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Pitfall! is a video game developed by David Crane for the Atari 2600 and released in 1982 by Activision. The player controls Pitfall Harry, who has a time limit of 20 minutes to seek treasure in a jungle.
Pitfall! David Crane (born in Nappanee, Indiana, United States) is an American video game designer and programmer. Crane grew up fascinated by technology and went to DeVry Institute of Technology. Following college, he went to Silicon Valley and got his first job at National Semiconductor.
Jan 26, 2010 · Pitfall! Creator David Crane Is Named Videogame Pioneer. In the days when games were created by just one man, David Crane was a superstar. The market for home videogame machines was just...
Apr 14, 2024 · Explore the captivating journey of gaming developer David Crane from pioneering Pitfall to shaping gaming history. Discover his innovations and enduring influence on game development today.
- Gameplay
- Development
- Release
- Reception
- Legacy
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Pitfall II: Lost Caverns is a video game set in Machu Pichu, Peru where the player controls Pitfall Harry.The goal is to get Harry to find and rescue Quick Claw the cat, his niece Rhonda, and recover the Raj diamond. Pitfall Harry moves left and right and can jump over and onto objects, can climb up and down ladders, ascend via balloons and swim to...
The release of David Crane's previous game Pitfall! (1982) was a major success for Activision and was the companies best selling release at the time. It led to large amounts of merchandizing including board games, jigsaw puzzles and few episodes of the cartoon show Saturday Supercade to feature Pitfall Harry and new characters such as Harry's niece...
Pitfall II: Lost Caverns was released in February 1984. The game debuted at 9th place on Billboard's list of top 20 selling video games. Activision's national sales manager stated that the sales of the game exceeded the company's expectations by 25% to 30%.The game had a higher retail price ($34.95) than the usual game for the system due to Display...
Contemporary
Pitfall II: Lost Caverns received positive reception from Lou Hudson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Bill Kunkel of Electronic Games, and the publication The Video Game Update. All three reviews felt it was superior to Pitfall!, which Hudson and Kunkel felt grew repetitive with repeat play sessions. The three complimented the graphics, with Kunkel stating that it was "the kind of videogame that would be impressive if presented on a 48K computer. On the [Atari 2600], it's simply beyond belief...
Retrospective
Skyler Miller of AllGame awarded the game 4 1/2 stars out of 5, stating that the game was not as innovative as the original game, but that it expanded upon the original to create one of the systems most accomplished game. Miller specifically praised the graphics and music. Brett Weiss included the game in his book The 100 Greatest Console Video Games, 1977-1987 (2014) stating the game was even better than Pitfall!noting that it offered a variety of fresh features. John Harris of Game Develope...
Following the release of Pitfall II: Lost Caverns, the Atari 2600 was at the end of its first lifecycle as a system for new games and no other games for it were developed using Crane's Display Processor Chip. Crane was often asked if he would develop at third Pitfall game, he stated that "after one sequel, I was happy to move on to other ideas." Fo...
Sources
1. Pitfall Harry's Diary. Activision. 1984. G-942-02. 2. Allen, Mat. "Activisionaries". Retro Gamer. No. 25. 3. Blanchet, Michael (March 31, 1984). "'Improvements' included in Pitfall II Turn Out to be Bothersome Gimmicks". The Arizona Republic. p. E10. 4. Blanchet, Michael (March 31, 1984b). "Pitfall II Has Some Pitfalls; Sappy Storyline, Gimmicks". The Salt Lake Tribune. p. 12EV. 5. Harris, John (September 26, 2007). "Game Design Essentials: 20 Open World Games". Game Developer. Retrieved O...
Jun 5, 2013 · [David Crane], designer of Pitfall for the Atari 2600 gave a talk at the 2011 Game Developer’s Conference. His 38-minute presentation rounds up to a full hour with the Q&A...
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His award winning video games, led by Pitfall!™, Ghostbusters™, A Boy and His Blob™, and Amazing Tennis™ are acknowledged as some of the most innovative and popular in the interactive entertainment industry.“