Posted by
Hemos
on from the more-fun-then-you-can-jump-with-a-rope-over dept.
micantos writes "Check this out! Apparently somebody is claiming they've done the unprecedented, recorded the first "perfect" Pitfall game. Personally I liked Pitfall II a lot more... finding that damn Quickclaw was fun..."
Follow the link -- there are several screenshots. The pictures, from top to bottom, are:
* An ad for the game.
* The cover of the game box.
* An Atari 2600 with 2 joysticks, one pair of paddles, and a TV with a superimposed picture of Pitfall! on it.
* (screenshot) Harry at an alligator's pit.
* (screenshot) Harry swinging from a vine.
* (screenshot) Harry leaping over a pit
Basically, it's a 1-dim left-right side scroller -- you could travel either left or right off a board. Each 'screen' had a ground level and a subterrian level with ladders interspersed on the various screens. The ground level had obstacles such as pits that would open and close, lakes with gators, stationary and rolling logs, and vines to cross the pits or lakes when needed. The underground level had scorpians, but also had several deads. There were treasures that were spread out through the game that you had to collect.
--
"Pinky, you've left the lens cap of your mind on again." - P&TB
"I can see my house from here!" - ST:
Re:Classic gaming is real gaming
by
bowb
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· Score: 1
One thing I've always wondered about Galaga: is it worthwhile to use a captured fighter? I always got my highest scores (not very high) using the single fighter because I would get killed too easily with the double fighter.
Pitfall is sure big enough, though.
Read the articles much? 255 "rooms" in Pitfall.
Re:TRS-80 ports, or the next best thing.
by
WinDoze
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· Score: 1
Anybody remember the Supercharger (at least I THINK that's what the name was). It was a tape-drive device for the Atari 2600. You'd stick this cartridge into the 2600, and plug a wire coming out of the back of the cartridge into the headphone jack on a cassette player you supplied, and voila, all of a sudden you could have these huge games that loaded in stages.
Why don't you start your own Slashdot?
by
Chagrin
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· Score: 1
If all you can do is bitch and moan on Slashdot, why don't you go start your own site? Recent history shows that you know how everything should be run.
Also, I'd like to see Slashdot ban any links to geekporn.com. Not doing so just gives posters ammunition to piss other people off.</sarcasm>
I got a perfect Pitfall 2 score when I was in 8th grade. (I'm 27 now) I have to say... Getting a perfect score in the original Pitfall would probably be 10 times harder.
At least where I lived at the time...getting the diamond was the hard part. (well, atleast the first time) You had to jump off these walls and bounce back and forth and land on the right ledge. After that, the hardest part was going up the final stage without getting hit by one of those flying vultures, or whatever they were. I think the diamond gave you 50,000 points, and a perfect score was: 199,000.
Rader
Re:Perfect pitfall game?
by
tchuladdiass
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· Score: 1
Pitfall II was rather easy to get a perfect score in (hmm, I wonder why I only managed it once?). The trickiest part was the Condors (i think?), they would fly in a sine-wave pattern. I ended up making up a template I could hold on the screen at the highest fligt point, and use it to measuer where I had to stand in order for the condor to fly over me.
This was the PCjr version of Pitfall II (cartridge game).
Re:And now, the 80's edition....
by
ocie
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· Score: 1
That's a bit harder to quantify. There is an unambiguous maximum number of points you can earn in pitfall and many other games of this era. SMB, on the other hand, can be played indefinately if one is allowed the trick of obtaining extra lives by bouncing turtles on the stairs. Even if this sort of thing is not allowed for a perfect game, I don't think there is an unambiguous maximum score.
That web site is using locked typeface. At high rez, the type is unreadable and the designer has chosen not to let me resize it. That defies the purpose of HTML and cost them another reader.
Re:And in other, far less signficant news....
by
jayhawk88
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· Score: 1
Well, there was that time they had the story on the new Macs coming out. According to the article, it was supposed to be a...get this...Cube. Nobody believed it for a second. They had these lame, obviously doctored screenshots, and....
I also had a perfect Pitfall II score, also around 6-8th grade sometime, and it was 199,000. I agree that it's 10 times easier than doing that in the original Pitfall! I think mainly because there was no time limit.
Re:Classic gaming is real gaming
by
Christ-0-Geek
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· Score: 2
Shut up signal 11.
Saying that those games were somehow better than the games today is like saying grits (pardon the reference) are better than a fillet mingon (or however you spell that damn french word) from a genetically engineered to be plump and juicy cow.
In fact, they're significantly MORE pointless than todays games in that there's no pretty movie or anything for you to watch at the end. And, don't give me that "feeling of accomplishment" bullshit. You could eat the contents of a week old uncleaned port-o-potty, which would probably be very difficult and unpleasant, and come away with about the same benefits as getting a perfect on pitfall (except the port-o-potty scheme is probably slightly more healthy).
-CoG
"And with HIS stripes we are healed"
--
-CoG
"And with HIS stripes we are healed" Handel's "Messiah"
Re:Classic gaming is real gaming
by
bn557
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· Score: 1
Pitfall was great, but Galaga was king. I used to pump $5 a day into that frickin machine and I FINALLY got to the 700,000 mark just to have some tourist show me up in 50c.... kinda made me glad that had more of a life than him though....
-- Humans are slow, innaccurate, and brilliant;
computers are fast, acurrate, and dumb;
together they are unbeatable
Re:And in other, far less signficant news....
by
Christ-0-Geek
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· Score: 1
(in western drawl)You don't come around these here parts much, do ya cowboy?
-CoG
"And with HIS stripes we are healed"
--
-CoG
"And with HIS stripes we are healed" Handel's "Messiah"
Re:Classic gaming is real gaming
by
Fervent
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· Score: 2
Not really. I'm still playing StarCraft today. It's terribly addictive, and in no way considered a "classic". Yet.
And just try to get all the emblems in Sonic Adventure...
--
- I don't care if they globalize against free speech. All my best free thoughts are done in my head.
God, I loved Activision back then...
by
ChuckleBug
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· Score: 1
Activision was a wonderful company when they were doing these 2600 games (of course, it wasn't called 2600 at the time). It's hard to imagine this now, but a third party company making games for a system was pretty novel then. And the coolest thing, other than the gameplay, was the way they credited the game authors. They had their pictures on the boxes and included a little bio. After a while, you got to look forward to new games from your favorite developers. It gave each game just a little extra touch of personality.
My only complaint, about the article, is that, the author, uses commas, where they, don't belong.
ChuckleBug
Re:Some flashbacks with images...
by
edremy
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· Score: 2
What's truly amusing is that those screenshots take the same amount of memory as the whole damn game. What was Pitfall- 4k IIRC? The screenshots are 6k!
Eric
-- "Seven Deadly Sins? I thought it was a to-do list!"
Re:Try Sega Genesis pads
by
drinkypoo
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· Score: 1
Some Sega Genesis controllers are compatible with Atari 2600 consoles, presumably for compatibility with the Sega Master System.
The 2600/7800 FAQ will tell you how to convert a number of controllers to work with the old systems, including telling you how to convert a SMS light gun to the pinout for the atari.
By the way, Genesis and SMS gamepads work on an atari without modification, provided they're not some weird version with autofire or something. A better question is, why would you want to use a sega controller? Every generation of Sega controller (except perhaps the DC) has in common the problem of it not being easy to move in the cardinal directions; This is much worse on the SMS controller than on the others. You would be much better off doing a NES controller conversion. You can get NES controllers for $0.50 or so (sometimes as much as two bucks! Don't get taken) at flea markets, or for $1.49 at Funcoland. I don't know if that price is what they charge in-store, but that's the mail order price. I can't help you with cables, though. The NES controller is nigh-indestructible, so it's my first choice. It's also VERY easy to move in any of the eight directions.
-- "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
NES controller indestructable? Almost. I can't break them nowadays, but when I was a spoiled 8 year old, getting far too frustrated playing some NES game I can't recall the name of, I threw a NES controller so hard onto the ground that it chipped one of the corners of the controller. The controller still worked, so, in my anger and frustration, I ran into the garage and grabbed a hammer. I was going to show my Nintendo who was boss. Its called human superiority, baby! Or so I thought.
Nowadays, I realize that such acts of frustration are called human stupidity.
When I was in Jr. High I was playing my cousin in Street Fighter II at about three in the morning in the summer. I was crushing him for like two hours straight in vs. mode, coudln't touch me. Then all of a sudden he just started killing me. I got so mad that I grabbed the SNES off the table and threw it at the wall. It still worked and everything but I broke the RF plug when I ripped it off the table, and I chipped some plastic off the side of the SNES.
Also after that, I took all of my cousin's things and threw them out my bedroom door down the stairs, and made him sleep on the couch.
On a side note, I actually *liked* the SMS controllers.
Re:Classic gaming is real gaming
by
UnknownSoldier
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· Score: 1
> Give me Bubble Bobble over Metal Gear Solid any day.
What you talking about?!
_BOTH_ of those games rock !
Puzzle Bobble (NeoGeo) with 2 people is just a blast as well !
Re:Perfect pitfall game?
by
gonzocanuck
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· Score: 1
There is also Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure. I loved this game when I first got it 5 years ago. It took my brother and I about 3 months to get through the 10+ levels. It sure beat out the original Pitfall IMHO:-) In this game, you were the son of Pitfall Harry, and had to rescue him.
The music and animal sounds were cool, but nothing beat having a bat suck on your face. We traded levels on and off. I couldn't have finished the game without my brother. BTW, we also had Pitfall for the 2600 and played that game to death. He's going to be thrilled to read the story about it.
Aside, I would love to have a actual bitmap for the WHOLE map (of Pitfall 1 & 2)... that would be the ultimate walkthru:-)
(Anyone else remember when the '80's game magazines would show rows of screenshots all lined up into one continious map?:-)
While home over thanksgiving with no bandwidth, I dug up the old family atari 7800 from my parents basement, specifically to beat Pitfall II once again. I was able to find an ascii map online, but I've spent the last 15 min with a search engine to no avail. When I go home for christmas I'll attempt to look in the browser history on that computer, and find the site once more.
Re:PLEASE! THIS HAD BUGGED ME FOR 10 YEARS!
by
barooo
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· Score: 1
Go after him. Dig his eye out. Tunnel in through his eye. --
-- One more drink, and I'll move on.
--Dave Matthews Band
Yup, I remember those. I 'earned' well over a dozen of those, and proudly displayed them on my jacket. I thought I was the HEIGHT of fashion. I couldn't figure out why the babes didn't flock around me.
Now I have a Linux bumper sticker, I wear clothes from thinkgeek and copyleft, and yet the babes STILL don't flock around me.
What could it be?
Perfect pitfall game?
by
enterfornone
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· Score: 1
Didn't Pitfall just continue aimlessly with more random similar screens?
Now a perfect Pitfall 2 game, that would be something.
Well, it looks like Robert Mruczek is on his way to getting a perfect score at Pitfall 2. Robert is one of the people mentioned in this article as being one of the better players, and can be seen listed as only 5 points off of getting a perfect score in Pitfall.
He is currently listed at 198,700 points for Pitfall 2. Looks like he'll get the official score long before I could dust of my 2600 and relearn the game. I don't think I have the undying patience I did as the kid I once was with nothing better to do. I guess I can take a small satisfaction that he screwed up at the very end...Since I know that happened to me quite a few times before I finally got a perfect score.
I believe Sega made an arcade port of Pitfall 2, and the sprites were a lot bigger than the Atari version. It was horrible. I coudln't even get past the eagle.
There are 254 screens that wrap around Atari 2600 style. Every time you travel underground, you
advance 3 screens at a time, so a seemingly impossible game becomes possible. This map can be found at one of the better atari 2600 sites.
Once you study the map and memorize the optimal route, you just have to master the art of jumping on crocs heads and over scorpions. Since the barrels roll from right to left, it is easier to travel in that direction, but you will need to practise travelling against barrels if you hope to get the perfect score (you loose points every time you get knicked by a barrel).
According to the record holder (and a few others) there are only 255 rooms in the game but I gotta tell ya', mapping 255 rooms in a came as confusing (to me at least) has got to be one hell of a task.
Congratulations to Alan Hewston for the record. Classic gaming records are truly remarkable, the games were limited (due to the machines they used to run on) and AI was terrible but these games just live on and will probably out live some of the modern 3D games (such as tombraider)...:)
-- All browsers' default homepage should read: Don't Panic...
-- All browsers' default homepage should read: Don't Panic...
I thought it was interesting as well that the article mentioned a quest for a perfect Pitfall 2 score, considering a friend of mine (using my Pitfall 2 cartridge) got a perfect score a few months after Pitfall 2 came out. I played that game for months afterwards trying to equal his perfect score, but never did.
