Annoyed by E.T. haters online!

[Buyatari]

EVERYONE that I knew growing up who owned an Atari 2600 had ET and they all hated it. . .

That's silly.

 

Corrected.

[Buyatari]

 

Not only did it play bad and look horrible. . .

It seemed like all kinds of games back then had single-color characters and a crap load of flicker, but E.T. had multicolored characters and no flicker. How horrible!

 

You would have a screen with 4 pits and ........nothing else.

 

ok

 

then another screen with 4 pits.

 

Yeah great graphics here man. Those pits sure looks real. I have to hold on to my seat so I don't fall in. That must be why ET keeps falling in. Those pits look so real and so big... LOOK OUT !

 

As a kid we all got stuck in the pits. Not so much because we didn't learn the controls but because that really is all there was. Now people are saying that was the point of the game and you had to fall in the fall in the pits to get items. Well that just makes it worse ! I had held out the hope that after a maze of pits you got to the place where the real game started.

 

Did the programmer even see the movie? What does screen after screen of multiple pits have to do with ET ?

 

There is little to offer in the 1st-2nd-3rd play that is interesting or cool that would keep a child hooked. Radiers was similar in design but so much cooler. You had a black market amd other different places to explore. Raiders had a whip and a gun you could use. Looking for lost buried treasure it was just more exciting. There was enough that you could see in just one or two playthroughs to keep a child guessing and interested. What was over here, how do you do get this etc.

 

After falling into a few pits in ET the last thing I wondered was gee what is in the other pits. ET was a great movie but as a game character he is very limited. He is slow and non-violent. Not a good combination for a videogame. Perhaps they did the best they could with that license. I have a hard time thinking how an ET game would be much better.

[2600Lives]

Dude, I'm sorry your mom didn't have money for carts with instructions. I can understand how that could fill somebody with a deep long lasting rage.

 

You might want to speak to your priest about it, while the rest of us enjoy our fine little alien friend's video antics!

 

And since instructions and RT's excellent videos are available on the Internet now, you can sleep easy knowing the game no longer sucks, and no further children will be harmed as you were.

 

 

Has anybody ever told you you're a fucking asshole?

 

Let me enlighten you as to my situation.

 

The Atari was almost the ONLY thing I owned of value as a kid (hell, it was probably the most expensive thing in our whole house), and it was given to me as a gift from an uncle. We were dirt, and I mean DIRT poor. When I was 8, we lost our house because my mom was willfully crippled by a hospital (we sued and lost...not gonna go into it). Everything in it was sold off, and I spent a year with my mother on the streets eating from garbage cans and drinking from puddles. I had 4 or 5 games, all got second hand or given as gifts. I mentioned that I might want E.T., so she got it for me from a friend of hers who's kid got it and hated it (parents rarely ask such things as "is it a good game"). I played it a few times, and hated it. I only owned it for a little while before we lost everything.

 

So, while you make your smartass comments about parents and money, keep in mind that there are those out there who didn't have everything handed to them. When you're worrying about putting food on the table every night, getting the manuals to video games doesn't mean a whole hell of a lot.

 

And the priest comment makes me hate you even more. I'm a 100% militant athiest, pal, and damn proud of it. In fact, your comments have just reinforced what I think about the clegry in general.

 

So, for future reference, please don't ever respond in any way to anything I've posted, ok?

[+Random Terrain]

You would have a screen with 4 pits and ........nothing else.

 

ok

 

then another screen with 4 pits.

 

Yeah great graphics here man. Those pits sure looks real. I have to hold on to my seat so I don't fall in. That must be why ET keeps falling in. Those pits look so real and so big... LOOK OUT !

You can say similar things about many Atari 2600 games. Simple backgrounds. Besides Washington, D.C. and the forest, you might think it's nothing but wells, but there is more. Every screen has randomly placed power zones.

 

 

 

 

As a kid we all got stuck in the pits. Not so much because we didn't learn the controls but because that really is all there was. Now people are saying that was the point of the game and you had to fall in the fall in the pits to get items. Well that just makes it worse ! I had held out the hope that after a maze of pits you got to the place where the real game started.

