Retro Review: Pitfall! - Atari 2600 - 1982

When we talk about retro gaming, many games bring back great memories.  A lot of games can boast that they were innovative for their time.  But very few games can claim to have revolutionized the industry.  One game that comes to mind that can make that claim was Activision's Pitfall!

It is important to remember that at the time Atari was very indifferent to new ideas in gaming.  The Atari 2600 was really only designed to play a handful of arcade ports like Combat and Pong.  The limitations that game developers had to overcome creating games for the system restricted what could be done.  Creating anything other than a game with simple shapes and objectives didn't terribly interest Atari, and was a seemingly impossible goal.

I never really understood the rainbow coming out of Pitfall Harry's backside on the original cover

Then along came Pitfall!, a game that can boast several technical achievements.  First off the main character, Pitfall Harry was one of the first true sprites to be put into a game that boasted different colors and a unique walk cycle animation, that mimicked cartoon animation.  Secondly the game was the first true platforming game that allowed you to travel beyond the scope of a single screen.  1981's Donkey Kong was probably the first true platformer, but the game never left the borders of your television.  Pitfall's more open ended approach to platform gaming certainly inspired the side scrolling adventures like Super Mario Bros, Castlevania, Mega Man, Contra, and many others in the years to follow.

Pitfall! was the brain child of programmer David Crane.  Crane had worked on Kaboom, Grand Prix, Fishing Derby, and several other titles for the 2600.  His innovative use of the limited tools a programmer could use utilize in the early game systems made him one of the most respected programmers in his field.

David Crane's photo from his Twitter account (@PitfallCreator)

Crane was one of the few programmers to challenge the conventional thinking that home consoles were simply vessels for poorly done arcade ports.  With Pitfall! he strived to raise the bar and create a unique gaming experience.  The game was designed to last more than the 1-5 minutes you would expect to play most of the other games on the console. .  Run and jump to find 32 treasures spread out over 256 possible screens.  The game ends after all the treasures are found, the 20 minute time limit expires, or poor Pitfall Harry is killed by a number of perils that stand in his way to finding the treasure.

An example of a typical screen in Pitfall!

Crane took the Atari 2600 to it's absolute limits and it payed off.  Only Pac-Man outsold Pitfall! for the 2600. There was a season of Pitfall Harry cartoons on CBS based on the game in 1983. Several sequels were released for numerous systems.  And the Pitfall! series is still going strong in 2013 with the recent releases of the game as a mobile application.

Ultimately Pitfall! will go down in history as the first game to at least give the gamer the feel of a side scrolling  game.  Although Pitfall! itself didn't scroll, the unique way it switched from screen to screen it certainly was the precursor for the idea once the NES was released a few years later.  This really made it a stepping stone game that influenced many games to come.  This started with the early Mario Brothers and Sonic the Hedgehog titles, to the more modern games like Braid and Little Big Planet.