I actually think that this is the only review(ish) of this game that actually explains how it works, and how to play it, not to mention actually demoing a completed game. I guess that's what you get when you don't make an ET video merely to rehash the game's reputation.
The collision detection in this game isn't bad because it's inaccurate, but actually because it's 100% accurate. If even a single pixel of the two sprites touch, then he falls in. You'd think he'd only fall if he walked into them, but no, if his head clips a corner then he's going down.
Did you know you can press the fire button when ET falls into a pit and you can catch him floating in mid-air instead of falling to the bottom of a pit and taking more damage?
This and Raiders were mind blowing at the time. Actual adventure and puzzle gameplay rather than the usual arcade shooting type games. I still have both of mine somewhere, and though I never beat them, I have fond memories of trying.
"Zach, did you see that? A extraterrestrial with candy. Not something you see everyday. Reminds me of that movie. You know which one. Many consider it the one of the director's finest films, and a spiritual successor to his earlier 1977 science-fiction film. Yes. That's right. Spielberg's 1982 classic, E.T. It was also Drew Barrymore's break-out role. But she was in another film before that, another sci-fi classic. Do you remember, Zach? I'll give you some time to think about it."
OK since none of you people understand the concept of reading an instruction manual, I will explain how to win at this game on the hardest difficulty level. That "score" is actually your life meter. If you move or run or levitate it goes down. You can be revived once by Elliot if you die (twice if you found the flower and raised it) and you can regen if you eat a recees pieces (those dots you pick up) when you are standing on a spot with the dot inside a circle icon on top of screen and you press the button. The key to getting out of the holes is after you levitate out keep holding down the button and move to the side or below it else you will fall back in. The scientist kidnapping you does nothing except waste your time and lifebar. The FBI agent however will steal your phone pieces. You can stun or repel either of them by pressing the button when you are on a spot with the III icon on top of the screen. This is the unique part of this game. What ET's powers do are based on where on the map he is standing. As you move around different Icons appear on the top and that is the power he will activate when standing there. The 'E' icon will call Elliot to come and take you recees pieces for higher score at end of game if you win. The arrows are teleport spots. The entire map is a cube with the forest on the top square and the buildings on the bottom with the four forests wrapping around. The '?' icon will make a dot appear over a pit if there is a phone piece in it. So you go around trying to find the '?' marks to find the pits that have phone pieces. When you collect three you can now call your ship. The whole game you are also exploring around for the call ship icon which is only in one spot which is random each game. It looks like one of the enemies from space invaders. Before you call the ship though go back up to the forest and find the landing site icon and the III icon for the forest screen. Both of these are important. So you go to the call ship icon and activate it then a timer goes off. You then go to the forest and wait by the III icon while the timer gets close to done. While you are waiting if any FBI agents or scientists come on the screen you can send them back because you are waiting on the III icon. Then right before the timer runs out you run to the landing pad icon and hopefully the ship will land before any agents appear. CONGRATULATIONS YOU WIN and you get bonus points for how much life you have left and how many recees pieces you gave to Elliot. It's a hard game because the locations of Phone pieces and icons is randomized each game so no game is ever the same. Also the FBI guys will keep getting your phone pieces causing you to have to keep searching for more all while not running out of life.
Looking back at videos, stunned this is the first game you ever played. The fact you got into video games at all after this is impressive, makes Lifeline looks like a joke.
i can only imagine this game was not successful on account the atari reached the end of their life cycle, sure if not appeared in the days of 'Adventure' then i guess it might have down well. i mean that detective has great animation - thats impressive for this day and age on such an old machine. i recall playing superman and completing that kin seconds literally. for me 'Adventure' rocked - great memories, oh and my first game was haunted house - loved it
Dragonstomper for the 2600 had a progressing plot. It's what you might call a WRPG, in the same way that you might call ET an open-world action-adventure game, but it requires a peripheral so take that how you will.
19:05 Clearly Elliott was sick of being eaten, and kicked E.T. down a pit. However, he didn't realize that the shock of the fall would reawaken the killer monstrosity.
There was actually a deleted scene in the original E.T. movie where Elliot finds E.T. feasting on the flesh of a woman he'd just killed using his magical neck in order to sustain himself.
Found a good map here www.thelimeydragon.com/images/ETmap.png It indicates where you'll end up when you touch a map edge and not all screen edges are map edges. Except for forestblue screen, every screen has a direct connection to every other screen. I think you'll find the call ship area faster if you comb the screen edges.
