Pitfall! is a video game released by Activision for the Atari 2600 in 1982. It is one of the best selling games ever made for the Atari 2600, with over 2.6 million copies sold.^{[citation needed]} Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... A video game developer is a software developer (a business or an individual) that creates video games. ... Activision, Inc. ... Activision, Inc. ... A game designer is a person who designs games. ... David Crane is a successful video game designer and programmer. ... In computing, a platform describes some sort of framework, either in hardware or software, which allows software to run. ... The Atari 2600, released in October 1977, is the video game console credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in. ... The Atari 5200 SuperSystem, or simply Atari 5200, is a video game console that was introduced in 1982 by Atari as a replacement for the famous Atari 2600. ... Atari built a series of 8-bit home computers based on the MOS Technology 6502 CPU, starting in 1979. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... C-64 redirects here. ... The Intellivision is a video game console released by Mattel in 1979. ... 1982 1982 in games 1981 in video gaming 1983 in video gaming Notable events of 1982 in computer and video games. ... Further information: Game classification Video games are categorized into genres based on their gameplay interaction. ... A simple platform sequence from the game Wonder Boy Platform game, or platformer, is a video game genre characterized by jumping to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles. ... In computer games and video games, single-player refers to the variant of a particular game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session. ... Cartridge for the VIC 20 homecomputer In various types of electronic equipment, a cartridge can refer one method of adding different functionality or content (e. ... For other uses, see Joystick (disambiguation). ... Look up pitfall in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Computer and video games redirects here. ... Activision, Inc. ... The Atari 2600, released in October 1977, is the video game console credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ...

Gameplay

The player must maneuver a character known as Pitfall Harry through a maze-like jungle in an attempt to recover 32 treasures in a 20 minute period. Box Log Falls, Lamington National Park, Queensland, Australia Jungle usually refers to a dense forest in a hot climate, such as a tropical rainforest. ...

Along the way, he must negotiate numerous hazards, including tar pits, quicksand, water holes, rolling logs, rattlesnakes, scorpions, walls, fire, and crocodiles. Harry may jump over or otherwise avoid these obstacles by timing his climbing and running, and in certain places he can swing on a vine to avoid them. A tar pit, or more properly asphalt pit, is a geological occurrence where subterranean bitumen leaks to the surface, creating a large puddle, pit, or lake of asphalt. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Species 27 species; see list of rattlesnake species and subspecies. ... Superfamilies Pseudochactoidea Buthoidea Chaeriloidea Chactoidea Iuroidea Scorpionoidea See classification for families. ... A brick wall A wall is a usually solid structure that defines and sometimes protects an area. ... For other uses, see Fire (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Crocodile (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Tarzan (disambiguation). ...

Scoring and losses

The player begins each game with 2,000 points. Along the way, they pick up four different treasures (eight of each) which bring different point values:

• Money bags: 2000 points
• Silver bars: 3000 points
• Gold bars: 4000 points
• Diamond rings: 5000 points

There are also two ways of losing points: For other uses, see Money (disambiguation). ... Paper bag redirects here. ... For the U.S. city, see Gold Bar, Washington. ... Finger rings worn by Mary Nevill, Baroness Dacre, 1559. ...

• Falling in a hole: -100 points
• Running into rolling logs: total loss depends on how long Harry is in contact with the log.

Contact with all other hazards (as mentioned above) results in loss of turn. A bottomless pit is, as its name suggests, a pit that goes straight down with no bottom. ...

A perfect score by collecting 32 treasures without any contact with hazards is 114,000.

History and development

Pitfall! was created by David Crane, a programmer who worked for Activision in the early 1980s. In a November 2003 interview with Edge he described how in 1979 he had developed the technology to display a realistic "little running man" and in 1982 was searching for a suitable game in which to use it: David Crane is a successful video game designer and programmer. ... A programmer or software developer is someone who programs computers, that is, one who writes computer software. ... The 1980s refers to the years from 1980 to 1989. ... 2003 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December A timeline of events in the news for November, 2003. ... Edge is a multi-format computer and video game magazine published by Future Publishing in the United Kingdom. ... Also: 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins. ...

"I sat down with a blank sheet of paper and drew a stick figure in the centre. I said, 'Okay, I have a little running man and let's put him on a path' (two more lines drawn on the paper). 'Where is the path? Let's put it in a jungle' (draw some trees). 'Why is he running?' (draw treasures to collect, enemies to avoid, etc). And Pitfall! was born. This entire process took about ten minutes. About 1,000 hours of programming later, the game was complete."

Its technical achievements included non-flickering, multicolored, animated sprites on a system with notoriously primitive graphics hardware. Pitfall! was a massive success for the 2600. It is considered to have been the best selling game ever made for the system, with over 4 million copies of the game sold.^{[citation needed]} Several ports were made for computer systems (such as the Commodore 64, Atari 800 and TRS-80 Color Computer), as well as for home consoles (such as the ColecoVision and the Intellivision). In computer graphics, a sprite (also known by other names; see Synonyms below) is a two-dimensional/three-dimensional image or animation that is integrated into a larger scene. ... In computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed (e. ... C-64 redirects here. ... Atari built a series of 8-bit home computers based on the MOS Technology 6502 CPU, starting in 1979. ... 4k TRS-80 Color Computer from 1981, 26-3001 The Radio Shack TRS-80 color computer (also called Tandy Color Computer, or CoCo) was a home computer based around the Motorola 6809E processor and part of the TRS-80 line. ... Game console redirects here. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Intellivision is a video game console released by Mattel in 1979. ...

Sequels

Crane also produced a popular sequel, Pitfall II: Lost Caverns the following year. It sold well, though not as well as the original. Unlike most games of its day, it had a definite ending.

