E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Atari 2600)

Based on the 1982 blockbuster film, the Atari 2600 E.T. is notorious for its reputation as one of the worst games ever, partly due to being made in just over five weeks so Atari (who had paid a staggering $20 million or so for the license) could get it out in time for Christmas that year. Atari had high sales expectations and the game sold pretty well at first... but then word-of-mouth about its lousiness began to spread, leading to retailers (who had also had high expectations) either discounting the price or sending unsold/returned units back to Atari. The end result was a huge financial failure that's often cited as one of the leading factors behind the US video game crash of 1983.

Reputation aside, it's generally agreed that Howard Scott Warshaw (the game's programmer) and Jerome M. Domurat (the game's graphic artist) did the best they could with the extremely limited development time handed to them.

Developer Credits#

Five weeks was still enough time to slip in a few Easter eggs.

Howard Scott Warshaw#

Collect the "H" () phone piece, give Elliot 7 pieces of candy, then revive the flower. It will change into a Yar (from Yars' Revenge) and fly away.

Do this again in the next round, but collect the "S" () phone piece instead. The flower will change into Indiana Jones (from the game Raiders of the Lost Ark).

Repeat this a third time, collecting the "W" () phone piece instead. The flower will remain, but "HSW3" (Howard Scott Warshaw's 3rd game) will appear in the bottom status bar.

Jerome Domurat#

On game #1, give Elliot 1 candy. Whenever both E.T. and Elliot are on the screen with 8 pits, "JD" will appear in the top status bar.

References#