| PITFALL! (ACTIVISION) |
  Man, who can forget this one. Pitfall! was a masterpiece created by David Crane in 1981 and was probably Activision's best known game for the longest time, and it was one of the few games that ORIGINATED on a game console at the time - in this case the Atari 2600 - and not on a arcade cabinet (though there was a Pitfall Arcade game a little later). I know it does not scroll, but I consider this one a step in the evolution of the platforming action adventure genre that would spawn Super Mario Bros only 3-4 years later. It was one of those rare cases also, where you had a goal (find all the treasures across 256 screens in 20 minutes) - but could also just play for high score as well.Pitfall! spawned a sequel a year later, that was one of the most impressive Atari 2600 games of all time (and I have that one too), but it's almost odd that Pitfall never became anything more than just a game. Sure it had a saturday morning cartoon on the Saturday Supercade seriees on network television, but outside of that, it sort of faded into the background with one sub-par NES title (Super Pitfall - 1987), and then jumped on the "new generation" bandwagon started by Donkey Kong Country and released Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure, where now you play Harry Jr trying to save his dad - which of course, with Retrogaming in it's infancy, Activision put this whole game in that SNES/Sega Genesis release as a "bonus". The First Game I ever (Tried to) Play(ed) - My Experiences Pitfall was my introduction to the Atari 2600, and it's usually the first game I think of for the 2600. I was only 2, maybe 3, and my sisters would come over every other weekend to make pancakes and play Atari after I got to watch Saturday Morning cartoons. Pitfall would be one of the most played games in that stash, I even remember our original copy with our Illinois address on it. Of course, I never started to get good at it until I got my first 2600 at age 8 on Christmas of 89'. Then I would spend HOURS playing this and Adventure probably the most, with Keystone Kapers being third. I got pretty good at it and one of my best runs was just this year (2022). Pitfall will always be a permanant fixture in the collection as YouTube Videos 20 Minutes, 256 Screens, What could Go Wrong? - A Walkthrough |
