Pitfall!

aka: Jungle Runner, Pitfall Harry's Jungle Adventure
Moby ID: 8793
Atari 2600 Specs
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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!

Spellings

  • γƒ”γƒƒγƒˆγƒ•γ‚©γƒΌγƒ« - Japanese spelling

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Credits (Atari 2600 version)

Conceived and designed by

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 87% (based on 25 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 145 ratings with 4 reviews)

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

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

A 1980s classic!

The Good
Pitfall was a platformer classic at his time, with good gameplay and sound effects. Graphics also wasn't bad, and the game was challenger. His jungle style was unique and there was another game similar to it, which was Taito's Jungle Hunt, also very good.

The Bad
Colecovision's version was harder than the Atari 2600 one. Also, it's hard to pass over the crocodiles, in both versions.

The Bottom Line
If you have a ColecoVision or Atari 2600, get and play Pitfall! It's a nice game. A 1980s classic!

ColecoVision · by Gustavo Henrique dos Santos (97) · 2014

[ 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

  • FLUX
    • Issue #4 - #33 in the "Top 100 Video Games of All-Time" list
  • Game Informer
    • August 2001 (Issue 100) - #41 in the "Top 100 Games of All Time" poll
  • Retro Gamer
    • September 2004 (Issue #8) – #85 Best Game Of All Time (Readers' Vote)
    • Issue 37 - #21 in the "Top 25 Platformers of All Time" poll
  • TeleMatch
    • Issue 04/1984 – #3 Video Game of the Year 1983 (Readers' Vote)

Information also contributed by Big John WV, Guy Chapman, Kevin Tuttle and PCGamer77.

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Related Games

Pitfall: Beyond the Jungle
Released 1998 on Game Boy Color
Pitfall II: Lost Caverns
Released 1984 on Atari 2600, Commodore 64, PC Booter...
Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure
Released 1994 on SNES, Windows, Game Boy Advance...
Pitfall: The Lost Expedition
Released 2004 on PlayStation 2, Xbox, Windows...
Pitfall Planet
Released 2016 on Windows, Macintosh, 2019 on Nintendo Switch
3D Pitfall
Released 1995 on DOS
Jungle Hunt
Released 1983 on PC Booter, Atari 2600, Commodore 64...
Jungle Pinball
Released 1994 on DOS
Jungle Quest
Released 1984 on DOS, Commodore 64, Apple II...

Related Sites +

  • Pitfall! 20th Anniversary
    Learn the history and play of one of the most popular Atari 2600 games ever created.
  • Skatefall!
    August 16th, 2006, John Freeborn released this Flash game, a skateboarding-themed homage to Pitfall!

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 8793
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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 March 12, 2024.