IIRC, there are 4 versions of Pitfall. The original Atari 2600 one, Pitfall 2, Pitfall the Arcade game(based on Pitfall 2 I think), then Pitfall 3D, or whatever it was called. The last one was awful.
The best way would be simple examination of the data files. In the Ultima 3-5 days I used to sector edit (floppies) stuff onto the maps, like in 4, horses and ships. You could board them and ride/sail away, leaving another behind. It was kinda convenient.
Anyways, I played so much that I could recognize terrain features in the ascii representation as I scrolled by.
I think it's 256 units in each direction, 16x16 map units of 16x16 squares each.
If you're going to do it by playing, then use the gems, it's much easier than walking around looking at all the detail.
But, whatever you do, make sure to note how to travel from one section to another using teleportation, it's really hard to figure out when glancing into gems.
I'd like to know which Atari joystick Hewston used for his record. Obviously there are MANY crucial situations in this accomplishment where your jump timing needs to be perfect. Button and joystick responsiveness is crucial. What does he or any other Atari gaming professional (I never thought I would use those 3 words together) recommend?
Side note: This story has inspired me to try to find the booklet I kept all my greatest scores in when I was a kid (it's in my parents basement somewhere) and compare them to the current records. I could have sworn that nobody could have ever gotten a higher Pressure Cooker score than me.
There's no end room if that's what you mean. But the goal has always been to get all the treasures. That's the end.
I'm lucky if I get seven treasures!!
Pitfall didn't end, the guy just got the highest possible score from getting all the treasures. I assume he just had to turn the game off after he was done. Pitfall is sure big enough, though. Reminds me of the Underworld in Ultima V...it was H--U--G--E. I'm talking about a non-repeating continent that went on, literally, for days in each direction.
> In the Ultima 3-5 days I used to sector edit (floppies) stuff onto the maps, like in 4, horses and ships.
Hehehe. I thought I was the only one who did that;-)
My favorite all time hack has to be, in Ultima 4, when I put a ship right outside LB's castle. Since it was part of the "landscape" it never went away.
> You could board them and ride/sail away, leaving another behind.
Yeap! Ultima 2 had a ship bug, where you would board a pirate ship, then if you sailed away, the pirates would spawn their own ship and keep on attacking !... Can we say "LAND_to_LAND bridges via SHIPS;-)"
Do you have U5 for the IBM by any chance? I'd be interested in getting it, or the data files for the underworld, and writing a little program to translate it into a workable map.
Tell me about it... I remember playing Pitfall many many year ago, possibly on an Atari 2600 (we had one), but I can't recall whether or not we had a version ported over to the TRS-80 we had at the time.
Anyway, I know that I ran through dozens of screens of the same scenes over and over again, never seeming to get anywhere. It was fun though...
Now all we need is someone to get a perfect score on Sinistar...
Kierthos
-- Mr. Hu is not a ninja.
Re:Mmm. Classic Gaming Nostalgia...
by
bludstone
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· Score: 1
The cause for the lack of diversified games is not bob-the coders fault. Its the marketroids and the suits. They find out which kind of arcade/videogame sells the most copies, then mimic that game with a few tweaks.
This annoys me to no end. I went to a dave 'n busters a few weeks ago (the one in the DC area) and they only had two kinds of games. Racing games and gun games, neither of which im very fond of. It was so irritating.
The only new games im enjoying are the dancing ones (dance dance revolution and bust-a-moove/groove) Unfortunatly, the east coast has their head stuck up their ass when it comes to these games, so ive got no clue as to where to find an arcade machine locally. Last I heard there was one in Philly, but thats too far for a daytrip.
And people wonder why the arcade buisness is going to shit. Diversify maaaan!
Does the emulator work under WinNT? The doc mentions Win95 and Win98, but not NT.
The games starts up and runs fine, but locks up shortly after starting (about 1 minute). This happens even if I'm still in the configuartion screens.
Alternatively, is there any other emulator that might work?
-- My mind works like lightning. One brilliant flash and it is gone.
I remember those! I wouldnt put a new game down until I had beaten the score (I never submitted them because the first time I tried they either didnt send it or it got lost in the mail - talk about crushing a 9-year-old's spirit!)
The score for Kaboom! was incredibly tough. I even remember the score you had to beat (3000 pts.) It took over a year of playing and a few sets of worn out paddles, but I finally did it and I was the hero of the neighbourhood kids. Thanks for the pleasant memory.
--
From hell's heart I fstab at/dev/hdc
I'm sorry, I don't buy it
by
Rudeboy777
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· Score: 1
For me this is a case of needing to see it to believe it. I tried that about a million times and never got it. If you can link to an mpeg or avi of this feat, I'll believe it but not before.
--
From hell's heart I fstab at/dev/hdc
Re:TRS-80 ports, or the next best thing.
by
Capt.+DrunkenBum
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· Score: 1
Lets not forget, the greatest game ever written... P51.
Head to head combat over a 300 Baud modem connect..
Gotta head over to eBay now... Need P51 fix...
Re:Classic gaming is real gaming
by
Saige
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· Score: 1
Ummm... YES.
The doubled firepower allows you to kill a lot more as they're entering the screen, thus making each wave easier. Yes, it's harder to dodge shots, and costs you a life, but the advantages more than make up for it.
Once you get into a rhythm with the double fighter setup, you can go for long periods of time without dying and collecting big points from the challenge stages (which almost require double fighers on). Losing one throws off my rhythm, and usually it's a scramble to redouble quickly or be defeated by the onslaught.
It's not about killing everything carefully, only when worst the most - it's about destroying as much as you can as fast as you can, before they start their diving runs at you which are where they are the deadliest. ---
-- "You know your god is man-made when he hates all the same people you do."
I bet nobody's solved this one.
by
shippo
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· Score: 1
The Atari Casino cartridge included a game called Poker Solitare. You were dealt 25 cards from the deck and had to arrange them on a 5x5 grid. You effectivly had 12 hands, 5 verticle, 5 horizontal, and 2 diagonal and received points for each hand.
There was a maximum possible score hinted in the manual, but it seemed impossible to get the correct 25 cards to acheive this. I worked out the highest scoring layout - you needed to obtain 4 Royal flushes, as well as a straight flush involving a 9.
Did anyone manage this, or was the card sequence impossible to obtain?
Re:I bet nobody's solved this one.
by
KaraokeMatt
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· Score: 1
If you are interested, a free Flash version of this game can be found on BoxerJam.com here.
The most interesting part of this article is that this guy complains that games on new-generation consoles take too many hours to play. I wonder how many hours of play it took him to reach that perfect score? Or how many hours he spent playing that Decathalon of games? I can't get over what a bizarre statement that is, "I don't like those new games, they take too long to play. Excuse me while I go log hour 235,846 on my Atari."
Simply because if you want to make the best score on a game you have to play more than 1 time to find the best route thru it. Try do it with, let's say, Final Fantasy VIII. FF8 take me about 100h of gamming to finish it (I am not the best player on earth;-)). This guy have played more an undred time to his game to acheive his perfect score. Could you manage to play an undred time to FF8 to get the fastest route thru it and gain all bonus ?
My brother got 999,999 and the game stopped. He was, I dunno, maybe 8 or 9 at the time, and this was on an original VCS (not even a 2600 - got it before the switched the naming convention!)
Re:And in other, far less signficant news....
by
Fervent
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· Score: 4
I got pissed off at the editors one time for not putting one of my stories up, and submitted a "story" with four of the classic Slashdot components: Linux, UNIX, open source, and Microsoft. And it got posted for about 10 minutes.:)
It was something like "RedHat press release introduces new Sun-like mouse. Software to be open source. Has optical features like Microsoft mice. Check out the story here." with the "here" link pointing to www.geekporn.com.
Just goes to show you that:
a.) Slashdot will post just about anything without checking the link.
b.) As long as you have elements of Rob's "omelete" (see the faq) you're in.
(Note: after this was posted, the editors seemed to take my normal news posts far more seriously. I think they had to realize that even though the name was "Fervent", it doesn't mean I can't input intelligent stories.)
--
- I don't care if they globalize against free speech. All my best free thoughts are done in my head.
Re:PLEASE! THIS HAD BUGGED ME FOR 10 YEARS!
by
Junior+J.+Junior+III
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· Score: 1
Very simple. Sneak up behind him.
How do you sneak up behind him? Well, it takes a bit of a trek... but if you got through the whole game you'd find the way just before the end of the game.
I always thought that Pitfall II was way too repetitive, although it did have some cool concepts, like the balloon ride.
-- You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
well for one, i didn't know that's what it was. for another, those things don't bother me because i can kill it very quickly.
Re:TRS-80 ports, or the next best thing.
by
Bryan+K.+Feir
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· Score: 1
The TRS-80 Color Computer had legions of devoted fans, lots of talented programmers, and absolutely no chance in the burning brimstone pits of hell of getting licenses for hot properties. Not that this stopped the talented programmers from porting the games anyway.
Well, I wouldn't quite say that... by the time the CoCo 3 came around, there were actually a lot of licenced properties for it. Silpheed, Thexder, Robot Odyssey, Rampage... heck, I've actually still got a copy of Kings Quest III for the CoCo 3 around here somewhere.
There was a big push right around the time of the CoCo 3 to get licenced titles so that the CoCo 3 would be taken reasonably seriously by the market. What ended up killing it, really, was Tandy's decision that the IBM PC was 'where the industry was going', and so they dropped things like the CoCo and the original TRS-80 line to focus on the Tandy 1000, one of the least compatible 'IBM compatibles' ever built. The Deskmate software (an early office suite) almost but not quite made up for the problems. Of course, nowadays, it's not as if Tandy actually makes its own computers anymore, having shot themselves in the foot enough to bleed to death...
I remember repeatedly taking pictures of my TV screen, only to see the Polaroid come out with the screen seemingly off. I accused my brother of sneaking over and turning the TV off in between button press and picture-take.
That's what happened to me too, except I wasn't using a poleroid so I didn't find out until later.
After that I didn't feel motivated to worry about it any more.
(Pitfall 2, BTW)
-Trevor
That happened to me, both me and my mom had scores good enought to get a patch. we took photos with a regular camera, when we got the film developed the tv was turned off. never figured out why. Haven't thought of it since I've understod scan lines, aaaaah, now I get it.
Good god, man!
And I was thrilled the one time I hit 520,000. I always got suspicious when I saw higher scores, because there was no way to tell if the other players used the cheat.
More on topic: It's funny how everyone acts like it's an either-or proposition. Either it's classic games that are good, or modern games.
Galaga is one of the greatest action video games ever made. But so is Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2. When you get down to it, THPS2 is a great game for the same reason. The game mechanics are really pretty simple, but you always have to make one more run to try and grab a higher score...
Re:And in other, far less signficant news....
by
Skankmofo
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· Score: 1
slashdot has been fooled many many times...
-- "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
--Saul Belloe
The article, referring to getting all 32 treasures, said:
"A week later, Macauley jumped out in front, becoming the first player in history..."
Lot's of players got all 32 treasures. I did (circa 1984 or so). None got a perfect score, though. I mapped the game out, complete with logs, snakes, fires, crocs, and the like, and completed the game right-to-left. For those not familiar with the game, all the obstacles move right-to-left, making that direction easier to achieve.
I don't think the game is all that fun anymore (qualification: I'm 34). It waxes nostalgia for 3-4 minutes. I'd much rather play Ridge Racer V.
For those looking at the maps, it is impossible to finish the game without using the tunnels, which are 3 times as fast as above ground.
I am not joking here. When I was 5 years old, playing my older brother's Atari... playing a game called Bezerk (spelling?), I played for 5 hours straight, thinking that there was some kind of ending. Then my older brother told me that the game went on forever. At that moment, that smiley-faced badguy popped into the level and killed me. GAME OVER.
Strange that there should be 254, not 256 screens... does this mean there is the possibility of an Easter Egg that has remained dormant all these years?
Also does anyone know how many FPS he was getting?:)
.....
here are the pictures from the page
123456 Pitfall Perfection
Classic video games and the Atari 2600, they just go together. Like Pac-Man and The Ghosts, Donkey Kong and Mario, Pitfall and Harry.
Picture this! You are deep in the recesses of a forbidden jungle-an unforgiving place few explorers ever survive. But you've got courage, because you're with Pitfall Harry, the world famous jungle explorer and fortune hunter extraordinaire. The lure of hidden treasure draws you and Harry deeper and deeper into the bush. But, being a great explorer, you wouldn't think of starting such a difficult journey without reading this manual first--very carefully. So opens the Pitfall manual.
Released in 1982 by Activision, Pitfall, for the Atari 2600, was expected to enjoy the usual game marketing cycle: a few months of success, and then retirement on dusty back shelves and bargain bins. Pitfall however, did not follow expected norms.
