Pitfall Atari 2600 Review

[Atariperson23]

Pitfall is one of the most highly rated games in the Atari 2600. It's originality and depth is what makes it the second best-selling game on the 2600 (Behind Pac-Man, a game which I actually like) And that's why i'm reviewing Pitfall for the Atari 2600 today.

Originality:B+

Pitfall seems to be original. What I mean is, the plot is not copied off another released game, but it's another platform game. And on the Atari 2600, platform games made up like 95% of all games on the Atari 2600. Also, it seems to be similar to Jungle Hunt, a 1982 platformer. So i'm starting to think that Pitfall wasn't entirely original. Please tell me in the comments if Pitfall came after Jungle Hunt or not. In either case, it doesn't seem to be 100% original. 

Gameplay: B-

Notice the earlier comparison I made to Jungle Hunt. I made that comparison because Pitfall is Jungle Hunt slowed one hundred times: It's insanely slow. The only real way you can die is the crocodiles, which is nearly impossible to overcome, because Pitfall Harry moves like a dead worm in molasses and the crocodiles move a trillion miles per hour. And the gameplay repeats itself after you get treasure, so it's kind of boring. But it does manage to give you a lot of thrills if you play it right (which I can't) so I won't be too mean on it. After all, Pitfall has god-like status, and is the probable king of platformers, so who am I, a middle-aged couch potato to anger the gods?

Graphics: B

Pitfall had pretty good graphics, but the graphics are kind of overrated. They're first-rate, but not very special. They're kind of colorful, but not bright and dazzling. You want a game with colorful, detailed colors? Try the majority of Bit Corporation and Xonox games. Honestly, the reason i'm not being generous to it is because I don't really find it fun or special. It has a rip-off element of Jungle Hunt, the gameplay just doesn't match my taste because it's kind of easy and monotonous, and the graphics didn't amaze me that much.

Sound:B

The sound is simplistic but a little too pixelated. Everything sounds 8-bit and just not right. The sounds are a little bit off-key. For example, the Tarzan yell sounds too 80s. What's that you say? The Atari couldn't produce right tunes? Check out Pitfall II, Gyruss, California Games, Frogger (Starpath) and Jungle Hunt. Those games had wonderful sound effects the TIA could hardly reproduce. 
Final Grade: B

Pitfall is somewhat good, with a lot of fine parts to it, but it's overrated. Nothing really special happens in the game. Want a real game with real action? Try Pitfall II or Jungle Hunt.

[+cvga]

Platform games don't make up 95% of all games on the Atari 2600. Actually, at the time Pitfall was released, there were hardly any platform games available. As far as originality goes, you didn't even mention the timer or the underground tunnels. While most lives are likely lost on the crocodiles, lives is just one element of the game. The real skill is learning how to navigate through the tunnels without missing a treasure. I'm wondering if you even went below ground since the scorpion tends to offer a challenge and needs a precise jump to clear without losing a life.

 

Graphics are subjective and I haven't played all of the bit corp games but the ones I have played are graphically inferior in my opinion. I'm still impressed to this day at how vibrant the Pitfall graphics are and how every item is the best color possible. It works incredibly well together. I also appreciate how the pits open and close, the fire flickers, the gold bar shines, Harry runs, the logs roll, etc. It's even more impressive given that this is a fairly early game.

 

I agree that there's not a ton of sound but what it has seems fine. I'm not sure how a game released in 1982 can have sounds that are "too 80s". Some of the other games you compare it to were either enhanced or much later releases (or both).

 

This review felt more like a Jungle Hunt review than a Pitfall review. You mentioned Jungle Hunt at least 6 times. We get that you really like it but it's odd to show up so many times in a Pitfall review. Personally, I think Pitfall is far superior to Jungle Hunt, which I find way too repetitive, but I wouldn't write that continuously in a Jungle Hunt review.

 

In any event, even though I disagree with some of your points, it's still a fun read. Looking forward to your next review even though I feel like you should give Pitfall another chance.

