Bill Loguidice Posted May 12, 2009 Share Posted May 12, 2009 Frankly in a world with "Super Mario Bros.", a new Pitfall! game, 7800 or not, would not have made a bit of difference. In speaking with Crane, he seems to have some bitterness towards "Super Mario Bros.", but it really did up the ante on a lot of things. Nevertheless, Pitfall II was quite an achievement on the 2600 and it would have been nice to see a talented engineer like Crane get his hands on the 7800 with an in-cartridge POKEY, particularly since his most impressive technical work was always for the 2600, and the 7800 had enough similarities where it probably could have been well exploited by him. The crash would have never have happened though for him to even consider touching the 7800, which was always a third option at the time at best... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcjakeqcool Posted May 15, 2009 Share Posted May 15, 2009 I think that Atari should have made a clone of Super Mario Bros, and pushed it against the NES, of coarse, post 2600, Atari never pushed anything against any console, what so ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted May 15, 2009 Share Posted May 15, 2009 I think that Atari should have made a clone of Super Mario Bros, and pushed it against the NES, of coarse, post 2600, Atari never pushed anything against any console, what so ever. Atari obviously wasn't capable, otherwise it would have been done. The years later Scrapyard Dog certainly wasn't it. The other issue was one of cartridge capacity. Atari wasn't willing to put in pokey chips in cartridges, let alone go to the bigger cartridge capacities necessary to create games of greater capacity a la Super Mario Bros. (and all things considered, the capacity of Super Mario Bros. was relatively trivial compared to later releases). Atari being unwilling to invest much in the system didn't do the 7800 any favors. Along those same lines, it's interesting to consider what Atari created first party for the Jaguar. With few exceptions, they never did well with creating "large" (in scope) games, which was one of a seemingly endless number of reasons the Jaguar failed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoyx Posted May 15, 2009 Share Posted May 15, 2009 I think that Atari should have made a clone of Super Mario Bros, and pushed it against the NES, of coarse, post 2600, Atari never pushed anything against any console, what so ever. Well, there was Bug Hunt with Atari's version of a light gun. Came packed with the XEGS. Not nearly as fun as Duck Hunt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynxpro Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 I would love to see the C64 port of Pitfall II brought over to the 7800 complete with graphics and pokey sound... Of course, the ultimate dream would be Pitfall and Pitfall II for the 7800 on one cart -Trebor EDIT: The only thing to surpass the ultimate dream is all the above with the inclusion of the 8-bit/5200 2nd mission/game of Pitfall II included as well! This is a blasphemous suggestion... Port the game to the 7800 but use SID chips from garage sale C64s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianC Posted March 27, 2010 Share Posted March 27, 2010 (edited) Frankly in a world with "Super Mario Bros.", a new Pitfall! game, 7800 or not, would not have made a bit of difference. In speaking with Crane, he seems to have some bitterness towards "Super Mario Bros.", but it really did up the ante on a lot of things. Nevertheless, Pitfall II was quite an achievement on the 2600 and it would have been nice to see a talented engineer like Crane get his hands on the 7800 with an in-cartridge POKEY, particularly since his most impressive technical work was always for the 2600, and the 7800 had enough similarities where it probably could have been well exploited by him. The crash would have never have happened though for him to even consider touching the 7800, which was always a third option at the time at best... Crane did touch the 7800 with that Super Skateboardin' game, but it generally gets mixed reviews and seems to be mediocre. I was surprised that David Crane worked on Bart Simpson Escape from Camp Deadly for the b/w GB. yikes! David Crane is a talented programmer and his Pitfall games are awesome, but some of his other stuff is a mixed bag. I honestly don't know if a Pitfall III would have been as good as the other two. Edited March 27, 2010 by BrianC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZylonBane Posted March 27, 2010 Share Posted March 27, 2010 David Crane is a talented programmer and his Pitfall games are awesome, but some of his other stuff is a mixed bag. I honestly don't know if a Pitfall III would have been as good as the other two. You realize there was a third Pitfall game, right? