Pitfall! vs. Pitfall! II

[Herbarius]

So, I made some kind of whishlist of Atari 2600 games I would want to acquire maybe over the course of the rest of the year...

I've put both Pitfall! and Pitfall! II on the list, but as the list got pretty large I decided: one of them had to go. (Maybe I'll get the other one later, but one has to have priority.)

 

Yes I could now try both with Stella and decide which I liked better. I'll propably do that anyway. But I also want to ask your opinion: What do you think, is Pitfall! II the better game, because it improves on the original? Or is the first one the better game, because it's the "true" Pitfall... Please vote. Please also post comments to complement your vote. E.g. what you liked in the games, what may have ruined one of them for you but not the other...

 

Another thing: I always found Pitfall! to be a very hard game. How's the difficulty in Pitfall! II, is it easier? harder? more or less the same? I've added a poll for that too, comments on this topic are welcome...

Edited April 7, 2009 by Herbarius

[rasty]

Close call on both questions... I seem to prefer the prequel thou, being easier to pick up!

[Wickeycolumbus]

I like Pitfall! better, Pitfall! II is too hard for me.

[+Ransom]

I don't like either of them.

[cimerians]

Crane outdid himself with Pitfall 2. (Thats not saying I dont like Pitfall.)

 

I prefer Pitfall 2 and also find both pretty equal on difficulty.

 

Pitfall was probably the coolest game to come out when it did.

[+Nathan Strum]

Pitfall is more difficult to finish. You can't make many mistakes, and you have to figure out the correct route to take. If you're making your own map (as opposed to using an online one), it can take quite awhile.

 

Pitfall II is just a matter of perseverance, since you have unlimited lives. Eventually, you can get through the game just by trial and error. But I do like the world of Pitfall II better - there's more variety (I do miss the swinging vines though).

[brojamfootball]

Pitfall II is harder, but endless lives and no timer.

 

Pitfall original is, well, the original and a legendary game. Many folks don't even know there was a Pitfall II.

Pitfall I rounds out a basic collection, but Pitfall II makes a collection more than basic. Still, I don't know if I'd have 2 without 1.

 

Original Pitfall is definitely far more common and cheap as dirt. The game was hugely popular and most people who had a 2600 at the time got a copy. I see it in the wild as frequently as any other game. Pitfall II is another story, and can sometimes be pricey.

[+Random Terrain]

Although pretty, professional looking, and having a couple of cool elements, they both mostly sucked. Besides having a cool rope to swing on, Pitfall! was kind of boring. I thought the treasure would be in different places every time you played, but it was just one more Activision game where everything was always in the same place. Most enemies in the game had no intelligence to them. Pretty much everything was a mindless obstacle.

 

I had high hopes for Pitfall II: Lost Caverns. I read about how much better it was supposed to be than Pitfall!, so I bought it when it was new (with my own money that I earned mowing yards). I thought at the time that since Pitfall II: Lost Caverns was supposedly the most advanced 'adventure game' ever made for the Atari 2600 that it would at least have randomly placed treasure using controlled randomness like real adventure games did. Pitfall II: Lost Caverns had better graphics and sophisticated music, but just like original Pitfall!, things were in the same place and you still had to jump over or evade mindless enemies that just bounced up and down or moved back and forth and usually didn't even know you were there. From treasure to enemies, it's the same game every time. Zero replayability with the bonus of frustrating gameplay and no vine swinging. What a huge disappointment! Activision managed to take a fairly boring game like Pitfall!, remove the one thing that was really fun (swinging on vines) and inject one of the worst gameplay ideas ever invented: losing ground by going back to a save point. I liked the idea of not dying and having no time limit, but I'd rather be punished by having an Incan ghost come and take away some of my treasure instead of making me lose ground for one tiny mistake.