I guess 'we' means you and your uncoordinated friends. Don't know what you have been reading, but you only have to enter 3 wells at the most during a round (if you don't let the FBI agent take phone pieces away from you). You can give Elliott 9 pieces of candy and he'll bring you a phone piece, so you could have him bring you 1, 2, or 3 pieces of the phone, if you're lucky enough to find enough candy, and you could avoid all of the wells. And with a few minutes of practice, even a child can figure out how to deal with the wells, especially now when there are YouTube videos with tips:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh4U3BwlTcY&rel=0&fmt=18

 

 

 

 

Did the programmer even see the movie? What does screen after screen of multiple pits have to do with ET?

Howard Scott Warshaw might have been too high to see the movie back then (if the movie was finished when he started working on the game). I'm pretty sure that just about everyone who played E.T. wondered why the game had wells. It was freakin' weird.

 

 

 

 

There is little to offer in the 1st-2nd-3rd play that is interesting or cool that would keep a child hooked. Radiers was similar in design but so much cooler. You had a black market amd other different places to explore. Raiders had a whip and a gun you could use. Looking for lost buried treasure it was just more exciting. There was enough that you could see in just one or two playthroughs to keep a child guessing and interested. What was over here, how do you do get this etc.

An advanced child who likes the two-layered 'treasure hunt', likes fighting off or avoiding the FBI agent and Scientist, and likes the end of a round when time is ticking down and he's trying to get to the Landing Zone while making sure no one is on the screen would think it was interesting or cool and would get hooked. But the game was too advanced for the average nose-picking 5 to 10 year old. As people have said before, if the game wasn't tied to E.T. and it wasn't sold as a game for kids, people might have liked it more.

 

 

 

 

After falling into a few pits in ET the last thing I wondered was gee what is in the other pits. ET was a great movie but as a game character he is very limited. He is slow and non-violent. Not a good combination for a videogame. Perhaps they did the best they could with that license. I have a hard time thinking how an ET game would be much better.

E.T. can run pretty fast in the movie, and he can do the same in the game. An advanced child, teen, or adult who read the instructions and knew how to play would understand that the game wasn't about the wells. It was mostly about the power zones. You usually avoid the wells and only enter ones that contain phone pieces. Grab the phone pieces, phone home, then hop on the ship. The game is fun if you know what you're doing, but it can be boring and frustrating if you don't have a clue.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcAoIThBDyA&rel=0&fmt=18

[RevEng]

Has anybody ever told you you're a fucking asshole?

 

Let me enlighten you as to my situation.

 

The Atari was almost the ONLY thing I owned of value as a kid... [snip]

...So, for future reference, please don't ever respond in any way to anything I've posted, ok?

 

Poverty is a terrible thing. If you feel I was mocking poverty, you completely missed the point.

 

My point, which was likely too subtle, was that raging and swearing online about a video game sucking in general due to your specific personal circumstances is patently absurd.

 

If your mom had happened to snag the instructions with it, would the game not have sucked? Don't all 2600 games suck, because there were some people too poor to afford the console?

 

How about getting a bit of perspective, and just saying the game brings up bad memories for you?

 

Also, if you don't wish to see my posts, this forum has the handy feature to ignore certain users.

Edited December 24, 2009 by RevEng

[Buyatari]

You would have a screen with 4 pits and ........nothing else.

 

ok

 

then another screen with 4 pits.

 

Yeah great graphics here man. Those pits sure looks real. I have to hold on to my seat so I don't fall in. That must be why ET keeps falling in. Those pits look so real and so big... LOOK OUT !

You can say similar things about many Atari 2600 games. Simple backgrounds. Besides Washington, D.C. and the forest, you might think it's nothing but wells, but there is more. Every screen has randomly placed power zones.

 

YES you can. But the most common games with perhaps the exception of Pacman and ET were enjoyable right off the bat and the graphics were not required for a decent game. Having a bad game with plain graphics will have you lose interest real quick.

 

 

As a kid we all got stuck in the pits. Not so much because we didn't learn the controls but because that really is all there was. Now people are saying that was the point of the game and you had to fall in the fall in the pits to get items. Well that just makes it worse ! I had held out the hope that after a maze of pits you got to the place where the real game started.

