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AtariBrian

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That ET looks brand new. Is that all the stuff you won here the other night? How'd you get that ET?

 

from Atari7800.com Facebook........ "Regram from Atari I/O Member AtariBrian, who won YARS' REVENGE Wednesday Night in the Forums, and then won a brand new MIB ET in clear protective case as a Bonus Prize for incidentally saying "get ET home" - one of many secret words and phrases that could trigger prizes in the Forums. Howard Scott Warshaw would be proud wink emoticon""

Brian Matherne - owner/curator of "The MOST comprehensive list of Atari VCS/2600 homebrews ever compiled." http://tiny.cc/Atari2600Homebrew

author of "The Atari 2600 Homebrew Companion" book series available on Amazon! www.amazon.com/author/brianmatherne

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That's awesome that you liked your prizes, @AtariBrian!

 

That ET looks brand new. Is that all the stuff you won here the other night? How'd you get that ET?

 

@Yo-Yo, AtariBrian won 2 prizes: Yars' Revenge for the 2600 for Trivia during Wednesday Night Atari Chat, and MIB E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and the plastic protective shell for saying one of the secret words/phrases/actions that could win prizes in the forums. Brian professed to liking E.T., and then said the secret words "get E.T. home" which triggered a prize! We have a pre-set list of secret words and prizes that are kept in rotation and judged as fairly as possible as to give everyone a shot at winning a great prize. We're trying to have fun in the forums and be a little different. Good luck guys!

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How can anyone say E.T. is a bad game, sure as a kid I put it in (on the hardest difficulty) didn't read how to play and got stuck in wells.  But with the tips on http://www.randomterrain.com/atari-2600-memories-et-tips.html and reading the manual I just sent et home.  This game is awesome.  Soo many actually bad games, fire fly, bugs, dragster just off the top of my head.

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I think E.T. could have been a brilliant game, way ahead of it's time! It was rushed and is difficult, I had it as a kid and read the manual, I beat it when I was 12. You're right, sooooo many games sucked more than E.T. !

 "Better to be king for a night than schmuck for a lifetime."

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You're right, sooooo many games sucked more than E.T. !

Yeah.....

Swordquest Fireworld, Fishing Derby, Space Shuttle, and maybe Tax Avoiders (I own 3 of the 4)

Brian Matherne - owner/curator of "The MOST comprehensive list of Atari VCS/2600 homebrews ever compiled." http://tiny.cc/Atari2600Homebrew

author of "The Atari 2600 Homebrew Companion" book series available on Amazon! www.amazon.com/author/brianmatherne

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Space Shuttle's no good? I've never played it but always heard it was really advanced for the 2600 and used the switches on the 2600 for flight controls.

I bought it brand new in 1986 or 87 from Kay Bee toys (clearence for $4.99) and the manual is huge! It was too much for me to figure out......give me M Network's Air Raiders anyday!!!

Brian Matherne - owner/curator of "The MOST comprehensive list of Atari VCS/2600 homebrews ever compiled." http://tiny.cc/Atari2600Homebrew

author of "The Atari 2600 Homebrew Companion" book series available on Amazon! www.amazon.com/author/brianmatherne

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My parents purchased it for me for Christmas, which was very thoughtful because at that age I was very into the Space Shuttle, 3-2-1 Contact, and discovery in general. I had an Atari 7800 manufactured after 1984 though, and unfortunately Space Shuttle is one of those few 2600 games that wouldn't play on my 7800. Maybe as an adult I can fire it up on a 2600 and see if I can get some enjoyment out of my birthday present from 1987.

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The E.T. backlash over the years was just baffling, at first, then sad, incomprehensible, and even moreso baffling when you consider the lesser-known copycat carts that could fall into the 'worst ever' category.

 

'Worst' things are relative and carry more emotive content than actual analysis, so such lists are usually pointless.

But for Atari carts? No such things as a bad game. Boring maybe, until you get into it or lump several similar types for comparative fun.

 

All this to say that E.T. stood proudly in my top ten daily gameplays for years.

Nine carts in the official press-down cart holder thingie. One in the console.

I'll let you guess which one was my favorite.

 

But E.T, stood apart as one of those games that actually had an ending. You could play it and not fret about scores or the ultimate nihilistic end to the gaming experience as the speed or higher numbers of enemies ultimately got you good.

In those days, few games offered that satisfaction (unless you count the dreaded Monopoly table-flip end-move).

