ballyalley Posted February 9, 2020 Share Posted February 9, 2020 I came across a booklet called Programming Pitdall Harry" mentioned in "Enter" Magazine, issue #11 (October 1984), here: https://archive.org/details/enter-magazine-11/page/n27/mode/1up According to "Enter," the booklet was give away at computer stores or you could get it directly from Activision for 25 cents (that sounds like a bargain). The booklet is described as allowing you to reprogram your Pitfall disk on the Commodore 64. I did find the booklet for the C64, here: https://pcmuseum.ca/Brochures/ProgramPitfall.pdf The lengthier-than-I-expected BASIC program included in the booklet allows you to "change Harry's speed," change the scene, "make Harry's shirt red... and more!" Has anyone seen this document before now? Was there an Atari version of this booklet? Adam 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FifthPlayer Posted February 10, 2020 Share Posted February 10, 2020 Was Pitfall ever released in disk format for the Atari? I think it may have only been available in cartridge, which doesn't lend itself to this sort of hacking. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+slx Posted February 10, 2020 Share Posted February 10, 2020 That‘s a very nice booklet, although it is not about reprogramming but about putting Pitfall Harry on your C64 BASIC screen through a machine language subroutine. This will persist through stopping the BASIC program. It should not be too hard to recreate this for the Atari. You‘d basically need to find the graphics data and movement routine and put it into a BASIC program that sets it up to run in Vertical Blank. Really a nice gesture by David Crane and Activision to provide this but probably made at a time when Atari software support was waning, so we didn‘t get to enjoy it. Is anyone aware of anything similar or is this a unique promo? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted February 10, 2020 Share Posted February 10, 2020 C64 games could often be user patched by using a reset switch then a SYS command to get the game running again. Atari clears the Ram on coldstart so none of that for us other than by Monitors which were pretty rare in the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhd Posted February 10, 2020 Share Posted February 10, 2020 I remember sending for this booklet BITD -- I even had to find an American quarter to include with the form. I had a Coco rather than a Commodore 64, and I was very disappointed to discover that it was all in machine language, and so not reasonably adaptable to another system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacbthPSW Posted July 9, 2020 Share Posted July 9, 2020 (edited) I also sent in for this pamphlet after seeing the offer in an Activision ad in an issue of Ahoy! magazine, probably in late 1984. It was both really cool, and fairly disappointing, as it gives the appearance of a game of Pitfall! with Harry running across the screen, but because it's just a bunch of machine language data statements POKEd in through BASIC, it's barely customizable and not useful as the basis for an actual game, and actually has very little educational value. Crane chose to give us kids something flashy rather than something with substance. Still, it's a neat artifact from the time, and it was better than nothing. I can't think of any other successful game developers or publishers that even offered this much. I was thinking of it a couple months ago and spent weeks digging through my basement trying to find it; I haven't seen it in years, probably decades, but I can't imagine I threw it out and I have a lot of stuff from back then still, even old school workbooks going back to the '70s. For all I know it could have been used as a bookmark and it's hidden inside one of the hundreds of books and magazines I have. Anyway, I've pretty much given up on finding it but would love to purchase one if anyone would like to sell. I realize the .pdf is online and I'll look into doing a reproduction if I have no other choice. Thanks. Edited July 9, 2020 by MacbthPSW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old_skool_gamer Posted July 29, 2020 Share Posted July 29, 2020 I had this pamphlet back in the day. I have no idea what ever happened to it since I kept all my Activision stuff in mint condition and never sold any of it I’m hoping it pops up one day in my stuff but I’m not holding my breath. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbmeeks Posted January 28, 2021 Share Posted January 28, 2021 Sorry to revive an old thread (well, not that old), but these links seem to have been taken down. Anyone know where I can get them? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thank you Posted January 28, 2021 Share Posted January 28, 2021 https://archive.org/details/EnterMagazineVarious/Enter Issue 11 (October 1984) https://web.archive.org/web/20180613001853/http://pcmuseum.ca/Brochures/ProgramPitfall.pdf and somebody typing it in https://retrogamingdev.com/typing-in-programming-pitfall-harry-for-c64/ 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbmeeks Posted January 28, 2021 Share Posted January 28, 2021 Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.