You remember that crappy E.T. Game for the Atari 2600? Recently, it has been boosting in popularity. [Mostly because of people reviewing it.] I don't know why, but I used to actually like this game. Back then, I was kind of a weird kid.
My friend, who, for the sake of keeping his privacy, so i'll call him Michael, gave me a copy of this game back when the Atari 2600 was popular. He told he needed 9$ for it, and I gladly gave him my money, and returned home.
I noticed that the cartridge was kind of dusty, and some of it was broken. I don't exactly know why someone would sell me this, but I think it was because this kid wanted to scam me. I really wanted my money back, but as long as it worked, I would let him keep the change. After all, this kid sells cigarettes. FREAKING CIGARETTES, IN KINDERGARTEN! Sorry, I got off topic for a moment. Let us resume where we left off.
Anyway, I put the cartridge in the Atari, and the title screen came up, but the color palette was all screwed up. I expected this to happen because of the poor condition, but I guess as long as the game still worked, everything would be fine? I hope so.
When I pressed start, I was greeted with the 1st screen. At least, what WAS the first screen.
Black Pixel surrounded the screen, and went all over the place, It wasn't creepy, but it was REALLY distracting.
The goal of the game was to repair a telephone, to call home. I know, it sounds kind of cheesy. In the 90's, it didn't matter that much.
The color palette was screwed up, just like the title screen, but it was constantly flashing all of the colors the Atari 2600 could possibly produce. My brother, who watched me play the game down the hallway, almost had a seizure. He fell onto the floor and passed out for quite a while. Luckily, he didn't get hurt that much.
I set him on the couch with a blanket and pillow, while I was waiting for him to wake up. While I was playing the seizure-inducing game, I noticed that the phone pieces were entirely gone, but what replaced them, was random glitchy tiles, while a loud buzzing noise came out of the system, every single time I picked them up.
I collected all of the glitchy tiles about 5 minutes later, and the game crashed. Nothing was there, except for my reflection, even as i'm typing this, the game still won't come back on. About a minute or so later, I told my dad about my experience, and believed me, mostly because of the condition of the cartridge, and the fact that he met the kid that sold people stuff before.
We drove down to school, and my dad told me to stay in the car. I did as he asked. Suddenly, I felt a bit ill. I could see the same Glitchy Tiles and Black Pixels as before. I passed out immediately.
I made it back home, after my dad put my head up, and woke me up. He was worried, and I simply told him why I passed out in 1 single sentence. "The game did it dad."
I know one thing for sure... The game was BROKEN.
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Story written by: That Ordinary Guy