THE PITTS!!! This and Atari Pac Man were really considered the worst! But ET isn't that bad! You just need the manual to know how to play it! We did a podcast on the crash if your interested in checking it out! Direct Link: wearepodcasts.podbean.com/e/we-are-bagu-s01e08-crashcast-atari-pacman-and-et/
I know what you mean about being too young to know that a game was bad. A lot of the first video games I ever played were, in hindsight, very bad. But there were two that I just knew were terrible. Super Pitfall and Raid 2020 on the NES.
I don't understand all the negative hype. I liked it just fine. It wasn't stellar, but I never thought it sucked at all. If you want the worst games of all time for that machine, I nominate those Quest games... what were they, sword quest etc? That game had a prize if you solved it, a real sword I guess... NOBODY EVER CLAIMED IT. The game was horribad. ET was fine, what more do you expect on a 4K ROM?! It had a good variety of screens, wasn't too complex, was easy to figure out. I always read the manuals for all games, so perhaps that was a plus.
couple of things at play here 1) Back in '82 kids didn't read manuals. Games were supposed to be like the arcades where you just kinda figured it out by playing. This game you need to read the manual. 2) the repetitive falling in the pits gets old REALLY fast. I got a 2600 jr for Christmas 1985. After the crash you could get games for pocket money. I bought E.T. for I think $2.15 at a toy store used. Because there was no manual I never really figured out what to do after getting the phone. As such it was my least favorite game in my video game collection.
The game is sort of meh. But, Atari paid big bucks for the ET rights and then it did not sell well.(perhaps $21 million.) If they had made an alien game, its sales would not have mattered. That means a lot of cartridges have to be sold just to recoup the investment not including other production costs.
It's a common misconception that this game was so bad it killed Atari. Atari was actually already in dire straits before its release, but the main issue was that they released more cartridges of the game than consoles actually on the market. The game itself isn't actually that bad, especially in comparison to some Atari games.
Also you mentioned the standards of games being different back then. Well i imagine nowadays if you made this same exact game with better graphics and under a different name it'd sell millions as an Indie game.
I applaud your patience to play this piece of shit game. THE GAMEPLAY IS HORRIBLE. I'd have burnt the Atari if I've had to play this shitty game back in the day.
Thomas Jenkins Thank god I wasn't born yet when this game came out. We have it easy nowadays. I remember that I was yelling while watching this video at one moment, and wondering how this guy could keep himself calm and collected while playing this game. I shudder at the fact that this is not the WORST game on this console.
I actually think that this is the only review(ish) of this game that actually explains how it works, and how to play it, not to mention actually demoing a completed game. I guess that's what you get when you don't make an ET video merely to rehash the game's reputation.
"Elliot comes and we eat him"
that made me laugh way more than it probably should have
Had me busting a gut. Especially the comments about consuming the innocent.
"Yeah, today we're playing ET for the Atari 2600! Why? I don't know!"
- Everyone who has ever played ET
The collision detection in this game isn't bad because it's inaccurate, but actually because it's 100% accurate. If even a single pixel of the two sprites touch, then he falls in. You'd think he'd only fall if he walked into them, but no, if his head clips a corner then he's going down.
Did you know you can press the fire button when ET falls into a pit and you can catch him floating in mid-air instead of falling to the bottom of a pit and taking more damage?
H A A Q Z ! ! !
"And then you can play again if you want, which no one does" *controller clunks down*
I imagine Howard Scott Warshaw was working on a game called 'Beachcomber: The Metal Detector Simulator' when Atari got the ET license.
This and Raiders were mind blowing at the time. Actual adventure and puzzle gameplay rather than the usual arcade shooting type games. I still have both of mine somewhere, and though I never beat them, I have fond memories of trying.
"Zach, did you see that? A extraterrestrial with candy. Not something you see everyday. Reminds me of that movie. You know which one. Many consider it the one of the director's finest films, and a spiritual successor to his earlier 1977 science-fiction film. Yes. That's right. Spielberg's 1982 classic, E.T. It was also Drew Barrymore's break-out role. But she was in another film before that, another sci-fi classic. Do you remember, Zach? I'll give you some time to think about it."
Firestarter? was 11 years enough time to think about it?
I love your alternative interpretation of E.T.
OK since none of you people understand the concept of reading an instruction manual, I will explain how to win at this game on the hardest difficulty level. That "score" is actually your life meter. If you move or run or levitate it goes down. You can be revived once by Elliot if you die (twice if you found the flower and raised it) and you can regen if you eat a recees pieces (those dots you pick up) when you are standing on a spot with the dot inside a circle icon on top of screen and you press the button. The key to getting out of the holes is after you levitate out keep holding down the button and move to the side or below it else you will fall back in. The scientist kidnapping you does nothing except waste your time and lifebar. The FBI agent however will steal your phone pieces. You can stun or repel either of them by pressing the button when you are on a spot with the III icon on top of the screen. This is the unique part of this game. What ET's powers do are based on where on the map he is standing. As you move around different Icons appear on the top and that is the power he will activate when standing there. The 'E' icon will call Elliot to come and take you recees pieces for higher score at end of game if you win. The arrows are teleport spots. The entire map is a cube with the forest on the top square and the buildings on the bottom with the four forests wrapping around.