[keithbk]

I enjoy Jungle Hunt more than Pitfall, although the large boulders and the natives are incredibly difficult to jump.

 

I also liked Smurf.

 

The thing about Pitfall that is frustrating is the crocodiles, and if your joystick is not PERFECT (really clean fire button contacts), this part of the game will drive you nuts. I don't know how many times I was running, hit the fire button at precisely the right moment, and DEATH because the signal didn't send.

Edited December 10, 2019 by keithbk

[Yarzzz]

11 hours ago, Atariperson23 said:

The sound is simplistic but a little too pixelated. Everything sounds 8-bit and just not right. The sounds are a little bit off-key. For example, the Tarzan yell sounds too 80s. 

Read this statements again and thell me it makes sense.

[VectorGamer]

53 minutes ago, Yarzzz said:

Read this statements again and thell me it makes sense.

My version of Pitfall featured Tarzan. He was swinging on the vines and you had to shoot lasers at him to get by.

[Yarzzz]

6 hours ago, VectorGamer said:

My version of Pitfall featured Tarzan. He was swinging on the vines and you had to shoot lasers at him to get by.

I was refering to the term "pixelated sound" and the yell sounding "too 80s" (for a game released in 1982).

[keithbk]

1 minute ago, Yarzzz said:

I was refering to the term "pixelated sound" and the yell sounding "too 80s" (for a game released in 1982).

The 80's were SO 80's, they called themselves and asked for their identity back.

[VectorGamer]

12 minutes ago, Yarzzz said:

I was refering to the term "pixelated sound" and the yell sounding "too 80s" (for a game released in 1982).

I was referring to the fact that the reviewer is referring to a Tarzan yell that doesn't exist in the game he's reviewing.

[keithbk]

5 minutes ago, VectorGamer said:

I was referring to the fact that the reviewer is referring to a Tarzan yell that doesn't exist in the game he's reviewing.

When you jump on the vine, that is Tarzan's yell.

[VectorGamer]

18 minutes ago, keithbk said:

When you jump on the vine, that is Tarzan's yell.

What?

 

BITD I played a ton of Jungle King and that has a Tarzan yell. I never thought that was a Tarzan yell in Pitfall. Ever.

Edited December 10, 2019 by VectorGamer

[adamchevy]

All this game was missing was a flamethrower.

[+save2600]

"What?

 

BITD I played a ton of Jungle King and that has a Tarzan yell. I never thought that was a Tarzan yell in Pitfall. Ever."

 

^  Weird. Yeah, in Pitfall when you jump on a vine, that's definitely an electronically representative Tarzan "yell". Unmistakable. I always got a kick out of them paying homage to Tarzan that way. 

 

Here's another:

 

 

 

[firebottle]

Reviewer is either misinformed, or trolling, or both.

[adamchevy]

Reviewer is either misinformed, or trolling, or both.

 

It seems kind of genuine to me. Although this does seem reminiscent of an Atariage member who liked his/her multiple accounts.

[VectorGamer]

21 minutes ago, save2600 said:

^  Weird. Yeah, in Pitfall when you jump on a vine, that's definitely an electronically representative Tarzan "yell". Unmistakable. I always got a kick out of them paying homage to Tarzan that way.

To me it was just a sound effect that came up with. Never equated it to a Tarzan yell.

[+save2600]

6 minutes ago, VectorGamer said:

To me it was just a sound effect that came up with. Never equated it to a Tarzan yell.

Well now you know!  

[adamchevy]

Well now you know!   [emoji4]

[edladdin]

I can see where OP is coming from with some of his/her critiques of the game. But most of them taste like they could only exist looking from the vantage of present knowledge versus where things stood in 1982.  

 

Yeah... Pitfall was not the pinnacle of graphics for the VCS, but this is the same year “Haunted House” was released, so at the time it was amazing.  Likewise, there were certainly some platformers out, but none came anywhere near having 255 screens.  More typical was DK with two screens.  