I guess 'we' means you and your uncoordinated friends. Don't know what you have been reading, but you only have to enter 3 wells at the most during a round (if you don't let the FBI agent take phone pieces away from you). You can give Elliott 9 pieces of candy and he'll bring you a phone piece, so you could have him bring you 1, 2, or 3 pieces of the phone, if you're lucky enough to find enough candy, and you could avoid all of the wells. And with a few minutes of practice, even a child can figure out how to deal with the wells, especially now when there are YouTube videos with tips:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh4U3BwlTcY&rel=0&fmt=18

 

Ahh so if you stick a needle in your eye you can find relief by removing it.

 

I guess it is good to know that if someone wanted to play this game today knowing what we know today you could avoid the pitfall of the pit. Still doesn't explain why they are there in the first place. Or why they take up so much of the geography of the game.

 

 

Did the programmer even see the movie? What does screen after screen of multiple pits have to do with ET?

Howard Scott Warshaw might have been too high to see the movie back then (if the movie was finished when he started working on the game). I'm pretty sure that just about everyone who played E.T. wondered why the game had wells. It was freakin' weird.

 

Weird isn't the word I would use but at least we agree. It is the main reason people hate this game. Even if you can fly out with ease they are still there as the main focus and they shouldn't be.

 

 

There is little to offer in the 1st-2nd-3rd play that is interesting or cool that would keep a child hooked. Radiers was similar in design but so much cooler. You had a black market amd other different places to explore. Raiders had a whip and a gun you could use. Looking for lost buried treasure it was just more exciting. There was enough that you could see in just one or two playthroughs to keep a child guessing and interested. What was over here, how do you do get this etc.

An advanced child who likes the two-layered 'treasure hunt', likes fighting off or avoiding the FBI agent and Scientist, and likes the end of a round when time is ticking down and he's trying to get to the Landing Zone while making sure no one is on the screen would think it was interesting or cool and would get hooked. But the game was too advanced for the average nose-picking 5 to 10 year old. As people have said before, if the game wasn't tied to E.T. and it wasn't sold as a game for kids, people might have liked it more.

So you are saying they took a family movie which was seen by every 5-10 year old snot nose kid on the planet and made an advanced game for adults. Marketed it for kids and it is the kids who are the dumb ones?

 

 

After falling into a few pits in ET the last thing I wondered was gee what is in the other pits. ET was a great movie but as a game character he is very limited. He is slow and non-violent. Not a good combination for a videogame. Perhaps they did the best they could with that license. I have a hard time thinking how an ET game would be much better.

E.T. can run pretty fast in the movie, and he can do the same in the game. An advanced child, teen, or adult who read the instructions and knew how to play would understand that the game wasn't about the wells. It was mostly about the power zones. You usually avoid the wells and only enter ones that contain phone pieces. Grab the phone pieces, phone home, then hop on the ship. The game is fun if you know what you're doing, but it can be boring and frustrating if you don't have a clue.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcAoIThBDyA&rel=0&fmt=18

 

I've seen all the videos. Not one of them makes me want to pick up the game again. Swordquest was a bit like ET but it had these great little minigames. They came with these well done comics books filled with mythology a cool poster and the hope of winning a real prize. ET was Swordquest without the comic book,the minigames and the hope of any reward for your pain.

 

I really think that people who enjoy this game played it as a child and perhaps didn't have anything else to play and had more time to play games than the rest of us. None of my friends could play games whenever they wanted to and time was limited on the Atari. We never got bored with all the fund games and were forced to stick with this one. There are several kids TV shows I watched because it was the only thing on during that time and they sucked. Today I still have a childhood attachment to them but anyone else who is new to the show today will hate it.

 

I will buy the argument that ET is not the worst game ever. However for most who bought this game in the 80's it for whatever (say it is because they are dumb or can't move a joystick if it makes you feel better) reason it was the single biggest Atari 2600 disapointment they ever had. We wouldn't see anything like it until the 5200 joysticks were released. ....but that is another complaint thread.

[JacobZu7zu7]

 

Not only did it play bad and look horrible. . .

It seemed like all kinds of games back then had single-color characters and a crap load of flicker, but E.T. had multicolored characters and no flicker. How horrible!

 

You would have a screen with 4 pits and ........nothing else.

 

ok

 

then another screen with 4 pits.

 

Yeah great graphics here man. Those pits sure looks real. I have to hold on to my seat so I don't fall in. That must be why ET keeps falling in. Those pits look so real and so big... LOOK OUT !

