen and the E.T. music, which was quite impressive for the time, and, unlike what a lot of people say, I never had any problems with the pits, except if I ran through screens at high speed and sometimes fell into one. Basically, it was a relatively simple matter to memorize the locations of the pits on each screen and then avoid that area when entering a new screen.

I never found any Easter Eggs, nor did I care about my score. I simply wanted to finish the game. I played E.T. often, and still enjoy it today. Of course, I know a lot more about the situation surrounding E.T.'s creation now than I did then, but I judged E.T. on whether or not it was fun to play, and it certainly was. One thing that I enjoyed about it was the fact that, unlike a number of Atari games, it didn't end in 5 minutes, and it actually had an ending. I'm not one of those "get the best score you can" gamers — I'm more of a "get to the ending" gamer, and Atari had precious few of those games. Thus, games like Asteroids and Berzerk never did much for me, but games like E.T. did.

Is it still fun to play? Yes, I think it is, and that's ultimately what makes a game stand out for me. There are lots of games that came before E.T. (and after) that can't make the "it's fun to play" claim.

George A.

I think E.T. is OK compared to the slew of garbage on the Atari.

Here are but a few examples:

Sorcerer

Firefly

various U.S. Games titles (like Entombed)

and the worst Atari game of all time:

ANY Swordquest title!!

Go E.T.!

ApolloBoy

Well, at first I hated it! But since then, I gave it another whirl, and now I like it.

Dan

Overall, E.T. wasn't too bad. It is somewhat challenging though when you include the scientist and FBI agent. The graphics are definitely above average for an Atari 2600 game, and the theme music at the beginning is very well done. If you have the instruction manual, it's a breeze to figure out how to play the game. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for HSW's other game, Raiders of the Lost Ark. Anyway, I bought the E.T. cartridge shortly after the crash in 1984 at a Sears closeout store for only $2. I dug my old system out of the attic about a month ago and noticed that I lost the E.T. cart, but I still had the manual. Luckily, I found another copy at a flea market, once again for only $2!

Adam G.

I received E.T. in 82 or 83. Other than Megamania, it was the most played game that I had. I must have logged several hundrend hours on it, and have fond memories of those times.

I recall the medium level as being almost impossibly hard, which is rather amusing today. I told many people at the time how 'no one could beat the third level'.

E.T. was very good for it's time. Heck, I liked the game better than the movie. That *really* puts me in the minority.

Comm64nut

I have about 100 Atari 2600 games. I can stand to play most of them about 5 minutes at a time. When I put E.T. in, I can play all night.

moycon

E.T. is an awesome game. Great graphics, Decent sound, Action, Adventure, and a reason....nay a goal, a definite goal with an actual ending once completed. What more could you ask for??

WAHAHAHHAH!! But moycon, Those pits... I fall in them... I hate those pits!!! WAAHHH!!

Oh shut the hell up and take the 5 minutes it takes to master the pits my friend. You won't be sorry you did.

dougy76

I've always liked the E.T. game. I have never understood why it has been the recipient of such virulent attack. One common complaint is that the game is too hard. Well, I got the game when I was 9 or 10 years old, read the instructions, and finished it not too long after. Another complaint is that the pits are annoying. Yes, perhaps they are, but I don't see why they are any more annoying than obstacles in other games. Without obstacles in video games, where is the challenge? For example, a lot of people find the bats and condors in Pitfall II pretty annoying, but how often do you hear people condemn the game because the "bats and condors are SO annoying"? Personally, I think it's just "en vogue" to spurn E.T. and if gamers truly give the game a chance, they'll find it quite agreeable.

NovaXpress

I think E.T. is very mediocre but not bad. It's not much worse than Raiders of the Lost Ark and used much of the same code. But Indy is cooler than E.T. and at least he got to shoot something.

Defend it all you want, but the pits were rotten. Warshaw didn't have any real challenges in the game for E.T. to face so the challenge level was the ridiculous level of precision required for what was sold as a kids' game.

But the real reason for the hate is long-forgotten. In 1982 the typical price for an Atari cart was $20-35. When E.T. came out it was priced at $50. The only higher-priced cart was Zaxxon for Colecovision. Parents balked at the price, then when their kids turned of the game because of all the damn pits the parents vowed not to waste their money on more Atari games.

FOR THE LOVE OF CTHULU: Someone find an old issue of Mad magazine from January or February 82. the back cover shows an Atari E.T. cart with a $50 price tag. E.T. points his magic finger at the price tag and says "Ouch."

E.T. had a lot to do with driving the video game crash which began immediately afterwards. And if parents were burned on both Pac-man and E.T. that was it for new Atari games in their house forever.

