So I’m kicking off 2025 by talking about dream projects again. I’ve sung the praises of a couple modern game series previously with Army of Two and Sly Cooper but, for this one, I’m going back to the early days of gaming with an absolute all-time, Pitfall!
Designed by David Crane (who helped make the early life sim Little Computer People) and published by Activision, the original Pitfall! has so many interesting systems happening. The core objective is simple: take control of brave adventurer Pitfall Harry to navigate a treacherous map, avoid danger, and pick up treasure. Treasure gave you points and you had twenty minutes to get as many points as you could. Different treasures are worth a different amount of points and their placement is randomized—so you can’t memorize a best path. (I’ll get more into that soon.) Hazards and dangerous creatures abound. Sand pits, scorpions, fires, alligators, and more are eager to take one of Harry’s precious lives from him. But you can run, jump, swing on vines, jump on closed alligator mouths, and climb ladders to take shortcuts and get around challenges.
That gameplay alone—especially back then—would have been enough to hook most gamers. Whether you think of Indiana Jones or Tarzan, the idea of running through a hostile jungle filled with traps and creatures and bouncing on reptiles to get across water sounds pretty fantastic. The team added something truly special though: procedural screens. I won’t go into the details of why (though they’re pretty fascinating as a fan of early gaming history) but not only was animal and treasure and trap placement randomized, everything was. Well, proceduralized anyway. This write-up does a good job of breaking it down. The long and short is that, at a time when Adventure for the 2600 boasted 30 individual screens, Pitfall! shipped with 255 thanks to truly ingenious engineering.
In the decades since, the formula laid out in Pitfall! has gone in numerous directions. Tomb Raider, Uncharted, Spelunky, La Mulana, Temple Run, and countless other games drew inspiration from the escapades of Pitfall Harry but, as the game that laid out so many movement and enemy behavior standards, the entire platformer genre—from Super Mario, Alex Kidd, Bonk, and Sonic the Hedgehog and modern masterpieces like Super Meatboy and Celeste—owes a debt of gratitude as well.
Was Pitfall! successful? Did it spawn sequels? Did they make a portable version? Was the game ever turned into a Saturday Morning Cartoon? Let’s take a look.
Yes, it appears all of those things happened. And this doesn’t even include the Pitfall! endless runner from 2012, the numerous compilations and collections and standalone units the game was included in, the Pitfall III that was hidden inside Lost Caverns, or the fact that the original is included as a playable unlock in two (TWO!) Call of Duty games.
This isn’t the history of Pitfall! though. It’s about what it means to me and what potential the game has for the modern era.
Pitfall! actually means a lot to me. I have vivid memories of playing the game on the Commodore 64. Pitfall! and Miner 2049er ate up more of my time on that machine than anything else. So I have an emotional connection. We all know though that nostalgia is not a business case.
Asking “does the world need a new Pitfall! game?” is a fair question. There have been many over the years. Lots of people have taken lots of runs at the game. And some major successes have come from that space (such as the aforementioned Spelunky). It stands to reason, since I’m writing this post, that I think there’s room for a new entry in the line.
From Dead Cells to Dungreed, from Noita to Neon Abyss to the games mentioned throughout this post already (do I have to mention Spelunky again?), roguelite action-platformers are an exciting (and popular!) genre. It’s one that I love playing and that I think has room for new ideas. Bringing in the classic Pitfall! elements along with some fun tweaks would make for a fantastic update that honors and advances the original. Activision is already juggling a lot of these days so I doubt an update to a forty-year old game is on the calendar but, man, I wish it was. I’d love the chance to make the case for it anyway.
I mean, maybe it’s just coincidence but Jack Black starred in a commercial for Pitfall! back in 1982 and then went on to global super stardom. Dude also starred in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and its sequel which are pretty much Pitfall! The Game: The Movie(s). So. I mean. C’mon.