Pitfall proved to be the best selling video game cartridge of its time in the U.S. and Canada. Holding fast to Billboard magazine's number one video game spot for an astonishing 64 weeks, Pitfall was second only to everyone's favorite dot-chomping yellow circle. Pitfall gained acclaim, and a place in gaming history. With the recent release of Pitfall 3D, it became one of the few games that have enjoyed successive sequels across three decades.
"I knew that there was great potential in 'run, jump, and climb' adventure games, but the result was beyond any expectations. It sold millions of copies, established a new genre of adventure games and spawned hundreds of similar products," said David Crane, Pitfall's creator.
Even at its height in the eighties, few Activision executives imagined that nearly twenty years later gamers around the world would be vying for the prestige of scoring Pitfall's first perfect score. These execs obviously had never heard of Alan Hewston.
Back then he was an avid gamer aspiring to Pitfall greatness. Now, Hewston, 35, is an aerospace engineer working at NASA's John H. Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. As of midnight December 1, 2000, he's also the Pitfall world champion.
As the worldwide authority on player rankings and gaming statistics, Twin Galaxies is charged with the task of verifying all record setting scores. Every score for the Atari, Colecovision, and the consoles that followed, must receive the Twin Galaxies seal of authenticity, before a champion can be enshrined in the gaming Hall of Fame. Ron Corcoran, Twin Galaxies' Worldwide Editor for the Atari and Intellivision systems, is responsible for certifying scores for the upcoming edition of Twin Galaxies' book of gaming world records, "The Official Video Game & Pinball Book Of World Records". Corcoran has authenticated Hewston's perfect score.
The Pitfall record will be honored in Alan's hometown of Parma Heights, Ohio. Mayor Martin Zanotti has been asked to present Alan an award on behalf of Twin Galaxies.
To generate even more excitement around Activision's classic hit, Twin Galaxies has established the "Pitfall Prize," a $150 cash prize, to go to the player who can achieve a perfect game in the fastest time, before the August 31st, 2001 publishing deadline, for the upcoming record book.
But what is a perfect game?
A perfect game, according to Corcoran, occurs when you collect all 32 treasures and score 114,000 points--the maximum points allowed by the game. "It is a very difficult feat to accomplish," explains Corcoran, "since there are over 400 obstacles to overcome, and if any one of them is missed, the game is no longer perfect. Corcoran continued to state that, "it is believed that even game designer David Crane himself, has never accomplished this feat."
Video game historians agree that Crane, did an excellent job of creating and playtesting the game to ensure that a perfect game was possible, but far from probable. So, how did native of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, employed as a rocket scientist, develop the skills that made him the world's best Pitfall player?
Corcoran believes it is due to the enduring charm of the Atari 2600 game system, "Though Atari 2600 gaming has developed into a major hobby over the last two years, Pitfall didn't get its curtain call until last summer, during the Twin Galaxies Atari-Coleco Decathlon. The event challenged players to submit their best scores on ten different games, and brought some of the best in the world to the joystick. Though Pitfall was among the ten games chosen for the August 15-October 15 tilt, no one expected it to be the competition's biggest hit."
"Who's going to get the first perfect score," Was the challenge issued by Robert Mruczek, a contestant in the heralded Deca2000 competition. Pitfall's challenging gameplay sparked the interest of the players and a pennant race was born. Suddenly, Pitfall was the topic of discussion on many Internet sites devoted to classic gaming, and it was almost an absolute necessity that perfection be achieved. By the time the Deca2000 was over, an intense support community for Pitfall fans seemed to develop. The record hung in the balance.
"Initially," said Alan, "there were about five of us going neck and neck, including Ron Corcoran, Robert Macauley, Robert Mruczek, Stephen Knox and myself. Mruczek, who is a far better player than most of the rest of us, should have won. But then I found a sequence of jumps that allowed me to save 10 seconds at the start of the game, a bit of knowledge that enabled me to finish the game ten seconds earlier than my previous record, which I was able to turn into a winning strategy."
The Deca2000 competition ended without anyone scoring a perfect game, even though collecting all but one of the treasures gave Alan a new world record. A week later, Macauley jumped out in front, becoming the first player in history, with the possible exception of David Crane himself, to get all 32 treasures. Unfortunately for Macauley, the new world record of 113,805 points he attained at that time fell just short of a perfect score. Then, right after the Deca2000 was over, Mruczek, coming very close to a perfect game several times, got all 32 treasures but kept making one mistake, resulting in his best score coming in at 113,995 points; a mere 5 points shy of the perfect score.
At the same time, Alan was also busy treasure hunting. He collected all 32, but nicked a log, thereby finishing with an almost-perfect score of 113,998 points. With that score, the 10 seconds he saved at the beginning of the game translated into a finish time that allowed 38 seconds spared, becoming a new world record - the fastest time, in a single game of Pitfall.
The competition continued fiercely, and perfection became the obsession. The desire reached its pinnacle when top players would actually quit the game and start again if they happened to make a mistake. "It was pointless to continue onward, since anything less than a perfect score was meaningless," said Corcoran.
Noting the intensity of the Deca2000 contest and the determination of the players, Mruczek stated, "as you can see, each player's performance caused the other players to rise to the occasion. Without Robert Macauley getting the ball rolling with his score of 111,000, none of us would have reached our full potential."
Alan recalls the difficulties encountered during the contest, "All of us became very frustrated, vying for this perfect game. But we knew that it was indeed possible. We all wanted to be the first to record a perfect game, but we also hoped that someone would do it soon. I had given up for a while, until I discussed game strategies with Tim Roach, a friend at work. Tim's encouragement provided a fresh look, and a chance to see if a proposed set of jumps may be possible. It was extremely difficult, and even when I proved that it could be done, it still took me over a dozen games to get it right. Knowing that I had saved 10 precious seconds, I just had to try again."
The discovery of the winning trick came to Alan, while watching videotapes of his gaming. "At Mruczek's advice, I began connecting the game to my VCR, recording and watching my game film so I could spot mistakes. "I still think Robert should have won. But the new trick saved me an additional ten seconds. Ten seconds that added up to the win."
It took only a few more tries, before Alan got his perfect game. "I would play the first 10 minutes aggressively," he reveals, "and then, if the game is still flawless, relax and take my time for the rest of the game. Knowing that I had 38 seconds remaining in my previous best effort, I knew that I had perfection in my sights."
Twin Galaxies caught up with Alan at his NASA office, and picked his Pitfall brain.
Twin Galaxies: Is the Atari 2600 the only game system you play?
Alan: Though I own 20 game systems, 10 of them classic, I focus mainly on the Commodore 64 and Atari 2600. My devotion to classic gaming goes back many years. In fact, it was the only thing that allowed me to keep my sanity during my college years. Whenever my academic workload became overwhelming, my Commodore 64 and Atari 2600 provided a refreshing sanctuary far away from the worries of the day.
Even today my fascination for the Atari 2600 continues to permeate my daily life, as evidenced by the writing assignments I have received from the monthly on-line magazine, The Retrogaming Times, which focuses on the classic game systems of the early 1980s.
I have become a regular on The Retrogaming Times staff and this coming month I'm writing an article titled "The Many Faces of River Raid." There's no better way to master a game than to write about it. And, with a collection of 1400 game cartridges to choose from, I have a never-ending variety of potential topics.
TG: Do you think there will be any new discoveries by future Pitfall players that will allow the best-time to be improved?
Alan: No, the game is now completely researched and exploited. Now, it's just a question of going as fast as possible without mistakes. There are only 255 rooms (also called jungle scenes) in the game and players have already mapped the best possible route through the game to get a perfect score with all 32 treasures collected. My path is the most efficient path. Going left takes me through only 198 of the rooms, giving me the fastest time possible. Now it's just a question of executing perfectly without bumping into things. If anything hits you, you lose points.
Pitfall is a dodge-'em game, a one-dimensional odyssey that takes, Pitfall Harry, through an aboveground maze and a complicated system of underground tunnels, all the while avoiding obstacles that can slow you down, and detract from the final score.
There's a rhythm to the game, too. Though some of the obstacles are permanently placed throughout the game, others appear to be synched up to your progress through the maze or to the game timer. If you get out of sync, you lose time. You have to stay in rhythm to get a perfect game.
TG: Do all the players use the same strategies?
Alan: Essentially, all the players use the same strategies, but we're just going in opposite directions as the jungle wraps around, from one end to the other. Except for the first tunnel, we all use nearly the same tunnel route, because it is known which lead to the treasures. However, I go left and Robert and Ron go right.
Many tunnels terminate in dead ends so you have to find which ones you should use. Long ago, Pitfall players discovered which path was the best to take, and, once the correct route was established, top players seldom deviated from this path. You have to map out all 255 rooms to know which way to go. I have my map laid out on a spreadsheet, even though I cannot afford to look at it while playing. I recommend that players either memorize their path, like the top players do, or write done a few notes to remind them which tunnel to take. I taped a set of brief instructions to my TV to consult while playing. However, I can only afford to take a quick glance. It's like driving with white knuckles for 20 minutes.
Gameplay is only one-dimensional, allowing movement to the right or left. Robert takes the more challenging route by going to the right, which may yield a quicker time. I, on the other hand, choose the left direction since the obstacles are a bit easier to overcome. The chosen path is the same for both of us even though we are going in opposite directions.
TG: Could your skills make you a champion in the ferocious world of 64-bit systems?
Who knows," he responded. "Actually, I don't dislike the new systems, but I like the simplicity of the older games much better. The new consoles have too many buttons, taking too much time to learn, plus many of the games require many, many hours to play.
TG: What's the next chapter in Pitfall's amazing history?
Alan: Everybody's excited about the new Twin Galaxies award promised to the player who achieves a perfect game in the fastest time. However, in addition to focusing on the Twin Galaxies contest, a perfect score on Pitfall 2 comes next. All the players are vying to be the first perfect champion on that game, too. Interestingly, Pitfall 1 and Pitfall 2 are now on nearly all major classic video game systems and, recently, Pitfall was revised and re-released for the current generation of game platforms, including the PC.
TG: What happens now, after your amazing accomplishment?
Alan: By the final week of the Deca2000, all the contestants were in their own universes, focusing on the ten games, trying to win. I finished in fourth place, behind Ron, Robert and Steve. But when the contest was over, I got my family back. Or, I should say they got me back. My wife told me she was glad to have me back home again.
I think that's only the end of the first half of the game. Isn't there a second half in which the whole game ends with the hero climbing up a snake coming out of a basket to the tune of a flute?
I'd be willing to bet...
by
Philly+Dawg
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· Score: 1
500 bucks that some kid scored a perfect game back when the game was new. If these guys can just decide to do it and get it done in a few monthes, then some kid back in the day easily could have decided to do it himself.
Apparently someone else did this first
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 3
According to this page Paul Graber got a first before the person mentioned on/.'s article.
Here is what he wrote.
From: Paul Graber
Whew!!
I can't believe I did it! I got a perfect 114,000 on pitfall. It can be done. I got all 32 treasures with 40 secs left on the clock! the
game just stops when you get the last treasure. Maybe I am the first to do this. I doubt it. Anyway here is how I did it.
First start out by going right to the 7th screen where the first gold bar is. Then immediately go back to the left and run right into
the snake on the next screen left. Yes this loses a life but you will appear on the left and save you about 5secs instead of waiting
for the rope to come back. Since I had 40 secs left at the end I guess this did not mean much but I wanted every sec. I could get.
Okay keep going left and make sure you can take the rope after the alligators immediately. Go all the way to your original starting
point.
Take the ladder and go left. Upon exit go left until you come to the second left ladder, a ladder which will let you go left. Then
upon exit go right until you come to the diamond. Go left till you come to the second left ladder after the diamond. Upon exit, go
left and you will come to a bunch of treasures including 2 diamonds and 2 gold bars. After the last gold bar take the first left
ladder you come to and go left obviously. Upon exit go left until you get 69,000 points. Then take the next left ladder you come
to and go left. When you exit go right 3 screens to get a money bag and then it's back left for the rest of the game.
The last treasure you will get is the gold bar which is the second gold bar you come to if you start right in the begining of the
game. All this sound confusing? Sorry but it is the best I can do to explain it. Now it is important to try and hit every vine and
vanishing pond exactly with no wait that you can. This will save you about 4-5 secs each time. It took me a couple of days to
finally do it but I did. E-Mail me if you still have questions.
Good Luck!!
Re:Apparently someone else did this first
by
Tilps
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· Score: 1
They did say that a perfect score was without losing a life. The above doesnt fit that.
Impressive none the less.
-- Sigs are for wimps. I am proud to be one.
Mmm. Classic Gaming Nostalgia...
by
Greyfox
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· Score: 4
Might be time to fire up Xmame again... I wonder how long the current originality dry spell is going to last. These days they seem to roll the cookie cutter games from the same 3 class libraries. I can just imagine what it must be like in the depths of Capcom or Sega... "What are we programming today Bob?" "Hmm. How about a racing game? Check out the racing class library and lets see if we can crank it out before lunch."