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRGilbert Posted March 27, 2010 Share Posted March 27, 2010 (edited) David Crane is a talented programmer and his Pitfall games are awesome, but some of his other stuff is a mixed bag. I honestly don't know if a Pitfall III would have been as good as the other two. You realize there was a third Pitfall game, right? I can beat that, how about Super Pitfall for the NES releases in 1987. From what I hear, you aren't missing much. Funny, I have it and have never tried it! Edited March 27, 2010 by SRGilbert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Underball Posted March 27, 2010 Share Posted March 27, 2010 And who can forget this piece of shit? But I'd still like to see a PROPER "Pitfall III" for the 7800 that is a logical extension of/sequel to the first two for the Atari 2600. That's what he was asking for, regardless of the stupid semantic argument Zylontroll want's to make. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRGilbert Posted March 27, 2010 Share Posted March 27, 2010 But I'd still like to see a PROPER "Pitfall III" for the 7800 that is a logical extension of/sequel to the first two for the Atari 2600. That's what he was asking for, regardless of the stupid semantic argument Zylontroll want's to make. I guess the obvious point I'd make is that there have been Pitfall sequels on superior hardware than the 2600, and they all had two things in common. One, they weren't designed by David Crane, and two, they ALL sucked! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Underball Posted March 27, 2010 Share Posted March 27, 2010 But I'd still like to see a PROPER "Pitfall III" for the 7800 that is a logical extension of/sequel to the first two for the Atari 2600. That's what he was asking for, regardless of the stupid semantic argument Zylontroll want's to make. I guess the obvious point I'd make is that there have been Pitfall sequels on superior hardware than the 2600, and they all had two things in common. One, they weren't designed by David Crane, and two, they ALL sucked! And three: they weren't sequels. They were "revisionings" like that awful garbage Rob Zombie tried to do with his update to John Carpenter's Halloween, which really didn't need to be done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRGilbert Posted March 27, 2010 Share Posted March 27, 2010 But I'd still like to see a PROPER "Pitfall III" for the 7800 that is a logical extension of/sequel to the first two for the Atari 2600. That's what he was asking for, regardless of the stupid semantic argument Zylontroll want's to make. I guess the obvious point I'd make is that there have been Pitfall sequels on superior hardware than the 2600, and they all had two things in common. One, they weren't designed by David Crane, and two, they ALL sucked! And three: they weren't sequels. They were "revisionings" like that awful garbage Rob Zombie tried to do with his update to John Carpenter's Halloween, which really didn't need to be done. I'm not sure what qualifies them as "reinvisionings" and not sequels. It's pretty clear to me that the intention is that Harry is the same guy, or in some cases it's Harry Jr. Just because there isn't a linear story line between them doesn't mean they aren't connected. You could say that about the Indiana Jones series, up until the last one, there was very little continuity between them, and what there was in KotCS felt very forced anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZylonBane Posted March 27, 2010 Share Posted March 27, 2010 I'm not sure what qualifies them as "reinvisionings" and not sequels. It's Underball... rational thinking isn't really his strong suit. So yeah, there have been lots of adequate-to-awful Pitfall sequels, but he's taking a nae-true-Scotsman approach to what constitutes a PROPER sequel, using god only knows what internal metrics. Like most Activision games, Pitfall and Pitfall II weren't particularly revolutionary when they came out. They were just very well executed. And since then, subsequent games have thoroughly explored side-scrolling, jungle-exploring, monster-hopping, treasure-gathering, and rope-swinging, often to the point of exhaustion. So as far as sequels go, Pitfall no longer has anything unique to offer from a gameplay perspective. It just has the name. Hell, the Uncharted games could star Pitfall Harry for all the difference it would make. