No, this is not a joke. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial for the Atari 2600 is a much better game than most people think. The reason I created this 5 page section is because E.T. was my favorite game back in the early 1980s. I played it over and over again. I didn't even know most people supposedly hated the game until I got Internet access in 1999 and since there is an abundance of anti-E.T. pages and articles out there, including ones that encourage you to destroy E.T. cartridges, I thought it was about time that someone who liked the game spoke up. And for those E.T. haters who got to this page through a link in a forum, the person who posted the link and I are not the only two people on the planet who like the game. Just check out the E.T. Appreciation Page and you will see that more than two people like the game and more personal stories are being added as people who like E.T. find the page and submit their stories.

 

For those who need a quick refresher, E.T. is basically a treasure hunt. The main thing you are looking for is the Phone Home Zone . The only other power zone you really need during the main part of the game is the Find Phone Piece Zone . The Find Phone Piece Zone shows you where the phone pieces are and that means you only have to jump in three wells at the most as long as you avoid the FBI agent.

 

After you have all three pieces of the phone, you can go back to the already found Phone Home Zone or find it if you haven't yet, call your ship, run to the forest and quickly find the Send Humans Back Zone and the Landing Zone . If you time it just right when sending the humans back, the ship will land and E.T. will be rescued.

 

 

 

 

My Favorite Adventure Game

You must find all three pieces of your interplanetary phone, avoid or fight off an FBI agent and a scientist, call your ship, and get to the landing zone before time runs out. That might seem difficult, but you're not alone in your struggle to get home. Your friend Elliott will help. Just call out to him and he'll be right there.

 

I think E.T. is the best adventure game ever made for the Atari 2600. It's not too hard, not too easy, there's no noticeable flicker, and it's different each time you play. Sure, the wells are hard to get used to the first couple of times you play, but you can soon learn to zip around them in no time (even if you are fairly uncoordinated like I am). No problem falling in a well because you can catch yourself in mid-air before you fall in too far. That saves time and energy.

 

 

 

 

Why Is E.T. so Great?

Some people claim that there's nothing fun about E.T. Well, here's a list of some of the things that I think make E.T. so much fun:

 

1. The interplanetary telephone pieces and zones are in different places every time you start a new game. Controlled Randomness gives E.T. replayability, and that means the game will be fun no matter how many times you play it. It's always fresh.

 

a. Finding the randomly placed pieces of the interplanetary telephone is fun. It's like a treasure hunt. There are three ways you can do this. You can use the Find Phone Piece Zone to see if a phone piece is in a well, you can give Elliott 9 candy pieces and he will bring you a piece of the phone, or you can look in every well by hopping in, catching yourself in mid-air by quickly hitting the fire button, then levitating right back out.

 

b. Searching for the zones that you'll need to finish the game is fun, almost as much fun as the game Civilization when you explore new territory. You never know where the Phone Home Zone (Call Ship Zone) will be. It could be near a well or in the forest or in Washington, D.C. (yes, that dangerous city where the FBI agent can strip you of everything you own before you know what's happening if you're not careful).

 

2. Avoiding or fighting off the FBI agent and the scientist is fun. You can run, use an arrow zone to jump to another site, use that special zone that will cloud their minds and send them back to Washington, D.C. , or you can jump into a well as a last resort. You can also use the scientist to your advantage by letting him carry you to Washington, D.C. if you're trying to get away from the FBI agent or you think the Phone Home Zone might be there. And as with other Atari-made adventure games, your enemies know where you are and come right after you. Since your enemies appear to have some type of intelligence, the whole game is more enjoyable and feels more alive than other so-called adventure games where enemies mindlessly bounce up and down or move back and forth as you try to jump over them or duck under them.

 

3. It's extremely fun and exciting at the end of the game when time is ticking down and you're trying to get to the landing zone while making sure no one is on the screen with you.

 

4. There are some cool Easter eggs in the game and it's really fun if you find one or two of them on your own. Back when the game was new, I found the "JD" and the Yar. The "JD" wasn't such a big deal, but seeing the Yar fly off the screen was one of the most surprising things I ever saw while playing an Atari 2600 game. It was a real jaw-dropping, 'crap your pants' moment. After playing the game for days without turning the game off, there were strange initials in the energy count after starting a new round. I saw them right after walking off the forest screen and E.T. also turned black. I didn't know how it happened, but it was a fun thing to see, although nothing beats seeing the Yar fly off the screen. I now know from the DP E.T. Easter egg and bug page that E.T. turned black and the strange stuff appeared in the energy count because I got more than 31 pieces of candy.

 

OK, there's my list of all of the fun things in the game. Now if anyone says that there's nothing fun about the game, you can show them that list and maybe they'll change their mind.

 

E.T. is also one of the few non-turn-based games that allows you to leave the game during active play and come back later to pick up where you left off. In other words, you can 'pause' the game any time you want. With E.T., there's no waiting until you get to another level or some hard to reach safe spot before you can safely leave the game. Just hop in a well and return to the game whenever you want. It's not an official pause button, it's more like a pause feature, but it sure is handy when you have to drop what you are doing and join the real world. Why was this feature important? It may not mean much to the Nintendo generation and those who have only played Atari 2600 games using an emulator, but back then there were virtually no games for the Atari 2600 that you could pause. It was a welcome feature.

