DF Retro: Pitfall - The Mayan Adventure - A Truly Special 16-bit Platformer!

John Linneman returns with a brand new DF Retro, this time concentrating on one of the most fascinating 16-bit platformers of its era.
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[@pegasusdrive12]

The more DF retro the better.

[@someguy3186]

I might be in the minority, but I subscribed just for the retro videos. I don’t own or plan to own any of the current gen system and don’t have any interest in the latest graphics cards.

[@someguy3186]

I know what you mean, but the the really great retro games have been discussed to death already. Do I really need to see the 100th video on Super Mario World, Sonic, Or Donkey Kong Country? No. I actually found this video very interesting.

[@RetroTechSelect]

I couldn't agree more!

[@dark1x]

@@youtubesuresuckscock I genuinely enjoy playing this more than Yoshi's Island but clearly YI is the better game...but it's also been discussed into the ground. There have been so many videos, podcasts and articles made on Yoshi's Island and other popular games. I cover some of the big games too, of course, but I really enjoy diving into more obscure titles like this. I don't think I overestimate the importance in terms of history, however. This was tied directly to Activision's rebirth, it was a sequel to the first platformer ever, it followed the hand drawn animation route rather than DKC-like CGI using a different studio than anyone else, and it started the relationship with Soundelux for Activision. Also, the fact that later releases are almost uniformly worse than the original releases is an interesting quirk.

[@BATS2288]

@@youtubesuresuckscock This was my first video game and platformer and I was about 5 years old or so. This is where I learned a lot of the basics and common tropes. It made Crash Bandicoot make sense when I got to it a few years later.

[@davidsomoza]

The mayan Adventure was a gorgeous game. I really enjoy these long df retro videos.

[@SketchTurnerZero]

I agree. It is a pity that this game did not receive due respect from the gaming public.

[@bigcheesepuff1]

Nice video - terrible game - there are about a dozen times in the footage where u can see how bad the hit detection is. You hit the enemy... & no reaction. This game is way too laggy for 16 bit. That animation when u run into a wall, and fall over - DUMB. This is animation first, gameplay second.

[@Noobsaibot21]

@@bigcheesepuff1 A lot of the beloved, well-animated 90's platformers had similar problems too though. As much as I love the games, the likes of Aladdin, Lion King and Earthwork Jim also had a few moments of hit detection shenanigans.

[@bigcheesepuff1]

@@Noobsaibot21 - Lion king had problems, Aladdin's issues were minor, and EWJ is one of the best games every made - not in the same league.

[@The86MLK]

John, here's some info about the PC version that you might find interesting. I just tried running the game on my Win98 PC, with a Voodoo 3 (also tried a Permedia 2 for good measure). There are a few video options, but all of the windowed modes have some screen tearing - or should I say, background tearing? The character runs fine, but the scrolling is not smooth. The only way to make it run smooth is to set full screen mode and vsync. This limits your resolution to 320x200 (lower than the Megadrive version) because for some reason 320x224 runs impossibly fast. Now here's the kicker: in 320x200 the monitor is actually running at 720x400 and 70hz. This was a standard DOS mode. Many old games targeted a framerate of 35/70fps for this reason. So it seems that the background actually wants to run at 70fps, rather than 60fps, since any 60hz screen mode creates tearing. But... here's the other kicker... apparently the speed of the game depends on the framerate. So on 70hz mode the game runs a little faster, and perhaps a bit too fast for what was already a difficult game. So the PC port might seem good, but it looks like you must choose a poison - between jerky screen scrolling and sped-up gameplay. Arguably, slight screen tearing is better than the framerate problems on modern Windows, but it's still not ideal. I don't know why they did this weird background, anyway. Might be a remnant of DOS-era development.

[@dark1x]

Yeah, so this is interesting. On a 486DX/2 66MHz, the 'smooth' mode DOES run correctly but I've never seen it work properly on fast PCs. Low-end Pentium systems seem OK with it as well. I noticed the frame-rate thing after finishing the video, annoyingly. I discovered the 'framerate' cheat which shows 69fps on my system the entire time but I couldn't capture at 70hz and the video is 60hz anyways so it always looks a little weird. ...but yeah, it is a weird one in terms of performance. I wish this version had been ported elsewhere.