--
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
HAH! Lara Croft eat your heart out...
by
The+Dodger
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· Score: 2
It'll be interesting to see if anyone's still playing Tomb Raider fifteen years from now...
D.
Re:HAH! Lara Croft eat your heart out...
by
revin
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· Score: 1
well by then Lara Croft will be old and ugly,:-)
Re:HAH! Lara Croft eat your heart out...
by
NettRom
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· Score: 2
It'll be interesting to see if anyone's still playing Tomb Raider fifteen years from now...
Someone will find the ancient graphics a turn-on, and use it as foreplay. Sort of the Internet-version of old pinups. Variations will be "play it one-handedly" and "in groups".
Re:HAH! Lara Croft eat your heart out...
by
kyz
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· Score: 2
well by then Lara Croft will be old and ugly,:-)
Or dead, like Lola Ferrari.
-- Does my bum look big in this?
Re:Insanely modded down mirror
by
gle
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· Score: 1
James, you're a sad loser.
____________________
-- Ni!
Re:And in other, far less signficant news....
by
Skavino
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· Score: 1
(i can see it now.. icq message from CmdrTaco... so you're the one who's been posting those.. your ip has been logged, you will be assimilated. muahahaha..)
heh.
*clears throat.. eeehhhhrrrrmm..*
anyways.
-- -sig? who said anything about a sig?!
Getting past the rat
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 1
There's the hard way, which nobody I know ever figured out themselves, and the easier way, which is this:
Jump over the rat, so that you land on top of him, stepping on his tail. If you do it right, the rat disappears and you collect the points for him. Do it wrong and you get to try again as the rat pushes your jumping self back.
Isn't there a second half in which the whole game ends with the hero climbing up a snake coming out of a basket to the tune of a flute?
I don't remember that...
IIRC, when you have all four (I think it's 4) treasures he starts jumping around and the music changes. You can't move him after that and a reset is required.
Then again, if you're right, I didn;'t finish the game... and I no longer have that old 2600.
Oh, I'm afraid you missed a cool lot of the game... maybe you can get an emulator for Pitfall 2 and finish. IIRC, he jumps around for a while and then runs off the left edge of the map onto a new map.
you can get the ROM here and an emulator here. Of course, I thought missile command was the best 2600 game. Btw to get the emulator to work you need to hit F10, select "configure controllers" then "keyboard" and press "up" on your keyboard, select "joystick" and then "up" and repeat for each key you want to use on your keyboard. Why there is no default keyboard config, I don't know.
-- How we know is more important than what we know.
Re:TRS-80 ports, or the next best thing.
by
Kierthos
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· Score: 1
You know, that may have been it. I know we had "Donkey King" on the TRS-80... and a Joust ripoff (it wasn't called Buzzard Bait, as I recall) and Trapfall sounds very familiar...
Ten seconds with google brought me:
http://members.tripod.com/~PitfallHarry/Pitfall2Ma nual/Pitfall2Map.gif
Re:And in other, far less signficant news....
by
jerrytcow
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· Score: 1
There was this
story, where OldManMurray was claiming to sue ID for
unauthorized use of their image in QuakeIII Arena.
Re:And in other, far less signficant news....
by
FFFish
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· Score: 3
Let's not forget the time, a few weeks back, when some sleazoid marketer managed to post a "hey, is this deal too good to be true" request regarding a cheapass DVD player.
Some guy was offering to stop by the actual offices of the sleazy company. I'm wondering what happened -- was it an apartment, or a real office? Did you get a picture?
--
--
--
Don't like it? Respond with words, not karma.
Article prepetuates lies. Pac-Man has no "ghosts"!
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 1
Go find a REAL Pac-Man machine from 1980, and read the instructions on the cabinet. They're pretty simple. "Eat dots. Avoid monsters".
Monsters! Monsters! They're Monsters! Need more proof? Look at the 2nd intermission (after the 1st apple). The red monster (Shadow) rips his robe on the nail! You can even see the foot under there! It's a monster! Not a ghost!
The whole "ghost" mantra was the result of crappy home console implementations of Pac-Man where the video hardware, specifically the Atari 2600, could not simultaneously display 5 sprites (pacman + 4 monsters) simultaneously. The 2600 could do 2 sprites. So the pacman was one sprite, while the 4 monsters were draws every 4th frame. This gave them a flickering effect. Atari is notorious for making up bullshit explanations to explain away hardware limitations. So Atari, in the 2600 Pac-Man documentation called them "ghosts". Pure, 100%, poly-unsaturated, grade A, olympic class bullshit!
Other Atarisms: In Defender, when you press 'fire', the sprite for your ship is used to draw the laser beam. So your ship disappears when you fire. Hardware limitation. But the 2600 docs explain it as "...your ship requires so much power to fire, that it temporarily moves into hyperspace..." Bullshit! Bullshit! and more bullshit!
I wonder if today in 2000 someone could actually program a decent version of Pac Man for 2600, something that at least resembles the original. I remember when I got Pac Man home, out of the little orange box and into my Atari, I immediately thought "this sucks." I mean, the sounds weren't even close to the original -- it was like an entirely different game.
At least I had a c64 . .
I finally bought an XE1541 cable for my c64 a couple weeks ago. It was kind of weird to be playing Pitfall for c64 on a disk, since when I was a kid I had it on cartridge. I think the best port of Pitfall was on the c64, were there any better versions in peoples' opinions? The c64 really killed a lot of consoles at the time.
Well I got over 650,000 points on Megamania! Emulated at full speed using Stella for 32-bit Windows on a 750 MHz Athlon system. See if you can beat that!
Now, if only I can find that screen shot, I'll put it online...
That's skill baby!
-- You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
So like, was there are point to reporting this or are there just teasing us? Do I have to buy the video on Ebay or has someone divx'd it and put it online?
-- How we know is more important than what we know.
Re:And in other, far less signficant news....
by
zencode
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· Score: 2
i remember them posting a story about a pci board with 6 processors designed to run seti@home. to their credit, they did cover the hoax in a followup.
Anyone find that "wife" bit at the end at least moderately amusing? It was as if twingalaxies was trying to slip in a "really, you're not losers!" (no offense directed at the man who accomplished this feat of course)
But what I'm waiting for...
by
Seinfeld
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· Score: 1
...is someone to achieve a perfect game of Blue Meanies From Outer Space! When will THAT record fall? -----------
-- -----------
If you ever drop your keys into a river of molten lava, forget 'em, because man, they're gone. -- Jack
Re:But what I'm waiting for...
by
bedouin
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· Score: 1
If someone learned how to play that fucking ET game I'd be more impressed.
Classic gaming is real gaming
by
Bojay+Iverson
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· Score: 2
This speaks volumes about the longevity of old, classic arcade and console games. For someone to spend so much time on Pitfall(and recently Pac-Man) to acheive a perfect score is considerably more impressive than a perfect score in Tekken Tag Tournament. Give me Bubble Bobble over Metal Gear Solid any day.
-- Psychos do not explode when the sunlight hits them, I don't care how fucked up they are.
Re:Classic gaming is real gaming
by
Saige
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· Score: 2
For a while, Galaga was the only game in my dorm freshman year. I had never played it before then, but always found a few quarters to pump into the game.
I ended up giving up on it after flipping the score (yes, I didn't use the 2-player trick because I didn't know about it), and running it back around to about 500,000 again. The games just started taking too long.
However, I never did get tired of the Rollergames pinball machine they brought in later. ---
-- "You know your god is man-made when he hates all the same people you do."
Re:Classic gaming is real gaming
by
Skavino
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· Score: 1
I've never said this before, because a lot of other people are doing it, but/. should really check the links and the bandwidth of the server before a story gets posted. There is nothing more annoying than finding an interesting story, only to realize that for whatever reason the information is inaccessible. Be it either because of dead links (as in this case), or the/. effect.
I mean I'm running a small web server (read P100 on a cable modem connection) and I can just imagine what the poor people getting/.-ed are going through.
So please check the links and/or mirror the small sites before posting a story. I mean how hard can that be? And if there is the problem of getting permission from the owner to mirror his site, I know for sure I'd let/. do it, rather than having my whole bandwidth killed...
it's 3 in the morning and it's taken 10 minutes to get 6 comments. While I agree/. should be careful in finding mirrors before posting lowbandwidth sites, this site certainly hasn't been slashdotted... I think it managed to just break itself... I already checked and there is no google cache that I could find... sniff, stupid internet:)
Bomb Jack ruled! I could stand there for hours. At work, we had a Bomb Jack machine and we had to set it to the highest difficulty level so people wouldn't spend all their lunch break with it. Of course, I did anyway.
I agree! The classic games were something special
-- -- jaf
Re:(God I'm old) Game patches
by
lacoste
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· Score: 1
Heh, yep, I remember taking Polaroids of the tv. I think the one I enjoyed getting the most was Activisions Grand Prix patch, there was one for Asteroids as well I think.
--
Vidi Vici Veni
Thanks for the sig
Quick summary
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 1
35 year old Alan Hewston has reputedly scored the perfect game in the classic Atari 2600 version of Pitfall. He had to collect all 32 treasures and rack up the maximum 114,000 points on his first life.
Atari Editor Ron Corcoran commented "it is believed that even game designer David Crane himself, had never accomplished this feat."
There is apparently a longer interview, but we won't be seeing that for a while.
1) Israel has granted Palestinians full citizenship and representation in government, and the Palestinians have agreed that full equality and participation in goverment is fair and just.
2) IBM has perfected holographic memory: data
crystals which consume now power, have an access time of 1ns, and a capacity of 1000TB are in stores near you.
3) Impartial recounts by news services in Florida shows that Gore actually DID win by 350 votes. Bush has agreed that this clearly displays the will of the people and has stepped down in favor of Gore.
4) Slashdot has instituted a news story moderation system. Now the readership can judge which submitted stories are worthy instead of being fed whatever the slashdot editors find amusing at the moment.
Re:And in other, far less signficant news....
by
feeander
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· Score: 1
What do you think happened here? Why else did it get slashdotted so quickly... it's just some guy with a 56k modem and some screenshots doctored in Photoshop.
--
--
Oh babe, I'm good for nothing - Nothing is good enough for me
Re:And in other, far less signficant news....
by
Wire+Tap
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· Score: 2
There was also that time that they posted the story for the (fasle) comapny who claimed to be manufacturing SETI "expansion boards" and selling them to the public. Turns out that due to the huge amount of people/. directed to the (false, but VERY convincing) site, the people who ran the site collected sensitive credit card information. People actually placed orders. Of course, the next day the (false) site confessed that it was a joke. Interesting though, how people took/. with such high regard.
--
Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains.
Re:And in other, far less signficant news....
by
Peter+H.S.
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· Score: 1
Well, I remember something about a "Potato-Powered Web Server" (It was a nifty hoax). It got some coverage by the "serious" press, and was on Slashdot too. I was posted under "funny, laugh", but there was no clue in the story, about it being a hoax. So it was somewhat unclear, whether the funny thing was, that one could actually run a webserver by electricity producing potatos, or Slashdot was taking its reader for a ride.
The recent "Sadam is stockpiling PS2's" was of course, a blatant, astroturfing, Sony marketing ploy. (See The Register). But at least the submitter, said he was unsure whether the story was true or not.
But it wasn't posted under, "funny, laugh"...
Re:And in other, far less signficant news....
by
vaginux
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· Score: 1
I have this 'now power' myself, and am happy to finally find others like me. thank you so much.
:::
--
::: Vaginux.
"eat me".
Re:And in other, far less signficant news....
by
Skavino
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· Score: 1
PeterM was sighted jumping off an 50 story office building...
-- -sig? who said anything about a sig?!
Re:And in other, far less signficant news....
by
DrEldarion
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· Score: 2
I'm sure/. has been fooled, but that's not NEARLY as funny as when some of the people on these forums I post on got half the world to believe that Eminem was dead by creating a fake CNN address...
-- Dr. Eldarion --
Re:And in other, far less signficant news....
by
Elwood+P+Dowd
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· Score: 1
Yeah. Remember when an article was posted about taking a 486 and a Voodoo 1 graphics card & overclocking it using beer and liquor as coolant?
Well, I'd *think* it would be needless to say that it was a hoax....
It was a hoax. --
--
There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
Re:And in other, far less signficant news....
by
Kierthos
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· Score: 3
Actually, this brings up an interesting point... has/. ever been fooled? Has anyone ever managed to get a spoofed "News for Nerds" story posted here? One that has no basis in fact, but sounds plausible and has it's own links to fraudulent but well-built web pages?
On a related note, where could you get new Atari controllers? Does anyone still make them (yeah, its a long shot, but maybe), or do I have to risk it on eBay? All mine are either broken or work intermittantly (halfway through a game it'll decide that I shouldn't go left anymore, or that firing isn't that important).
