E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

1982 · Adventure · Atari 2600

Overview

E.T. (1982) is Howard Scott Warshaw's Atari 2600 film tie-in, made in just over five weeks, whose returned and buried cartridges became a symbol of the 1983 video game crash.

Deep Dive

E.T. must find three pieces of an interplanetary telephone hidden in pits across six areas, then reach a landing zone before time runs out. Reese's Pieces restore his energy, and he has three lives. Critics attacked the gameplay, the visuals and how often E.T. falls into pits; it is regularly listed among the worst games ever made.

Developer Story

The licence reportedly cost $20–25 million, and negotiations ended in late July 1982, leaving Warshaw just over five weeks to finish the game for the holiday season. He designed and programmed it, with art by himself and Jerome Domurat.

Did You Know?

Unsold cartridges were reportedly buried in a landfill at Alamogordo, New Mexico; diggers found E.T. cartridges there in April 2014.
It sold about 2.6 million copies by the end of 1982, but Atari's Ray Kassar later said about 3.5 million of the 4 million made came back.