Atari 2600 Longplay [024] Pitfall II - The Lost Caverns

www.longplays.org
Played by: Mad-Matt
Just as challenging and annoying as the original. Lots of pixel perfect jumping and getting on and off the ladder can be a challenge in its self as if you miss you fall and get hurt which is no good if going for a maximum score run of 199000.....Which I have! -
Disclaimer: Most videos by World of Longplays use SaveStates!

[@6lex]

32 years later, still have the music in my head

[@niansenx]

Damn, I was just going to comment exactly the same!

[@Tom-gp6oy]

lol me too! I think I was 4 when I played this and it was a legend in my mind

[@deltaray3]

I just found out that David Crane, the author of Pitfall and co-founder of Activision grew up in Napannee, Indiana (just 15 miles from where I grew up). The ironic part is. Napannee is an Amish haven. His dad owned a kitchen cabinet factory, which in that town probably employed several Amish folk. Its kinda ironic that coming from an Amish environment he went on to found a core part of a technology industry, make an iconic video game and hire a guy whose last name is Kitchen (Garry).

[@AgeofReason]

Gary, Indiana.

[@captjohnson5452]

I got a friend whose last name os kitchen and he has a stepbrother whose last name is cook.

[@debrawillis3468]

Quite possibly the best game on the 2600

[@jadencoucopoulos2567]

Fun Fact, This Game Has A Custom Chip In The Cartridge, To Add Extra Memory For More Detail, Music, Etc.

[@rootykazooty351]

Thanks for that info Jaden.

[@Zaky-Tocapelotas]

H.E.R.O was also very good too

[@xXJohnSmithXxaf]

I was never able to beat it! Watching this playthrough now, it seems trivial. As a 6 year old, this game was extremely hard!

[@shonmacklin9613]

Agreed

[@SpetsnazFP]

This is one of the greatest Atari 2600 games of all time! Excellent controls, graphics, and full soundtrack to boot! AND it has an ending! Amazing game from start to finish!

[@magich8ball]

SpetsnazFP and the first game I ever remembered having checkpoints

[@yosoydeyarumal]

all atari games have an ending: you throw the f.... atari through your window and say "NEVER EVER ATARI AGAIN!!!"

[@SpetsnazFP]

@@yosoydeyarumal that or you get to the kill screen LOL

[@yosoydeyarumal]

@@SpetsnazFP i put around 40 ATARI games in my SNESmini classic (hack) and my kids are just Happy with them :-D boxing, fishing, eduro.... and i remember everytime how happy me and all my friends were!!!!

[@gabrielgoncalves2763]

@@yosoydeyarumal why are you so cruel on your kids lmao. Let them play good games instead of feeding yourself with nostalgia.

[@LuckyBird551]

Before Nathan Drake... before Lara Croft... there was Pitfall Harry!

[@infinitecanadian]

And then he went bad in Super Pitfall.

[@neonzoux5980]

And before Rick Dangerous.

[@sebastiann.8088]

@@infinitecanadian And then he became good again in Pitfall the Mayan adventure for Sega Genesis

[@NotABot55]

@@sebastiann.8088 More like he had to be rescued by his son in that game, but yeah... and then _Pitfall 3D_ happened...

[@onradioactivewaves]

And Jack Black in the comercial before he was in Jumanji

[@fordxbgtfalcon]

This was one of the only atari 2600 game cartridges to have a separate chip for the audio.

[@TechHowden]

@@soundspark Stella seems to work well

[@scatterbrainart]

Man, I played this game a lot as a kid. The gameplay, music, and graphics were unprecedented. That said, how did this constant music loop NOT drive me insane? Or my parents?

[@SniffyPoo]

I think I turned off the sound. it is incredibly annoying after the first few minutes

[@Zaky-Tocapelotas]

Haha

[@xxxBURSTANGELxxx]

:D

[@tjerj1]

Every now and then, this song still pops into my head

[@fantomforces]

I replayed this game on Activision Anthology for the PS2...the in-game soundtrack got turned off real quick.

[@TuxEarth]

This is one of the earliest designs of the kind of games we would see years later, and evolve into today. You can count on one hand the number of Atari 2600 games with a soundtrack.

[@bubbythebear6891]

Popeye, Smurfs, Kong Fu master, Congo Bongo, bump n jump, double dragon...just to name a few.

[@SouthwesternEagle]

This was like having an arcade machine in your own home in 1983!

[@blobfish.]

As soon as that music starts, the nostalgia is real!