JSFrias

I am not a gamer. I'm not really great at action video games. I had an Atari 800 computer (at age 11) and was programming on it, before I ever actually played a 2600 game. I have though, always been drawn to adventure and puzzle games. On a visit to my grandmother's house at the time I discovered that she had purchased a 2600 and the E.T. game. I was confused by the game a bit at first, but then read the manual. I was hooked shortly thereafter!! I managed to solve the game about 1/2 hour later. I don't remember anything about the difficulty level. I can tell you that it was a wonderful experience. I must give this game a thumbs up. I also disagree with anyone who says that it was too difficult for young kids. I do agree that it might not appeal to the action mind(less)ed gamer.

khryssun

E.T. was always one of my favorite VCS 2600 adventure games. I remember the day I bought it: it was just available for sale. When I went home I immediately plugged the cart into the VCS.... I was very impressed by the title screen graphics and the movie's music theme. I thought Woohaooh!!!... the VCS can do that!!! It's incredible! I remember I called my mom to come to watch that on the TV because I really wanted to share my wonder.

Then I read carefully the manual and I started to play... and I played E.T. again and again: it was such a good game. E.T. is a very addictive game for a lot of reasons: each new game is different from the previous one, displaying an action's icon depending E.T.'s location is a clever idea... so searching for a particular icon is funny as we have to make E.T. run everywhere and to use our memory to locate, remember and find the good action's icon, graphics are very good and the game mechanisms are very inventive.

I remember the first time I saw the Yar on the screen, I didn't know what happened because I didn't know Easter eggs existed! I found this event very cool but I didn't know how to reproduce it.

Pit's falls was never a problem for me and I really think it doesn't have to be a problem for every player when playing for a while. It's just a matter of practice... Not a big problem! The hardest part of the game is to synchronize the actions/enemy moves to call the spaceship and go away with it... it's a very intense and stressful moment and this part makes the game more addictive too. What a pleasure to win!!!

I have to add that it was very impressive by the development team (Howard Scott Warshaw & Jerome Domurat) : what a challenge to create such a good game in such a short time: congratulations!!!

Dennis Debro

I was one of the ones that received E.T. as a Christmas present. I loved the game. I don't understand why some say that it was one of the worst (if not the worst) games for the VCS.

I thought the graphics were great! The title screen blew my mind when I plugged in the cart. Back then most games didn't have a title screen and if they did they didn't look that detailed. Just by looking at the game and not reading the manual I could tell which characters were Elliot, E.T., government officials, and the scientists. They were also very colorful for a VCS game.

I also loved the E.T. theme that was played. It was neat being able to hear it.

As for the game play, well, if you liked Superman and Adventure, you should have liked E.T. The game play was almost identical! How could someone praise Adventure but think E.T. was awful. At least E.T. didn't suffer from the character flicker that the others did.

HSW if you ever read this just know I thought E.T. was a great game. Later when I found out how long it took you to conceive and program this game, it made me even more fond of it.

Underware Man

I want to quickly put in my 2 cents worth. I received the game a few weeks after Christmas. I bought it myself with my own money, I plugged the game in and was so frustrated with the pits I turned it off for quite some time.

But being so young I never took it back for a refund and instead a few weeks later plugged it back in and with a grim determination I slowly understood where the pits were (my mom even put Saran Wrap on our TV screen so I could draw were the pits were).

I read and reread the game manual and understood the basis of the game after months of trying and trying I assembled the 3 pieces of the phone, found the landing site, and enjoyed the ending of E.T.

I laugh about it today because I remember being so proud I figured out how to get E.T. home. I feel even better today that an 11 year old was able to finish the so-called 'unplayable game'.

Big Luni

I was frustrated with E.T. at first when I was a kid, but once I read the manual I understood it and played it until I beat it. I think it got a bad rap because most people weren't used to reading manuals in those days- the games were usually easy to figure out. Today, you usually have to do some reading to play a game. E.T. definitely had its flaws, but probably about 70% of the 2600 library is worse.

Lord Thag

I picked E.T. up for two bucks back in the day, and I thought xmas had come early. I rushed home, popped it into my 2600, and had a blast. The funny thing is, I cannot stand the movie, which proves that there is some real merit to the game! E.T. distills the best elements from Adventure and Superman, then adds some (much needed) originality and randomness, which makes for a fun challenge each time you play. And for the love of god people, SHUT UP ABOUT THE DAMN PITS ALREADY! Take the three minutes it takes to learn how to play the game. I *never* thought of the pits as any big deal until I listened to all the whining on the 'net. If anything, they add to the experience by requiring you to play with some skill, otherwise escaping from the baddies would be too easy with E.T.'s turbo-run mode. As it is, the game has a nice tension level to it. I think, in the end, E.T. got a bad rep because it's more of a game for mature players that was targeted at little kids, who quickly became lost and confused. It was also made in a time where simple twitch games were the norm, and E.T. is much more involved than that.

