If you had an Atari 2600, you had Pitfall. It sold something like 4 million copies and was one of the best selling games on the system. A young Jack Black did one of the commercials for the game.
I'm not a huge Black fan. I mean, he's not the worst actor around, but he's not a box office draw for me. This commercial may be the most low-key thing he's ever done. It also doesn't do the game justice.
Granted, this game drove me nuts when it came out (and so does the version in Marvel Ultimate Alliance). Those alligators you have to jump across always got me as I got nervous and died right before the last one. That didn't stop me from putting days into this game. I even attempted to take a picture of my score so I could get the jacket patch. (The photo turned out to look like some weird Polaroid porn.)
One of the reasons I bought Activision Hits Remixed was because I thought I could lure Black to my own personal dungeon. Well, not really. It was Pitfall, which, ironically, I have to play on that game. I'm sure it's not as good as I remember it, but for months I couldn't be budged from the original.
Younger readers may not understand its allure, but let me tell you. Back in 1982 this was the shit. Swinging over weird self-closing pits, cobras, gold bars, rolling logs -- no other video game had that. Say what you want, but this was a lot like the first time you played Grand Theft Auto III ... only with worst graphics and no hooker killing.
No comments:
Post a Comment