[@NeilRoy]

Loved this game! This was quite an advanced game for the Atari 2600, at least to me. It was so much more involved, with a huge level. Absolutely loved it, but then again, Activision had the best games on the 2600.

[@wyldshot666]

My best friend and I spent a whole day playing this game because we didn't know what the hell we were doing. He loved riding the balloon and swimming. We were 10 years old. Best day ever.

[@johneygd]

Not only was this game pretty much advanced for it’s time but it might be also considered to be the first vertical scrolling platform game,thus predating ice climber by 8 month’s😁

[@thomaswright897]

I didn't know the Atari was capable of this.

[@97channel]

It wasn't. The cartridge for this game contained a unique chip which effectively upgraded the console.

[@johnsimon8457]

on the NES darn near every cartridge post super mario brothers had dedicated chips for one thing or another

[@DavidRomigJr]

The Atari 2600 and NES ran on the same processor. The NES had a decent graphic processor that assembled frames from data freeing up the CPU while the Atari had the ability to set the playfield, 2 8 pixel players, 2 1 pixel missiles, and 1 pixel ball but had to be set every raster line. It was to minimally play pong and tank. Most of the CPU had to be dedicated to drawing the screen. You’ll also note the most impressive Atari effects were vertical in nature. The maximum memory space was 64k. The NES used memory mappers to bank memory to get around this limit. The Atari had the upper memory bus clipped to make the CPU cheaper to manufacture and did not expose the read/write line to the cartridge limiting cartridges to 8k read only. Also the Atari had only 128 bytes of RAM because RAM was super expensive then. Some later cartridges used memory mappers to get around these limits. Extra RAM was even possible with clever circuitry and programming. Pitfall II’s designer was a chip designer and said he “cheated” by creating a co-processor to do extra processing including 3-part harmony. That’s why Pitfall II seems to push limits beyond even other Activision games. The plan was to use the chip with future games two but the market tanked around that time.

[@dewey70]

@@DavidRomigJr Is that how Activision games didn't have that blinking sprite phenomenon that so many Atari games did?

[@worldofretrogameplay6963]

@@dewey70 Yup!

[@brianr5665]

I remember beating this as a teen. Could not understand why now as I lack the patience. Good to see the true ending in color as we opted for a B&W TV with a 13" screen. Thank you Kmart for allowing my childhood to be there. Everything was black and white for me as a child. Seeing the vivid colors do not make me feel cheated... Just that someone else had more money than we did at the time.

[@BrokeNerfing]

Did you really do something in 12 minutes that I couldn't do my entire childhood?!!!

[@Lyntz]

This game made me crazy when i was kid, i can't forget this music lol

[@FenderTele71]

Pitfall II and Megamania were my 2 favorite 2600 games.

[@LegendoftheDragonSword]

100% agree. I finished Pitfall II without getting hit and getting every piece of gold when I was about 12. I thought it was an incredible achievement as it took weeks lol. My brother actually finished Megamania! He played the game until it just stopped. We didn't even think that was possible. The stuff was moving so fast at the end it was insane. To this day it's the most impressive gaming feat I have ever witnessed. He never came close to doing it again. He was about 15 years old with peak reflexes lol. It was a truly spectacular run. Best I ever did was get through everything about 3 times.

[@paulnice1968]

I remember getting a sense of just how deep this game was after taking the balloon to a whole other section of the game, long after I thought I'd seen pretty much everything the game had to offer. Revolutionary at the time.

[@craigh5236]

Balloon??? It started here? In this game??? How deep does the balloon mafia go?!?!?!

[@sonjaclark1054]

Thanks so much for this. Just played this on my simulator today, and while I remembered lots of tricks from my childhood, this video helped me finish the game correctly! This was my favourite game as a kid.

[@bobstewart420]

Your timing on the bats and poison “ducks” is sickening. I’m so jealous.

[@eggbass]

Seems like yesterday when I was taking a picture of my television so I could get my Cliff Hangers patch.

[@dava_arvarabi]

@Sparky McCloud wtf that had to do with his comment? Or his channel.

[@dava_arvarabi]

@Sparky McCloud I'm not crying. But what does Atari 2600 had to do with politics? Fucking hell.

[@rickmontgomery3037]

@@dava_arvarabi Exactly.

[@leonardotube]

For an Atari 2600, this game is phenomenal.

[@stevenwheat3621]

I remember how I amazed that you could swim along with all the levels! I also remember that it took me a while to figure out how to get that diamond ring.

