Well, so much for keeping up to date with my blog. Ah well, better late than never...although some may disagree;-)

Pitfall! is the first of my two latest Patch conquests (worry not, my blog entry on the latter -Seaquest - will swiftly follow!) Would it be fair to say that Pitfall! is the Activision Atari game of which general videogame fans are most aware? It was certainly the only one I was certain of before finding myself on my Quest for the Activision Patches. With this in mind, I was going to save the playing of Pitfall! for my final conquest, as a kind of season finale, so to speak, but, well, I recently got a good deal on the boxed cartridge, and it just seemed to be calling out to me like a…Screaming Piha. This is a very loud jungle bird. I looked it up.

I have dabbled in Pitfall! over the years. It’s a game I’ve always wanted to ‘beat’, as it were, as I knew Pitfall! has that that complete…able thing inherent to adventure games which followed in its illustrious wake. You know, Zelda…and stuff. Until the boxed cart deal, I’ve always played Pitfall! via emulator, and often on my phone, while waiting outside of shops for Mrs F, only breaking off to occasionally nod at other husbands who had also found themselves out in the cold. Sometimes not just literally. But - and I’m embarrassed to even type this - I could never really feel the pleasures of Pitfall! However, as with all games which are highly regarded but which I don’t initially like, I assumed it was just me, and so kept dabbling – outside of a haberdasher in the rain here, in the doorway of a shoe shop in the snow there, and so on. It took playing on the real hardware – again (see earlier blog) - to show me how stupid I’d been! I know, I really should know by now. With a real controller in my hands, I could sink into Pitfall!, I could feel myself fully enveloped in the adventure. I became Pitfall Harry!

As you can see, though, I’m a cautious adventurer. I don’t jump until I’m as certain as I can be that I’m going to reach the rope, and I can never bring myself to jump over three crocodiles in swift, fluid movements. I instead stand on their heads and wait. And wait. And wait. And…when the crocs close their ever-so-formidable looking mouths, I finally make my move! I know that this is an approach that will cost me dearly if I ever try to get all 32 treasures, but for now, I’m just happy that it helped me get the Patch.

The lesson here? If you want to feel that wonderful buzz of success, always keep your aspirations low!

You can watch my Pitfall! adventure here:)