Contrary to popular belief, this isn't the worst Atari 2600 title of all time. Buried in the console's huge library are games that make E.T. look like Citizen Kane by comparison. Why then does E.T. have such an enduring reputation for being a bottom-of-the-barrel 2600 title? It's just what happens when unrealistic hype and expectations come crashing down.
E.T. (the movie) was a triumph that smashed box office records and inspired enduring love in the hearts of children and adults everywhere. Atari decided that they could capture the tremendous magic of the film and compress it into a cartridge, and that they only needed five weeks to do it! To have the game ready for Christmas, Atari forced the programmer to do a major rush job that prevented any real fine-tuning of gameplay. Despite this, Atari anticipated a huge demand, stocked its warehouses with millions of cartridges and advertised E.T. like the Second Coming. Lots of people bought it at first, but gradually the word spread that the gameplay consisted mainly of E.T. falling into an endless series of pits, and the game was much too frustrating for the young kids for whom it was intended. Demand dropped so precipitously that millions of unsold E.T. carts had to be dumped in a landfill. The game is sometimes accused (not altogether without justification) of single-handedly causing the "crash" of the video games market in the mid-'80s. So, worst or not, E.T. remains one of the most embarrassing, most ill-fated titles in the entire 2600 library.
6. Atari 5200 Joysticks
What a novel idea -- controllers that don't control!
I bent the rules on this one, since joysticks are obviously pieces of hardware and not actual games. But I ask you -- which is more important, individual games or the instrument you use to play them? As any 5200 fan could tell you, even the best game can be ruined by a lousy controller. And boy, these are some of the lousiest controllers you're likely to subject your wrists to.
Prior to the fall of 1982, the video game world was a-buzz with speculation about Atari's follow-up to the 2600. It was allegedly a "Super System," with amazing capabilities and advanced new joysticks that would surpass anything else available. But when the 5200 hit the market, gamers were treated to a library of fantastic titles that were rendered all but un-enjoyable by the machine's imprecise, non-centering analog sticks. Games that required careful, measured movements were hardly playable, and such games constituted the majority of the popular titles then on the market. To be fair, some gamers managed to enjoy the 5200 anyway, and some even liked the joysticks, but even those players couldn't excuse the controllers' shoddy workmanship. Atari built the things so cheaply that they routinely malfunctioned after regular use (or even without it!). Atari probably could have redeemed itself by offering a sturdier, self-centering alternate controller, but shamefully, the company never did.
5. Action 52 (Sega Genesis and Nintendo Entertainment System)
Action 52: This game makes me want to raise my fist in rage too.
The idea behind this cartridge is actually kind of interesting -- rather than saddling the player with one long game, Active Enterprises decided to offer up a smorgasbord of 52 minigames all jam-packed into one cart. The company planned to peddle its masterpiece to rental locations for the low, low price of $199. Hey, that's only about $4 a game! Trouble is, it's hard to find even $4 worth of enjoyment in this endless parade of inept programming, repetitive design and outright stupidity. You'd think that out of 52 titles, at least ONE of them wouldn't make you want to tear your own eyes out in horror. Alas, apparently that was too much to expect, as Active Enterprises brought 52 examples of awful game design to not one but two console systems. Of the two versions, the Sega Genesis release is the more shameful, because here the designers had more power to work with and still managed to squander it miserably. Action 52 provides over four dozen reminders that some programmers should never be let near a development kit.
What a novel idea -- controllers that don't control!
