Should someone remake E.T.?

[godzillajoe]

Pity the game pretty much met the same fate...

 

Maybe the game can be made better with Googly Eyes? There was a thread on NA last week that inspired me to make these:

Atari Carts Googly Eyes Real.JPG

 

Everything is better with googly eyes!

[godzillajoe]

You can CRASH DK Jr.

 

· BUG: On the 3^rd screen, walk to the end of the platform you start on, and press the FIRE button. Junior will jump twice and the game will crash. Pressing either FIRE or RESET may bring it back, but the game will have some major glitches on all the screens (rolling screen, distorted graphics, etc. – pictures #4-#6). You may end up with a game with unlimited lives, or a blank screen. {Jim Goebel} Also, a line will appear through the block on the right set of vines, and also on top of the lower block on the left set, depending where the Snapjaws are. {Scott Stilphen}

 

That alone makes it worse than E.T.

[Nukey Shay]

Then don't do that The stack pointer gets thrown out of whack, it seems (corrupting ram when subroutines are called). But you can also crash E.T. if Elliot is present when your ride shows up. I dunno which is more likely to occur had the player not known beforehand.

[freewheel]

Actually I find Donkey Kong on Colecovision to be the most enjoyable, I don't understand how it's a turd, same with DK Jr. Here's a game that shouldn't have existed, Super Mario Bros. 2 for the NES. I rather play E.T. than play that turd game.

 

Goes to show you that opinions are varied on all of this stuff. Agreed with the DK series on Coleco, but - I absolutely adored SMB2, and still do. Yeah, it was a hack of a completely unrelated game, but it's not like they haven't mixed up the basic SMB formula in many ways since. And it's just a fun game. IMHO.

 

In fact SMB2 is a real example of people's views changing post-Internet. Very few people were exposed to Famicom games in the 80s, so hardly anyone realized it wasn't a "real" Mario game at the time. A few magazines hinted at it but it was generally promoted as being the real deal. Internet happens, suddenly everyone discovers the truth, and an otherwise best-selling game (as opposed to best-produced but heavily-returned game) gets tossed on the trash heap. Hell, even when Nintendo publicly fessed up in the mid 90s when they released SMB All-Stars, it was still mostly a "meh" from gamers. Not the outrage of being cheated from the "real SMB2" that we see today.

 

I'm actually happy we got that, instead of "more of the same, but harder" which was what the Japanese got. Yawn.

Edited August 7, 2014 by freeweed

[Andromeda Stardust]

Actually I find Donkey Kong on Colecovision to be the most enjoyable, I don't understand how it's a turd, same with DK Jr. Here's a game that shouldn't have existed, Super Mario Bros. 2 for the NES. I rather play E.T. than play that turd game.

I meant the white Coleco branded DK and DK Ir carts for the Atari 2600. The colecovision version, while I haven't actually played it, is undoubtedly better.

 

Goes to show you that opinions are varied on all of this stuff. Agreed with the DK series on Coleco, but - I absolutely adored SMB2, and still do. Yeah, it was a hack of a completely unrelated game, but it's not like they haven't mixed up the basic SMB formula in many ways since. And it's just a fun game. IMHO.

 

In fact SMB2 is a real example of people's views changing post-Internet. Very few people were exposed to Famicom games in the 80s, so hardly anyone realized it wasn't a "real" Mario game at the time. A few magazines hinted at it but it was generally promoted as being the real deal. Internet happens, suddenly everyone discovers the truth, and an otherwise best-selling game (as opposed to best-produced but heavily-returned game) gets tossed on the trash heap. Hell, even when Nintendo publicly fessed up in the mid 90s when they released SMB All-Stars, it was still mostly a "meh" from gamers. Not the outrage of being cheated from the "real SMB2" that we see today.

 

I'm actually happy we got that, instead of "more of the same, but harder" which was what the Japanese got. Yawn.

Super Mario Brothers 2 is a fun but quirky game. It doesn't quite feel like Mario in the way that 1 and 3 do. I still consider it a classic though, and several mechanics and enemies made a return in future games. Pokeys, Shy Guys, Sniffits, and other classic enemies got their start in Super Mario Brothers 2 USA. Also in Super Mario 3 and beyond you can pick up and carry stunned or overturned enemies, starting with the Koopa shell in SMB3. That sort of got started with Super Mario 2, although the mechanics were reworked in subsequent games.

