Pitfall

A milestone in 2600 history, Pitfall was an original design by David Crane that had not been done before on the 2600. "I knew that there was great potential in 'run, jump, and climb' adventure games, but the result was beyond any expectations. It sold millions of copies, established a new genre of adventure games and spawned hundreds of similar products. There are now more sideview platform video games than any other category. I wanted to do a game with a running man. I had designed one and I liked the effect, but I had to make a game out of it. So, I thought, 'Well, he has to be running somewhere...' so I drew a path. And then I had to put it into a place - so I picked a jungle. The idea took all of ten minutes. It was a simple idea - a man running in a jungle. But, it spawned a genre of side-scrolling games. It was the beginning of a genre. Also, I guess people just remembered it as being neat," stated Crane.

The object is to move your character, Pitfall Harry, through 255 screens and collect gold and silver pieces, and money bags. There are 32 in total to find in a 20 minute timeframe. One of the unique aspects of this game is that it is not over in a matter of a few minutes. There are also many obstacles in your way as well - rolling logs, campfires, snakes, scorpions, tar pits, etc. There are crocodile heads to jump over as well. (You can only jump on them when their mouths are closed.) Don’t fall into any holes either, or you lose points on your total score.

One of the most popular and probably the best-selling games for the 2600, Pitfall Harry also became a signature character or icon for the 2600 system. David later used the same "running man" character in Decathlon. Like Megamania, Pitfall also has a subtitle: Pitfall Harry’s Jungle Adventure.

Back in the 1980s, Activision used to give out embroidered game club patches if you got a high score, took a picture of your TV screen, and mailed it to them. Here is the high score to shoot for:

• Return to Spotlight on Activision main menu

This page is hosted by Get your own Free Home Page