Anyone play H.E.R.O. for the 2600? For some reason that was the only game that held my interest long enough for me to get a score high enough for the patch. I remember taking a picture of the TV, but the picture came out horribly, and you couldn't read the score. The next time I did it I think I wasted about half a roll of film, just to be sure I'd get a decent picture.
Ahh, memories...
--
Frogs are primitive animals - so the occasional extra toe is not that unusual. But this is very unusual.
Pitfall? Pansy game. I've been working on the Perfect Asteroids game. Yes sir, 14 years, 4 months, 6 days, 7 hours and counting. I haven't actually found the ending yet, but I'm sure that I'm very close and....What?! Where did that alien ship come from? NOOOOOOO!
I think you got it wrong.
by
Cuthalion
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· Score: 1
I think that the biggest problem with the gaming industry today, is that it takes too much resources to make a game, which is why you need to convince someone that it will sell well, which means that tried and true formulae are chosen.
That said, I don't really believe that we're totally without creativity in modern games. There are some different games coming out - The Sims, Fantavision, Black & White.
--
Trees can't go dancing
So do them a big favor
Pretend dancing stinks!
TRS-80 ports, or the next best thing.
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 1
I can't recall whether or not we had a version ported over to the TRS-80 we had at the time.
The TRS-80 Color Computer had legions of devoted fans, lots of talented programmers, and absolutely no chance in the burning brimstone pits of hell of getting licenses for hot properties. Not that this stopped the talented programmers from porting the games anyway.
Which is why most people played Gauntlet, Joust, Donkey Kong, and Pitfall, but CoCo users played Gantelet, Buzzard Bait, Donkey King, and Trapfall (which was a product of Tom Mix Software, for the record).
Re:TRS-80 ports, or the next best thing.
by
Kierthos
·
· Score: 1
First and foremost, bite me.
Second, at the time we had a TRS-80 (16+ years ago), we had dozens of games for it. Most were either on a tape drive (remember those, they were slow as get out, but eerily fun to listen to) or on 5 1/4" disks, usually one game per disk.
We also had an Atari 2600, with several games for it. Chalk it up to early senility or just posting early in the a.m., but I can't recall with clarity what system I played a game on over 16 years ago. I can easily see, 16 years from now, not being able to differentiate what games I played on the myriad consoles available now.
Finally, why wasn't the above comment modded down for trolling??? If he isn't trolling, I'll have to go look up the definition again, I've forgotten it.
Ah, Pitfall 2... My memory is a little fuzzy, but I vaguely remember.
The rat is the first treasure you see and the last one you get. You have to go find the other treasures and you will eventually find the passageway to get him from behind. You will have gone in a complete circle. Placing him at the beginning was such an evil tease.
Of course, there is option 2: cheating. Use an older 2600 (with the toggle-ish switches), place the cartridge in, and power cycle by slowly pushing the power switch on and off until the screen looks messed up. When you've acheived that state, you won't be able to see much on the screen, except the important stuff. Move Harry to the right and he will fall through the floor behind the rat. grab him and move to the next screen. Everything should now be fine, no screen garbage or other errors.
What's really funny is how I found it, moving the power switch back and forth in frustration.
games that take too long
by
abe+ferlman
·
· Score: 1
"TG: Could your skills make you a champion in the ferocious world of 64-bit systems?
Who knows," he responded. "Actually, I don't dislike the new systems, but I like the simplicity of the older games much better. The new consoles have too many buttons, taking too much time to learn,
plus many of the games require many, many hours to play
.
This guy is saying the *new* games take too long to play? Earth to irony...
It's been 18 years and I still remember looking joyously at the Polaroid of my first 20k+ Pitfall game.
Patch never came of course.
My Bossk figure I was supposed to get from mailing in proofs of purchases 22 years ago never came either. But since George Lucas (who in some arcane mystical way was personally responsible for me not receiving it) has gone on to be afflicted with the reputation destroying JarJar disease I guess justice has been served.
As CoCo "classic" hacker/programmer, I'm not proud to say that I used to 'rip' Coco games and cartridges onto tape and floppy.
But these were some fine (and fun) games.
I quit breaking copy protection on games when a buddy of mine came back from the east coast with over 100 floppies for me to checkout/break...90% of them had already been broken--by me. (I was on the west coast)
Any former CoCo users remember my nick? it was on the 'splash' page that loaded on every game that was broken by me. ---
Interested in the Colorado Lottery?
--
Interested in the Colorado Lottery or Powerball games?
check out http://colotto.com
I remember, when I was a wee lad, Pitfall was my favorite game on the 2600. I lived it. And, on one incredible day, when I was probably 12 years old, I scored a 107,000 or so without losing a life. I must've missed a few treasures, because the game kept going and I ended up running out all 20 minutes. Mom & Dad let dinner wait an additional ten minutes or so until I was done. I even took a photo of the TV screen to send it in to the "Pitfall Harry" club... too bad the photo didn't turn out. Man, that was a drag. But I *do* have my brother as witness. And I never even got close to that score again, unfortunately.
-- "Use the force, fool!" -- What Mr. T might say if he was a Jedi Knight.
I wonder if Activision still presents those patches (or were they iron ons?) to people who achieve high scores in their games. Had to take a picture of your television screen and send it to them, and they'd induct you into a club for video game over-achievers and mail you a handsome patch as a reward [allowing 4-6 weeks for delivery]. I'm sure I still have mine somewhere. Maybe I'll dig up my pitfall patch--if anyone deserves it, it's this guy.
Aaarg! The same thing happened to me with Vic-20 Dig Dug. I beat the high score, but my mom left the camera flash on, and the photo turned out useless.
-- Slashdot: come for the pedantry, stay for the condescension.
I had more than 20 Activision games (were by far the best 2600 games made). You have no idea how much I wanted those patches. No matter what, when I took pictures of my TV it would either look totally grey or totally white depending on whether I used the flash or not.
I think I've got my new Ebay quest -- Activision patches!
My best friend and I were successful in at least flipping Asteroids on the 2600, way back 1986 or so.
I recall flipping 2600 Defender over multiple times in a single playing session; the longest I could last was about 8 hours before pins & needles started to set in and I had to get up and walk around:) Much easier than the arcade version, though, so it was no great achievement...
During the sweaty doldrums of a San Joaquin Valley Summer, my friends, siblings, and I began comparing our 2600 Asteroids scores in the single digits. "What was your score?" "A little more than 4 flips."
There is a tradition in my family that the Asteroids cartridge was flawed. After several months, aliens would no longer appear. I think we bought 3 or 4 copies. (This was during the crash when Kmart had carts for like $8 or less)
-- All kings is mostly rapscallions. -Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
My best friend and I were successful in at least flipping Asteroids on the 2600, way back 1986 or so. That's a good enough ending for me. If you're feeling nostalgic now, you can play some really cool Nintendo games right in your Java enabled browser. You can find a link to the site here.
sorry, this is just too rich
by
fleck_99_99
·
· Score: 1
From the article
'' Noting the intensity of the Deca2000 contest and the determination of the players, Mruczek stated, "as you can see, each player's performance caused the other players to rise to the occasion. Without Robert Macauley getting the ball rolling with his score of 111,000, none of us would have reached our full potential." ''
I have no words.
-- seven two six five seven four six one seven two six four two e
Losing life
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 1
Uh.
You have already lost your life if you're having wet dreams of getting a perfect score in a stupid game like Pitfall.
Some flashbacks with images...
by
antdude
·
· Score: 2
I could get a perfect score on Pitfall anytime, or most any game for that matter. Doesn't Stella or any of the other emulators have real-time save? I remember all the games that took many controllers (temper) and hours to beat. I've come back and beat many of them using this in about 30 minutes each. Of course, it was not nearly as fun as actually playing the game.
A perfect game of Arkanoid, one life, all levels... now that would be something.
So someone got a perfect pitfall game. Big fuckin' whoop-te-doo. Just think of all the *interesting* articles you may have submitted that were rejected.
this part is offtopic, but I keep getting that "photon light" ad from thinkgeek. I'll pay someone $25 and a crack rock to bring me the head of the guy who came up with that product name.
-CoG
"And with HIS stripes we are healed"
--
-CoG
"And with HIS stripes we are healed" Handel's "Messiah"
Slashdot Mirror
How does this game looks like ?
(i'm not trolling - i just don't know - there weren't many atari2600s here over the iron courtain)
--
1% APY, No fees, Online Bank https://captl1.co/2uIErYq Don't let your $$$ sit in a no-interest acct.
One thing I've always wondered about Galaga: is it worthwhile to use a captured fighter? I always got my highest scores (not very high) using the single fighter because I would get killed too easily with the double fighter.
Pitfall is sure big enough, though. Read the articles much? 255 "rooms" in Pitfall.
Anybody remember the Supercharger (at least I THINK that's what the name was). It was a tape-drive device for the Atari 2600. You'd stick this cartridge into the 2600, and plug a wire coming out of the back of the cartridge into the headphone jack on a cassette player you supplied, and voila, all of a sudden you could have these huge games that loaded in stages.
Also, I'd like to see Slashdot ban any links to geekporn.com. Not doing so just gives posters ammunition to piss other people off.</sarcasm>
I/O Error G-17: Aborting Installation
Check this out. It's the map...it's freaking huge and it still has blank spots where the guy couldn't go. What a game.
At least where I lived at the time...getting the diamond was the hard part. (well, atleast the first time) You had to jump off these walls and bounce back and forth and land on the right ledge. After that, the hardest part was going up the final stage without getting hit by one of those flying vultures, or whatever they were. I think the diamond gave you 50,000 points, and a perfect score was: 199,000.
Rader
This was the PCjr version of Pitfall II (cartridge game).
That's a bit harder to quantify. There is an unambiguous maximum number of points you can earn in pitfall and many other games of this era. SMB, on the other hand, can be played indefinately if one is allowed the trick of obtaining extra lives by bouncing turtles on the stairs. Even if this sort of thing is not allowed for a perfect game, I don't think there is an unambiguous maximum score.
JET Program: see Japan, meet intere
Here is a Pitfall map for the Intellivision version. As you can see it's quite finite. Here's a far more cryptic ASCII drawing of the Pitfall map for the Atari 2600 version.
That web site is using locked typeface. At high rez, the type is unreadable and the designer has chosen not to let me resize it. That defies the purpose of HTML and cost them another reader.
Well, there was that time they had the story on the new Macs coming out. According to the article, it was supposed to be a...get this...Cube. Nobody believed it for a second. They had these lame, obviously doctored screenshots, and....
:)
Oh, wait. Guess that was true after all
Well, since it DID say that he was married, that should answer that, but it didnt way that he had any kids, now did it? :-)
"See, we plan ahead! That way, we never have to do anything now."
I also had a perfect Pitfall II score, also around 6-8th grade sometime, and it was 199,000. I agree that it's 10 times easier than doing that in the original Pitfall! I think mainly because there was no time limit.
Shut up signal 11.
Saying that those games were somehow better than the games today is like saying grits (pardon the reference) are better than a fillet mingon (or however you spell that damn french word) from a genetically engineered to be plump and juicy cow.
In fact, they're significantly MORE pointless than todays games in that there's no pretty movie or anything for you to watch at the end. And, don't give me that "feeling of accomplishment" bullshit. You could eat the contents of a week old uncleaned port-o-potty, which would probably be very difficult and unpleasant, and come away with about the same benefits as getting a perfect on pitfall (except the port-o-potty scheme is probably slightly more healthy).
-CoG
"And with HIS stripes we are healed"
-CoG
"And with HIS stripes we are healed"
Handel's "Messiah"
Pitfall was great, but Galaga was king. I used to pump $5 a day into that frickin machine and I FINALLY got to the 700,000 mark just to have some tourist show me up in 50c.... kinda made me glad that had more of a life than him though....
Humans are slow, innaccurate, and brilliant; computers are fast, acurrate, and dumb; together they are unbeatable
(in western drawl)You don't come around these here parts much, do ya cowboy?
-CoG
"And with HIS stripes we are healed"
-CoG
"And with HIS stripes we are healed"
Handel's "Messiah"
And just try to get all the emblems in Sonic Adventure...
- I don't care if they globalize against free speech. All my best free thoughts are done in my head.
My only complaint, about the article, is that, the author, uses commas, where they, don't belong.
ChuckleBug
Eric
"Seven Deadly Sins? I thought it was a to-do list!"
Some Sega Genesis controllers are compatible with Atari 2600 consoles, presumably for compatibility with the Sega Master System.
Tetris on drugs, NES music, and GNOME vs. KDE Bingo.
Will I retire or break 10K?
> Reminds me of the Underworld in Ultima V...it was H--U--G--E.
;-)
It was BIG, but not HUGE. I mapped most of it out on graph paper. (Yeah, I was a bored High School student
Hmm, that would be a good project. Make one big bitmap of the whole underground... Thx for the idea !