 

Okay, I get that the movie was a huge hit, which warrants a lot of attention and - in this era of over-snark commentary - a target for putdowns looking back on a golden age that the young 'uns will never experience.

But all gamer folks, young and old, should put down the gauntlet (unless it's Gauntlet and then - let's do a 4-player round or two) and try it out.

 

Also, just to be on topic - You guys are great! This site is beyond terrific! And I know I'll just wake up and this cool forum will have been a pipe dream but, if so, put up this site again in the real world and I'll sign up again.

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I agree Atari Adventure Square that's really well said. I like what forums member "The Economist" said in his profile update:

 

It's troubling that what has a number of people animated about Atari right now is not the depth of innovation that took place, it's not the idea of fun and games trumping some big oil company somewhere as the genesis of such innovation, it's not the people that came out of Atari nor Atari as the fastest growing company in American history, but rather it's a morbid fascination with objects from their youth sitting buried dead in a landfill.

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If you ever want to lose gaming credibility with me, just say ET is the worse game ever (unless you are Howard Scott Warshaw who does it for fun. He gets a pass). It has flaws, it was rushed, but l enjoyed it growing up and it has one of the greatest titles screens on the 2600. I even tried to defend it in one of my earliest reviews:

 

 

Not just that, I can easily think of a bunch of games that I would choose ET over. Here's ten of them  ;)

 

 

I'd like to take anyone who claims ET is the worse game ever and lock them in a room with ET and the mythicon games Star Fox & Firefly for a couple of hours and see if they still feel that way (Oh, and you are not allowed to mute the TV when playing the mythicon games!)

The No Swear Gamer on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChtJuo040EOCTVziObIgVcg

Host of The Atari 7800 Game by Game Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher and YouTube

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The last time Doctor Octagon and I spoke this came up and we began comparing E.T. to Adventure as Adventure is considered a benchmark game. In a side-by-side comparison E.T. technically beats it on all counts with the exception of the falling into the well glitch. As the name "Atari Adventure Square" implies, your man is just a square. In E.T. at least you have characters that somewhat look like E.T. and Elliott. E.T. has a title screen with a decent graphic and music that sounds like the game. E.T. has a consistent world that is mapped out like a cube. E.T. has many "firsts" going for it. Plus it was done in five weeks.

 

The problem is kids not ever reading instructions. Probably because most every 2600 game up to that point didn't need instructions, you just put it in the system and shoot at hostiles.

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So true about the legendary journey that Atari and its gamers went through being only glimpsed at from that Landscape story.

Yeah, I did enjoy watching that recent doc,

Its passages about the early years at the company were cool.

 

But somehow, the takeaway from the landfill dig ends up short shrifting the work the programmers did on all carts, the enjoyment we gamers got out of the results, the incredible frontiers of interactive play that were laid out before us as each new title came out.

 

It's really like taking the last few celluloid frames from the last reel of an epic movie with over 200,000 frames and pointing to its scant images to describe the experience.

 

Those who lived through it are the only ones to have seen the first few reels.

We can only tell you: It was a glorious time to be a video game addict!

 

And my beloved VCS stood proudly though it all.

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If you ever want to lose gaming credibility with me, just say ET is the worse game ever (unless you are Howard Scott Warshaw who does it for fun. He gets a pass). It has flaws, it was rushed, but l enjoyed it growing up and it has one of the greatest titles screens on the 2600. I even tried to defend it in one of my earliest reviews:

 

 

Not just that, I can easily think of a bunch of games that I would choose ET over. Here's ten of them  ;)

 

 

I'd like to take anyone who claims ET is the worse game ever and lock them in a room with ET and the mythicon games Star Fox & Firefly for a couple of hours and see if they still feel that way (Oh, and you are not allowed to mute the TV when playing the mythicon games!)

I am so hooked on the no swear gamer, not enough time in the day to watch all his awesome reviews!

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The 2600 port of Pac-Man is worse than E.T. by a GRAND MARGIN (but I still play it with a stupid grin on my face). At least ET was an original, multi-screen adventure game with a lot of really neat elements and an actual ENDING. Pac-Man was a horrible, rushed port of an existing game. That happened to go on to be the best selling 2600 cart in history, while ET went on to be "most likely to be buried in the New Mexico desert". 'Scuse me, I need a tissue. I'm a little emotional over here. ????

Atlas was permitted the opinion that he was at liberty, if he wished, to drop the Earth and creep away; but this opinion was all that he was permitted.

 

Franz Kafka

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