Pitfall

[robsterman]

What is your highest score on Pitfall?

 

My high is 113,368. One person actually scored a perfect 114,000 points. And that was something, which David Crane couldn't even do.

 

So, what's your high score?

[robsterman­]

I got a score of 113,386.

 

The Crayoñes’

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Hi,

in my young days i was very good in gaming.

 

I scored the full 114.000 points and if i remember it correct, there were about 70 seconds left. I haven't seen anybody beating the time, but many reached the full score too.

 

To bad, that i've lost the polaroid (oh no, it was a kodak landcam) i made

 

Have fun!

Thomas

[robsterman]

Wow! You are an incredible player!

 

For me, I lost points by falling down the holes where you have to move underground. This way, I saved a couple of seconds.

 

Also, I purposely died twice so I could reappear on the left side without losing any time.

 

114,000? That's a screen shot I would like to see.

[Joel D. Park]

That's really amazing. Back in the day, I didn't actually own Pitfall, but I used to trade (temporarily) for it all the time.

 

I was really poor.. I remember if I was able to find the first Diamond ring I was impressed. I do better now, but I'm too lazy to practice.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Hi again,

i've just read in an old german Activision club magazine from autumn 1983 that the proved world record at that time was 114000 points with 93 seconds left. The name of the owner is Stefan Gerlichs from Oldenburg, Germany.

 

I'm still quite sure, that i have beaten that time then, but the only thing i really can remember is, that it was an even number between 60 and 120 seconds.

 

I hope, one day if find that picture again.

 

Have fun!

Thomas

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Hi Rob,

there is a trick which prevents you from falling down, but there must bvew a ladder. I think, you just have to move the joystick down while you're juming into a hole with ladders. I'' have to check this...

 

Have fun!

Thomas

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Yeap...Tom...your right. If you move the joystick down...or just as you get to the ladder move it in the diagnal downwards toward direction your going...you will "grab" the ladder and not lose the point entering it.

 

I can't remember my final score last time I played...but I know I was only a few treasures shy of the last one...I had lost all but the last guy and managed to finish it by running out of time with that last guy for oaver 18 min!! I couldn't believe it...I just seemed to zone in on it.

 

Anyway, that was like a month ago. May have to fire it up again...hehe..

 

[maximebeauvais]

I played pitfall last month.

 

I think I scored 109 XXX I know that I was missing only one treasure!!!! (I have kept a record of every treasure find)

[robsterman]

Most people cannot get that 32nd treasure. There is a really cool map that may help you. Let me know if you'd like it.

[Malix]

Just started playing it again yesterday and my high was 30,000 something. Will have that beat by far tonight though.

[Malix]

Using the sega controllers I reached the incredible score of 50,000. I will not stop till I am in the 100,000's.

[Malix]

Got 86,000 + . I am almost there

[KAZ]

I JUST played Pitfall! 10 minutes ago..

 

My score, with no time left on the clock:

 

85,796

 

I went LEFT the entire game.

I was VERY happy with the score.

 

Is it just me, or does it sometimes seem like those ponds start retracting faster and faster. It is amazing that some people have perfect scores, because the stages with those endless moving logs is hard not to lose points on.

 

My big problem was the I didn't use the tunnels, except for once. The second tunnel I took was a dead end, and I had to backtrack 5 screens. I hear that if you use a tunnel it is the same as like 4 screens on top.

[Pitfall Harry]

"Each Scene covered underground is equivalent to three on the surface"

 

as per page 3 of the Pitfall! Game Instructions Manual

 

Ben

[Nukey Shay]

No, they don't retract at alternate rates...it's just that Harry's time to cross a screen is slightly lower than the time that the pits cycle. You can JUST BARELY cross three pit screens without stopping if you jump toward a closing pit and jump again when the last pit begins to open. If you don't time this exactly, you will be swallowed up.

But yeah, the underground passages are the big gainers. Just follow the ones indicated on the map and you should be able to complete the game (since you make pretty good time above ground from that score).

 

And dealing with the logs is kinda easy...you did it yourself by running LEFT (logs always roll to the left in the jungle). So unless you are standing still or backtracking, you don't even need to pay attention to them. But it is probably a good statagy to run right until you get to the ladder after the first prize...then switch to running left for the remainder of the game (except for a couple spots where you need to backtrack). You skip about 50 screens using this method...which is about how many you had left when the timer expired by running left only.

 

[ 05-14-2002: Message edited by: Nukey Shay ]

[Nukey Shay]

Here's a neat subroutine copied from Thomas' disassembly...

