Pitfall!

[classicgamer74]

I have been looking forward to doing this episode because Pitfall! is my all-time favorite Atari game. I remember loving it from the minute I first played back in 83. It was at my uncle's house and I remember that I didn't want to stop once I got going. It took my parents awhile to get it for me, but in the meantime I borrowed it from anyone and everyone that I knew that owned it.

 

I did "earn" the patch but I discovered in those days it was really hard to take a good picture of a TV screen. Has anyone on here received one of Activision's patches? I actually thought about buying one some day since I did "earn" it. But I haven't found one for a reasonable price. Someday I'll probably get one.

 

I'm not the only one, as from what I've read "most" people consider this to be one of the best Atari games ever.

 

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I did lend Pitfall! back then from a friend for some weeks and had a blast. At that time, I was first mapping the complete game to develop the optimal, shortest path to collect all treasures. And with some serious training, I got them with 1:42 left (a time which was doubted to be possible until some years ago). So I have very good memories about it. Unfortunately I never asked for a patch.

 

BTW: If you like Pitfall!, you will like Pitfall!x256 even more.

Edited October 29, 2018 by Thomas Jentzsch

[+Cafeman]

I got a perfect game with 114,000 points and 37 seconds left. This was in 2015 during an AA HSC. But back in the day, I never had the patience to map out and beat the game. But I still loved it. There was something about Pitfall, when it debuted, that really appealed to people. Everybody seemed to love it, although many adults I knew could not cross the 3 gators screens without a vine.

 

I could understand how today's gamers would find it tedious. Gaming tastes have changed so much since 1982. Perhaps if every new screen gave you a trophy or accomplishment!

 

Also, following up on one comment in the video, there is a very good reason for going underground. Each underground screen passes 3 screens above. Yes, at first you will run into a dead end sometimes. But once you get familiar with the overall map, using the correct passages is the only way to grab the treasures in 20 minutes.

[classicgamer74]

Wow. I never realized. I'm going to try it and do a follow up video.

[AkashicRecord]

Pitfall! was one of my all time favorites. I never owned the cartridge as a child, but I always spent a lot of time at friends' houses that had it! ...that, and Berzerk.

 

You should give David Crane's Pitfall! panel sessions a watch, they are worth every second. Oh, and did you know that Jack Black (yes, that Jack Black) was in the Pitfall! TV commercial?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfLgSdAAHMA

[+Cafeman]

Activision had the greatest commercials!

[classicgamer74]

Pitfall! was one of my all time favorites. I never owned the cartridge as a child, but I always spent a lot of time at friends' houses that had it! ...that, and Berzerk.

 

You should give David Crane's Pitfall! panel sessions a watch, they are worth every second. Oh, and did you know that Jack Black (yes, that Jack Black) was in the Pitfall! TV commercial?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfLgSdAAHMA

 

Wow! I really learned a lot from that session. I'll never look at games the same again. I wonder if he or some of the other programmers ever hang out here.

[Lord Thag]

I'll second the watching a David Crane panel. He's a really, really nice guy. If you go to the bigger west coast retro gaming events (like PRGE), he's frequently found wandering around the show floor checking out all the cool toys. I've talked with him several times at these conventions. He hates being the center of attention or made a fuss over too, he's quiet and unassuming and does not have a big ego. Very approachable. Once of the nicest people I've met from the era, up there with Keith Robertson when he was still alive.