[@B.E.3.R]

Wouldn't a 75Hz display solve that issue though? These days they can be had pretty cheap, and many even support Freesync.

[@The86MLK]

@@B.E.3.R no, it needs to specifically support 70hz. And nowadays, most cheap monitors seem to only support 60hz or 75hz. Freesync doesn't seem to matter, because Windows only sees 60hz and 75hz as supported modes. I spent an entire day trying to set my current Freesync monitor to 70hz, to no avail. The only solution might be to use an older monitor. EDIT: I got Dosbox to work properly by disabling GPU scaling. It helps, but my monitor on 720x400 only runs at 68hz so it's not quite as good as the real thing (not to mention the sound lag)

[@B.E.3.R]

@@The86MLK Last time I checked, AMD's Frame Rate Target Control (when it works) is accurate to the frame. You still get the odd 1-2 frame variance, but 90% of the time, the framerate you choose is LOCKED. I guess I should test that myself, since I own a copy.

[@elimalinsky7069]

Windows 95 and 98 still ran on the DOS kernel. They were basically running on top of DOS and shared all the libraries with DOS. That's why you had many games that came with both DOS and Windows executables on the same disc.

[@kraenk12]

What always gets forgotten how much better these games looked on a CRT.

[@pureluck8767]

They all look amazing on a crt

[@trumpameri1638]

crt is masterpiece for Sega

[@IkariMetalSlugger]

I miss this series. You would have thought Activision would have at least brought the series back in an attempt to rip off Uncharted back when that franchise was all the rage.

[@wile123456]

Why rip off uncharted when you have the game everyone tries to rip off: Call of Duty

[@IkariMetalSlugger]

@@wile123456 Because ripping off Uncharted via Pitfall would seem like the natural thing modern day Activision would do that I'm surprised they never went down that route.

[@ERMediaOfficial]

I agree, why they never did this is beyond me. I mean, Harry even looks as if he was voiced by Nolan North XD I do love the artstyle of the Lost Expedition^^

[@johnv7317]

I would love to see Activision do a Pitfall game in the style of Uncharted or Tomb Raider.

[@baroncalamityplus]

Activision released an endless running version of Pitfall back in 2012. It was basically a reskinned version of temple run and they never updated it to work on modern ios devices.

[@BluesElwoo2]

I originally played this game on genesis, and liked it. But later on, got it for Windows, and man, I loved that version of the game! I haven't tried to run in on windows 10, but was able to get it to run pretty well on windows 7. I remember before win7, I had trouble getting the audio to work. Who knows. If you can get the windows version to work, then Im willing to bet its the best version to play!

[@therealbluedragon]

Never thought I’d ever hear John say “filthy jungle beats”.

[@justanotheryoutubechannel]

Man Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure would be a really good game for a remake/sequel. In the future, if some company wants to revive an old franchise, Pitfall would be a brilliant idea! It’s a great platformer that could really benefit from modern HD graphics, and a new 2D side scroller would be awesome to see! Probably the coolest thing would be to see basically the first 2D Platformer be revived. That’d be amazing! Could you imagine how cool it’d be to see such an ancient series again? Who wouldn’t buy that!?

[@GameplayandTalk]

This was a fantastic retrospective. I first played the Sega CD version back in the day and thoroughly enjoyed it. Being port-curious as I always am, I checked out all the other versions and came to basically the same conclusions you did. So many of the conversions are disappointing in one way or another (or more), and it's interesting to find that the 16-bit originals are still the best ones to play.

[@PookaBot]

I'll be over here crying about 16-bit River Raid being canceled :( :(

[@AvatarEquis]

Yeah, I remember seeing some screenshots of the remake in EGM or Gamepro. Thought it looked really cool.

[@gabrieleriva651]

15:10 on a consumer TV back then, you wouldn't see dithering EVEN with RGB Scart. I had RGB with Mega Drive and PS1, and basically discovered dithering while watching screenshots from the internet on my PC CRT monitor in late 90s. Production monitors SHOULDN'T be taken as a reference for "archeo-CRT look".

