Pitfall! (1982) - MobyGames (original) (raw)

Tetris Forever

Tetris Forever

aka:Jungle Runner,Pitfall Harry's Jungle Adventure

Moby ID: 8793

Moby Score

7.9

#3,010 of 25.6K

Critics

87%(25)

Players

(148)

Review Ranking

Collected By

175 players

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Description official descriptions

Pitfall! is a platform action game. You play Pitfall Harry who is on a quest to locate treasure deep in the jungle. With a little luck, you'll be able to find money bags, silver bars, gold bars, and diamond rings. But many obstacles will get in the way, some of which merely deduct points from your score, while others are fatal. Rolling logs and falling down a hole will deduct points, and scorpions, alligators, snakes, bottomless pits, swamps, and fires will cause Pitfall Harry to lose a life. You have 20 minutes to try to collect all of the treasures on the numerous screens if you can live that long!

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Screenshots

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Promos

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Videos

Credits (Atari 2600 version)

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 87% (based on 25 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.9 out of 5(based on 148 ratings with 4 reviews)

best game developed in 1982, it was on the top of the charts for a year

The Good
simple, and programmed perfectly. There is not one computer glitch found it this game that makes it tougher to beat.

The Bad
its endless, and very hard to beat the game in the 20 minute time limit.

The Bottom Line
If you are into classic games, this is one you have to play. This is a game defined what Activision was founded on.

Atari 2600 · by Scott G (765) · 2005

The best Atari 2600 game?

The Good
Almost endless running, jumping and swinging.

The Bad
Never did finish this puppy though I came quite close.

The Bottom Line
This was a neat scroller for the Atari. Had good graphics and sound (for an Atari game). I mapped out all of the "rooms" and shortcuts but could never quite get all the way through.

Atari 2600 · by Mr. E (3) · 2003

Pitfall Harry's adventures in the jungle

The Good
Don't you just love playing games that were released in the early '80s? There was no plot or storyline to worry about. All you had was a simple objective, such as getting from one side of the screen to the other or see how many targets you can shoot in a limited time. Pitfall! is just one example, with the object here is to try to collect as many treasures as you can without losing one of your three lives or running out of time.

These treasures are scattered across multiple screens. As usual, there are several dangers that the player needs to worry about, including crocodile-infested swamps, tar pits, quicksand, snakes, fire, and scorpions. You can swing across the first three dangers, Tarzan-style.

Although quite poor compared to today's standards, the graphics were good at the time. The background consists of trees joined together to make you feel you are walking through a jungle. Pitfall Harry is animated nicely as he walks under the player's guidance. He swings across dangers in a smooth way. When Harry does lose one of his lives, one of his backups falling down from one of the trees is really neat.

The sound is excellent. A basic sound is heard when Harry jumps or falls down the hole to reach the underground caverns. What I like are the tunes when Harry swings and picks up one of the treasures. And who could forgot the dreaded tune when Harry loses one of his lives?

As I mentioned, there are scorpions that you have to avoid, and these are located in the underground caverns. They are difficult to jump over, but there is a trick to this - by preparing the jump. You can participate in the Scorpion dance, which is mentioned in the trivia section. This dance is good fun, especially if you are listening to some music. I recommend I Like to Move It by Reel 2 Reel.

The Bad
Underground caverns are good to navigate, and you are encouraged to explore them fully. What I don't like about some of these are the brick walls that you crash into when you usually enter a new screen. Crashing into a brick wall means that you have to backtrack to where you entered the cavern and go up to the surface.

The Bottom Line
In Pitfall!, the object is to guide Harry through the jungle, searching for treasures and avoiding many dangers before the twenty minutes are up. There are underground caverns, in which the player is encouraged to navigate.

The graphics are good. Harry is animated nicely, as he walks and swings across dangers. The sounds are great, blending well with what you are doing. The controls are easy to get used to; the player only needs to worry about changing direction and jumping.

There are at least four other Pitfall games, but it is the original that really stands out. It is fun and addictive. If you have an Atari 2600 but haven't got Pitfall! yet, you don't know what you're missing out on.

Atari 2600 · by Katakis | カタキス (43086) · 2008

[ View all 4 player reviews ]

Trivia

Cartoon

Pitfall! was popular enough to have a Saturday morning TV cartoon based on it. The cartoon focused on the adventures of Pitfall Harry, his niece Rhonda, and the cowardly mountain lion Quickclaw.

Explorer's Club

Players who were able to rack up 20,000 points or higher were eligible to receive the Explorers' Club patch from Activision if they sent in a screenshot to the company. Here is a picture of that patch at AtariAge.

Glitches

A clipping bug in the ColecoVision version of the game would allow the player to actually walk through the walls in the lower area if hit just right. A demonstration can be seen in this video.

Awards

Information also contributed byBig John WV,Guy Chapman,Kevin Tuttle andPCGamer77.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Servo.

Atari 5200 added by RKL. Windows, Xbox 360 added by Alaka. BREW, Windows Phone added by Kabushi. ColecoVision added by Satoshi Kunsai. Atari 8-bit added by Terok Nor. MSX added by koffiepad.

Additional contributors: Guy Chapman, Pseudo_Intellectual, LepricahnsGold, Patrick Bregger, Kevin Tuttle, robMSX.

Game added April 4, 2003. Last modified July 17, 2024.