 

So, although Pitfall II: Lost Caverns had some cool things in it, the game was mostly just another lame exercise in perfect timing with nothing else to offer except the frustration of going back many screens to do it all over again if you messed up. At least the original Pitfall! let you skip or retry the screen you were on (your choice depending on whether you went left or right). The idiotically frustrating idea of making you go back multiple screens was not an advance in gameplay, it was a giant step backwards. Pitfall II: Lost Caverns started a horrible trend. We got decades of stupid perfect-timing platform games where everything was in the same place every time you played and you had to replay many of levels until you memorized all of the 'dance steps'. That model is still used today by misguided game designers.

[SeaGtGruff]

I like II better, because it just seems more interesting. Plus, it was so cool to swim, fall over the waterfall, float around hanging on a balloon, etc. Aside from swinging on a rope, Pitfall! is just a whole bunch of running.

 

Although II is kind of hard, I think Pitfall! is harder, because of the time limit, and of course because you have a limited number of lives.

 

Michael

[Emehr]

Tough call. I like both equally. Each game has something different to offer and each is implemented very well. As for toughness, I gotta go with the original. Hands down. That time limit and those crocs are killer!

[moycon]

I picked Pitfall2 as being better of the two. I remember being BLOWN away by that game when I got it for my birthday. My friends and I immediately opened it and played it. We couldn't believe the music or the HUGE world. I always thought Pitfall was ok but sort of bland. I never did find all the treasures I'm sure, but would usually play it until the 20:00 ran out. *yawn*

[Rom Hunter]

Pitfall II without any doubts.

 

Never liked the timeclock in Pitfall!

 

Would have been great if Pitfall II also had vines, krokodiles, snakes and campfires though.

 

Thad said: I think David Crane did something unbelievable for the VCS with Pitfall II back then.

 

[youki]

PITFALL II is the best for me!. and one of my favorite game of all time!

 

PITFALL I is too repetitive for me , and screen not very varied. But thus it is still a great game. But compared to Pitfall II with his huge world , where you can run, jump, climb , swim and even fly with the balloons! And i don't speak about the sound track that fit perfectly the game!.

 

Thanks David Crane for this jewel!!!

 

(Therefore if you own a Atari 800XL also, i would take the 800xl version instead the 2600 one. It features a unique second level! It is the only plateform where this level is! )

[Mirage]

(Therefore if you own a Atari 800XL also, i would take the 800xl version instead the 2600 one. It features a unique second level! It is the only plateform where this level is! )

 

It's in the 5200 version also.

 

To OP: You didn't say what else was on your list of games to get. There could very well be other games to get rid of before getting rid of either Pitfall or Pitfall II. Both are among the best games for the system, so you may just want to consider getting both. Pitfall is about as cheap as you can get anyway, and II can be found loose pretty cheaply too. Just get both, and jettison a lesser game from your list.

[kb9snl]

I remember the first time I played Pitfall II, having borrowed it from a friend...that music started and I was like HOLY CRAP!

[homerwannabee]

Pitfall II, shuts up the NES fanboy's real quick when they realize that there was a platform game with music before Super Mario world.

[+Ransom]

I agree completely with Random Terrain's post.

 

I'm not much for memorization games. So Pitfall, Pitfall II, H.E.R.O., and the like aren't interesting at all to me, except from an historical perspective.

[pinball22]

I like Pitfall II better, and think the original is definitely harder -- the crocodiles!!

I can see how II might not appeal to everyone, but I always found the challenge of trying to finish with a perfect score irresistable. And even though I did that for the first time over 20 years ago, I still enjoy playing the game.

[neglectoru]

For me, the ability to return to an arbitrary checkpoint in Pitfall II immensely reduced frustration when I first picked up the game. While i love both, it was frustrating to get very far into Pitfall! and then make a stupid mistake.

 

I love both games, though.

[Rik]

I say Pitfall is harder for me anyway cus i never finished and found all treasures.I've completed P2 numereous times with the perfect score though.

[awace]

I say Pitfall is harder for me anyway cus i never finished and found all treasures.I've completed P2 numereous times with the perfect score though.

