Super Pitfall
System: NES
Release Date: November 1987
Developer: Micronics
Publisher: Activision
Genre: Platformer
Oh Micronics, you’re back at bat with Super Pitfall. This is not a pleasant game to play. You’re Pitfall Harry and you need to spelunk into the cavern complex to find the Raj Diamond, his niece Rhonda, and pet Quickclaw. Along the way, Harry needs to avoid or shoot denizens of the cave.
Harry jumps with the A Button and shoots his gun with the B Button. The instruction manual instructs the player to jump frequently, as there are powerups to collect, but they’re hidden until you jump in a proper spot to reveal them. I even found a spade by randomly jumping into a wall and shooting. Never got to find a hole to put it in… but I found it.
This is an infuriating piece of trial and error, jumps that you just missed by this much, and enemies that catch you off guard. Littered throughout the cave are piles of gold. You’ll want to get as much gold as you can carry (all of it), because they award a great deal of points and you’re going to want as many points as you can get in order to get free guys, which you snag at 50,000 points and then every 30,000 points thereafter.
I lost my patience long before collecting my three objectives, but I did find a warp that took me to where Rhonda was hidden. I just hadn’t collected the item I needed to save her. Then I ran out of bullets and got a game over. I started again, but I have better games to play than this.
Graphics: 1.0
The graphics aren’t good looking at all. Take Super Mario Brothers and then make everything worse looking and drab.
Sound: 0.5
The song is what… 13 seconds long and then loops constantly?
Gameplay: 1.0
The jumping isn’t so good, though you can kind of control your jump direction in mid air. You can’t shoot while crouching, making many enemies invincible.
Difficulty: 1.0
I think this is a poor facsimile of difficulty. One hit deaths, blind jumps, hidden icons, enemies that are invincible until they move.
Fun Factor: 0.0
Not fun at all, infuriating.
Overall Grade: 0.7
Super Pitfall earns a D-. This game sucks. I’m sure there are those out there that will rally around it, but they’re wrong.