The '?' icon will make a dot appear over a pit if there is a phone piece in it. So you go around trying to find the '?' marks to find the pits that have phone pieces. When you collect three you can now call your ship. The whole game you are also exploring around for the call ship icon which is only in one spot which is random each game. It looks like one of the enemies from space invaders. Before you call the ship though go back up to the forest and find the landing site icon and the III icon for the forest screen. Both of these are important. So you go to the call ship icon and activate it then a timer goes off. You then go to the forest and wait by the III icon while the timer gets close to done. While you are waiting if any FBI agents or scientists come on the screen you can send them back because you are waiting on the III icon. Then right before the timer runs out you run to the landing pad icon and hopefully the ship will land before any agents appear. CONGRATULATIONS YOU WIN and you get bonus points for how much life you have left and how many recees pieces you gave to Elliot. It's a hard game because the locations of Phone pieces and icons is randomized each game so no game is ever the same. Also the FBI guys will keep getting your phone pieces causing you to have to keep searching for more all while not running out of life.
I like to imagine you truly thought he was eating Elliot when you were a child, and just accepted it.
In all fairness, the graphics are pretty good for a 2600 game.
I could not hit the "like" button hard enough when the first melodious YEAH came out of my speakers.
Perfect back of box quote. "E.T.: It was a game" -supergreatfriend
40 years...40 YEARS & i'm just now, today, realizing that the starting 'grass' area if supposed to be flipping Pine trees. Wow, just wow.
You had the phonecall signal at like the eight minute mark! Oh, man.
19:47 That noise is highly understandable to anyone who's played this.
If "His magic neck is context-sensitive, though" is not one of the greatest sentences ever composed in the English language, I don't know what is.
Ah, yes, the straw that broke the camel's back for the gaming industry back in the day.
Watching this was frustrating as hell. You hit the phone home icon twice.
no wonder ET got stuck on earth since he falls every time there's an opportunity
i played this so much as a kid that i used to beat it pretty fast.
This was a very balanced walkthrough. I had more interest watching the video then I did playing the game itself. Thanks for the upload.
Looking back at videos, stunned this is the first game you ever played.
The fact you got into video games at all after this is impressive, makes Lifeline looks like a joke.
i can only imagine this game was not successful on account the atari reached the end of their life cycle, sure if not appeared in the days of 'Adventure' then i guess it might have down well.
i mean that detective has great animation - thats impressive for this day and age on such an old machine.
i recall playing superman and completing that kin seconds literally.
for me 'Adventure' rocked - great memories, oh and my first game was haunted house - loved it
I think it was one of the best selling game on the 2600.
For all my sins, I remember enjoying this game.
Man, even Agent York had it rough in 80's having to steal candy from aliens just to get by.
i won the game, i dont understand why people didnt know how to play it. i loved it. Raider of the lost ark.. thats one no one would ever understand.
Man, I played the hell out of this as a kid. Few things in life are as frustrating as falling in those pits. Nice vid, some funny commentary.
Good job beating it
Dragonstomper for the 2600 had a progressing plot. It's what you might call a WRPG, in the same way that you might call ET an open-world action-adventure game, but it requires a peripheral so take that how you will.
19:05 Clearly Elliott was sick of being eaten, and kicked E.T. down a pit. However, he didn't realize that the shock of the fall would reawaken the killer monstrosity.
I hated this game as a kid...could never figure it out. and now today it's one of the most simple games I've ever played...how times change.
I had no idea how you were going to stretch this for 30 minutes. Well done. Also, I'm sorry.
With all those people that E.T. ate he's lucky Garcia Hotspur didn't come to take him down.
There was actually a deleted scene in the original E.T. movie where Elliot finds E.T. feasting on the flesh of a woman he'd just killed using his magical neck in order to sustain himself.
They recycled the effects footage in "The Thing," though so it did get to be enjoyed by audiences all over the world.
E.T. is anatomically correct.
Thought you were going to beat it in 5 minutes, but that wasn't the case. Dang spot.
Leave me alone, Zoidberg!
Anyone who takes your Reese's Pieces is NOT your friend.
I think it was an interesting idea back then, not a great game but still it was interesting with those icons system
ah.....E.T. was one of those games....
I was thinking of modern version of E.T., with 2D graphics... Yes, this is great idea. Totally.
The forest map looks like a smiley face.
Wow that looked frustrating.