Screenshot of Pitfall! on the ColecoVision.

In 1985, Activision licensed Pitfall! to Sega, who made an arcade version of Pitfall II: Lost Caverns. The game, which is now quite rare, is thoroughly remade with a first level resembling the original Pitfall!, a second level resembling the caverns of Pitfall II, and later levels that were completely original. This version was adapted for the SG-1000. screenshot Colecovision Pitfall by me This is a screenshot of a copyrighted website, video game graphic, computer program graphic, television broadcast, or film. ... screenshot Colecovision Pitfall by me This is a screenshot of a copyrighted website, video game graphic, computer program graphic, television broadcast, or film. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article is about the year. ... This article is about the video game company. ... The SG-1000, which stands for Sega Game 1000, is a cartridge-based video game console manufactured by Sega. ...

Pitfall! was also created for the Commodore 64 and Apple II using Activision Gamemaker as a demonstration of the game building software. Activision Gamemaker (aka Garry Kitchens Gamemaker) was an IDE for the Commodore 64 created by Garry Kitchen and released by Activision in 1985. ...

Pitfall! appeared on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987 as Super Pitfall, but was not successful and received poor reviews. “NES” redirects here. ... Year 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar). ... Super Pitfall. ...

The series made its debut on the SNES and Genesis/Mega Drive systems in 1994, with the popular Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure. The game was ported to the Windows 95 operating system and the Atari Jaguar the following year. Its most recent release was in 2001 on the Game Boy Advance. The Mayan Adventure was well known for having the original Pitfall! available to play on it. The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, also known as Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit video game console released by Nintendo in North America, Brazil, Europe, and Australia. ... The Mega Drive/Genesis was a 16-bit video game console released by Sega in Japan (1988), Europe (1990) and most of the rest of the world as the Mega Drive. ... Year 1994 (MCMXCIV) The year 1994 was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by the United Nations. ... Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. ... The Atari Jaguar is a video game console that was released in November 1993 to rival the Mega Drive/Genesis and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as a powerful next generation platform. ... “GBA” redirects here. ...

In 1998, Pitfall 3D: Beyond the Jungle for the Sony PlayStation, featuring the voice of Bruce Campbell as Pitfall Harry, was released. For other uses, see PlayStation (disambiguation). ... For the former baseball player of the same name, see Bruce Campbell (baseball). ...

In 2004, a sequel was released for Sony PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, and Microsoft Xbox. It was titled Pitfall: The Lost Expedition, though it had many cartoony effects with tributes to the original Pitfall!. The first two original games are playable in the game. The two versions of the PS2 with an Eye Toy camera The PlayStation 2 (PS2) (Japanese: プレイステーション2) is Sonys second video game console, after the PlayStation. ... The Nintendo GameCube (GCN) is Nintendos fourth home video game console, belonging to the sixth generation era. ... Xbox and a Controller S The Xbox is Microsofts game console, released on November 15, 2001. ...

In 2006, the original Pitfall! resurfaced as a mini-game in Arcade's Murderworld in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. There is a sequence where the player has to rescue Jean Grey from an arcade machine. The player has to go through a Pitfall!-type game in order to reach Jean and free her from the machine. Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Arcade is a fictional character and supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe. ...

In The Jungle Book for the SNES it was also a hidden mini-game. For the 1894 Rudyard Kipling book see The Jungle Book. ...

Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• In the South Park episode "Red Hot Catholic Love", Father Maxi travels in Pitfall! style underneath the Vatican.

• For a small fee and a coupon distributed in some early computer magazines, Activation would send you a BASIC program listing that would allow you to draw the Pitfall Harry character on an Atari 400 or 800.

• During the Homestar Runner toon "Search for the Yello Dello", Homestar swings across a crocodile pool with the "Tarzan" effect included.

• There is a short Pitfall! clip in the intro of the Nickelodeon preschooler series "Yo Gabba Gabba!".

• The Television commercial for the game features Jack Black as a child.

• In the game, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, at the Big Top level you play a level of Pitfall, but instead of Pitfall you play as one of your team and at the end you destroy a machine. Also the player and machine stay 3-D.

Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... This article is about the TV series. ... Red Hot Catholic Love is episode 608 of the Comedy Central series South Park. ... Homestar Runner is a Flash animated Internet cartoon. ... This article is about the TV channel. ... Yo Gabba Gabba! is a Childrens television series created by Christian Jacobs (alias The MC Bat Commander) and Scott Schultz. ... For other persons named Jack Black, see Jack Black (disambiguation). ... // Marvel Ultimate Alliance This game is an Action/RPG being made by RavenSoft (Published by Activision), and is the same vein as the previous two X-Men Legends games by the two companies. ...

Television adaptation

In 1983, Pitfall! made its animated television debut as a segment on CBS' Saturday Supercade cartoon lineup, under the name Pitfall Harry. The basic plotline involved Harry, his niece Rhonda, and his cowardly mountain lion Quickclaw exploring various lands for hidden treasure.[1]. After only one season, Pitfall Harry and Frogger were replaced by Kangaroo and Space Ace. The series has not been officially released on DVD or VHS. For the Jimi Hendrix song, see 1983. ... This article is about the broadcast network. ... Saturday Supercade was an animated television series produced for Saturday mornings by Ruby-Spears Productions. ... This article is about the video game. ... Kangaroo is an arcade game, which was released in 1982. ... Space Ace is a Laserdisc video game produced by Don Bluth Studios, Cinematronics, and RDI Video Systems. ...

External links

• Pitfall! at MobyGames
• Pitfall! at AtariAge
• Legends of the C64 article on David Crane and Activision (includes Pitfall! info)
• The Dot Eaters article featuring a history of Pitfall! and Activision