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianC Posted March 29, 2010 Share Posted March 29, 2010 (edited) David Crane is a talented programmer and his Pitfall games are awesome, but some of his other stuff is a mixed bag. I honestly don't know if a Pitfall III would have been as good as the other two. You realize there was a third Pitfall game, right? "I honestly don't know if a Pitfall III made by David Crane would have been as good as the other two" wasn't said because that's stating the obvious. The internet is a funny place, it's impossible to say something without someone making assumptions based only on minor semantics. Anyway, those later Pitfall games were different in feel from the original, with none of the original staff involved. Super Pitfall was from Micronics, a company notorious for poor programming and glitchy games. Pitfall the Mayan Adventure is another one of those unoriginal games made to look like a cartoon. From what I have tried, Sega may have done a good job with their arcade and SG-1000 takes on Pitfall, though. My point was completely missed as well. The point was that David Crane often made mediocre games and crap like Escape from Camp Deadly. He's involved with Skyworks now, which also makes some crap games. I checked the credits at MobyGames and he was actually involved with some March of the Penguins games (which I heard is terrible). Skyworks' track record is lousy, as well. Edited March 29, 2010 by BrianC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoyx Posted March 29, 2010 Share Posted March 29, 2010 Someone could hack Pitfall Harry into Keystone Kapers. Pitfall! III : Mall Adventure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rik Posted March 29, 2010 Share Posted March 29, 2010 (edited) To me,any Pitfall sequel/remake would HAVE to be a 2d side scroll,like the original.Anything else than that just wouldn't be the same.I played Pitfall The Mayan Adventure on PC,alright game,but just didn't feel like Pitfall with the 3d snazzy graphics and everything else. Edited March 29, 2010 by Rik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZylonBane Posted March 30, 2010 Share Posted March 30, 2010 I played Pitfall The Mayan Adventure on PC,alright game,but just didn't feel like Pitfall with the 3d snazzy graphics and everything else. Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure didn't have any 3D graphics. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRGilbert Posted March 30, 2010 Share Posted March 30, 2010 I played Pitfall The Mayan Adventure on PC,alright game,but just didn't feel like Pitfall with the 3d snazzy graphics and everything else. Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure didn't have any 3D graphics. To me, Mayan Adventure felt like a Earthworm Jim ripoff without the sense of humor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynxpro Posted March 30, 2010 Share Posted March 30, 2010 I think that Atari should have made a clone of Super Mario Bros, and pushed it against the NES, of coarse, post 2600, Atari never pushed anything against any console, what so ever. Well, there was Bug Hunt with Atari's version of a light gun. Came packed with the XEGS. Not nearly as fun as Duck Hunt. They could've dug up the arcade Atari gun game from the 70s that Duck Hunt seems to resemble, but then everyone would've [still] claimed they copied Nintendo... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austin Posted March 31, 2010 Share Posted March 31, 2010 (edited) IMO, The Mayan Adventure was done very well, particularly on the Sega CD with its enhanced soundtrack. Having the original 2600 game hidden throughout was excellent, and the ending was priceless.. It definitely paid homage to the classics, unlike some of the other "re-boots". Edited March 31, 2010 by Austin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tisaperfectdayelise Posted March 31, 2010 Share Posted March 31, 2010 I'd like to see the rest of that article. I find the perspective of the day quite interesting... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HammR25 Posted March 31, 2010 Share Posted March 31, 2010 I enjoyed Mayan Adventure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZylonBane Posted March 31, 2010 Share Posted March 31, 2010 I couldn't stand the character animation of Harry Jr., the way he was constantly flailing his arms around. The whole game just felt bland, generic, and uninspired. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg2600 Posted April 27, 2010 Share Posted April 27, 2010 I'm rarely enthused by the talk of hypothetically porting games from other 8-bit systems to the 7800, SMB being the most glaring. However, I would love to play some kind of updated/ported/homebrew of some of Activision's 2600 games. Pitfall, River Raid (favorite 2600 game), Kaboom!, Keystone Kapers, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZylonBane Posted April 27, 2010 Share Posted April 27, 2010 You can already play those on the 7800. Just plug them in. Super Mario Bros, on the other hand, you cannot. STOP NOT MAKING SENSE. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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