E.T. the Extra Terrestrial (video game) facts for kids

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a famous video game from 1982. It was made by a company called Atari. The game was based on the popular movie, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. It was made for the Atari 2600 game console. This game is often remembered as one of the worst video games ever made. Some people even say it caused big problems for the video game industry back then.

What Was E.T. the Game?

This game let players control E.T., the friendly alien from the movie. Your goal was to help E.T. find pieces of a special phone. This phone would let him call his home planet. You also had to avoid scientists and FBI agents. They were trying to capture E.T. The game was planned for another console, the Atari 5200, but that version was never released.

Why Was E.T. So Bad?

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was made very quickly. The developers only had about five weeks to create the entire game. This short time meant the game had many problems. Players often found themselves falling into pits. It was also very hard to get out of these pits. The graphics were simple, even for that time. Many players felt the game was confusing and not fun to play. Because of these issues, it quickly became known as one of the worst games ever.

The Great Video Game Crash

In the early 1980s, the video game industry was growing fast. However, in 1983, the industry faced a big problem. Many games were released, but not all of them were good. People stopped buying as many games. This led to a huge drop in sales. This period is often called the "video game crash of 1983." Atari, the company that made E.T., lost a lot of money during this time. Some people believe the failure of E.T. was a major reason for Atari's financial troubles.

The Buried Games

Atari had made millions of E.T. game cartridges. But because the game was not popular, most of them did not sell. Atari was left with a huge number of unsold games. In 1983, the company decided to get rid of them. They buried many of the unsold E.T. cartridges in a landfill in New Mexico. This event became a famous story in video game history. For many years, it was just a legend.

Finding the Buried Games

In 2014, a team of filmmakers and archaeologists went to the landfill. They wanted to see if the legend was true. After digging, they found thousands of E.T. game cartridges. This discovery proved that the story was real. Finding the buried games was a big moment for video game fans and historians. It showed how much impact this one game had on the industry.