[@ikegrizzly3293]

this is the 1st game i remember with checkpoints

[@dolphindru7503]

and In-game BGM!

[@Bradgilliswhammyman]

It is incredible how much the music and gameplay advanced from 1982 to 1984

[@robertoribeiro9202]

That's a bit of an unfair comparison, because Pitfall 2 had an in-cartridge chip that improved the graphics and audio. It wasn't done with the 2600's hardware alone. Pitfall 1 was the most technically advanced game in the vanilla Atari, and probably pushed the limits of what could be done with it. Both games were masterfully crafted!

[@phantom70815]

Kudos to whoever made this run through. If was a perfect performance. I would have died 100 times trying to finish 😂

[@FrankOConnor]

There were a few times in my youth where a video game made a quantum leap vs expectations and blew my mind. Star Wars Arcade, Marble Madness, Space Harrier. But for home systems? This was one of them. It was astonishing and I wasn't initially aware of the added hardware because information was less accessible then. Somebody had to tell you, or you had to wait a month for the next issue of a magazine.

[@uriituw]

That's some expert play!

[@ReulMcGillolane]

+uriituw Indeed!

[@alley28]

Agreed tried many times in my youth for the perfect score, but it was quite difficult to pull off

[@atlante4368]

Playing this as a child was a blast. It took ages for me, a total video games newbie, to discover you were supposed to jump over the scorpions. It was probably my first video game unless I'm forgetting something. I played it on a MSX computer. I remember my father would get angry because I was supposed to be learning to code in BASIC instead of playing Pitfall all day long. I was eight or something, when I had little to no idea how computers worked.

[@mattsmedley.onehandedgamin9029]

Not just a brilliant game on this console but also a tune that I'll be humming for the rest of the day.

[@jimb6017]

I played this on the Atari 800 XL computer. The music brings back all the memories.

[@ryan1mcq]

Finished this game in the arcade when i was a kid, great memories and unique soundtrack :)

[@johna.7362]

Ryan, do you have to get all of the treasure for the game to end? I remember saving Quick Claw and the game ended then.

[@FilmThePoliceFTP]

That music brings back so many memories

[@gl6996]

I always loved the background on Activision's games. I also liked the _sad song_ that played when Pitfall Harry had touched an bat, scorpion, electric eel and had to start over.

[@SeanSinclair821]

This really brings back some happy memories!

[@gouvyrock]

amazing game-lot's of memories with friends in the 80's-we play in my parents garage

[@Vetusomaru]

Holy shit! Is this an Atari 2600 game? I've never seen before for this console such an impressive game. It makes you wonder why we haven't seen more games of this quality for Atari 2600.

[@ericblakely8309]

Vetuyasha This was hands down the best atari game. Reason why you didn't see more was the fact that when this game came out atari was losing money and on it's way out. Plus nintendo (nes) came out a year and a half later with pretty much put an end to anymore production of Atari games.

[@ReulMcGillolane]

+Vetuyasha ADVENTURE was pretty awesome, too.

[@arvizturotukorfurogep6235]

The Atari 2600 has a very, VERY limited hardware. The later games for it are basically engineering miracles. Also, as time went on, rom chips became bigger and cheaper so they could put more into a cartridge that allowed bigger games. Game design and programming techniques had to evolve as well.

[@LUCKO2022]

Because this cart contained a extra processor to be able to pull off everything it does. The 2600 can't do it alone.

[@scottythegreat1]

Only this game and games by Starpath were beyond the 2600. This game used a special mapper chip. Starpath's games also used special hardware plugged into the 2600 and the games came on cassette.

[@alisadm]

I wanted him to lose JUST ONCE, so I could hear the song played in minor as he flew back to his previous checkpoint. It's been going through my head all night.

[@RalphyDee]

I beat this game but certainly I got stung by the scorpion, poisoned by the frog, bit by the bat or condor & lost points by falling & hitting the ground. I never picked up all the gold or knew in detail where they were & dropped my jaw when I just saw him jump across the screen from one ledge to a lower ledge & back. I didn't know that could be done. You sir, are a Pitfall God... lol

[@enfieldjohn101]

I played (or tried to play) Pitfall I. I've never seen this one before. Glad I watched the video. When I go to my favorite video game store again, I'll have to see if they have it. Looks awesome compared to the first one.

[@koryandrews1665]

I just realized something. The jumping sound Pitfall Harry makes, I believe is in the game Home Alone on the original Game Boy. Or if it's not the exact sound, it's extremely similar.

