E.T. The Extra Terrestrial

Season 5 - Week 16

Submitted by Stormfeather

Eligible Systems and Emulators:

‣ Atari 2600 - Stella

About

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, a landmark release for the Atari 2600, stands as a cautionary tale in the history of video games. Launched in 1982 to capitalize on the success of the blockbuster film, the game follows the titular alien as it attempts to find its way home. However, due to rushed development and technical limitations, the game suffered from confusing gameplay mechanics and lacklustre graphics. E.T. on the Atari 2600 is often cited as one of the worst video games ever made, leading to massive unsold copies and contributing to the video game industry crash of 1983. Despite its critical failure, the game's legacy endures as a symbol of the importance of quality game design and thorough development processes.

Rules

Platform: Atari 2600 (Stella Emulator)

Rules: Phone Home and get to the ship as many times in 1 hour.

Time: 1 hour

First off, read the manual:
https://archive.org/details/E.T._The_Extra-Terrestrial_1982_Atari/page/n1/mode/2up

The game will be played on the "Game 1" option - all humans present in the game. The right difficulty switch should be set so that humans should move faster (A position difficulty). The left difficulty switch should be in A, so that Elliot cannot be present when the rescue ship arrives. (Because it should be as challenging as possible, right?)

Winning conditions are in order: Number of times E.T. is successfully rescued (which will almost definitely be both a matter of actual skill AND perseverance in being willing to stick with the game long enough to get more rescues). Tiebreaker 1 will be shortest time to first rescue. Tiebreaker 2 (which should likely be unneeded) will be number of actual hibernations (E.T. runs out of energy and gets no more rescues from Elliot).

TL;DR: Most completions in Game 1 > Fastest First Completion > Deaths

Update: Submissions will be Completions > Phone Pieces > Time > Deaths

For those who don't complete, please make note of the time you get your last phone piece as that will be the tiebreaker.

Results

1st) Stormfeather - Game Completions: 4 - Time (1st Completion): 25:15
2nd) ReturnOfOctobot - Game Completions: 2 - Time (1st Completion): 43:21
3rd) Marcman_59 - Game Completions: 1 - Time (1st Completion): 44:33
4th) Stephen's Rocket - Game Completions: 1 - Time (1st Completion): 46:00
5th) Quantum_p1 - Game Completions: 1 - Time (1st Completion): 50:46
6th) Hextree_ - Game Completions: 0 - 3 pieces - Time (1st Completion): 02:10
7th) Kylorian - Game Completions: 0 - 3 pieces - Time (1st Completion): 10:02
8th) TomTheWizzard - Game Completions: 0 - 3 pieces - Time (1st Completion): 13:39
9th) Garlips - Game Completions: 0 - 3 pieces - Time (1st Completion): 17:44
10th) Deccyf - Game Completions: 0 - 3 pieces - Time (1st Completion): 19:45
11th) Big Captain - Game Completions: 0 - 3 pieces - Time (1st Completion): 21:20
12th) 16bit_hyper_turbo - Game Completions: 0 - 3 pieces - Time (1st Completion): 33:30
13th) Ashnacht - Game Completions: 0 - 2 pieces - Time (1st Completion): 24:12
14th) MrMattInternet - Game Completions: 0 - Time (1st Completion): 0
15th) Tater84 - Game Completions: 0 - Time (1st Completion): 0 (Tater: "fuck et")

Last Updated: 16 February 2024