 

And the system was DEFINITELY not 95% platformers. It wasn’t 95% any one type of game, but if I had to pick a dominant form, it would be the many, many variations of Space Invaders that saturated both the arcades and the 2600.

 

All that said, it’s interesting to try and take a “modern” look at the game, though it’s hard to break through the decades of love that cloud my objective thinking.

 

And don’t feel bad, OP.  I don’t think I realized it was a Tarzan tell until Ferg told me via the podcast.  ?

[+thanatos]

Okie dokie, random game reviewer dude!

 

Yes, Pitfall II may be better, but when Pitfall was out, there was no Pitfall II.  And Pitfall was awesome.

 

 

[keithbk]

The funny thing about Pitfall is that when it originally came out, my neighbor got this (and I think Vanguard) at about the same time and brought them over for us to play.

 

I REALLY got into Vanguard, but I was done with Pitfall after an hour or two.

 

I never bought Pitfall retail.

 

It's not that Pitfall wasn't good, it just wasn't that entertaining to me. But hey, I was stuck on Empire Strikes Back from 1980-1983.

[zzip]

I see Pitfall as a technical marvel for it's time, but ultimately a dull, repetitive game (I felt this way back then too).   I loved Pitfall 2 when it came out because it has a lot more variety in its scenes

[VectorGamer]

14 minutes ago, keithbk said:

The funny thing about Pitfall is that when it originally came out, my neighbor got this (and I think Vanguard) at about the same time and brought them over for us to play.

 

I REALLY got into Vanguard, but I was done with Pitfall after an hour or two.

 

I never bought Pitfall retail.

 

It's not that Pitfall wasn't good, it just wasn't that entertaining to me. But hey, I was stuck on Empire Strikes Back from 1980-1983.

I thought Pitfall was a decent game. I don't play it now though.

 

I largely ignored Vanguard the arcade game BITD so I didn't have the home version back then either. It was until recent years when I saw the arcade game sitting there on the floor at ReplayFX that I gave it some attention and man that game rocks. The 2600 version is OK after warming up to it.

[+Cafeman]

Interesting review of Pitfall. Some thoughts:

 

On the originality category: There was nothing like it at the time. So many innovations exist in the game. The running animation. The swinging on vines. Standing on the back of the croc heads. The underground tunnel shortcuts. You could run whatever direction you chose.  

 

Graphics are very attractive , and no flicker -- an Activision staple. We all knew that the vine swinging sound was the Atari version of the Tarzan yell, I'm really surprised there are people that didn't hear it that way.  But I was very familiar with Tarzan so it was obvious to me. 

 

I eventually grew bored with the gameplay, until I started to attack Pitfalls REAL challenge -- getting a perfect score before time runs out. Yep, I've done it. 

 

[zzip]

3 minutes ago, VectorGamer said:

I thought Pitfall was a decent game. I don't play it now though.

 

I largely ignored Vanguard the arcade game BITD so I didn't have the home version back then either. It was until recent years when I saw the arcade game sitting there on the floor at ReplayFX that I gave it some attention and man that game rocks. The 2600 version is OK after warming up to it.

 

The Laundromat down the street had a Vanguard arcade game and I think Frogger.   Since these were the closest arcade games to my house, My friends and I spend a lot of time playing Vanguard Arcade and grew to love it.

 

The 2600 version was an OK conversion, given the hardware.   I missed having the voice synthesis calling out the zones.   One of the zones was vertical on the 2600 rather than horizontal in the arcade..   but we still played a lot of the cartridge when it came out.

[keithbk]

And speaking of replicated "sounds," we mentioned Pitfall's vine was taken from Tarzan, but Vanguard's "Hero-mode" song was taken from the Sam Jones' Flash Gordon movie when Vultan leads his hawkmen to attack Ming toward the end of the movie.

Edited December 11, 2019 by keithbk