[@FinalBaton]

Agreed, I prefer a consumer RGB crt for gaming, as opposed to high TVL reference monitors. People are obssessed with the latter thought, which I find strange. My Sony consumer 25 inch RGB set has "only" around 500 TVL(which is low compared to PVMs) and it's still perfectly sharp to render old games in detail. Hell, I even love the 400 TVL sets, really nice "grain" (or texture I suppose) to those, and still perfectly harp. I own(and have owned many) professional monitors, but my consumer Sony tube is by FAR my favourite for gaming. A more "organic" picture, if you will. More blooming(which looks awesome) and less pronounced blanked lines. I do like the PVMs and others for watching anime DVDs and 4:3 Blu Rays though :)

[@Dev518]

I agree with you. Games of the era were never disgned to be played on production monitors. They were designed around the quirks and limitations of consumer CRTs.

[@resonator7728]

The games were made and color graded using PVM's so yes, they actually should be used as a reference.

[@gabrieleriva651]

I can understand Americans, who don't have easily access to RGB... but here in Europe you can finde a SCART-eqippued CRT literally everywhere fro free.

[@gabrieleriva651]

Games were made FOR CONSUMERS. And no kid had a 40,000$ monitor at home. You can have a PVM and enjoy it: but you can't take THAT for reference as "playing this game on a CRT back then".

[@justanotheryoutubechannel]

Honestly Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure is the perfect sequel to Pitfall. It’s the logical evolution of Pitfall. The original game was so simple, so it would’ve been hard to create a full game (in the 1990’s) from it, but the setting of Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure is perfect, and the art style and the challenges presented are exactly what you’d expect from Pitfall if it was made in the 1990s.

[@pobbityboppity1110]

Once again I end up captivated, watching a 30 minute video on a series I've never played. DF Retro is the full fat experience.

[@Demonskunk]

I only knew about the GBA port, I was wondering why you were going to be talking about such trash. imagine my surprise.

[@bombjack1984]

Was this well thought of in the US? Because in the UK it was mostly ignored as being fairly average.

[@Jonehoo]

Imagine a Pitfall Reboot in the style of Tomb Raider/Uncharted.

[@thestripedmenace]

Make it cinematic yet comical and cel-shaded to look like the pulp magazines of old, and I think we've got a winner in here! :D

[@Krondon-SSR]

I do need a Modern Indiana Jones game

[@RemixedVoice]

Funnily enough, tomb raider and uncharted are already pitfall reboots.

[@NightWanderer31415]

You would get either Tomb Raider or Uncharted, depending on the genre you gave to the main protagonist xd.

[@gc3k]

It would be nice to have a Tomb Raider-like adventure that's ESRB E or T and isn't an edgy gorefest

[@Cleve_Crudgington]

I remember when my mother got her first computer. It had Windows 95 and came with a CD with a bunch of random software on it including a demo for Pitfall. It only had the first level but I was hooked. I didn't get the full game until years later and loved it. Unfortunately, as said in the video, it runs poorly on modern systems. Luckily emulating the Sega CD version is a decent substitute.

[@entropyms0016]

Windows 95 represent. The only version with a built in level select.

[@dark1x]

Well, technically, the other versions have level select as well but you have to enter a cheat to use it so it's annoying. The WIn 95 version saves your progress so you can choose any level from the menu at any time. Super awesome!!

[@roadkill_52]

And it's the only one with improved graphics + CD audio soundtrack. It's the best version for sure.

[@GrimReaperAlva]

This game was my childhood. It was a brutally hard game especially the later levels. They don't make games like this no more.

[@st0nedpenguin]

Now we have "difficult" games like the Dark Souls series, where most of the difficulty comes from trial and error. Such a shame.

[@AvatarEquis]

Oh, you want hard games with this sort of theme? There is La Mulana 1 & 2 which are inspired by Indiana Jones and 8-bit gaming. And of course Spelunky which is inspired by Spelunker.

[@GrimReaperAlva]

@@AvatarEquis Nice. Thanks. I've already played Spelunky but La Mulana looks great. Will get that on Steam.

[@AvatarEquis]

@@GrimReaperAlva Right On!

[@KarcusKorpse]

@Avatar X Checked the trailer, looks damn good. The music sounds like Megaman/Super Nintendo-ish mixed with an adventure theme. I might give this a shot, thanks for the tip.