[@MyHandleIsntLongEnough]

Pitfall Harry has spectacular posture.

[@puppiesarepower3682]

I'm impressed! I'm extra impressed that the water is animated, considering how many NES games failed to animate water.

[@b-radvideoshow4737]

Definitely one of my favorites!

[@ricarleite]

Knowing how the Atari 2600 programs its graphics, chasing the beam and all, makes this game incredibly and amazingly insane. It is probably the greatest programming feat of gaming ever accomplished.

[@BlownMacTruck]

It wasn’t just the basic Atari hardware pulling this off.

[@deancoronado4898]

You summed up a good few weeks of my childhood forays into frustration, in under 12 minutes.

[@johnmorris3776]

4:46 Glitching!

[@duskomarincic367]

My favorite Atari 2600 game! awesome music! one of few games that has an ending which was awesome! the 80's were awesome!

[@johna.7362]

Do you have to get all of the treasure for the game to end?

[@diamondlancer]

I remember this game with the Nissan logo colored balloons. This was definitely one of the best 2600 games. Maybe why I currently drive an Altima lol.

[@lynngatrell7965]

I didn't think I would ever hear this music again!

[@mikemartin8495]

I never had the pleasure of playing this game but seeing as how I played other great Atari games like missile command, pitfall, moon patrol, defender, Berzerk, and enduro, pitfall 2 looks like on a complete other level. Amazing to watch. I might hav e stopped playing with my console when this game came out. What a shame

[@LordApathy1]

Toughest part was figuring out how to get to the diamond ring. This guy made it look easy.

[@you_down_with_pjc]

Shoutout to whoever kept sending those baloons

[@ZoglerRandomiel]

My early childhood

[@YamiTetsuya]

Always wanted to know how this ended. What emulator you used? The controls were way more fluid than normal o.o Specialy when climbing ladders. I always fall like 3 floors before I can grab the ladder ewe

[@JosephKitchens99]

This game played the music in a major key until you died. Then you floated like a ghost through walls, ceilings and floors back to your last checkpoint as the theme changes to a minor key. How awesome is that?

[@courvoisibean]

How was the music even physically possibly, and the sound effects at the same time you couldn't even do that on NES. Actvision were wizards

[@jknifgijdfui]

There was an extra chip in the cartridge for audio

[@robertmanley4597]

You missed one gold brick at the beginning. The first condor screen has a fall through where you hit water and swim down to the gold brick at the bottom. Start off by running all the way across the top to the far end gold brick, then backtrack to the condor level and drop through for the second gold brick. You can also see the cave rat down there but can't jump past it. (NVM, you got it at the end. Should've watched the whole thing first...)

[@LadyEsarhal]

There's an END! Haunted house, adventure and raiders of the lost ark were other atari 2600's games that had an ending too.

[@ReulMcGillolane]

+LadyEsarhal ADVENTURE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My favorite Atari game, I played this before and loved it, but it was a friends, so I didn't get into it like I did ADVENTURE.

[@arvizturotukorfurogep6235]

And ET, like it or not.

[@akronman27]

Adventure pitfall II haunted house and raiders are still my favorites to play on my 2600 from my youth. I set it up and still play those games today.

[@matthewlawrence708]

The music alone makes this the greatest 2600 game of all time.

[@fenrat]

Great skill Sir. A polished performance from start to finish.

[@weon_penca]

for me, the best Atari 2600 game, underrated, never in any "top 10" or even "top 20" games rankings you see in the net.

[@cckidd27]

I have this song in my head doing all the rope jumping in Star Wars Fallen Order.

[@Diskoboy1974]

This game could be considered the first Metroidvania game.

[@swishersnaaake8208]

This game was mind blowing when it was released. Though I always hated how the music would reset every time you picked up a gold bar.

[@DeconvertedMan]

this game man - so good.

[@Mokimanify]

My favorite 2600 game

[@teddy1066]

I paid $30 USD for this game in 1984. Inflation adjusted in 2023 ($84). It took me a whole summer to get to the end!

[@AUNZAnon]

A stringy flashing wiggly line, representing an electric eel. So many games of the time left it to the imagination, what they couldn't make up for in graphics. lol

[@kjrehberg]

Used a special coprocessor chip to play the music. This chip was designed by David Crane and had many other features and would have been used for many other games if not for the videogame console crash of the 1980s.