I love pitfall II I just finished II on the atari 2600 emulator I kind of cheated using a hackmatic version i hacked so the head on pitfall harry was shorter this helped when confronting bats and birds although the birds couuld still hurt you .. I figured out that on the 2600 there is a whole level II missing as it locks up when you finish game!!!!!! so if you want to play more download pitfall II for the Atari800 and play past the diamond and the stick guy and get diamond and all other things and a level opens up to a nother level where frogs dont just jump they move across screen this is defantly where a emulator could come in handy especally where you could use the save state feature I remember playing pitfall II on the atari800 for 7 days straight I never finished it I assume it would take a month or 2 2 finish pitfall II 8bit I still like the original atari 2600 version of pitfall cause it brings back memmorys and is still fun I didnt know till today that the 2600 version only had the 1 level I never thought of using hackomatic to hack pitfall but the idea came to me and i said hmm I wonder if the 2600 version has 2 levels whell it dont that didnt take from the fun of trying though I think i still have some save states in my stella on my big machine with the hack it only took me 15 minnutes with out the hack it probably would have took me 2 hours just to climb the left latters where the bird/bat bird/bat bird bat level is anyway I love both games I am glad activision decided to make the 2600 version almost exactly like the 800 /400 version exept the music in the 800 is slight better . \\\

PS Note when playing atari 2600 Pitfall II if you increase the power going into the atari the music speeds UP.!!!

oh before i forget On the atari 800 I used to cheat!!! I had a drywall screw in the door switch then i would unplug the cart to the left leaving the right side slightly unhooked then I would push forward and I could walk left then FALL threw the walls then the music would go haywire it was cool although it had a sence of perfection to the haywire music and if you got a gold bar it would correct the music sometimes you would be swiming where there was no water above and below a level then you could goto the middle of the screen and kind of pop up and jump on latter witch was not there then fall back down in the water moslty you could swim left and the game would correct it self I did the cheat cause i DIDNT know when i got game from goodwill at 1st that the balloon level even existed then one day somone told me to wait for the ballon I said what balloon then i finnaly figured out the balloon and was able to play not having to cheat I was kind of mad i never had a manual for the game but it was still fun to play.

ALso Once i got to deliver a package to Activision on bury drive in Eden Praire MN one day I told one of the employees I loved Pitfall and I also told them I loved Pitfall II and played the game till i got to the 2nd level I also told them about the cheat and they said HOW did yo do that I told them I didnt know about the balloons untill somone told me about them they said wow I didint know people still used atari's anymore I said I still use my 800 a lot,.. I asked if there was a 3rd level and she said youll just have to Play to find out .

[jboypacman]

Both Pitfall! and Pitfall! II are great games but PitFall! II is just such a impressive game to me due to its size and the fact it has save points(I thought that was so awesome when i was a kid).

[littleman jack]

I like the first one better because you can get into a rhythm. The second one can get tedious quickly. I do appreciate the size of Pitfall II, but I think it's more fun to get into a rapid rhythm in the first Pitfall and see if you can beat your high score. I've never finished either one, so maybe my mind would change if I did.

[Arjak]

I voted for Pitfall II as my favorite.

 

Pitfall II is an INCREDIBLE Atari game. I can only imagine, having grown up in the 16-Bit era, how blown away Atari gamers were upon booting it up for the first time. Its scope, presentation, and gameplay were something never before seen in gaming, and blows the original out of the water. The obstacles were harder and more varied. It had a music score, something rarely seen in Atari games at the time. It had an ENDING, something rarely seen in ANY games of the time. It had scrolling, something else not seen often in games of the time. David Crane pushed the Atari to the limit with this one, and I am grateful for it.

 

I like the original too, though. I feel that the first two Pitfall games are David Crane's masterpieces. I just played the original earlier, and I got my best score ever and survived for the whole twenty minutes. I was quite proud and took a picture. (Now I just need to figure out how to get my patch today!)

 

As far as difficulty goes, I think they are both difficult in different ways. Pitfall has a rigid three lives system and a time limit. It is also harder to beat. Pitfall II has harder hazards, but you are given more leeway on making mistakes. You also are sent back to the last save point if you "die," forcing you to try again, and there is often no way to skip a section (like with underground passages).

 

That is why I voted that they have similar difficulties.