 

As a kid we all got stuck in the pits. Not so much because we didn't learn the controls but because that really is all there was. Now people are saying that was the point of the game and you had to fall in the fall in the pits to get items. Well that just makes it worse ! I had held out the hope that after a maze of pits you got to the place where the real game started.

 

Did the programmer even see the movie? What does screen after screen of multiple pits have to do with ET ?

 

 

The "Pits" were designed as part of the "challenge" and a place to get the # phone pieces.

It has nothing to do with the movie. A lot of games on movies were changed some, *Alien* I don't remember any of them gathering eggs??! Oh well... it's 2600 after all. Let it go...

and with Atari 2600... I'm surprised E.T. had followed the movie as well as it did...!

Graphics were downgraded a bit (meaning the wells/pits) to fit it all in (gameplay/options/screens)...

So, with only 6 weeks to make a video game about E.T. I think the programmer did an excellent job.

I have fun with it. Keep in mind, many (not all) online are very unforgiving of this game... not one

thing about it is let slide... but I think the true 2600 fans and those who understand what

games were like in early 80's can get that it's not always gonna be flawless, especially

in a quest game. They know Atari's limitations.

[+Random Terrain]

I've seen all the videos. Not one of them makes me want to pick up the game again. Swordquest was a bit like ET but it had these great little minigames. They came with these well done comics books filled with mythology a cool poster and the hope of winning a real prize. ET was Swordquest without the comic book,the minigames and the hope of any reward for your pain.

E.T. is the love child of Adventure and Superman. It's in that line of replayable adventure games where there are items to find, characters to fight or avoid, a character (like the bat in Adventure) that takes things, and an ultimate goal that finishes the game. If you knew how to play, there wouldn't be any pain and the reward is getting E.T. back home and building up your score if you care about scores (the double 'treasure hunt' itself is also a reward if you like treasure hunts). The Swordquest 'games' contained poorly done rip-offs of arcade games. They were more of a slap in the face than E.T. or Pac-Man could ever be, and with or without the horrible mini games, they had very little in common with E.T., Adventure, or Superman.

 

 

 

 

I really think that people who enjoy this game played it as a child and perhaps didn't have anything else to play and had more time to play games than the rest of us. None of my friends could play games whenever they wanted to and time was limited on the Atari. We never got bored with all the fund games and were forced to stick with this one. There are several kids TV shows I watched because it was the only thing on during that time and they sucked. Today I still have a childhood attachment to them but anyone else who is new to the show today will hate it.

Don't know about other people, but I was a teen when I got E.T. and I owned other games and borrowed games too. I got even more games in 1983 and 1984 when they became so much cheaper, but I kept playing E.T. because it was fun and replayable. Don't know what you're talking about with the B.S. about time. I had a boatload of homework, mowed yards for money, had to babysit, did various other things that teens had to do, played outside, watched TV shows, and so on.

Edited December 24, 2009 by Random Terrain

[JacobZu7zu7]

 

Not only did it play bad and look horrible. . .

It seemed like all kinds of games back then had single-color characters and a crap load of flicker, but E.T. had multicolored characters and no flicker. How horrible!

 

You would have a screen with 4 pits and ........nothing else.

 

ok

 

then another screen with 4 pits.

 

Yeah great graphics here man. Those pits sure looks real. I have to hold on to my seat so I don't fall in. That must be why ET keeps falling in. Those pits look so real and so big... LOOK OUT !

 

As a kid we all got stuck in the pits. Not so much because we didn't learn the controls but because that really is all there was. Now people are saying that was the point of the game and you had to fall in the fall in the pits to get items. Well that just makes it worse ! I had held out the hope that after a maze of pits you got to the place where the real game started.

 

Yes the point is to get in the wells.. and collect # pieces. It's better then falling in for no reason,

or dieing after falling in.. that would be truly frustrating.

 

I don't get why the pits/wells... are such a bother to some, Pitfall one of the best selling Atari games

has pits/lakes/swamp... covering half the ground you have to run across, sometimes without a roap, sometimes with alligators in them! This doesn't bother anyone ever... I find that a bit ironic. Sure, it's dressed up nicer...plays out smoother then E.T.

and the vine swing is a fun touch. But again, if you fall in "ONE" pit with Pitfall, u die... and there's nothing in any of them to help you solve the game.