[@matuzaato]

DF Retro means this will be a good day

[@owwmykneecap]

Nice work John, I learned a lot on this one. Btw good on you for talking about how composite video, on crt with scanlines is how Megadrive games were ment to look. Way too many people online have a talked about robot farts and bad colours because they played on shitty emulators on their PC lcd screen on 2006. This isn't how anything looked or sounded at the time. I really think this is how so much of the revisionist history started online.

[@IronicSonic83]

Back in 1994 the only two games my parents bought to me were Sonic & Knuckles and Pitfall. I love them both. The fact that John gives some space to these games on DF Retro is amazing. I always wanted the 32x version because in magazines looked so good. I think I dodge a bullet :P

[@Ebosan87]

They weren't inspired only by Aladdin but also The Jungle Book (Mega Drive/Genesis version, also by the same Virgin). As someone who grew up playing those two a whole lot, I can say with confidence that this game has VERY similar animations to those. And it doesn't end there. I actually had to do a bit of research (to my surprise I never seen this game before in action) because based on what's shown here I could swear this was also a Virgin game. It's not, but I'm still not convinced there isn't some crossover (would need to look up the credits for both, which I might just do). It's just too damn similar.

[@wallacerigby4393]

Chipmunk Harry on GBA “Whoa!” Was hilarious!

[@marcellosilva9286]

Absolutely!

[@Booruvcheek]

My immediate reaction was "is he a mouse now?!"

[@francisvebert5830]

Please continue with this retro stuff!!! In 1994 , at this time there is no technical group that could verify the accuracy and differences betweens consoles port games amongst arcades ! In 1994 I got this game and I knew the Genesis version was slightly better than the snes , but anyone do not trust me!

[@deckard3755]

I never really got into this game, but you get a thumbs up just for the nostalgia. And because DF retro is awesome.

[@deckard3755]

80s kid.

[@AllardRT]

>Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure That's a DF Retro episode I never anticipated, but I welcome it wholeheartedly.

[@GameTacoFTW]

Wow, I completely forgot that I owned and played the hell out of this back in the day. Nice!

[@AgsmaJustAgsma]

2:27 "Good ol' Bobby Kotick", now that's one sentence that aged horribly, lol

[@dannonyogurt98]

God I hope this won't devalue my copy of pitfall 32x.

[@madfinntech]

Games are very bad investment.

[@Stormgazer]

One of my very favorite KZbin channels. Thanks for every video you guys put out there.❤️

[@Tenpouin]

The game sure is gorgeous, but the gameplay is subpar imo. The hitbox is unreliable, specially with the weird and long-winded attack animation (a common problem also seen in the Genesis version of Aladdin). This and the difficulty turned me off.

[@Sp00kyFox]

I feel the same. for me Capcoms Aladdin was superior and the Prince of Persia design approach seemed more fitting. animations in the Genesis one are of course great but combat and movement feels clunky. same with Pitfall, never got into that because of this. but I'll give it another try.

[@Tenpouin]

@@Sp00kyFox True. I actually like the Genesis version of Aladdin, but even though it looks better than the Snes version, Capcom absolutely nailed the gameplay. The last boss is impressive even today.

[@shoejaat]

I remember back when I was in grade 3 and trying to run the game on Windows XP. It must have been around 2002. I had trouble launching the game but somehow, through troubleshooting was able to make it work and had a blast playing through and eventually finishing the game.

[@Dre_aka_sleepysandman]

Funny. We didnt really have the tech analysis back then when we was kids to this degree like now. Yet we enjoyed these games.

[@transporthummel]

I would really love to see a DF Retro: Commander Keen

[@danistheguy]

yassss

[@WH250398]

Pitfall 2 on the 2600 is simply mindblowing

[@thestripedmenace]

The wonders an extra chip on the cartridge can do, eh? Pitfall 2, Lagrange Point on the Famicom, Starfox and DOOM on the SNES, Virtua Racing on the Genesis (whose SVP chip served as the base for the 32X, funnily enough)...

[@noeuro]

Should have released it on the Atari Falcon..

[@GeovaneSanciniSR]

I like how you skip Super Pitfall on the video. Not being sarcastic, that game is atrocius, Pitfall 2 was so much better. Why they doesn't ported to the NES?

