Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure

Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure
North American Genesis box art by Nadia Staroselska
DeveloperActivision
PublisherActivision
DirectorBill Kroyer
ProducersDenise Roberts McKee
John Spinale
Nathalie Deschartes
DesignerJohn Spinale
ProgrammerGeorge Allan
ArtistKaren Johnson
WriterVeronica Milito
ComposerSoundelux Media Labs
SeriesPitfall
PlatformsGenesis, Super NES, Microsoft Windows, Sega CD, 32X, Atari Jaguar, Game Boy Advance
Release
November 1994
  • Genesis, SNES
    • NA: November 1994
    • UK: December 1994
    Sega CD
    • EU: December 1994
    • NA: January 1995
    Windows
    • WW: August 24, 1995
    Jaguar
    • NA: October 17, 1995
    32X
    • NA: October 1995
    Game Boy Advance
    • NA: June 11, 2001
    • EU: September 21, 2001
GenresAction, platform
ModeSingle-player

Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure is a 1994 action-platform video game developed by Activision in conjunction with Kroyer Films. The fourth installment in the Pitfall! franchise, players assume the role of Pitfall Harry Jr. as he embarks on a journey through the Mayan jungles of Central America in an attempt to rescue Pitfall Harry, his father and the protagonist of previous entries in the series, from the evil Mayan warrior spirit Zakelua. Its gameplay mainly consists of action and platforming mixed with stage-based exploration using a main six-button configuration.

Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure began its development on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and formed part in a string of planned franchise revivals by Activision along with other games from the Atari 2600 such as Kaboom! and River Raid. It featured sprite-based visuals before Kroyer Films was brought to assist in its creation by providing hand-drawn animations and graphics instead, while the lead platform transitioned from the Super NES to Sega Genesis. The Genesis and Super NES versions were both released during the 1994 holiday shopping season, and ports for the 32X, Atari Jaguar, PC, and Sega CD followed in 1995, with each one being developed by third-party developers and featuring several changes and additions compared to the original version. Years later it was re-released through download services such as Virtual Console and given a portable release on the Game Boy Advance.

Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure was met with mostly positive responses from critics who praised the presentation, visuals, and sound design, but criticized the inability to control the character during certain animations.