 

Honestly, I believe the Original Mario Brothers (where you kick turtles and crabs around in the sewer) gets more of a reputation as an oddball game than Super Mario Brothers 2, even though it predates Super Mario Brothers by a few years and even got ported to Atari and other consoles.

 

Oftentimes the second game in a series gets a different set of mechanics than the first. Super Mario Brothers 2 was an oddball, then Super Mario Brothers 3 returned to it's roots. The same occurs with other series, for example Castlevania II being the oddball while I and III were very good. A similar scenario occurred with 3D Mario titles with Sunshine's Fludd Pack. Once again, the third 3D Mario title, Super Mario Galaxy, returned to it's platforming roots. Sunshine is an awesome game IMO and I hope it someday gets remade for Wii-U the way Wind Waker did.

Edited August 7, 2014 by stardust4ever

[freewheel]

Oftentimes the second game in a series gets a different set of mechanics than the first. Super Mario Brothers 2 was an oddball, then Super Mario Brothers 3 returned to it's roots. The same occurs with other series, for example Castlevania II being the oddball while I and III were very good.

 

I found it much more dramatic with Zelda Castlevania II gets a really bad rap nowadays but I loved it and played it to death back when. It's only now that I realize just how painful some of the design decisions really were.

 

And count me as another fan of Sunshine. To me it was a direct descendent of Mario 64, just with a minor twist.

[Jinks]

Cv 2 and smb 2 were my fav nes games...

The other ones to me were boring.

Et dont need a remake its a classic game.

[AtarinDave]

Okay if not a remake then how about a parody? Like make it a funny game! You know Duck Hunt for the NES, right? It's pretty annoying when that dog laughs for every time you miss a bird, so someone online added a new gamemode to it, and what you do is shoot at the dog. Maybe someone can make something like that on E.T. >

[Nukey Shay]

Shoot E.T.? I'm in. As Dave Berry said..."The alien is real. The children are fake. Real children would have beat the alien to death with rocks".

[carlsson]

So one of the few alien species that are portrayed as friendly, a bit shy and nobody looking to harm others, should be blasted away just like all the baddies? Why not make a hack of Custer's Revenge while you're at it, with E.T. in his musth, or perhaps pon farr period?

[freewheel]

Why not make a hack of Custer's Revenge while you're at it, with E.T.

 

This is possibly the most disturbing idea I've ever read.

[AtarinDave]

 

This is possibly the most disturbing idea I've ever read.

Agreed.

[Andromeda Stardust]

Okay if not a remake then how about a parody? Like make it a funny game! You know Duck Hunt for the NES, right? It's pretty annoying when that dog laughs for every time you miss a bird, so someone online added a new gamemode to it, and what you do is shoot at the dog. Maybe someone can make something like that on E.T. >

Been done. Shot the dog; got the T-shirt to proove it.

http://www.retrousb.com/product_info.php?cPath=29&products_id=96

 

In the VS arcade version, you can shoot thedog during bonus rounds. I have the RetroUSB repro to proove it. You alternate between Duck Huntband Clay Shoot, and in medium difficulty or higher, you occasionally get three ducks or skeet to shoot. Awesome!

[mos6507]

I think one factor in ET being a disappointment is that, at the time, shooters were popular, and ET is a game where you are mostly running away from danger and you can't really fight back. There's a weak/passive/victim element here. After all, ET dies and comes back to life like Jesus in the movie. You're pretty much playing a damsel in everpresent distress. That just doesn't float people's boats if they're used to shooting aliens in Xevious.

 

The closest game to ET is Raiders, and sure, Indy is very vulnerable in that game too, but he does get the whip and the gun (just as the sword/arrow in Adventure). So he can fight back a little bit, and the image of Indy is ultimately one of a thrill-seeker, not a wimpy alien who falls into pits and loses his life-force. So I think right there and then, when you look at the underlying passivity of the theme of ET, the deck is stacked against a game-designer to make it a thrilling game-experience, at least for boys who want a typical hero-saves-the-world storyline.