[@Ford-wt8rn]

Hey you guys ever consider doing a DF RETRO for 20 years after Ocarina of Time?

[@XeCuTioNR]

Imagine if this got the same HD treatment as Earthworm Jim did a few years ago on 360/PS3... possibly get some of the original animation cell work into that game.

[@micahblakeslee]

I can be having a really terrible day, but then a DF Retro video comes out and everything's okay for a half hour. :)

[@PSNationTorgo]

Oh John... I've never been able to appreciate this game unfortunately. I even own it on the Jaguar for some reason...

[@FaSMaN]

Any PC gamer that's interested in retro gaming really should have a old PC hanging around with windows 9x it's well worth it and saves you hours of frustration setting up a environment in dosbox or PCEmu , yes it takes up space, but then again you can pick up a Pentium 2 laptop for peanuts and that doesn't :) it's no different to owning a real sage megadrive, Nes or snes it's a vital tool. Surprised DF Retro doesn't have one floating around, capturing is super easy too just use a VGA to HDMI upscaler like Sewell :)

[@FaSMaN]

@Lassi Kinnunen not at all , you can disable the cache on a Pentium 2 and it will perform like a 386, check out Phil's computer lab he did a whole lot of benchmarks and it's amazing how much you can actually slow it down to :)

[@karlosk5773]

Thank you for featuring these almost forgotten games in all that detail and comparing the different versions so extensively! This makes DF Retro so unique and fun to watch. Can't wait for the next episode!

[@garfieif8187]

Yeah, it's really refreshing. Gaming past seems weirdly... selective. It's like every gaming generation has a few winners and the rest is chopped liver. It's very different from film and music, where it seems like everything is remembered. But the pop culture pool of gaming history is pretty much confined to Sega, Nintendo, Sony and Atari's 2600 console, then the classic arcade games. People don't talk about the Mayan Adventures, or Stimpy's Adventure, Space Station Silicon Valley, Zool, Gex, or countless other oddballs that were successful at the time. And while these games aren't all perfect, you just know that some people grew up with them. They're worth remembering and musing over.

[@malcolmar]

Well done! This is also one of my favorite 16-bit games. I have it for the Sega CD and it just oozes quality. It is also one of the reasons why I prefer to use composite cables for my Genesis over anything else to blend the dithering. Thanks.

[@pagb666]

Well, I've just adquired an EDMD, so I got no excuse to give this a spin 25 years later.

[@DuckAlertBeats]

EPMD? They were the dopest

[@92juanreus]

Wow, thanks for the history lesson John! My dad gifted me a copy of this game for windows and I used to play it for hours! It became like an icon of my gaming childhood and I kept the original copy that I of course still have (I think it came in a bundle with earthworm jim and battle arena, the latter I lost but was the worst of these). Now I will appreciate it even more knowing that is a history achievement!

[@Middle-of-nowhere]

John I hope you make a retor video about Sphinx and the cursed mummy It will be a nice one from Digital Foundary I like your channel and I enjoy watching the content you make Keep the good work

[@Taijifufu]

I cherish my old Win95 demo disc. I never got the full PC game myself but I played the heck out of that Demo version of Pitfall. ….then I got the GBA version around launch. I traded Earthworm Jim for it. Never did care to finish that crap version. It was so noticeably worse and just as bad a port as Earthworm Jim. Truly the Win95 Special Edition versions of those games are the best of the bunch. If only they were easier to play now.

[@thealgorithmisbroken]

I'm new to Digital Foundry. Do they make any videos that don't crap all over Nintendo consoles? I haven't found one yet. Nes, Snes, N64 and GameCube all had some games that looked vastly better than the competition of their time. Are they anti-Nintendo?

[@dalton2k538]

I was playing this on the Atari Jaguar, which honestly is an alright port, despite the framerate... but your video convinced me to get the Sega CD version as well. Now I have to compete with higher framerate or overall graphic fidelity! ... hmm. Not far from modern gaming, honestly.

[@TheCasualSubculturist]

I would give benefit of the doubt to Kotick when things are bad, but now he need to be gone. You can't ask warrior to lead during the peace time.

