pacman000 wrote:E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (Atari 2600)
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The game was ruined by overly-complex controls, and poor screen layouts. :/
Main issue was the pixel perfect hardware collision detection of the 2600 made the wells the pits as they were so easy to fall into that it rapidly became annoying. Once I learned this trick I found the game to be quite fun.
How to Handle the Wells
Never let E.T. drop fast and smack hard into the bottom of a well (you'll lose around 270 energy units). You can save a lot of energy by releasing the joystick and pressing the fire button to catch yourself in mid air as soon as you start to fall. You can then gently lower yourself to the bottom (or float out if you didn't mean to fall in).
I was also very impressed with the sound effects, especially when the ship lands. They must be heard on real hardware though, emulation's a poor imitation (Stella has improved a lot since this video, but is still off).
You may like to check the ROM out from this site - Fixing E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial for the Atari 2600. Main thing they did was revise the collision detection so only E.T.'s feet are used for collision detection. Makes a huge difference - you can now safely stand like this without falling in!