Pitfall

Kids today may turn away in disgust at these screenshots but back in 1982 Pitfall pushed the Atari 2600 to very extreme and helped to change the face of home gaming. With over 4,000,000 units sold and a number of sequels pumped out over the following 30 years it's fair to say this was one of the most revolutionary games in history.

The game controls a very simple character (Pitfall Harry) as he goes through the jungle searching for a number of treasure. In the players way are a number of obstacles including snakes, burning logs, sandpits and crocodiles (amongst others). The player can move left or right, they can jump and they can go down the ladders to enter a tunnel (which helps the player get around some obstacles) and they can swing on vines to get over sandpits.

On the whole it does seem really simple yet the game is still as fun and addictive as it was back in the day. The problem is that Pitfall does look like a game from the 1980's and it also sounds like a game from the 1980's. The colours are limited, the graphics are primitive and the sounds are horrifically digitized. Whilst some older gamers may see this as a sign of the games charm it's honestly a bit like looking at a beauty queen from the 60's as she looks today all withered, wrinkly and rather saggy. And whilst looks aren't "everything" they do mean something to the modern day gamer who wants realism and the chance to see real time reflections in water.

If we can see past the graphics and the sound and remember this is a game that has just turned 29 years old (back in September) then we can actually appreciate it for what it is. It's a game that helped further the platforming genre, it helped make Atari the dominant company in the early 1980's and it helped home gaming become what it is today.

Whilst it may look uninspired now, at the time it helped revolutionize gaming. It's with this in mind that we've decided not to give the game a score as such but put it safely in our new "History Vault" section as a "Certified Classic".

Details:
Console-Atari 2600 (ported to almost every console of the 1980's and early 1990's and also Windows Live Phone in 2011)
Release-1982
Developer-Activision
Genre-2D Platformer
Players-1

Trivia:
The advert (which can be seen below) features Jack Black (of Tenacious D fame)