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GameplayThe player must maneuver a character known as Pitfall Harry through a maze-like jungle in an attempt to recover 32 treasures in a 20 minute period. Along the way, he must negotiate numerous hazards, including tar pits, quicksand, rolling logs, rattlesnakes, scorpions, walls, fire, and crocodiles. Harry may jump over or otherwise avoid these obstacles by timing his climbing and running, and in certain places he can swing on a vine to avoid them.
History and developmentPitfall! was created by David Crane, a programmer who worked for Activision in the early 1980s. In a November 2003 interview with Edge he described how in 1979 he had developed the technology to display a realistic "little running man" and in 1982 was searching for a suitable game in which to use it: "I sat down with a blank sheet of paper and drew a stick figure in the centre. I said, 'Okay, I have a little running man and let's put him on a path' (two more lines drawn on the paper). 'Where is the path? Let's put it in a jungle' (draw some trees). 'Why is he running?' (draw treasures to collect, enemies to avoid, etc). And Pitfall! was born. This entire process took about ten minutes. About 1,000 hours of programming later, the game was complete." Its technical achievements included non-flickering, multicolored, animated sprites on a system with notoriously primitive graphics hardware. Pitfall! was a massive success for the 2600. It is considered to have been the best selling game ever made for the system, with over 4 million copies of the game sold. Several ports were made for computer systems (such as the Commodore 64, Atari 800 and TRS-80 Color Computer), as well as for other videogame systems (such as the ColecoVision and the Intellivision). Jack Black made his TV debut in a commercial for Pitfall, as shown on an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live, where he shows Jack a clip from the commercial.
SequelsCrane also produced a popular sequel, Pitfall II: Lost Caverns the following year. It sold well, though not as well as the original, and is considered by many to be one of the best games ever made for the system. Also, unlike most games of its day, it had a definite ending. Activision also produced Pitfall II versions for the Atari 400/800 and the Commodore 64; Brad Fregger was the producer for these versions. The Atari 400/800 version had the largest easter egg ever produced for a computer product. Since the two new versions had significantly more memory than the 2600, Fregger allowed the two designers to use the additional memory as they saw fit. The Commodore 64 designer enhanced the graphics, while the Atari 400/800 designer created an entirely new game that would be played after the initial game was finished. The new game was more complex and, in many ways, more challenging than the original game. In addition, the new game ended with Pitfall Harry and all the treasures on the surface waiting for rescue. However, marketing would not allow the two versions to be different, and demanded that the additional game be stripped from the Atari version. Instead, Fregger and the designers decided to leave it in and make it an easter egg.
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