Looks like someone beat me to the underworld bitmap.
The whole damn site is dead.
> Give me Bubble Bobble over Metal Gear Solid any day.
What you talking about?!
_BOTH_ of those games rock !
Puzzle Bobble (NeoGeo) with 2 people is just a blast as well !
The music and animal sounds were cool, but nothing beat having a bat suck on your face. We traded levels on and off. I couldn't have finished the game without my brother. BTW, we also had Pitfall for the 2600 and played that game to death. He's going to be thrilled to read the story about it.
----
Anyone got a Pitfall 2 map ?
... that would be the ultimate walkthru :-)
:-)
Aside, I would love to have a actual bitmap for the WHOLE map (of Pitfall 1 & 2)
(Anyone else remember when the '80's game magazines would show rows of screenshots all lined up into one continious map?
Go after him. Dig his eye out. Tunnel in through his eye.
--
One more drink, and I'll move on. --Dave Matthews Band
Now I have a Linux bumper sticker, I wear clothes from thinkgeek and copyleft, and yet the babes STILL don't flock around me.
What could it be?
Didn't Pitfall just continue aimlessly with more random similar screens?
Now a perfect Pitfall 2 game, that would be something.
--
enterfornone - logging in for a change
The best way would be simple examination of the data files. In the Ultima 3-5 days I used to sector edit (floppies) stuff onto the maps, like in 4, horses and ships. You could board them and ride/sail away, leaving another behind. It was kinda convenient.
Anyways, I played so much that I could recognize terrain features in the ascii representation as I scrolled by.
I think it's 256 units in each direction, 16x16 map units of 16x16 squares each.
If you're going to do it by playing, then use the gems, it's much easier than walking around looking at all the detail.
But, whatever you do, make sure to note how to travel from one section to another using teleportation, it's really hard to figure out when glancing into gems.
The Quake Done Quick people have beaten Quake in under fifteen minutes.
Tetris on drugs, NES music, and GNOME vs. KDE Bingo.
Will I retire or break 10K?
I'd like to know which Atari joystick Hewston used for his record. Obviously there are MANY crucial situations in this accomplishment where your jump timing needs to be perfect. Button and joystick responsiveness is crucial. What does he or any other Atari gaming professional (I never thought I would use those 3 words together) recommend?
Side note: This story has inspired me to try to find the booklet I kept all my greatest scores in when I was a kid (it's in my parents basement somewhere) and compare them to the current records. I could have sworn that nobody could have ever gotten a higher Pressure Cooker score than me.
From hell's heart I fstab at /dev/hdc
Wait, wait, wait... There was an end to Pitfall!?
The cause for the lack of diversified games is not bob-the coders fault. Its the marketroids and the suits. They find out which kind of arcade/videogame sells the most copies, then mimic that game with a few tweaks.
This annoys me to no end. I went to a dave 'n busters a few weeks ago (the one in the DC area) and they only had two kinds of games. Racing games and gun games, neither of which im very fond of. It was so irritating.
The only new games im enjoying are the dancing ones (dance dance revolution and bust-a-moove/groove) Unfortunatly, the east coast has their head stuck up their ass when it comes to these games, so ive got no clue as to where to find an arcade machine locally. Last I heard there was one in Philly, but thats too far for a daytrip.
And people wonder why the arcade buisness is going to shit. Diversify maaaan!
no
looks like the perfect pitfall fell...
> it's 3 in the morning
... in your timezone. it's late morning here in europe.
--
1% APY, No fees, Online Bank https://captl1.co/2uIErYq Don't let your $$$ sit in a no-interest acct.
16 minutes, 35 seconds. On nightmare difficulty.
:)
12 minutes, 54 seconds on the easiest.
And 59 minutes, 31 seconds with 100% kills and secrets discovered.
Shorter, in fact, than Pitfall.
Not that I could do that, but that's the time the speedrunners at Quake Done Quick achieved...
http://www.planetquake.com/qdq/
Does the emulator work under WinNT? The doc mentions Win95 and Win98, but not NT. The games starts up and runs fine, but locks up shortly after starting (about 1 minute). This happens even if I'm still in the configuartion screens.
Alternatively, is there any other emulator that might work?
My mind works like lightning. One brilliant flash and it is gone.
I remember those! I wouldnt put a new game down until I had beaten the score (I never submitted them because the first time I tried they either didnt send it or it got lost in the mail - talk about crushing a 9-year-old's spirit!) The score for Kaboom! was incredibly tough. I even remember the score you had to beat (3000 pts.) It took over a year of playing and a few sets of worn out paddles, but I finally did it and I was the hero of the neighbourhood kids. Thanks for the pleasant memory.
From hell's heart I fstab at /dev/hdc
For me this is a case of needing to see it to believe it. I tried that about a million times and never got it. If you can link to an mpeg or avi of this feat, I'll believe it but not before.
From hell's heart I fstab at /dev/hdc
Lets not forget, the greatest game ever written... P51.
Head to head combat over a 300 Baud modem connect..
Gotta head over to eBay now... Need P51 fix...
Not everyone deserves a 320i
Ummm... YES.
The doubled firepower allows you to kill a lot more as they're entering the screen, thus making each wave easier. Yes, it's harder to dodge shots, and costs you a life, but the advantages more than make up for it.
Once you get into a rhythm with the double fighter setup, you can go for long periods of time without dying and collecting big points from the challenge stages (which almost require double fighers on). Losing one throws off my rhythm, and usually it's a scramble to redouble quickly or be defeated by the onslaught.
It's not about killing everything carefully, only when worst the most - it's about destroying as much as you can as fast as you can, before they start their diving runs at you which are where they are the deadliest.
---
"You know your god is man-made when he hates all the same people you do."
There was a maximum possible score hinted in the manual, but it seemed impossible to get the correct 25 cards to acheive this. I worked out the highest scoring layout - you needed to obtain 4 Royal flushes, as well as a straight flush involving a 9.
Did anyone manage this, or was the card sequence impossible to obtain?
You didn't think Samba de Amigo, Crazy Taxi, Space Channel 5, or Pokemon had the least bit of originality?
Yeah, it was the Numb Thumb Club; god damn my pathetic ass to the fiery pits of the lowest plane of hell for knowing that after all this time.
Deo
Terradot.org: Growing Awareness
The most interesting part of this article is that this guy complains that games on new-generation consoles take too many hours to play. I wonder how many hours of play it took him to reach that perfect score? Or how many hours he spent playing that Decathalon of games? I can't get over what a bizarre statement that is, "I don't like those new games, they take too long to play. Excuse me while I go log hour 235,846 on my Atari."
My brother got 999,999 and the game stopped. He was, I dunno, maybe 8 or 9 at the time, and this was on an original VCS (not even a 2600 - got it before the switched the naming convention!)
creation science book
It was something like "RedHat press release introduces new Sun-like mouse. Software to be open source. Has optical features like Microsoft mice. Check out the story here." with the "here" link pointing to www.geekporn.com.
Just goes to show you that:
a.) Slashdot will post just about anything without checking the link.
b.) As long as you have elements of Rob's "omelete" (see the faq) you're in.
(Note: after this was posted, the editors seemed to take my normal news posts far more seriously. I think they had to realize that even though the name was "Fervent", it doesn't mean I can't input intelligent stories.)
- I don't care if they globalize against free speech. All my best free thoughts are done in my head.
Very simple. Sneak up behind him.
How do you sneak up behind him? Well, it takes a bit of a trek... but if you got through the whole game you'd find the way just before the end of the game.
I always thought that Pitfall II was way too repetitive, although it did have some cool concepts, like the balloon ride.
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
actually, the link doesn't go anywhere. i clicked it and got a server not found error.
well for one, i didn't know that's what it was. for another, those things don't bother me because i can kill it very quickly.
The TRS-80 Color Computer had legions of devoted fans, lots of talented programmers, and absolutely no chance in the burning brimstone pits of hell of getting licenses for hot properties. Not that this stopped the talented programmers from porting the games anyway.
Well, I wouldn't quite say that... by the time the CoCo 3 came around, there were actually a lot of licenced properties for it. Silpheed, Thexder, Robot Odyssey, Rampage... heck, I've actually still got a copy of Kings Quest III for the CoCo 3 around here somewhere.
There was a big push right around the time of the CoCo 3 to get licenced titles so that the CoCo 3 would be taken reasonably seriously by the market. What ended up killing it, really, was Tandy's decision that the IBM PC was 'where the industry was going', and so they dropped things like the CoCo and the original TRS-80 line to focus on the Tandy 1000, one of the least compatible 'IBM compatibles' ever built. The Deskmate software (an early office suite) almost but not quite made up for the problems. Of course, nowadays, it's not as if Tandy actually makes its own computers anymore, having shot themselves in the foot enough to bleed to death...
-- Bryan Feir
That's truly a classic game.
Remember when his daughter gets turned to stone?
I remember repeatedly taking pictures of my TV screen, only to see the Polaroid come out with the screen seemingly off. I accused my brother of sneaking over and turning the TV off in between button press and picture-take.
Never did get that darned patch.
-----
Good god, man! And I was thrilled the one time I hit 520,000. I always got suspicious when I saw higher scores, because there was no way to tell if the other players used the cheat. More on topic: It's funny how everyone acts like it's an either-or proposition. Either it's classic games that are good, or modern games. Galaga is one of the greatest action video games ever made. But so is Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2. When you get down to it, THPS2 is a great game for the same reason. The game mechanics are really pretty simple, but you always have to make one more run to try and grab a higher score...
slashdot has been fooled many many times...
"A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep." --Saul Belloe
Lot's of players got all 32 treasures. I did (circa 1984 or so). None got a perfect score, though. I mapped the game out, complete with logs, snakes, fires, crocs, and the like, and completed the game right-to-left. For those not familiar with the game, all the obstacles move right-to-left, making that direction easier to achieve.
I don't think the game is all that fun anymore (qualification: I'm 34). It waxes nostalgia for 3-4 minutes. I'd much rather play Ridge Racer V.
For those looking at the maps, it is impossible to finish the game without using the tunnels, which are 3 times as fast as above ground.
----------------------
I am not joking here. When I was 5 years old, playing my older brother's Atari... playing a game called Bezerk (spelling?), I played for 5 hours straight, thinking that there was some kind of ending. Then my older brother told me that the game went on forever. At that moment, that smiley-faced badguy popped into the level and killed me. GAME OVER.
Daddy, me scared. This man be crazy. He be fscked up in the head...
--
+1 Insightful, -1 Troll. What can I say, I'm an Insightful Troll.
Strange that there should be 254, not 256 screens... does this mean there is the possibility of an Easter Egg that has remained dormant all these years?
:)
Also does anyone know how many FPS he was getting?
This is the entire article ripped from the link
.....
here are the pictures from the page
1 2 3 4 5 6
Pitfall Perfection
Classic video games and the Atari 2600, they just go together. Like Pac-Man and The Ghosts, Donkey Kong and Mario, Pitfall and Harry.
Picture this! You are deep in the recesses of a forbidden jungle-an unforgiving place few explorers ever survive. But you've got courage, because you're with Pitfall Harry, the world famous jungle explorer and fortune hunter extraordinaire. The lure of hidden treasure draws you and Harry deeper and deeper into the bush. But, being a great explorer, you wouldn't think of starting such a difficult journey without reading this manual first--very carefully. So opens the Pitfall manual.
Released in 1982 by Activision, Pitfall, for the Atari 2600, was expected to enjoy the usual game marketing cycle: a few months of success, and then retirement on dusty back shelves and bargain bins. Pitfall however, did not follow expected norms.
Pitfall proved to be the best selling video game cartridge of its time in the U.S. and Canada. Holding fast to Billboard magazine's number one video game spot for an astonishing 64 weeks, Pitfall was second only to everyone's favorite dot-chomping yellow circle. Pitfall gained acclaim, and a place in gaming history. With the recent release of Pitfall 3D, it became one of the few games that have enjoyed successive sequels across three decades.
"I knew that there was great potential in 'run, jump, and climb' adventure games, but the result was beyond any expectations. It sold millions of copies, established a new genre of adventure games and spawned hundreds of similar products," said David Crane, Pitfall's creator.
Even at its height in the eighties, few Activision executives imagined that nearly twenty years later gamers around the world would be vying for the prestige of scoring Pitfall's first perfect score. These execs obviously had never heard of Alan Hewston.
Back then he was an avid gamer aspiring to Pitfall greatness. Now, Hewston, 35, is an aerospace engineer working at NASA's John H. Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. As of midnight December 1, 2000, he's also the Pitfall world champion.
