It’s safe to say that video games were a lot less sophisticated back in the 80’s. This was a limitation of the hardware of the time, certainly. But it was also due to the fact that the industry itself was young, and game developers knew they didn’t always have to work very hard in order to get decent numbers on the retail market. The 80’s was also a time rife with product tie-ins and merchandising. These factors created a perfect storm for what has gone down in history as one of the worst video games ever created.
In 1982, the game E.T. the Extra Terrestrial was released as a quick cash-in following the massive success of the Steven Spielberg film carrying the same name. I remember playing this game on the Atari 2600 console. Specifically, I recall the frustration I experienced over trying to play a game that really made no sense. The gist of the game (if I remember correctly) is that the player would guide E.T. across different screens to collect candy pieces and somehow, eventually navigate to a spaceship that would in turn take the alien visitor back to his home planet. The gameplay was weird and illogical. The graphics and sound, terrible.
The E.T. game ultimately tanked along with the rest of the industry during the great “video game crash” of 1983. But that didn’t erase the game’s reputation from history. Over the years, E.T. has consistently ranked among the worst video games ever made. It even spawned a fantastic urban legend that the game’s manufacturer had buried thousands of E.T. cartridges out in the desert in the hopes that they’d never be found again.
Turns out that urban legend is true! As part of an Atari documentary, an excavation team took to a dig site in New Mexico, eventually uncovering thousands of original E.T. cartridges. Some copies of the game are no longer playable due to damage. But some have managed to withstand the conditions and have been sold at auction. One copy of the game sold for over $1,500.
Some profits from game sales are going back to the city of Alamogordo as well as a local historical society. The excavation team that completed the dug is still holding some copies of the game to possibly be sold in the future. Along with E.T., copies of more popular games like Asteroids and Missile Command were also unearthed. Those cartridges will likely also be sold in the future.
It’s hard to believe that something once so derided could now be so valuable. You never cease to surprise us on where you’ll spend your money, video game nerds.