 

I really don't think avoiding pits is hard to do after a few hours of practice. There is an initial frustration-effect, but that would be true of a twitch shooter with high difficulty as well. But again, the core risk of falling into a pit or getting caught by the feds is almost emasculating vs. getting taken out by an alien shot in the typical alien invasion shooter.

 

I don't think this aspect of the passivity of the game theme has really been explored. Instead people just make blanket critiques of the game itself and fail to conjure up any alternate game mechanic that would have worked better. The movie experience is just fundamentally different from a game experience. People go to the movies in large part for an emotional experience. People play games to feel a sense of empowerment. At best, ET operates as a puzzle-game. On that basis, it's roughly on-par with Raiders or Adventure. But the overall theme of running away from danger and not being able to fight back is a turn off to a lot of people.

Edited August 9, 2014 by mos6507

[+Random Terrain]

But the overall theme of running away from danger and not being able to fight back is a turn off to a lot of people.

Using your mental powers to make the humans stop chasing you might be considered fighting back in a non-violent way:

 

randomterrain.com/atari-2600-memories-et-tips.html#send_humans_back_zone

[mos6507]

There's was a false assumption both on the part of game companies AND the general public that if a movie was a hit then there's no reason a videogame version of the movie shouldn't be able to be just as much a hit. It had to be a sure thing, right? But that's just not true. It depends on the kind of movie and how well that translates into a game. And ET just doesn't translate that well into a game. If people think it does, then they should outline a game design that much better than what we got. Maybe you can avoid the pit aspect, but it would still be basically an escape story with no offensive capabilities on the part of ET (or Elliott).

 

If you look at successful game designs, if there's an aspect of chase, there's usually a way to turn the tables. This is needed for a sense of balance. In the case of Pac-Man, it's when you get the power pellets and then you can eat the ghosts, which feels like a real reward after spending most of the game running from them. So sure, you can temporarily send the feds back, but it's not particularly satisfying. I'm not saying ET should have been able to pick up an Uzi and shoot them, but that's the bind the game was in. ET's essential characteristic is his martyrdom, which is meant to shamelessly pluck the heartstrings of the audience. He is not really a "hero" outside of his ability to defy the prejudice humans have in initially thinking of him as a threat. Elliott isn't much of a hero either, as he ultimately fails in his quest to shelter E.T. In the conclusion of the film, it's really the platonic love between Elliott and ET that saves the day, and the way that extends outward to Elliott's whole family. There is no way to convey that love theme effectively in a game. In lieu of love, HSW went with the puzzle aspect of building the transmitter, beating the clock, and avoiding entrapment and death. Overall, I think he did about as well as I could expect.

 

I have a soft-spot for the Adventure-style games and so if I'm going to rag on any of them, I'd rather bash the SwordQuest games because they have far less intrinsic play value than E.T.

 

So as far as remaking ET goes, yeah, I'd like to see someone try, because I doubt it would be that much better without not really feeling like something inspired by the movie.

Edited August 9, 2014 by mos6507

[raskar42]

ET gets all the attention. If your going to remake an atari movie based game, remake Krull.

[Gabriel]

Why not make a hack of Custer's Revenge while you're at it, with E.T. in his musth, or perhaps pon farr period?

 

Someone must make this hack.

[Andromeda Stardust]

So as far as remaking ET goes, yeah, I'd like to see someone try, because I doubt it would be that much better without not really feeling like something inspired by the movie.

Hence my suggestion to make a parody of the game / Landfill fiasco. You run a bulldozer and have to bury ETs sprites in the pits, but they keep on coming. In easy mode, you can run your bulldozer over the pits. In hard mode, you must avoid the pits with the bulldozer as well.

[mos6507]

People have discussed an ET landfill game before. I'm surprised nobody's made one yet.

[onemoretime]

There's a parody that Hozer Video sells, though I've never played it. There are mixed reviews on here as far as service goes, so use your own discretion there.

[Andromeda Stardust]

There's a parody that Hozer Video sells, though I've never played it. There are mixed reviews on here as far as service goes, so use your own discretion there.

http://www.atari2600homebrew.com/et-book-cart-hozer.html

??? ???

[onemoretime]

I was thinking of this one. lol

[godzillajoe]

waste of time and money

 

[Andromeda Stardust]

^^Interesting. More gameplay footage would be nice though.