Collection essentials #18: Pitfall II: Lost Caverns (2600)


Pitfall had a sequel on Atari?! That was pretty much my reaction when Keith Messier gifted me this game. I don’t think I had even heard of it, despite the original being so famous. Well, unfortunately this game came out after the video game console market started crashing, so that’s probably why it’s not so well known. But it’s a shame, because this is a mighty impressive Atari game. A big glaring obvious thing that sets it apart from its peers is that: it has full-fledged background music! That sounds like an odd thing to compliment since nearly every game in my lifetime has that, but on the Atari that was almost unheard of. Sure, some games had music, but the tunes were always very short. This one has a type of soundtrack you’d expect to see in a game from the following generation. Gameplay-wise it resembles the first game a lot, only there’s a lot more verticality to the level design, and some added gameplay elements such as new enemies.

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