[@st0nedpenguin]

I just glanced at the title and saw "Pitfall" and "16-bit" and momentarily thought John had lost his mind. I'd completely forgotten this game even existed.

[@BennysGamingLounge]

We need a new pitfall game and it needs to have Jack Black in the commercial and/or trailer

[@DanDoesGame]

I loved the SNES

[@voodooroller]

You didn't mention the fun and good looking Temple Run clone from a few years back

[@Cafeman_2D]

Thoroughly enjoyed this detailed analysis. I have always enjoyed this game on Sega CD. And Genesis. It is a worthy and honorable sequel to David Crane's original two.

[@thiagovidal6137]

I click Like in a DF Retro video before even watching... even if it's about a game I have no interest in... Still excited to watch it. brb

[@hkoizumi3134]

This is a nice trip down memory lane. Speaking of bonus games included in the game, why not do some retroperspective on it too? The one I remember mostly was "Tiny Phalanx" in Zero Divide for the Playstation. The funny thing is, I played the bonus game more than the main game itself.

[@cptannoyu2death834]

Pitfall on the Atari 2600 had a secret cave that would open if you swung on the line 3 times. It would have a gold bar inside it

[@MrGamer1992]

I have heard that it was The Lion King game that started DirectX. Wasn't it bundled with Windows 95?

[@fruitloop4009]

This video is such a treat! Thank you for sharing this!

[@fireface8377]

John, seriously man, this DF Retro thing is some of the BEST content available on youtube. Absolute top drawer, i look forward to every single new video you do with this series. Thanks.

[@Booruvcheek]

Thanks for bringing this game to my attention, it's really well animated, yet feels much more "action-y" than, say, Flashback. Thumbs up!

[@Booruvcheek]

This video made me buy the game (Genesis version) ;)

[@Alutarius]

There's also a 2D version of the PS1 game for Gameboy Color. It's pretty shitty.

[@BlazeHedgehog]

If Jon thinks Pitfall for the GBA is the worst SNES port for the handheld, he clearly hasn't played Majesco's Earthworm Jim ports. They cut so many frames of animation...

[@patrickdelaurentiis6752]

I still play the SEGA 32X version.

[@Dirk1Steele]

Another fantastic DF Retro video. Keep up the great work

[@drift180x]

Have this on Genesis. The game looks great, but I remember not liking it much as a kid because it was too hard for little kid me. I should pull it out and revisit it to see what I think now.

[@yuvarudra6602]

This was the best game my dad bought 4 me. I still have it & i had/have mega drive 2 & my dad bought it on genesis & i have to use the mega drive key to play this game. 1st genesis was stargate.

[@jak_1894]

There's a distinct lack of snes fanboys dissing the Mega drive on this video 😂😂😂

[@METR0lD]

I was never a fan of this game. I rented the SNES version back when it launched, and played the Sega CD version at a friend's house, and it just didn't stack up to other platformers of the time. It wasn't "bad", but it wasn't good either. Just another average platformer of the time, much like similar games like Earthworm Jim.

[@kieranb3815]

Great, love it!!! Activision, back in time when they were a games developer and not a micro transaction company.

[@Pedroofficialchannel]

DF Retro is the greatest piece of content on KZbin. Keep it up 👍

[@cjgokuhomes10]

Pitfall: The Lost Expedition was one of the best game i've ever played !

[@WindyCornerTV]

New DF Retro video! Let me grab my bottle of lube!

[@VargVikernes1488]

You are not funny

[@TheWolvesCurse]

@@VargVikernes1488 yes, he is. go back to thulean perspective.

[@narcopsy]

Pointlessly gross comment

[@DrJones20]

Gross

[@xosece]

you never know where the night might take you

[@43DRS]

Man you always make these DF Retro videos top notch. Great episode

[@bennieblanks5129]

The nine year old kid in me got irrationality angry hearing you explain the ways the Sega version was superior. I tried to calm him down, but he wouldn't be reasoned with.

[@todesziege]

@ImPoopnRightNow In the case of Aladdin they were really two different games though.

[@harryt.7484]

Awesome series. I'd like to see a DF Retro episode covering the evolution of the Metal Gear series. Maybe even a MGS1-focused episode would do, as the game was released on PS1, PC and was remade for the Nintendo Gamecube - the Twin Snakes game.

