YMMV / Rescue on Fractalus!

• Genius Programming: Real-time, fairly smoothly animated three-dimensional graphics showing a complex, jagged landscape? On an 8-bit computer? Sure.
• It Was His Sled: The possibility of aliens disguising themselves as pilots and attacking you was originally meant to be a secret. It wasn't mentioned in the manual, and indeed in these pre-Internet days it became a rumor among gamers. (It probably was such an effective rumor because 1. a lot of people preferred to initially keep the "secret" to themselves so that they'd have the joy of seeing their friends scared senseless, and 2. many people refused to believe that the Atari 8-bit computers could be capable of generating the image of an alien "leaping out at the player".) Today, the aliens are possibly one of the most famous things about the game.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • The alien's sudden appearance, especially with its sound effects.
  • The subtle creepiness of letting a human pilot die, their knocks on the door getting fainter and weaker.

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