 

 

 

 

Great Graphics and Sound

The graphics, music, and sound effects in E.T. are very good for an Atari 2600 game released in 1982. Various people have criticized the graphics, and although the backgrounds are plain looking, most of the characters in the game are reasonably detailed, colorful, and flicker-free. I remember being impressed by how many colors some of the characters had. Many Atari 2600 games back then had characters that were made of only one color, but you can count 5 or 6 colors in some of the characters in E.T. and that was impressive.

 

You can say bad things about the graphics of most any Atari 2600 game if you use today's standards, but that's completely unfair. You can only compare E.T. with other Atari 2600 games that were available at the time. I'm sure there are a handful of games that were released by December of 1982 that might beat E.T. in the graphics category, but E.T. wins if you compare it to most other games from that time.

 

Some people claim that the sound effects in E.T. are horrible, but that's because they've only played the game using an emulator. Emulators mangle the sound of many games, and E.T. is one of those games. On the actual Atari 2600, the sound effects are amazing for 1982. The spaceship has one of the most unique and best sound effects ever put into an Atari 2600 game. Another thing I loved back then was that the sound of people walking gets louder as they get closer to E.T. Again, impressive for 1982.

 

 

 

 

An Advanced Adventure

E.T. is simple and complex at the same time. There are no mazes or tunnels to get lost in, there are just 6 sites wrapped around a cube. Although the landscape is simple, you need to find the 3 phone pieces, find the Phone Home Zone that could be anywhere, then call your ship and get back to the Landing Zone in the forest before you run out of energy (while avoiding or fighting off the FBI agent and the Scientist with your mind powers). Howard Scott Warshaw, the creator of the game, took the best parts of the adventure games that came before and created a little gem of a game.

 

I understand that many people who hate the game were little kids when E.T. came out, so they kept falling into the wells and were confused by the power zones. It's not their fault because kids of 1982 usually weren't as advanced as the kids of the 1990s and beyond who seem to master the most complicated games before they can even tie their own shoes.

 

E.T. is a fairly complex adventure game, so making it seem like a little kid's game was a mistake. Even teens and adults would have a hard time with this game until they played it a few times. Atari did include a nice manual and a tips sheet, but most of the kids who were old enough to read probably ignored that material and started playing the game immediately. Since E.T. is an adventure game, you can't just slap the cartridge in and start playing. You must read the manual and tips sheet that Atari provided or you won't know how to play the game and you'll become frustrated.

 

If you hated E.T. when you were a little kid, you can use this section of my web site to help recover and discard your childhood baggage about the game. If you can let go of those old hate-filled emotions and use your adult brain to discover what you weren't able to as a child, E.T. might become one of your favorite games.

 

 

 

 

Other E.T. Pages in this Subsection

E.T. Manual and Tips Sheet

This page displays scans of the official E.T. tips sheet and manual.

 

E.T. Map Page

I put together a map page for people who might need a little help.

 

E.T. Tips and Reminders

I finally made my own tips page. It also has a few videos that I hope will be helpful.

 

E.T. Appreciation Page

The place where you can read positive things others have to say about the game. You can also add your own praise if you'd like.

 

 

 

 

Related Links

In Defense of E.T.

If you repeat a falsehood often enough, people start to believe that it is true. . .

 

In Defense of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial

Let me tell you why E.T. isn't the piece of sh*t everyone is trying to sell it to be. Or for that matter, why it doesn't belong on any "10 Worst…" lists.

 

Reconsidering (and Explaining) E.T. for the Atari 2600

Despite being a symbol of terrible corporate decision-making, E.T. is actually a sweet little Atari game. No, for real!

 

Once Upon Atari

Howard Scott Warshaw's web site.

 

E.T. Yar Easter Egg

I found the Yar on my own back in '82/'83, but not Indiana Jones. That would have been cool.

 

DP E.T. Easter Egg and Bug Page

Finally, an explanation for E.T. turning black and the initials in the energy count!

 

Jerome Domurat's initials in E.T. uncovered at last!

Uncovered at last? I found those initials back in '82/'83. I could have told them how to do it if I was around at the time. It's the easiest Easter egg to find.

 

AtariAge E.T. Page

 

Wikipedia E.T. Page

 

 

 

Interviews

DP Interview with Howard Scott Warshaw

 

DP Interview with Jerome Domurat

 

 

 

Play E.T.

If you don't have an Atari 2600 and an E.T. cartridge, you can still try E.T. for yourself. Just download the E.T. ROM file and download an emulator such as Stella and play E.T. on your computer. You can also play the game online at atarimania.com, but be aware that the sound isn't as good as the latest emulators you can download.

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How to Get Out of the Wells

The Wells: How close can we get?

Background Color Changer