Give it a chance folks.

Jack Spencer Jr

I actually fall between the two camps. Back in the day, I didn't own it, but a friend did and I was thoroughly frustrated with falling into a stupid pit over and over.

Years later, I picked up a bunch of used cartridges and tried it again, this time with the manual handy, I managed to avoid the pit bug as well as understand the rest of it. As such, what used to be a frustrating gaming experience became a sense of real accomplishment.

I don't think it's the best game every made for the Atari. That was Moonsweeper. But it is a fun, little adventure game that would have been a hit if they'd had a little more time to work on it and to iron out all the bugs, and perhaps make the control a little less counter-intuitive, but that's just me. As it stands, it is a fun game once you figure out what to do and how to do it.

Jason

I was too young to play the Atari 2600 when it came out I was more into the NES, one of Ataris old nemesis I believe. But being the avid gamer I am I recently bought one and ET came with. I like the game overall, but one thing that annoys me is no matter how well I maneuver around wells to escape the pursuers its all undermined when they walk over the well like it isn't there, which in my opinion was if not a glitch, stupid. But other than that it looks like a cool game everybody likes cool alien powers at their disposal. And miscellaneous dispersal of phone parts gives it good replay value. I'd give it a 7 out of 10.

Olaf Wagner

I'm so glad to find this page. I am also one of the crowd that really enjoyed playing ET back in the day. I was never aware of the 'ET is Crap' scene - we simply saw this as a fun adventure game for our 2600, and was immensely surprised to learn much later in life how many people hated it.

I think it is an awesome game for the 2600, and I am very glad that sites like this give it the credit it deserves.

Atari Charles: Charles F. Gray

I remember getting E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial for Christmas. Being into science fiction at the time, I was pretty happy with the game and would spend hours upon hours playing it. It was the best Christmas present I ever got. "Thanks Mom!"

The Pits were the worst thing about the game as they tended to be hard to get out of. Aside from that, E.T. was a very challenging and amazing game for the time.

I never understood where all this E.T. bashing came from. Back in the early 80s my friends and I really enjoyed this game and thought it was great. It had more playability and longer playability than a lot of other games out there at the time. It also stretched what the Atari 2600 could do.

The truth is, when Atari become unpopular in Canada was around the time Nintendo's NES came out in the late 80s. The NES was just more advanced so people jumped ship.

The sad part, all those sealed in box carts at K-Mart selling for 99 cents, and us kids wanting to buy them but feeling to cool to buy them as they were now old. Darn it. If only I had a time machine!

Some people think that there is only one E.T. game out there. Well they are wrong. These are the sequels and spinoffs that are in cart form:

E.T. Go Home

This is a really sad and broken English spinoff.

E.T. vs. HSW

A hack of Pac-Man incorporating a really bad game with an infamous alien.

E.T. Book Cart

A book in cartridge form focusing on the original game.

E.T. Return to Earth A.K.A. Save Elliot (Sequel to E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial)

This is a prototype purchased in Taiwan and currently residing in a collection in Paris, France.

There's not much I can say other than, if you haven't tried the game or dislike the game: Buy it! Play it for a while and you'll see how much fun it is.

William Potter

Ok,

Never thought I would say this.

I lost my ET Cartridge and diggs130 was kind enough to send me another in the mail.

I read the manual and have played the game for two days.

Random Terrain is right!

This is a GOOD game when you know what you are doing.

One of the best games for the VCS and not the worst.

The preaching of Random Terrain is nothing but the most pure of truths.

Give it a proper chance rather than bashing it as I naively did for years.

Keith Weatherby II

I stumbled upon the ET Appreciation page. Quite interesting.

Unlike a lot of those people that liked ET, I never read the manual. I just think that since I was a kid, I didn't really have the patience maybe. In any case I did figure it out myself. I didn't know what most of the symbols meant, but I figured out what the ship symbol was, and I found all the pieces to the phone. And then saw the timer, after a couple of times of doing this I finally won. So I guess I liked it because I had accomplished it myself.

As far as the pits are concerned, yeah it was a pain because the collision detection wasn't all that advanced back then. But you learn how to avoid the pits (or fall in them deliberately because a piece of the phone is there.)

Overall I enjoyed the game. I don't know if it was my favorite, my favorite 2600 game was yars revenge, but ET was still pretty good.