Pitfall!
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For the computing term, please see Anti-pattern.
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Pitfall! was a popular video game released by Activision for the Atari 2600 in 1982. The game is considered by many to be the first platform game ever made.
In the game, you manoeuver your character, known as Pitfall Harry, through a maze-like jungle in an attempt to recover treasures, 32 of them in all. Harry has 20 minutes to collect them.
Along the way, he must negotiate through numerous hazards, such as tar pits, quicksand, rolling logs, snakes, scorpions, walls, fire, and crocodiles. Harry is only able to jump over these obstacles, or time his way around them, except in certain places where he can swing on a vine to avoid them.
The gameplay recalls the adventure films and serials of the 1930s, such as King Solomon's Mines. Pitfall Harry's name clearly refers to Indiana Jones, hero of Raiders of the Lost Ark, which came out the preceding year and also was inspired by the serials. Harry's vine-swinging, and the sound effect that accompanies it, comes from the film Tarzan the Ape Man.
Pitfall! was a massive success for the 2600. It's considered to have been the best selling game ever made for the system, with over 4 million copies of the game sold. Several ports were made for computer systems as well as for the ColecoVision and Intellivision.
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David Crane, a programmer who worked for Activision in the early 1980s, created Pitfall! Its technical achievements included non-flickering, multicolored, animated sprites on a system with notoriously primitive graphics hardware. Crane also produced a popular sequel, Pitfall II: Lost Caverns the following year. It sold well, though obviously not quite like the original, and is considered by quite a few people to be one of the best games ever made for the system.
In 1985, Activision licensed Pitfall to Sega, who made an arcade version of Pitfall II: Lost Caverns. The game, which is now quite rare, actually had little to do with that game, and had more resemblance to the original Pitfall!
Pitfall! was also created for the Commodore 64 using Activision Gamemaker as a demonstration of the game building software.
Pitfall appeared on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987, but Super Pitfall was not successful and received poor reviews.
The game made its debut on next-generation systems in 1995, with the popular Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure. The Mayan Adventure was well known for having the original Pitfall! available to play on it. Two other games under the Pitfall name have been released, Pitfall 3D: Beyond the Jungle in 1998 and Pitfall Harry, released in 2003. de:Pitfall! pt:Pitfall