Documentary filmmakers have uncovered thousands of abandoned "E.T." cartridges in a New Mexico landfill, confirming a decades-old legend of the disastrous game being dumped in the desert.

CNET reports that the infamous game was finally found on Saturday in Alamogordo, N.M. Zak Penn, director of an upcoming Atari documentary, sought the help of garbage company owner Joe Lewandoski to locate the hidden cartridges that had been secretly disposed by video game company Atari in 1983.

City residents and game enthusiasts watched and waited as the excavation team dug out heaps of 30-year-old garbage from a 400-square foot hole. Soon, the film crew spotted an old brochure carrying the game's logo. Before long, the cartridges themselves were unearthed. Director Penn showed fans one of the uncovered cartridges, saying there were thousands more where that came from.

"I feel pretty relieved and psyched that they actually got to see something," said director Penn, as quoted by the Huffington Post.

Atari's "E.T. The Extraterrestrial" video game is widely considered by many to be one of the worst games ever made. Atari put the game into production in 1983, after acquiring the license from Steven Spielberg's hit blockbuster. Attempting to cash in on the film's success, Atari rushed the game to market, giving developers less than six weeks to produce a product that normally took five or months to create.

The result was a poorly designed, glitch-filled, eyesore of a game that was borderline unplayable. While initial sales were good, they quickly plummeted once people caught on to how terrible the game was. Atari was left with millions of copies they couldn't sell. The company took a half-billion dollar loss, ruining their reputation and setting them on the road to their eventual demise, and the temporary collapse of the gaming industry as a whole.

Embarrassed by the game's failure, the company tasked former manager James Heller with finding a remote location to dump 728,000 cartridges. The rest is history.

The city of Alamogordo has agreed to give 250 copies to the filmmakers and retain the rest. The city hopes the finding will increase tourism.