THIS IS GREAT
better than the A team game
Found a good map here www.thelimeydragon.com/images/ETmap.png It indicates where you'll end up when you touch a map edge and not all screen edges are map edges. Except for forestblue screen, every screen has a direct connection to every other screen.
I think you'll find the call ship area faster if you comb the screen edges.
why did i watch this in HD?
THE PITTS!!!
This and Atari Pac Man were really considered the worst! But ET isn't that bad! You just need the manual to know how to play it! We did a podcast on the crash if your interested in checking it out!
Direct Link: wearepodcasts.podbean.com/e/we-are-bagu-s01e08-crashcast-atari-pacman-and-et/
this game was made in 5 weeks. and did not cause the video game crash. is was a number of things at the time watch some of Howard Scott warshaw videos
I know what you mean about being too young to know that a game was bad. A lot of the first video games I ever played were, in hindsight, very bad. But there were two that I just knew were terrible. Super Pitfall and Raid 2020 on the NES.
It was definitely a.... game
Certainly not a bad game. Great review !
i really enjoyed this video. good job.
I don't understand all the negative hype. I liked it just fine. It wasn't stellar, but I never thought it sucked at all. If you want the worst games of all time for that machine, I nominate those Quest games... what were they, sword quest etc? That game had a prize if you solved it, a real sword I guess... NOBODY EVER CLAIMED IT. The game was horribad. ET was fine, what more do you expect on a 4K ROM?! It had a good variety of screens, wasn't too complex, was easy to figure out. I always read the manuals for all games, so perhaps that was a plus.
couple of things at play here
1) Back in '82 kids didn't read manuals. Games were supposed to be like the arcades where you just kinda figured it out by playing. This game you need to read the manual.
2) the repetitive falling in the pits gets old REALLY fast.
I got a 2600 jr for Christmas 1985. After the crash you could get games for pocket money. I bought E.T. for I think $2.15 at a toy store used. Because there was no manual I never really figured out what to do after getting the phone. As such it was my least favorite game in my video game collection.
Elliot looks like Waldo.
...Firestarter?
That was genius
I concur.
lol we have become one we are E.T. lmao XD
E.T. has defenders? Y'all crazy. This was a bad game and I never could figure it out as a kid. Liked the opening music though.
"It's identifiable"..better than most XBLIG games I guess. Also, your laugh at 19:07 is deliciously adorable. Hysterical! You are a gem!
You know, this game doesn't seem that bad.
The game is sort of meh. But, Atari paid big bucks for the ET rights and then it did not sell well.(perhaps $21 million.) If they had made an alien game, its sales would not have mattered. That means a lot of cartridges have to be sold just to recoup the investment not including other production costs.
maaaan, I had an Atari 2600 and being a dumb kid I think I was legit scared of Ghost Manor
use the difficulty switches to keep the humans out
I swear if you don't do Cheetahmen I'm gonna be one sad friend.
Elliot took my Reeces Pieces... D:
It's a common misconception that this game was so bad it killed Atari. Atari was actually already in dire straits before its release, but the main issue was that they released more cartridges of the game than consoles actually on the market. The game itself isn't actually that bad, especially in comparison to some Atari games.
Isn't that the game that caused the game crash of '83?
Why can't I upvote this comment more than once?! ;-;
Also you mentioned the standards of games being different back then. Well i imagine nowadays if you made this same exact game with better graphics and under a different name it'd sell millions as an Indie game.
Hahaha it's like the AVGN on Vicodin.
So, SGF, which is worse: ET or the average XBLIG game?
"copy that"
Around 16:30 when you played with his neck, the sound was just like an 8bit farting preacher episode hahaha
Is this really the game that every angry reviewer loses their shit about?
Why does he insist on holding the button to run all the time?? Leave it alone and stop constantly falling in pits.
this is the first game I ever, ever played. I hated it so much.
had this when i was little. bad game
the game isn't the worst game people that its the worst probably haven't even played it.
LOL Why do you torture yourself SGF.
lol
Holy shit i hate this game. I understand its reputation now
SGF, will you marry me?
Is it sad I thought "Those are really good graphics for atari humans" on seeing them?
I applaud your patience to play this piece of shit game. THE GAMEPLAY IS HORRIBLE. I'd have burnt the Atari if I've had to play this shitty game back in the day.
you'd have burnt it long before this game came out because it is by far not the worst game on the atari.
Thomas Jenkins Thank god I wasn't born yet when this game came out. We have it easy nowadays. I remember that I was yelling while watching this video at one moment, and wondering how this guy could keep himself calm and collected while playing this game. I shudder at the fact that this is not the WORST game on this console.
Schlechtestes spiel ever xD
It's fucking irritating