 

; goto next scene, if Harry has reached border of current scene:

 

ldx #0 move one scene

lda yPosHarry

cmp #64 Harry at underground?

bcc .oneScene yes, move one scene

ldx #2 no, move three scenes

 

Using the underground effectively skips two above ground scenes (2 skipped + the one you jump to)...so you could hack the game to use a number HIGHER than 2 to make a completely different underground scheme. I wonder if there's one that would allow you to complete the game without backtracking at all?

[KAZ]

By the way, I played Pitfall! with a genesis controller.

 

I did have another question, about the treasure.

 

So how does it work, once you get ALL the treasures, they stop coming up? Or is it simply impossible to get any more than 32 in the time given?

 

For example, if the time were increased to 40:00, would there only be 32 treasures available?

 

And one more thing that is confusing. What if I'm going left and go underground to the right one screen? Does that mean that I gained two screens when I begin going left again?

 

[ 05-14-2002: Message edited by: KAZ ]

[Pitfall Harry]

As soon as you collect the 32nd treasure, the game will stop, no matter how much time you took to get there.

 

One screen travelled underground is equivalent to three travelled on the surface, regardless of direction.

 

Ben

[Nukey Shay]

Right. If you had a section of screens marked 1, 2, 3, 4, etc...walking off screen one will bring you to screen 2 when above ground. Walking off screen 1 will bring you to screen 4 below ground (screens 2 & 3 skipped). If you look at Pitfall Harry's map, he shows which screens you will appear on in any given tunnel (except the dead-ends) by a small circle in the path. In the suggested tunnels, the scorpion graphic does likewise.

 

And there are only 32 treasures (eight of each), collected or not. The program keeps track of which ones are left, so increased time will not net you more points than the maximum. Thomas' disassembly shows you where to patch the code for infinte time and lives, if that is what you are after.

 

[ 05-14-2002: Message edited by: Nukey Shay ]

[Pitfall Harry]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Nukey Shay:

...so you could hack the game to use a number HIGHER than 2 to make a completely different underground scheme. I wonder if there's one that would allow you to complete the game without backtracking at all?

---

 

That's an interesting hack and an intersting question.

 

Since treasures are separated at most by 23 surface jungle scenes, the "skip scenes" number can only be assigned integer values less than 23 to ensure that a treasure is never bypassed by an underground passage. And since all treasures are at least 2 scenes away from an underground passage endpoint, only values less than 21 need be tried. It makes no sense to assign a value of 1, because there is no time savings by taking that kind of shortcut. And since assigning a value of 3 is already well known (and requires backtracking), we can dismiss that value. We can also dismiss all values which are multiples of 3, for they will require backtracking as well.

 

Therefore, you need only examine the values in the set {2,4,5,7,8,10,11,13,14,16,17,19,20}

 

That's 13 maps you'd have to evaluate to find your answer.

 

Ben

[Nukey Shay]

More than that...

You could use a value like 141 or something. The program will constantly be wrapping around, but you won't necessarily be repeating screens that you have seen already.

 

example:

1 (screen 1...start)

142 (screen 142...1+141)

283 (screen 28...283-255 rollover)

424 (screen 169...28+141)

 

Kinda makes you wonder, eh?

[Pitfall Harry]

Allowing for skip values which exceed the maximum separation betweeen linearly consecutive treasures complicates the analysis enormously. It would take considerable effort to ensure that you have accounted for all path cases for each skip value analyzed. Should there exist a value greater than 22 which allows one to get to all 32 treasures without reversing direction, it would likely be difficult for the game player to follow it without getting confused from the large jumps in position and from the wrap-around(s).

 

A hacked variation which works at the sacrifice of elegance is a hack which is unlikely to have lasting appeal to a gamer. My gut feeling is that if you cannot find a hack with a skip value of less than 22 that works, then there are undoubtedly better ways to hack the game to make a variation which is more enjoyable to a player than wrapping him around the jungle multiple times.

 

Ben

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Careful, to high skipping values might result in an unstable picture, because there is a loop for each scene you go left or right. The loop requires 34 cycle, so skipping 141 would cost you 4794 cycles. That's way to much.

 

If you want to test higher values, you should compile the game for PAL. That will give you about 2000 extra cycles (or 60 values) to test with.

[Nukey Shay]

Wow...I just figured that the program added the value somewhere. Didn't know it required add'l. cycles per screen to do it.

Thanx