Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure is a side-scrolling action game where players assume the role of adventurer Pitfall Harry Jr. as he searches for his father, Pitfall Harry. The game features various environments such as Mayan jungles, waterfalls, and deserted mines. Players can bungee jump and boomerang their way through 13 levels.
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Budget Indiana Jones
One of the most memorable games from my childhood. I remember asking my father for help at a point in the game. I'm not sure if I finished it back then. Nowadays, I use save states to complete the game without stress and still have fun. I truly appreciate this game.
do it for the memories...
I wish I liked this one better, because as a series, Pitfall is basically a legendary franchise that was clearly beloved by many, and even Activision is very proud of it's first entries.
Sadly, The Mayan Adventure feels like a cheap Indiana Jones knock-off game, and we already had an Indiana Jones game on the SNES that was not that great either, so maybe this is a curse.
The gameplay revolves around the player running around in weirdly open areas, collecting an item, which when picked up, show you a location, where you can pick it up again, essentially guiding you towards the end of the level.
What makes this game really bad is the fact that despite the gorgeous animations, the gameplay is unnecessarily overstylized and uninteresting, making you question why are you still playing it in the first place.
I cannot recommend it to any platformer fan, but I guess if you really want something like this, try it out, and decide after the first level what you want to do with it.
Sadly, The Mayan Adventure feels like a cheap Indiana Jones knock-off game, and we already had an Indiana Jones game on the SNES that was not that great either, so maybe this is a curse.
The gameplay revolves around the player running around in weirdly open areas, collecting an item, which when picked up, show you a location, where you can pick it up again, essentially guiding you towards the end of the level.
What makes this game really bad is the fact that despite the gorgeous animations, the gameplay is unnecessarily overstylized and uninteresting, making you question why are you still playing it in the first place.
I cannot recommend it to any platformer fan, but I guess if you really want something like this, try it out, and decide after the first level what you want to do with it.
This game is actually kind of an outlier in my mind. I’m not usually into side scrollers or pixel graphics, but I remember being impressed with the gameplay and the animations despite those things. It was too hard for me to make much progress because I was pretty young when I played it, but somehow I still have a positive association with it in my memory.
In the pantheon of 4th gen's hand-animated character platformers, Pitfall is unfortunately the most valid and least compelling. The selling point for these games is generally the art direction, but Pitfall is just okay on an animation level and really weak in color theory: Everything is super-dark and smattered in oddly-bled dithering. Level themes are pretty indistinct from each other too. But despite that, it's surprisingly competent as a platformer. The level gimmicks are interesting and work well to the escapades, and even tho stages trend towards amiga-esque mazes, you rarely get lost or lose your sense of direction. If you were someone who liked Indiana Jones and wanted a game from this era that captures the exploratory dimension of the character, this would be a glowing recommendation.
But in saying that, it's racist in the same spirit as the romanticized archeologic works that inspired it. There's no caricatures to be seen thankfully, but it doesn't change the fact the Mayans are depicted in the usual 'spirit-channeling weirdos that must be conquered by civilized whites' way. And Activision had the audacity to put "The Mayan Civilization" under the special thanks for some reason???? How did anyone not realize how tone-deaf that was????
Oh yeah the boss fights suck shit too - you fight 3 variations of the same leopard boss, and then a golem that might as well be a lovechild of Sandopolis' miniboss and a Vectorman 'bot. They're all abominable damage sponges; cut their health in half and they'd still be too ridiculous.
Not recommended, but if this weird slice of western platformers piques your interest, Pitfall is debatably the most appropriately designed of the bunch - for better or worse. The only one where the weird Amiga-ish idiosyncrasies make sense for the tone and world it's attempting to depict.
Also, no spoilers, but the ending is maybe a top 10.
But in saying that, it's racist in the same spirit as the romanticized archeologic works that inspired it. There's no caricatures to be seen thankfully, but it doesn't change the fact the Mayans are depicted in the usual 'spirit-channeling weirdos that must be conquered by civilized whites' way. And Activision had the audacity to put "The Mayan Civilization" under the special thanks for some reason???? How did anyone not realize how tone-deaf that was????
Oh yeah the boss fights suck shit too - you fight 3 variations of the same leopard boss, and then a golem that might as well be a lovechild of Sandopolis' miniboss and a Vectorman 'bot. They're all abominable damage sponges; cut their health in half and they'd still be too ridiculous.
Not recommended, but if this weird slice of western platformers piques your interest, Pitfall is debatably the most appropriately designed of the bunch - for better or worse. The only one where the weird Amiga-ish idiosyncrasies make sense for the tone and world it's attempting to depict.
Also, no spoilers, but the ending is maybe a top 10.