31. Pitfall!

Pitfall!
(Pitfall Harry's Jungle Adventure)
Atari 2600
1982



Pitfall! is one of the true Atari classics. It was my first favorite video game, and it had been one of the small number of Atari games I had actually been eager to replay. It makes you jump on the heads of crocodiles!

It kinda sucks.

Pitfall! is a game of jungle exploration. As Pitfall Harry, you delve into a huge jungle setting, searching for 32 treasures hidden deep within. The game enabled this premise of exploration in ways never before seen on a console. First of all, it had a large, nonrandomized environment for you to explore. It also presented shortcut routes through this very large jungle, and then presented you with a tight time limit, spurring you to find the shortest route to the treasure possible. 

Pitfall! was like nothing else at the timeNot only is Pitfall! is the only console game I’ve ever played that encouraged a player to make their own map, but it is a sidescroller in every sense, save actually scrolling sideways. Pitfall! is an innovative game, mixing exploration, new run and jump gameplay, and a evocative environment. It is no wonder that this is a staple of every Atari collection ever and it is for these reasons that it is a bona fide classic. 

However, in the years since its design, developers have invented a new gaming technology.  A technology known as “Metroid.”   This “Metroid” technology, is an advanced, “non-suck” method of exploration found in games such as Metroid and Metroid III. While the details are complicated and difficult to explain to the layman, suffice to say it blows Pitfall!’s draw-your-own map approach out of the water. 

Compared to Metroid, to Castlevania, to Legend of Zelda, exploring in Pitfall seems more like running around in your back yard than finding your way through an exotic jungle.  What you are left with is a game with a very small number of obstacles, slightly remixed hundreds of times over. 

When released, this game was a marvel, a rejection of the previously understood limits of Atari cartridges. It was a game that pushed the boundaries of what video games could and should be. And even though Pitfall! sorely lacks timelessness, this game is still a damn classic. Just not one worth playing.