As the worldwide authority on player rankings and gaming statistics, Twin Galaxies is charged with the task of verifying all record setting scores. Every score for the Atari, Colecovision, and the consoles that followed, must receive the Twin Galaxies seal of authenticity, before a champion can be enshrined in the gaming Hall of Fame. Ron Corcoran, Twin Galaxies' Worldwide Editor for the Atari and Intellivision systems, is responsible for certifying scores for the upcoming edition of Twin Galaxies' book of gaming world records, "The Official Video Game & Pinball Book Of World Records". Corcoran has authenticated Hewston's perfect score.
The Pitfall record will be honored in Alan's hometown of Parma Heights, Ohio. Mayor Martin Zanotti has been asked to present Alan an award on behalf of Twin Galaxies.
To generate even more excitement around Activision's classic hit, Twin Galaxies has established the "Pitfall Prize," a $150 cash prize, to go to the player who can achieve a perfect game in the fastest time, before the August 31st, 2001 publishing deadline, for the upcoming record book.
But what is a perfect game?
A perfect game, according to Corcoran, occurs when you collect all 32 treasures and score 114,000 points--the maximum points allowed by the game. "It is a very difficult feat to accomplish," explains Corcoran, "since there are over 400 obstacles to overcome, and if any one of them is missed, the game is no longer perfect. Corcoran continued to state that, "it is believed that even game designer David Crane himself, has never accomplished this feat."
Video game historians agree that Crane, did an excellent job of creating and playtesting the game to ensure that a perfect game was possible, but far from probable. So, how did native of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, employed as a rocket scientist, develop the skills that made him the world's best Pitfall player?
Corcoran believes it is due to the enduring charm of the Atari 2600 game system, "Though Atari 2600 gaming has developed into a major hobby over the last two years, Pitfall didn't get its curtain call until last summer, during the Twin Galaxies Atari-Coleco Decathlon. The event challenged players to submit their best scores on ten different games, and brought some of the best in the world to the joystick. Though Pitfall was among the ten games chosen for the August 15-October 15 tilt, no one expected it to be the competition's biggest hit."
"Who's going to get the first perfect score," Was the challenge issued by Robert Mruczek, a contestant in the heralded Deca2000 competition. Pitfall's challenging gameplay sparked the interest of the players and a pennant race was born. Suddenly, Pitfall was the topic of discussion on many Internet sites devoted to classic gaming, and it was almost an absolute necessity that perfection be achieved. By the time the Deca2000 was over, an intense support community for Pitfall fans seemed to develop. The record hung in the balance.
"Initially," said Alan, "there were about five of us going neck and neck, including Ron Corcoran, Robert Macauley, Robert Mruczek, Stephen Knox and myself. Mruczek, who is a far better player than most of the rest of us, should have won. But then I found a sequence of jumps that allowed me to save 10 seconds at the start of the game, a bit of knowledge that enabled me to finish the game ten seconds earlier than my previous record, which I was able to turn into a winning strategy."
The Deca2000 competition ended without anyone scoring a perfect game, even though collecting all but one of the treasures gave Alan a new world record. A week later, Macauley jumped out in front, becoming the first player in history, with the possible exception of David Crane himself, to get all 32 treasures. Unfortunately for Macauley, the new world record of 113,805 points he attained at that time fell just short of a perfect score. Then, right after the Deca2000 was over, Mruczek, coming very close to a perfect game several times, got all 32 treasures but kept making one mistake, resulting in his best score coming in at 113,995 points; a mere 5 points shy of the perfect score.
At the same time, Alan was also busy treasure hunting. He collected all 32, but nicked a log, thereby finishing with an almost-perfect score of 113,998 points. With that score, the 10 seconds he saved at the beginning of the game translated into a finish time that allowed 38 seconds spared, becoming a new world record - the fastest time, in a single game of Pitfall.
The competition continued fiercely, and perfection became the obsession. The desire reached its pinnacle when top players would actually quit the game and start again if they happened to make a mistake. "It was pointless to continue onward, since anything less than a perfect score was meaningless," said Corcoran.
Noting the intensity of the Deca2000 contest and the determination of the players, Mruczek stated, "as you can see, each player's performance caused the other players to rise to the occasion. Without Robert Macauley getting the ball rolling with his score of 111,000, none of us would have reached our full potential."
Alan recalls the difficulties encountered during the contest, "All of us became very frustrated, vying for this perfect game. But we knew that it was indeed possible. We all wanted to be the first to record a perfect game, but we also hoped that someone would do it soon. I had given up for a while, until I discussed game strategies with Tim Roach, a friend at work. Tim's encouragement provided a fresh look, and a chance to see if a proposed set of jumps may be possible. It was extremely difficult, and even when I proved that it could be done, it still took me over a dozen games to get it right. Knowing that I had saved 10 precious seconds, I just had to try again."
The discovery of the winning trick came to Alan, while watching videotapes of his gaming. "At Mruczek's advice, I began connecting the game to my VCR, recording and watching my game film so I could spot mistakes. "I still think Robert should have won. But the new trick saved me an additional ten seconds. Ten seconds that added up to the win."
It took only a few more tries, before Alan got his perfect game. "I would play the first 10 minutes aggressively," he reveals, "and then, if the game is still flawless, relax and take my time for the rest of the game. Knowing that I had 38 seconds remaining in my previous best effort, I knew that I had perfection in my sights."
Twin Galaxies caught up with Alan at his NASA office, and picked his Pitfall brain.
Twin Galaxies: Is the Atari 2600 the only game system you play?
Alan: Though I own 20 game systems, 10 of them classic, I focus mainly on the Commodore 64 and Atari 2600. My devotion to classic gaming goes back many years. In fact, it was the only thing that allowed me to keep my sanity during my college years. Whenever my academic workload became overwhelming, my Commodore 64 and Atari 2600 provided a refreshing sanctuary far away from the worries of the day.
Even today my fascination for the Atari 2600 continues to permeate my daily life, as evidenced by the writing assignments I have received from the monthly on-line magazine, The Retrogaming Times, which focuses on the classic game systems of the early 1980s.
I have become a regular on The Retrogaming Times staff and this coming month I'm writing an article titled "The Many Faces of River Raid." There's no better way to master a game than to write about it. And, with a collection of 1400 game cartridges to choose from, I have a never-ending variety of potential topics.
TG: Do you think there will be any new discoveries by future Pitfall players that will allow the best-time to be improved?
Alan: No, the game is now completely researched and exploited. Now, it's just a question of going as fast as possible without mistakes. There are only 255 rooms (also called jungle scenes) in the game and players have already mapped the best possible route through the game to get a perfect score with all 32 treasures collected. My path is the most efficient path. Going left takes me through only 198 of the rooms, giving me the fastest time possible. Now it's just a question of executing perfectly without bumping into things. If anything hits you, you lose points.
Pitfall is a dodge-'em game, a one-dimensional odyssey that takes, Pitfall Harry, through an aboveground maze and a complicated system of underground tunnels, all the while avoiding obstacles that can slow you down, and detract from the final score.
There's a rhythm to the game, too. Though some of the obstacles are permanently placed throughout the game, others appear to be synched up to your progress through the maze or to the game timer. If you get out of sync, you lose time. You have to stay in rhythm to get a perfect game.
TG: Do all the players use the same strategies?
Alan: Essentially, all the players use the same strategies, but we're just going in opposite directions as the jungle wraps around, from one end to the other. Except for the first tunnel, we all use nearly the same tunnel route, because it is known which lead to the treasures. However, I go left and Robert and Ron go right.
Many tunnels terminate in dead ends so you have to find which ones you should use. Long ago, Pitfall players discovered which path was the best to take, and, once the correct route was established, top players seldom deviated from this path. You have to map out all 255 rooms to know which way to go. I have my map laid out on a spreadsheet, even though I cannot afford to look at it while playing. I recommend that players either memorize their path, like the top players do, or write done a few notes to remind them which tunnel to take. I taped a set of brief instructions to my TV to consult while playing. However, I can only afford to take a quick glance. It's like driving with white knuckles for 20 minutes.
Gameplay is only one-dimensional, allowing movement to the right or left. Robert takes the more challenging route by going to the right, which may yield a quicker time. I, on the other hand, choose the left direction since the obstacles are a bit easier to overcome. The chosen path is the same for both of us even though we are going in opposite directions.
TG: Could your skills make you a champion in the ferocious world of 64-bit systems?
Who knows," he responded. "Actually, I don't dislike the new systems, but I like the simplicity of the older games much better. The new consoles have too many buttons, taking too much time to learn, plus many of the games require many, many hours to play.
TG: What's the next chapter in Pitfall's amazing history?
Alan: Everybody's excited about the new Twin Galaxies award promised to the player who achieves a perfect game in the fastest time. However, in addition to focusing on the Twin Galaxies contest, a perfect score on Pitfall 2 comes next. All the players are vying to be the first perfect champion on that game, too. Interestingly, Pitfall 1 and Pitfall 2 are now on nearly all major classic video game systems and, recently, Pitfall was revised and re-released for the current generation of game platforms, including the PC.
TG: What happens now, after your amazing accomplishment?
Alan: By the final week of the Deca2000, all the contestants were in their own universes, focusing on the ten games, trying to win. I finished in fourth place, behind Ron, Robert and Steve. But when the contest was over, I got my family back. Or, I should say they got me back. My wife told me she was glad to have me back home again.
I think that's only the end of the first half of the game. Isn't there a second half in which the whole game ends with the hero climbing up a snake coming out of a basket to the tune of a flute?
500 bucks that some kid scored a perfect game back when the game was new. If these guys can just decide to do it and get it done in a few monthes, then some kid back in the day easily could have decided to do it himself.
According to this page Paul Graber got a first before the person mentioned on /.'s article.
Here is what he wrote.
From: Paul Graber
Whew!!
I can't believe I did it! I got a perfect 114,000 on pitfall. It can be done. I got all 32 treasures with 40 secs left on the clock! the game just stops when you get the last treasure. Maybe I am the first to do this. I doubt it. Anyway here is how I did it.
First start out by going right to the 7th screen where the first gold bar is. Then immediately go back to the left and run right into the snake on the next screen left. Yes this loses a life but you will appear on the left and save you about 5secs instead of waiting for the rope to come back. Since I had 40 secs left at the end I guess this did not mean much but I wanted every sec. I could get. Okay keep going left and make sure you can take the rope after the alligators immediately. Go all the way to your original starting point.
Take the ladder and go left. Upon exit go left until you come to the second left ladder, a ladder which will let you go left. Then upon exit go right until you come to the diamond. Go left till you come to the second left ladder after the diamond. Upon exit, go left and you will come to a bunch of treasures including 2 diamonds and 2 gold bars. After the last gold bar take the first left ladder you come to and go left obviously. Upon exit go left until you get 69,000 points. Then take the next left ladder you come to and go left. When you exit go right 3 screens to get a money bag and then it's back left for the rest of the game.
The last treasure you will get is the gold bar which is the second gold bar you come to if you start right in the begining of the game. All this sound confusing? Sorry but it is the best I can do to explain it. Now it is important to try and hit every vine and vanishing pond exactly with no wait that you can. This will save you about 4-5 secs each time. It took me a couple of days to finally do it but I did. E-Mail me if you still have questions.
Good Luck!!
Might be time to fire up Xmame again... I wonder how long the current originality dry spell is going to last. These days they seem to roll the cookie cutter games from the same 3 class libraries. I can just imagine what it must be like in the depths of Capcom or Sega... "What are we programming today Bob?" "Hmm. How about a racing game? Check out the racing class library and lets see if we can crank it out before lunch."
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
James, you're a sad loser.
____________________
Ni!
(i can see it now.. icq message from CmdrTaco... so you're the one who's been posting those.. your ip has been logged, you will be assimilated. muahahaha..) heh. *clears throat.. eeehhhhrrrrmm..* anyways.
-sig? who said anything about a sig?!
Jump over the rat, so that you land on top of him, stepping on his tail. If you do it right, the rat disappears and you collect the points for him. Do it wrong and you get to try again as the rat pushes your jumping self back.
you can get the ROM here and an emulator here. Of course, I thought missile command was the best 2600 game. Btw to get the emulator to work you need to hit F10, select "configure controllers" then "keyboard" and press "up" on your keyboard, select "joystick" and then "up" and repeat for each key you want to use on your keyboard. Why there is no default keyboard config, I don't know.
How we know is more important than what we know.
You know, that may have been it. I know we had "Donkey King" on the TRS-80... and a Joust ripoff (it wasn't called Buzzard Bait, as I recall) and Trapfall sounds very familiar...
Kierthos
Mr. Hu is not a ninja.
the babes STILL don't flock around me.
What could it be?
flock(2) is a BSD system call, perhaps the babes aren't BSD derived. If the babes are portable, they'll use fcntl(2).
You can find a few of them on ebay
Did anyone ever win the first Gauntlet? That game was a real bitch. If you went through to certain levels there was no way to advance...
The banner above the gifs is even larger!!!!
