In 1982, Atari had one of the biggest movie franchises in history at its fingertips. E.T. was a phenomenon. The video game should have been a guaranteed hit. Instead, the game was rushed into production for Christmas, and players discovered a confusing mess of pits, frustrating controls, and disappointment. Millions of cartridges went unsold or were returned. Some eventually ended up buried in a New Mexico landfill. What were they thinking? Was E.T. the worst video game of the 1980s, or has its reputation become worse than the game itself?