[@rodrigosanay4351]

I love Pitfall the lost expedition

[@elbryan42]

Always wanted to get into this game. Seems like the Sega CD/Windows 95 versions are definitely the way to go. Unfortunately, you guys confirmed that the problems with EWJ95 on modern PCs also happens on Pitfall 95. That means the Sega CD version is definitely the way to go. Great video! :) On a side note, those early plug n play days of Windows 95 with the games that had no installation was definitely... interesting (the games I can think of are EWJ, Pitfall and Beavis & Butthead in Virtual Stupidity). It was a cool concept that sadly never took off.

[@wkypa_6o6pa]

Good job, John! Looking forward to see from you something like "evolution of open world RPGs". Fingers crossed!

[@famicom89]

F-zero gx for the next one!

[@damnyousalazar]

This came included with my dad's IBM Aptiva in '95 when I was a kid. It was probably the only non-educational game my parents let me play for a few years before they relented on Command and Conquer and Doom... good times.

[@browsertab]

People often argue whether the SNES or Mega Drive/Genesis Aladdin is better but I just say look at what came after. All the big Disney games after Aladdin were closer to the Mega Drive/Genesis style than the Capcom version. Aladdin also went on to inspire Earthworm Jim and this game here. This cinematic/animated era of gaming is one I remember and love dearly and it is celebrated by this fantastic video.

[@dreammfyre]

Does this mean we're getting a new Pitfall announcement soon lol? DF do have tendency to match their content with upcoming releases...

[@jook13]

I'd love a df retro episode on all the earthworm jim games

[@MrSamadolfo]

✌️😏 I have a retail box and cd for this on pc, i bought it back in the day from a Toy Store 😒 its a hard game tho, im not a fan of platforms, I didnt know about its history, thx for the Documentary Video 🙂🖥️📀

[@mesicek7]

Is ti just me or does the background look way to similar to Lion King?

[@respectfulremastersbymetal8336]

Dude, you gotta do a Jurassic Park game DF retro. There were so many!

[@AchiragChiragg]

Always click on the notifications from Digital Foundry ASAP

[@AmigaCammy]

There was even an Amiga version in development which was cancelled, but people have reported seeing and playing early versions on the Amiga. Also worth a mention is the GBA version of The Lost Expedition, which is its own unique game rather than a port.

[@LowPingKing]

Thank you for this particular DF Retro! I love them all but, Pitfall The Mayan Adventure is one of my favorite games I played on the SNES. Hopefully Pitfall will return one day.

[@dark1x]

Glad you enjoyed it! I was hoping some folks would enjoy this one. :)

[@SCMabridged]

The enthusiasm you bring to DF Retro always makes these videos a treat! The Mayan Adventure is a beautiful game, worth remembering; now if only we could get a restored release of the Windows 95 version on a service like GOG: that would be amazing.

[@pelgervampireduck]

I had already seen this episode but now I'm playing the game on a lazy sunday afternoon while I listen to the video. I'm playing it on Megadrive, right now I'm struggling with the two leopards bosses on a temple level, they are hard.

[@DeepWeeb]

Hey John, the GBA version got me thinking; *what about a DF Retro episode dedicated to all those SNES to GBA conversion games?* 😉

[@WeskerSega]

You forgot to comment another issue of the 32X version. Even if it's based on the Mega Drive version, in the music department it seems to be missing some sound channels or something like that. Either that or there's something wrong with the game playing the music. Compare the Mega Drive version music and then the 32X version music and you'll see the Mega Drive version is playing more instruments while the 32X is "simpler". It's especially noticeable in the first level with all the jungle beats you mentioned, but in the 32X version everything is more subdued. I'm surprised this detail was missed by a person with so much attention to details like you. I always wondered if that could be fixed by some hacker maybe carrying over code from the Mega Drive version. Other than that, an excellent detailed overview to the game and its ports as always.

[@FC-jd1ck]

Next Retro should be a Smash Bros.!

[@GeminiJay654]

I'd never heard of this title beforehand, such a curious era for Western platformers! Fantastic analysis!

[@Owlero]

I loved this games. Surprised there was no comparison to "The Jungle Book", given how similar they were and how closely they were released to each other.