Revolution = Evolution
Yeah, but that music was so annoying and repetitive that I can still remember it. In fact, it gets stuck in my head over, and over again....
Doo, doo, de-de-dooooo. De-doo, doo, doo, doo....
I'd rather have someone respond than be modded up.
...Would our generation prefer to attempt this playing Super Mario Bros. or Contra? (Or The Legend of Zelda, or....)
Ten seconds with google brought me: http://members.tripod.com/~PitfallHarry/Pitfall2Ma nual/Pitfall2Map.gif
There was this story, where OldManMurray was claiming to sue ID for unauthorized use of their image in QuakeIII Arena.
Let's not forget the time, a few weeks back, when some sleazoid marketer managed to post a "hey, is this deal too good to be true" request regarding a cheapass DVD player.
Some guy was offering to stop by the actual offices of the sleazy company. I'm wondering what happened -- was it an apartment, or a real office? Did you get a picture?
--
--
Don't like it? Respond with words, not karma.
Monsters! Monsters! They're Monsters! Need more proof? Look at the 2nd intermission (after the 1st apple). The red monster (Shadow) rips his robe on the nail! You can even see the foot under there! It's a monster! Not a ghost!
The whole "ghost" mantra was the result of crappy home console implementations of Pac-Man where the video hardware, specifically the Atari 2600, could not simultaneously display 5 sprites (pacman + 4 monsters) simultaneously. The 2600 could do 2 sprites. So the pacman was one sprite, while the 4 monsters were draws every 4th frame. This gave them a flickering effect. Atari is notorious for making up bullshit explanations to explain away hardware limitations. So Atari, in the 2600 Pac-Man documentation called them "ghosts". Pure, 100%, poly-unsaturated, grade A, olympic class bullshit!
Other Atarisms: In Defender, when you press 'fire', the sprite for your ship is used to draw the laser beam. So your ship disappears when you fire. Hardware limitation. But the 2600 docs explain it as "...your ship requires so much power to fire, that it temporarily moves into hyperspace..." Bullshit! Bullshit! and more bullshit!
I wonder if today in 2000 someone could actually program a decent version of Pac Man for 2600, something that at least resembles the original. I remember when I got Pac Man home, out of the little orange box and into my Atari, I immediately thought "this sucks." I mean, the sounds weren't even close to the original -- it was like an entirely different game.
At least I had a c64 . .
I finally bought an XE1541 cable for my c64 a couple weeks ago. It was kind of weird to be playing Pitfall for c64 on a disk, since when I was a kid I had it on cartridge. I think the best port of Pitfall was on the c64, were there any better versions in peoples' opinions? The c64 really killed a lot of consoles at the time.
Well I got over 650,000 points on Megamania! Emulated at full speed using Stella for 32-bit Windows on a 750 MHz Athlon system. See if you can beat that!
Now, if only I can find that screen shot, I'll put it online...
That's skill baby!
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
i believe the seti@home hoax would qualify, no?
So like, was there are point to reporting this or are there just teasing us? Do I have to buy the video on Ebay or has someone divx'd it and put it online?
How we know is more important than what we know.
My .02,
My .02,
zencode
iactivist.org/jason
Anyone find that "wife" bit at the end at least moderately amusing? It was as if twingalaxies was trying to slip in a "really, you're not losers!" (no offense directed at the man who accomplished this feat of course)
...is someone to achieve a perfect game of Blue Meanies From Outer Space! When will THAT record fall?
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If you ever drop your keys into a river of molten lava, forget 'em, because man, they're gone. -- Jack
This speaks volumes about the longevity of old, classic arcade and console games. For someone to spend so much time on Pitfall(and recently Pac-Man) to acheive a perfect score is considerably more impressive than a perfect score in Tekken Tag Tournament. Give me Bubble Bobble over Metal Gear Solid any day.
Psychos do not explode when the sunlight hits them, I don't care how fucked up they are.
Apparently the link is broken...
/. should really check the links and the bandwidth of the server before a story gets posted. There is nothing more annoying than finding an interesting story, only to realize that for whatever reason the information is inaccessible. Be it either because of dead links (as in this case), or the /. effect.
/.-ed are going through.
/. do it, rather than having my whole bandwidth killed...
I've never said this before, because a lot of other people are doing it, but
I mean I'm running a small web server (read P100 on a cable modem connection) and I can just imagine what the poor people getting
So please check the links and/or mirror the small sites before posting a story. I mean how hard can that be? And if there is the problem of getting permission from the owner to mirror his site, I know for sure I'd let
If I were a moderator you would have my vote.
That was definitly (+3, Funny) at least.
Bomb Jack ruled! I could stand there for hours. At work, we had a Bomb Jack machine and we had to set it to the highest difficulty level so people wouldn't spend all their lunch break with it. Of course, I did anyway.
I agree! The classic games were something special
-- jaf
Heh, yep, I remember taking Polaroids of the tv. I think the one I enjoyed getting the most was Activisions Grand Prix patch, there was one for Asteroids as well I think.
Vidi Vici Veni
Thanks for the sig
35 year old Alan Hewston has reputedly scored the perfect game in the classic Atari 2600 version of Pitfall. He had to collect all 32 treasures and rack up the maximum 114,000 points on his first life. Atari Editor Ron Corcoran commented "it is believed that even game designer David Crane himself, had never accomplished this feat." There is apparently a longer interview, but we won't be seeing that for a while.
1) Israel has granted Palestinians full citizenship and representation in government, and the Palestinians have agreed that full equality and participation in goverment is fair and just.
2) IBM has perfected holographic memory: data
crystals which consume now power, have an access time of 1ns, and a capacity of 1000TB are in stores near you.
3) Impartial recounts by news services in Florida shows that Gore actually DID win by 350 votes. Bush has agreed that this clearly displays the will of the people and has stepped down in favor of Gore.
4) Slashdot has instituted a news story moderation system. Now the readership can judge which submitted stories are worthy instead of being fed whatever the slashdot editors find amusing at the moment.
On a related note, where could you get new Atari controllers? Does anyone still make them (yeah, its a long shot, but maybe), or do I have to risk it on eBay? All mine are either broken or work intermittantly (halfway through a game it'll decide that I shouldn't go left anymore, or that firing isn't that important).
Touche. Though 4 of the 5 I've never heard of...
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Ahh, memories...
Frogs are primitive animals - so the occasional extra toe is not that unusual. But this is very unusual.
Ah, Berzerk! I used to play that game all the time! I was only about 3 or so, and my uncle had an Atari 2600. Man, those were the days...
Pitfall? Pansy game. I've been working on the Perfect Asteroids game. Yes sir, 14 years, 4 months, 6 days, 7 hours and counting. I haven't actually found the ending yet, but I'm sure that I'm very close and....What?! Where did that alien ship come from? NOOOOOOO!
I think that the biggest problem with the gaming industry today, is that it takes too much resources to make a game, which is why you need to convince someone that it will sell well, which means that tried and true formulae are chosen.
That said, I don't really believe that we're totally without creativity in modern games. There are some different games coming out - The Sims, Fantavision, Black & White.
Trees can't go dancing
So do them a big favor
Pretend dancing stinks!
The TRS-80 Color Computer had legions of devoted fans, lots of talented programmers, and absolutely no chance in the burning brimstone pits of hell of getting licenses for hot properties. Not that this stopped the talented programmers from porting the games anyway.
Which is why most people played Gauntlet, Joust, Donkey Kong, and Pitfall, but CoCo users played Gantelet, Buzzard Bait, Donkey King, and Trapfall (which was a product of Tom Mix Software, for the record).
Ah, Pitfall 2... My memory is a little fuzzy, but I vaguely remember.
The rat is the first treasure you see and the last one you get. You have to go find the other treasures and you will eventually find the passageway to get him from behind. You will have gone in a complete circle. Placing him at the beginning was such an evil tease.
Of course, there is option 2: cheating. Use an older 2600 (with the toggle-ish switches), place the cartridge in, and power cycle by slowly pushing the power switch on and off until the screen looks messed up. When you've acheived that state, you won't be able to see much on the screen, except the important stuff. Move Harry to the right and he will fall through the floor behind the rat. grab him and move to the next screen. Everything should now be fine, no screen garbage or other errors.
What's really funny is how I found it, moving the power switch back and forth in frustration.
- plus many of the games require many, many hours to play
.This guy is saying the *new* games take too long to play? Earth to irony...
bryguy
microsoftword.mp3 - it doesn't care that they're not words...
Patch never came of course.
My Bossk figure I was supposed to get from mailing in proofs of purchases 22 years ago never came either. But since George Lucas (who in some arcane mystical way was personally responsible for me not receiving it) has gone on to be afflicted with the reputation destroying JarJar disease I guess justice has been served.
As CoCo "classic" hacker/programmer, I'm not proud to say that I used to 'rip' Coco games and cartridges onto tape and floppy.
But these were some fine (and fun) games.
I quit breaking copy protection on games when a buddy of mine came back from the east coast with over 100 floppies for me to checkout/break...90% of them had already been broken--by me. (I was on the west coast)
Any former CoCo users remember my nick? it was on the 'splash' page that loaded on every game that was broken by me.
---
Interested in the Colorado Lottery?
Interested in the Colorado Lottery or Powerball games?
check out http://colotto.com
I was talking about the C64 versions. But the article is talking about Atari 2600
--
enterfornone - logging in for a change
I remember, when I was a wee lad, Pitfall was my favorite game on the 2600. I lived it. And, on one incredible day, when I was probably 12 years old, I scored a 107,000 or so without losing a life. I must've missed a few treasures, because the game kept going and I ended up running out all 20 minutes. Mom & Dad let dinner wait an additional ten minutes or so until I was done. I even took a photo of the TV screen to send it in to the "Pitfall Harry" club ... too bad the photo didn't turn out. Man, that was a drag. But I *do* have my brother as witness. And I never even got close to that score again, unfortunately.
"Use the force, fool!" -- What Mr. T might say if he was a Jedi Knight.
I wonder if Activision still presents those patches (or were they iron ons?) to people who achieve high scores in their games. Had to take a picture of your television screen and send it to them, and they'd induct you into a club for video game over-achievers and mail you a handsome patch as a reward [allowing 4-6 weeks for delivery]. I'm sure I still have mine somewhere. Maybe I'll dig up my pitfall patch--if anyone deserves it, it's this guy.
Anyone remember these? Anyone?
My best friend and I were successful in at least flipping Asteroids on the 2600, way back 1986 or so.
:) Much easier than the arcade version, though, so it was no great achievement...
I recall flipping 2600 Defender over multiple times in a single playing session; the longest I could last was about 8 hours before pins & needles started to set in and I had to get up and walk around
deus does not exist but if he does
There is a tradition in my family that the Asteroids cartridge was flawed. After several months, aliens would no longer appear. I think we bought 3 or 4 copies. (This was during the crash when Kmart had carts for like $8 or less)
All kings is mostly rapscallions. -Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Penguins love Dig-Dug. The Linux Pimp
--It's Pimptastic!--
From the article '' Noting the intensity of the Deca2000 contest and the determination of the players, Mruczek stated, "as you can see, each player's performance caused the other players to rise to the occasion. Without Robert Macauley getting the ball rolling with his score of 111,000, none of us would have reached our full potential." '' I have no words.
seven two six five
seven four six one seven
two six four two e
You have already lost your life if you're having wet dreams of getting a perfect score in a stupid game like Pitfall.
Some screen shots and images of Pitfall games. :)
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Pitfall shmitfall. What I wanna know is whether this particular feller can get a perfect 100 kills in a row without gimping his arm in Bushido Blade?
I can claim that
however I don't need a damn website
"When I look back, my life is not a foreign country, it's more like a library book returned long ago." - ????
I could get a perfect score on Pitfall anytime, or most any game for that matter. Doesn't Stella or any of the other emulators have real-time save? I remember all the games that took many controllers (temper) and hours to beat. I've come back and beat many of them using this in about 30 minutes each. Of course, it was not nearly as fun as actually playing the game. A perfect game of Arkanoid, one life, all levels... now that would be something.
At least you don't need to be a rocket scientist to do that.
So, how did native of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, employed as a rocket scientist, develop the skills that made him the world's best Pitfall player?
Oh darn...
Special Relativity: The person in the other queue thinks yours is moving faster.
Anyone have examples of these old video game patches? I don't think I have ever seen one before even though I owned an Atari 2600!
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
How do you get past the rat?
:(((((((
I'm not seeing how that was a troll.
So someone got a perfect pitfall game. Big fuckin' whoop-te-doo. Just think of all the *interesting* articles you may have submitted that were rejected.
this part is offtopic, but I keep getting that "photon light" ad from thinkgeek. I'll pay someone $25 and a crack rock to bring me the head of the guy who came up with that product name.
-CoG
"And with HIS stripes we are healed"
-CoG
"And with HIS stripes we are healed"
Handel's "Messiah"