2022/8/14: Atari 2600: Slot Machine, Pitfall, Pitfall II: Lost Caverns

[Darrin]

The real inaccuracy is dismissing the underground path in the first game because it doesn't have treasure in it. There's no treasure, but you move three times faster underground, which is crucial in getting all the treasure within the time limit.

I am glad someone mentioned this. I beat the original Pitfall! with a mere 10 seconds left. It's one of those games you want to map out (with paper and pencil, kind of like Alien Vs. Predator for the Jaguar). If I recall correctly, you want to go right first to get one of the treasures before going left from there. The underground tunnels are useful for saving time and skipping past areas quickly in areas where there is no treasure above.

Pitfall! has got to be one of the very first platformers, coming out about two years before Super Mario Brothers for the NES.

I believe Pitfall! was also one of the very first games you could actually "beat" or finish (other than search games like Adventure or Haunted House).

[Voor]

Is going left “cheating”?

[Stalvern]

No, but it is without honor.

[Retro STrife]

Great reviews. Glad to see Pitfall bumped into the A ranges. As one of the must-have 2600 games, it felt out of place in the B’s.

While I owned an Atari as a kid, I didn’t play Pitfall and Pitfall II until my retro gaming days. Even then, I was blown away by how good they are. No nostalgia required.

I’m not well versed in pre NES systems.. Was Pitfall the first multi screen 2D platformer on consoles? Or is there any other game I’m forgetting? In a post Super Mario Bros world, it’s easy to take Pitfall for granted, but it seems like it was doing something really unique for 1982.

[k8track]

I’m not well versed in pre NES systems.. Was Pitfall the first multi screen 2D platformer on consoles? Or is there any other game I’m forgetting? In a post Super Mario Bros world, it’s easy to take Pitfall for granted, but it seems like it was doing something really unique for 1982.

I do believe that is correct (at least on consoles), that is what I have always read and I certainly cannot think of any earlier games. Pitfall is indeed significant for basically creating that entire genre of horizontal platformers that became so dominant in the NES era (even though it wasn't scrolling).

Pitfall II would most definitely be a proto-Metroidvania game, and is an astounding achievement on the 2600. I don't think its importance can be overstated. It absolutely blew me away when I first saw it back in the spring of 1984. What a shame that the North American video game crash was already well underway. Had it appeared a bit earlier, who knows what course history might have taken.

[VideoGameCritic]

I’m not well versed in pre NES systems.. Was Pitfall the first multi screen 2D platformer on consoles?

Wait WHAT??

[Mind blown]

[Hagane]

Wasn't Donkey Kong the first 2D plataformer where a player could walk, jump, avoid/kill enemies and grab itens?

[thrust26]

Thanks for the rereviews, especially the two Pitfalls. I have always been a big fan of Pitfall! and I also like Pitfall II. But personally I prefer the first game, because the underground passages add some extra complexity and require mapping the game. And the timer adds some extra pressure too. Pitfall II is a lot of fun at the first time, but afterwards it becomes quite one-dimensional.

I wish there would have been some randomness, especially Pitfall II would greatly benefit from it.

[ActRaiser]

I’m not well versed in pre NES systems.. Was Pitfall the first multi screen 2D platformer on consoles?

Wait WHAT??

[Mind blown]

I had always heard that the Smurfs was the first side scrolling 2D platformer on the Atari 2600.

[k8track]

I’m not well versed in pre NES systems.. Was Pitfall the first multi screen 2D platformer on consoles?

Wait WHAT??

[Mind blown]

I had always heard that the Smurfs was the first side scrolling 2D platformer on the Atari 2600.

According to the Random Terrain release date website (who extensively cross-references all the available magazine articles and newspaper advertisements of the time), Pitfall! was released in September 1982, and Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle was April 1983.

https://www.randomterrain.com/atari-260 ... -1982.html
https://www.randomterrain.com/atari-260 ... -1983.html