I'm not saying Pitfall is worse then E.T. or that it's programmed worse, no... I'm just comparing the

challenge and saying E.T.'s well obession isn't the worst frustration ever. lol At least E.T. isn't eaten by an alligator in the pits, talk about unforgiving.

 

There's only one screen where the wells/pits are difficult to move around.

1 screen has no Pits at all. It's not like there's 8 pits on every single screen.

You can just use game option 2 or 3 if you can't get around them..

and you can take your time. No villans.

[2600Lives]

My point, which was likely too subtle, was that raging and swearing online about a video game sucking in general due to your specific personal circumstances is patently absurd.

 

Wow, and you respond with a thinly veiled insult instead of the humiltiy your kind is supposed to be renowned for. Wonderful. You're surely a shining example of humanity. Thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster there's an ignore button, eh?

 

 

What I really think is funny is how many defend this game on here. It's one of the most UNIVERSALLY REVILED games in history, yet there are those that say "Oh, it's just hated because it's kewl to hate it blah blah blah". Seriously, whatever guys. Get over yourselves. E.T. was hated LONG before the internet. The only thing the internet did was show later generations it's horrendous suckiness. Like the game if you want to, but stop trying to get others to not hate it and say how stupid or ignorant they are. If someone has never played it, then yeah, they're just bandwagon hopping, but for those of us that actually got burned by the damn thing, our points are completely valid.

 

Now I'm gonna go play Yar's and remind myself that HSW can actually make a great game.

[+save2600]

Hey, thanks for the 'ignore' reminder! Think I'm going to use that for the first time ever and double plus good since now I won't have to look at your stupid avatar from that retarded Adult Swim show, listen to your robopathic anti E.T. drivel and other offensive language. BTW: the movie 'Heavy Metal' blows Donkey Kong's testes! Embarrassing that a great band such as Devo would align themselves so and contribute anything to that POS. Talk about de-evolution! *plonk*

Edited December 24, 2009 by save2600

[+Random Terrain]

Let's all try not to get too nasty so the thread won't get closed.

 

 

What I really think is funny is how many defend this game on here. It's one of the most UNIVERSALLY REVILED games in history, yet there are those that say "Oh, it's just hated because it's kewl to hate it blah blah blah". Seriously, whatever guys. Get over yourselves.

Now that's funny. The guy who can't get over himself (or at least his screaming inner child) is telling people to get over themselves. Well, that was a little nasty, but not too bad.

 

 

 

 

E.T. was hated LONG before the internet. The only thing the internet did was show later generations it's horrendous suckiness.

Nobody is saying that the hate was invented by a few people on the Internet. The game was too hard for little kids, but it was a shock to see how many people hated it. The Internet did help the hate to coalesce and grow. It wouldn't be so bad if the hate wasn't usually stuffed full of misinformation and ignorance.

 

 

 

 

Like the game if you want to, but stop trying to get others to not hate it . . .

There seems to be a lot of people out there trying to get new people to hate the game and trying to make sure the currently like-minded won't leave the ship of hate by pushing the same old tired, ignorant crap that could be cleared up in a few minutes by looking at the manual, reading my tips page, looking at the map page, or watching a video. It's only fair that people who like the game try to clear away the fog of ignorance. Some people who hate the game might end up liking it if they use their adult minds to understand how you're really supposed to play the game.

 

 

 

 

. . . and say how stupid or ignorant they are.

Ignorance is a lack of knowledge and that means most E.T. haters are ignorant. The screaming inner child won't allow them to look at the instructions with fresh adult eyes, so they don't understand how the power zones work, they don't understand how to enter the wells safely, they don't know how to get out of the wells, they don't know how to use the fire button properly, they don't know that they usually only have to enter 3 wells at the most, they don't know how to escape from the scientist, they don't know how to avoid or scare off the Scientist and FBI agent, they don't know how to use Elliott to make the game easier, they don't know how to phone home, and I'm sure there are more things they don't know. It seems that many E.T. haters love to wallow in the ignorance because it keeps the hate bubbling and hate can be a nice, warm companion.

 

 

 

 

If someone has never played it, then yeah, they're just bandwagon hopping, but for those of us that actually got burned by the damn thing, our points are completely valid.

