ET really was buried in New Mexico

One of gaming’s greatest mysteries has been solved. Seems Atari really did bury a whole shipment of ET cartridges in a New Mexico landfill.

First a little back story. Back in 1983, Atari had obtained the rights to produce a game based on the movie ET: The Extra Terrestrial. Like all “good” movie games, it was rushed into production and came out as a god awful mess. Critics panned it, and it has since become known as one of the worst games of all time.

Of course Atari, not done trying to outdo their own stupidity, ordered more cartridges than there were 2600s. They were forced to buy back the unsold units copies and dispose of them. From there, rumour grew into legend. Stories told that they had buried them in a desert landfill in order to cut their losses. I suppose it was cheaper than recycling at the time.

Well, it turns out the legends were true.

Microsoft has been working on a documentary about the game. This month they sent a digging crew to Alamogordo, New Mexico, the rumored location of the ET landfill. This week, they hit pay dirt. Thar be crappy games in them thar hills.

The cartridges are a little dirty and a bit smushed, but otherwise in tact. Even the manuals and boxes have survived, probably owing to the region’s dry climate. AP claims hundreds have been found so far. It’s not clear how many more are down there.

The documentary on ET and the landfill will be made available exclusively on the Xbox One.

Pictures by Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb