Pitfall!
| Pitfall! | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Activision |
| Publisher(s) | Activision |
| Designer(s) | David Crane |
| Series | Pitfall |
| Platform(s) | Atari 2600, Intellivision, Atari 5200, ColecoVision, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, MSX |
| Release | September 1982
|
| Genre(s) | Platform |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Pitfall! is a 1982 platform video game developed by David Crane and published by Activision for the Atari 2600. The player controls Pitfall Harry, who has a time limit of 20 minutes to seek treasure in a jungle. The game world is populated by enemies and hazards that variously cause the player to lose lives or points. Pitfall! was ported to the Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit computers, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, and MSX.
Crane had made several games for both Atari, Inc. and Activision before working on Pitfall! in 1982. He started with creating a realistic-style walking animation for a person on the Atari 2600 hardware, then fashioned a game around it. He used a jungle setting with items to collect and enemies to avoid, and the result became Pitfall!
Pitfall! received positive reviews at the time of its release praising both its gameplay and graphics. It was influential in the platform game genre, and various publications have considered it one of the greatest video games of all time. It is also one of the best-selling Atari 2600 video games. It has been included in various Activision compilation games and was included as a secret extra in later Activision-published titles. A more advanced sequel, Pitfall II: Lost Caverns, was released in 1984.