They are valid for an ignorant 8 year old, but not valid for an adult of at least moderate intelligence who has access to more than just the instructions, thanks to the Internet.

 

 

 

 

Now I'm gonna go play Yar's and remind myself that HSW can actually make a great game.

For anyone else who might be reading this, it's Yars' Revenge, not Yar's Revenge. More fog cleared!

 

 

 

Merry Isthmus and Happy Nude Spear!

[RevEng]

My point, which was likely too subtle, was that raging and swearing online about a video game sucking in general due to your specific personal circumstances is patently absurd.

Wow, and you respond with a thinly veiled insult instead of the humility your kind is supposed to be renowned for.

Having your logic flaws pointed out in public might be embarrassing, but you shouldn't take it as an insult.

 

The priest thing was for your benefit. I'm not church-going in the slightest. I just assumed you were an altar-boy with your colourful language.

[Kripto]

Just thought I'd blab-out my opinion in this thread-

 

E.T is indeed far from being the best game ever, but saying it's worse than SwordQuest is truly crazy talk. I would say the E.T. is better than 2600 Pac-Man, which also sucks, and sucks "for real".

 

The problem I have with E.T. is not conceptual, as that the abstract idea of pits doesn't, in itself suck, but that the game lacks immediate appeal.

 

I still remember my first time playing E.T. as a child. I moved E.T. around with no goal being obvious, and then fell into a pit, pulled myself out, shortly followed by my falling into another pit. At this point I thought, Hey, this game sucks. Let's play MegaMania...

 

Historical revision talk-

 

To be commercially and somewhat more critically well received, I would say-

 

Get rid of the pits and replace them with more forest screens and building interiors (simple boxes with columns, different colors for those in different buildings).

 

Keep the goal of E.T. having to collect the phone pieces, randomly placed throughout the various screens, but make the primary game mechanic the avoidance of the various authority figures, inside and outside of structures.

[KevinMos3]

Get rid of the pits and replace them with more forest screens and building interiors (simple boxes with columns, different colors for those in different buildings).

 

Keep the goal of E.T. having to collect the phone pieces, randomly placed throughout the various screens, but make the primary game mechanic the avoidance of the various authority figures, inside and outside of structures.

This is eerily similar to the designs I came up with as a kid for an E.T. sequel. I really wish I knew where those designs were. I did several game designs for the 2600, NES, and Genesis, with lots of artwork, level maps, etc. All I needed back then was a programmer. I was going to send some of them to Atari, but never did. I worked on one game all through middle school and high school. I just kept adding more and more ideas to it as technology got better and better.

[tz101]

I think that many were turned off by Atari's handling of Pac Man, and never gave them much credit for anything that came afterward. E.T. being only one of many, but the one that seems to receive the most hatred. Deserved or not, E.T. bears the brunt of anti-Atari backlash that started with poorly done Pac Man and followed on with Pole Position and the like.

 

Another thought: I would guess that the majority of people who love E.T. got it when they only had a couple other games in their collection, say like Combat and Slot Racers. E.T. was an improvement over those games for sure. But for people who already had a substantial VCS game library, the temptation to put E.T. away and play Frostbite or Ms. Pac Man instead was too much to overcome. Hence, they never spent any real time getting used to its gameplay and strategy. E.T. was cast aside after only two or three falls into wells and never given a fair chance again.

[+Random Terrain]

Another thought: I would guess that the majority of people who love E.T. got it when they only had a couple other games in their collection, say like Combat and Slot Racers. E.T. was an improvement over those games for sure. But for people who already had a substantial VCS game library, the temptation to put E.T. away and play Frostbite or Ms. Pac Man instead was too much to overcome. Hence, they never spent any real time getting used to its gameplay and strategy. E.T. was cast aside after only two or three falls into wells and never given a fair chance again.

As I said in another post in this thread, I don't know about other people, but I was a teen when I got E.T. and I owned other games and borrowed games too. I got even more games in 1983 and 1984 when they became so much cheaper, but I kept playing E.T. because it was fun and replayable.

 

By the way, it seemed like most of the games I got were marked down to 10 dollars or less, but I was able to get Pac-Man, Yars' Revenge, Berzerk, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., and Ms. Pac-Man when they were new. Yay for me!

