10 Failed Video Games That Had So Much More Potential

Of course, in the early 1980s, gaming was in its infancy. It was the era of utterly regrettable, hilarious hairstyles and cell phones the size of the Chrysler Building, so gaming had to take a backseat to that sort of thing. As a result, we weren’t exactly expecting stunning storytelling, visuals or anything from the Atari 2600’s E.T The Extra-Terrestrial.

Nevertheless, the game managed the impressive feat of taking a beloved movie and character and besmirching their good name completely.

The main issue was that the game was so darn rushed, in order to hit stores for the lucrative holiday season.

As such, the gameplay was repetitive and simplistic even by the standards of the time. Collecting items in a series of wells (apparently those are wells) got boring before you’d even booted the game up.

It’s no wonder so many unsold cartridges ended up in that New Mexico landfill.