[@CrimsonDevil_Rias]

Remember guys... this is the game that eventually turned into Super Pitfall on the NES

[@benjaminsmith3151]

You can't fully appreciate this game unless you've had to deal with all of those critters yourself. Awesome!

[@billgateskilledmyuncle23]

Once Harry hit a save point they should have let him hit one enemy so we could hear the theme in the minor key.

[@NikodAnimations]

4:46 Best hitbox in video game history

[@bothewolf3466]

#MEMORIES. God I'm getting old.

[@DEichenberg]

Way better than the original.. We were hooked on this as kids.

[@darrentaylor6090]

I remember this game thinking nothing would top pitfall, then pitfall 2 comes out!!! This music was addictive while playing this. So Pitfall Harry is actually Laura Croft's dad 🤣🤣🤣

[@roxterat]

nice, amazing!

[@darthkahn45]

This game was the Starfox of it's generation. Pushing the boundries on the console further than it should be possible to, silly as that may seem now.

[@danilolopez9203]

Ladies and gentlemen a 10kb game, how is this possible that a file so small can contain such a game is mind blowing 😮

[@smeuse]

Man, I don't think I've seen that since I originally played it back in '83-84 timeframe. I remember, at the time, thinking that it was a really advanced game.

[@hardlyanydiggity3953]

couldn't this technically be considered one of the first metroidvanias?

[@robsonmoraes2111]

Simply perfect!!!

[@Raziel.82]

I keep watching it in 2021

[@matthewlasalvia7026]

This is technically the very first metroidvania if you think about it.

[@thejohns-lv6ub]

Great game excellent my favorites for atari 2600

[@MichelAlissonSilva]

This isnt the version with a second game after finished?

[@MiketheCabbie]

When I got the Activision Anthology for the PS2, I remember being stoked that this game was part of the collection. But when I played it, even though it was graphically accurate down to the last pixel, I was still unable to fully enjoy the game, for one reason and one reason only: THE MUSIC WAS IN THE WRONG DAMN KEY!!

[@ronaldm.6150]

Quut cussing

[@deancoronado4898]

@Stimulator7 I don't know the names oh the keys but I have a pretty good ear. This is the right one.

[@randycreasi]

This sounds somewhere between E and Eb. I don't think it's tuned to A440.

[@Tapp-Mourningwood]

This and the Super Mario Bros. music is tattooed on my brain. Thanks Atari and Nintendo.

[@austinnix4416]

and Activision

[@motzog_ice]

BASICS: Pitfall II: Lost Caverns it was a game originally released for the atari 2600 (video computer system) in 1984 by Activision, but it was later ported to several other systems. in terms of gameplay, it is fairly similar to the original Pitfall game. but, now there are more floors to the world, (all of which are underground) and there are now frogs, bats, and some other new foes to avoid. overall, this is very good for the atari 2600. i really like the game. arguably the best pre-mario platform game in my opinion.🕳🕳🕳

[@zpbstudios9551]

For a 2600 game, this game looks so damn impressive! Honestly, if I get the Activision Anthology, I would spend so many hours, gasping in awe and having a nice blast to the past.

[@jamesr2888]

I still have my 2600, games with Pitfall II included.

[@richardhertz9571]

Good opening strategy dude

[@starfox1]

ah yes i remember this pitfall the most . those frogs hopping right by the hole in the ground

[@thegameplayfiles5188]

This an amazing game. I reviewed it not long ago but didn't complete it as quickly as 11 minutes. Took me about 17 but I died a couple of times on purpose.

[@idionym6817]

The importance of music is underrated in film and video games.

[@ll1ll1ll1ll1ll]

I had no idea the cave rat was a collectible, I would just get in behind him and immediately rescue Quickclaw to end the game.

[@hello123s3]

Does anyone know the original balloon theme? I did not mean the Atari but the original.

[@DavidRomigJr]

Do you mean “Over the Waves” by Juventino Rosas?

[@deltaray3]

A crazy thing about this game and the founding of Activision is that you can think of it as having come out of the Amish community. What?! Yes, so David Crane is from Nappanee, Indiana, which is the heart of the Amish community in Indiana. His dad owned a furniture business and probably employed several Amish workers in the 70s and 80s. David got into electronics after his dad would bring home stuff like old TVs for him to take apart. I grew up in the next town over just 15 minutes away in the early 80s playing his games but never having known about the close connection until just a few years ago. Activision is notable because it was created with the idea of being 3rd party and giving the video game authors credit. This idea is essential to the modern video game industry which relies on 3rd party publishers and giving game authors credit.