[Buyatari]

ET is the pits !

[+Random Terrain]

ET is the pits !

Fight that inner child! You can do it!

[Buyatari]

I think that many were turned off by Atari's handling of Pac Man, and never gave them much credit for anything that came afterward. E.T. being only one of many, but the one that seems to receive the most hatred. Deserved or not, E.T. bears the brunt of anti-Atari backlash that started with poorly done Pac Man and followed on with Pole Position and the like.

 

Another thought: I would guess that the majority of people who love E.T. got it when they only had a couple other games in their collection, say like Combat and Slot Racers. E.T. was an improvement over those games for sure. But for people who already had a substantial VCS game library, the temptation to put E.T. away and play Frostbite or Ms. Pac Man instead was too much to overcome. Hence, they never spent any real time getting used to its gameplay and strategy. E.T. was cast aside after only two or three falls into wells and never given a fair chance again.

 

So if you put the 2 worst games together would they cancel each other out and produce a quality game or would the universe colapse?

 

What we need is a hack of 2600 pacman with ET as pacman eating reese's pieces. Then turn the ghosts into the space suit scientists. Since you guys love the pits turn the energizers into pits that ET can fall into and hide for a bit to hide from the scientists. Each pit can be used once before it is closed off.

 

Ohh and Swordquest,Superman and Raiders are all better than ET IMHO. As I said before the backlash isn't because ET was so bad but because the expectations were so high and it fell so far short.

[BDW]

ET is the pits !

Fight that inner child! You can do it!

The joke zoomed right over your head

[+Random Terrain]

ET is the pits !

Fight that inner child! You can do it!

The joke zoomed right over your head

Thank God you were here to point out the complicated double meaning.

 

How did I not get the 'joke'? E.T. haters think E.T. is the pits and that the whole game is all about the 'pits' (wells). If they could fight that inner child and read the instructions, they'd learn that E.T. is the power zones, not the 'pits' and that E.T. is not the pits.

[Kripto]

ET is the pits !

Fight that inner child! You can do it!

The joke zoomed right over your head

Thank God you were here to point out the complicated double meaning.

 

How did I not get the 'joke'? E.T. haters think E.T. is the pits and that the whole game is all about the 'pits' (wells). If they could fight that inner child and read the instructions, they'd learn that E.T. is the power zones, not the 'pits' and that E.T. is not the pits.

 

E.T. was meant to be a mass market game, not a space shuttle simulator or TSR RPG. Reading the manual should have added to one's enjoyment but not have been needed to get even the slightest pleasure from it. Besides, cartridge trading/loaning was rampant when I was a kid, and you NEVER got or gave manuals.

 

As for those saying that the steaming turd sandwich called SwordQuest was better- I hear there are plenty of available apartments in Crazy Town, and this far-out belief you hold is more than enough to secure you a permanent spot.

[+Random Terrain]

E.T. was meant to be a mass market game, not a space shuttle simulator or TSR RPG. Reading the manual should have added to one's enjoyment but not have been needed to get even the slightest pleasure from it. Besides, cartridge trading/loaning was rampant when I was a kid, and you NEVER got or gave manuals.

I traded with a guy in the late 1980s who did that. He would go up and down neighborhoods trading game cartridges without instructions, but from 1982 to 1985, I never saw that happening. You got the cartridge, instructions, and usually the box too, at least where I lived.

 

Anyway, as I have said many times before, a game meant for kids should have been easier. Easier than Adventure. It sucks that so many kids got an advanced game that should have been aimed at teens and adults, but it happened. They got screwed by the genius of Howard Scott Warshaw. The point is that although they got screwed, if they can let go of their childhood rage, they can finally enjoy the genius of Howard Scott Warshaw instead of feeling screwed by it. You're not kids anymore. You're getting gray hair. How about giving the game a chance? Not a grudging, pinch your nose and get it over with kind of chance. A real chance.

 

With all of the typing I'm doing here, I need to look at my posts and see if I can use any of this stuff on my web site.

[BDW]

ET is the pits !

Fight that inner child! You can do it!

The joke zoomed right over your head

Thank God you were here to point out the complicated double meaning.

 

 

Anytime, madame.

 

 

Obvious man, AWAY!!!