Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure is a reboot of the classic game for the Atari 2600, released in 1994 by Activision. It stars Pitfall Harry Junior, who is out on an expedition in the Mayan jungle with his father (the protagonist of the old games). When Junior finds treasure in a cave, his father, outside, is suddenly kidnapped, and now Junior has to go and rescue him.
This game is notable for being one of the few games in the 16-bit era to have hand-drawn animations turned into sprites. In this case, it was Kroyer Films and Aha! Studios who provided the animation. This game actually started development on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System with more traditional sprites, before development restarted on the Sega Genesis with the hand-drawn sprites.
It's also notable for being the first Microsoft Windows game to truly take advantage of the OS. Developed by Kinsoft and being released alongside Windows 95, It not only boasts improved graphics over the 16-bit versions, it showed Microsoft's commitment to making their operating system more developer friendly. Previously, game developers mostly stuck to MS-DOS, since it was closer to the metal, and Windows got in the way of that. Kinsoft would later work with Microsoft to develop the DirectX API for developing and running games on PC that we all know today.
This game contains the following tropes:
- Actionized Sequel: Compared to the older games, the movements are snappier, the protagonist can fight back, and there's a lot of enemies.
- Awesome, but Impractical: The charged attack for sling stones is a very powerful move and can do enormous damage to enemies, but oddly enough, you have to use up 2 stones (hitting the button at all slings a stone immediately, the second one is used in the charged shot) to use it and it roots Harry Jr. to the ground where he stands until he releases it. Releasing too early just slings a regular stone, so it has to build up momentum to be anything but a regular shot, but most enemies you'd want to use this against aren't going to stand still long enough for you to wind up.
- Boring, but Practical: Sling Stones, they're abundant just about everywhere and can be shot at a relatively steady pace in the event you need to let loose with them, not to mention you can sling them diagonally upwards. Facing bosses often amounts to you using these while trying to dodge their attacks.
- Charge Attack: Can be done with the regular stones. Holding down the button will have Harry Jr. wind up to deliver an even more powerful shot. Certain doors are blocked by thick webs requiring this charge shot to remove them.
- Classic Cheat Code: On the Sega Genesis version, the level select cheat was B, Right, A, Down, Right, Up, B, Left, A, Up, Right, A. Which, of course, makes one wonder just who Brad and Laura are...
- Dungeon Bypass: It's possible in The Mayan Adventure to jump your way through the arenas where the second and third bosses are fought and get to the exit without triggering the boss fight (though this was removed in at least the Sega CD version.)
- Embedded Precursor: A warp in the Lost City of Copan sends Harry Jr. to the "2600 Level", aka the original Pitfall running in an emulator.
- Idle Animation: Pitfall Harry Jr. has a number of these. Being that his primary ranged attack was a sling, he would progress from the simple "stand and breathe" animation onto progressively more intricate ones as you left poor Harry Jr. idle for longer periods of time. First he would twirl the sling once. Then he would twirl the sling several times. Eventually he would whirl it around and treat it like a pair of nunchucks. Finally, if left idle long enough, he would settle down in the Lotus Position, with hands up-turned on his knees — and begin to levitate!
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: If you make Harry Jr. jump into a quicksand, he waves goodbye at you while being sucked down.
- Life Meter: The game has an alligator creeping up on a picture of Harry, getting closer as he took damage. You lose a life if the alligator chomps him.
- Precision-Guided Boomerang: Subverted in this game. Boomerangs are one of three weapons in the game, follow an improbably far-reaching curved path, and float around in the air upon return. They do disappear if you don't grab them again, however... and they don't return if they hit an enemy.
- Parents in Distress: The objective is for Harry Jr. to rescue his kidnapped father, who appeared in the original games.
- Retraux: When Harry Jr. finally finds his dad, Harry Sr. looks exactly as he did during the original 8-bit games. As in, literally a few featureless pixels in the rough shape of a man, using only four colors. Strung up on a highly detailed, realistically shaded 16-bit altar. (And remarks "What took you so long?")
- Super Mode: The pepper in Mayan Adventure gives extra speed and high enough jumps to flip.
- Tech-Demo Game: The Windows 95 port of the game was released to prove that a sidescrolling platformer could work just as well on Windows as it could on specialized console hardware, all while using the same enhanced graphics from the 32X port while delivering a rock-solid 60 frames per second.
- Too Awesome to Use: Exploding Stones. They do enormous damage, practically wiping the screen, but you only get 1 for every pickup and they're not as abundant as regular stones are. A smart player will probably save these for the bosses, especially the final boss, assuming they get that far before a Game Over as that will cost you any pickups you've collected.
- Vague Hit Points: The Life Meter is at the top-right corner, representing remaining health by the crocidile's proximity and mouth size. It also blinks when at a critical health level, but this critical section may give the feeling about being able to survive two hits instead of just one.
- A Winner Is You: A little downplayed as there IS an ending, but the collection of the PITFALL letters throughout the game does add to it. Failing to find all of them congratulates you but says you might have missed something, implying a change if you find them all. Finding all the letters just congratulates you on completing the game and suggests a picture to document your achievement.