E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial

by Atari, Inc.

Product Features

• For the Atari 2600 Video Game System
• Catalog no. CX2674
• One Player Game
• Use with Joystick Controller
• Programmed by Howard Scott Warshaw with Graphics by Jerome Domurat

Product Details

• ASIN: B0002VK8YA
• Product Dimensions: 3.2 x 0.8 x 3.8 inches ; 5 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16,074 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

HELP E.T. GET HOME! What kind of crazy planet is this, anyway? We came here to conduct a simple study of primitive planets, and look what happened! These...things...came and scared away my friends. Before I knew it, all my friends boarded our lightship and flew home. What do I do now? The only one I can trust is that nice little alien-- Ellleeott. He gives me those tasty energy pills (What did he call them? Reeessseess Peeesssesss?) But these other aliens! Every time I get ready to assemble my transgalactic communicatior, they come and take me away. The one with the white coat sticks that temperature measuring device in my mouth (I wonder why he was so upset when it melted?), and the other one in the trench coat keeps muttering those strange sounds (Naaashaaannaall Seeeccuuuureeetteee?) I just want to go home! I hope Elllleeott and I can assemble all the pieces of my communicator before my energy runs out. Oh, oh. Here come those crazy aliens again. Help me, Elllleeott! Help me get home! Your mission is to help E.T. find the three pieces of his interplanetary telephone, call his ship, and guide him to the landing pad in time to be rescued. Do this before E.T.'s energy runs out, and you'll win the round and score points! E.T. transverses six sites on Planet Earth. Four of these are full of pitfalls--they are dotted with deep wells (Figure 1) into which E.T. can fall (Figure 2). A fifth site (Figure 3) shows Elliott's house, the Institute of Science, and the FBI building. Here, E.T. is taken by the scientist to be studied. The sixth site (Figure 4) is a forest setting where E.T. first lands and where the ship will land to pick him up. A game ends when E.T. runs out of energy or when you decide to quit playing.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars as bad as they say it is, September 27, 2005

By 

B. LAWS "Linux enthusiast" (Charleston, WV) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (Video Game)

How could one game bring down a video game empire? Well, Atari paid TWENTY ONE MILLION DOLLARS for the rights to make videogames based on the 1982 summer blockbuster movie E.T., but Atari only gave game programmer Howard Scott Warshaw SIX WEEKS to come up with the final product so E.T. would be on store shelves in time for the 1982 holiday shopping season. Well, Warshaw simply was not given enough time to make E.T. a worthwhile product. Atari thought so many people would buy the E.T. game that they manufactured more E.T. cartridges than there were Atari 2600 systems already in households. Boy, were they wrong! People returned the game in DROVES. Here are the main gripes about the game :

FRUSTRATING DIFFICULTY! Getting all the phone pieces and calling the mothership was almost impossible while E.T. is being chased by a doctor (who returns E.T. to the "downtown" playfield) and an FBI agent who will confiscate all of E.T.'s phone pieces! Add to the fact that it was very easy to fall in those god-awfully-annoying pits, and you have a recipe for disaster.

E.T. was such a huge disaster for Atari that Atari had to put LOADS of unsold E.T. carts (along with other unsold carts like the dreadful Atari 2600 version of Pac-Man and unsold Atari consoles and computers) to a landfill in Alamogordo, New Mexico, have the merchandise crushed by a steamroller, and buried under several slabs of concrete. Crappy games like E.T. singlehandedly brought down Atari, the video game empire of the 1970s and the early 1980s.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Deserves It's Bad Reviews But It Is Still Fun..., October 1, 2010

By 

Brian A. Wolters (Cabot, Arkansas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (Video Game)

Ah. E.T. for the Atari. Such a famous game for many reasons. As I kid in 1982, the game itself wasn't as bad as to me as many of the current reviewers and other players were stating. And now that I own it again in my recent Atari collection, I am still finding it fun to play despite the flaws.

The game is pretty easy...you collect three pieces of a phone, find the correct call spot and then head to the correct landing site while avoiding pits (often annoying), Government Agent (a man in a coat) and Scientists (a doctor.) You can also collect Reese's Pieces and eat them for energy or collect enough to give to Elliot for phone pieces (so says the instructions) and to gain more points at the end of the game.

The game is remarkably crude, even for Atari standards at the time. It is also very illogical at times, as you have to find hot spots to get hints for phone pieces, send the agents back to "Washington", call Elliot and even transport to another screen. This totally makes no sense.

Yet, once you do figure out how to play it, it is actually quite enjoyable and addictive. There is also a pit where a flower is located. I believe if you fall in there with TWO pieces of the phone and make the flower grow, Indiana Jones will appear.

Yes, this is far from the best game ever made and it honestly does deserve most of the "worst game" awards. But if you take time to play it for what it is, it is actually quite fun.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A little bit of history I played as a kid, August 21, 2009

By 

C. M. "rpgLover" (CO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (Video Game)

As a kid, I owned a copy of this infamous game. It has been well described by other owners and raised the bar for biggest fail. As with most, I received it as a Christmas gift from my Mother who loved E.T. I played it for a few minutes on Christmas and a few times afterwords. It was never really fun to play, but I was able to call the mother ship and save E.T. from the evil humans. I didn't find it to be a difficult game, but it did raise my anxiety level every time I fell into those nasty pits which were a royal pain to get out of.

All-in-all, This is one of the most famous games of all time and very classic gamer should own a copy.