Pitfall!

Pitfall!

Atari 2600 - USA - 1st edition.

Developer Activision Publisher Activision Published 1982-??-?? Platforms Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit, ColecoVision, Intellivision, MSX Genres Action, Platformer, Single-screen Themes Adventure, Wilderness Series Pitfall! Distribution Commercial

Pitfall! is adventure platformer designed and developed by David Crane and published by Activision for the Atari 2600 in 1982. It was later ported to several other consoles and home computers. The game is the first in the Pitfall! series and a pioneer of the platformer.

Because Atari ROMs had so little memory, David Crane cleverly used a reversible polynomial to generate the game map. The player has to collect all 32 treasures spread across 255 rooms within a 20 minute time limit. Playing straight through the map, the player only has about 4.7 seconds per room to traverse the entire map, not nearly enough time, so it's very important to use the underground passages which allow the player to skip 3 rooms each time they're used. However, because the undergrounds often dead end, the player is forced to make a map to figure out an optimal solution.

In a postmortem about the game, Crane said that he initially only wanted to give the player 1 life, but wisely altered the code to give the player three. But, since he had already optimized his code, it was quite a challenge to rework it for the added lives.

Personal

Own?	No.
Won?	No.

I first played Pitfall! in the mid-1980s on my family's Atari. It was one of my favorites for the system, and I always dreaded the worst screen, three alligators with no vine! It wasn't until the 1990s that I was good enough at the game to get a decent score. I exceeded 20,000 points, the amount necessary to be part of the Pitfall Harry Explorer's Club, but I have not beaten the game.

Review

4	4	3	2	4

Best Version: Atari 2600

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

• The game is well designed, fun to play, and presents a good challenge.
• For the time, the graphics, sound, and game play were all above average.
• The use of a polynomial for a map was a very creative idea for creating a large game world with little memory.

Bad

• The polynomial, unfortunately, makes the game's map entirely arbitrary. It doesn't start easy and become hard, instead, easy and hard rooms are randomly determined throughout the map.
• There isn't much content to the game. You'll see everything the game has to offer after only a few minutes.
• The ending is quite dull. When you collect the final treasure, the game just switches to the copyright logo. There isn't a message or unique sound effect or anything.

Ugly

• Beating the game is extremely difficult. Even when taking the optimal route and not dying or even taking a hit, there is very little wiggle room to collect all 32 treasures in 20 minutes.

Media

Box Art

• 

  The simple cartoon style of original 2600 box art doesn't make any promises the game can't keep, and uses the attractive Activision rainbow. This is my favorite art.

• 

  This box art was used on the Intellivision release. Pitfall Harry looks heroic swimming past those dangerous animals, until you realize he's wearing tube socks.

• 

  This art is used by the 5200, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, and Atari 8-bit computers. Graphically, it's very attractive; nice color palette lettering, and art. But it reminds me more of an African Savannah than a South American jungle.

• 

  Atari 2600 - Cartridge.

Documentation

• 

  Manual - Atari 2600.

• 

  Activision patch.

• 

  Strategy guide - How to Win At Home Video Games.

• 

  Strategy guide - Be a Home Videogame Superstar: Secrets to the Best Games for Your Atari VCS.

• 

  Magazine ad.

• 

  Magazine ad.

Map

• 

  Map.

Fan Art

• 

  Box re-envisioned by Glen Brogan to be a game based on a scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Videos

Review - Metroidvania Works.

Postmortem.

Commercial - Starring a very young Jack Black.

Longplay - 2600 - No hits.

Game play - Atari 8-bit.

Game play - ColecoVision.

Game play - Intellivision.

Play Online

Atari 2600, Atari 5200, MSX

Representation

Strong female character?	Fail	There are no women.
Bechdel test?	Fail	There are no women.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	The only character is white.
Queer character?	Fail	There are no queer characters.

Download

Thomas Jentzsch has disassembled and commented the source code of Pitfall!

• Download (Info)

Credits

Role	Staff
Entire Game	David Crane

Links