Pitfall II Lost Caverns is a side-scrolling platform adventure released by Activision in 1984 for the Atari 2600. David Crane designed and programmed the game as a sequel to the original Pitfall, and he pushed the console far past its usual limits by including a custom DPC chip inside the cartridge. This chip allowed the game to play actual background music and display a much larger world than other Atari 2600 titles. Players control Pitfall Harry as he explores a vast underground cavern system in Peru to rescue his niece Rhonda, his cat Quickclaw, and to recover the Raj diamond. The game removed the lives system that defined most platformers of the era. Instead, when Harry gets hit by a bat, scorpion, electric eel, or condor, he floats back to the last red cross checkpoint he touched, and his score drops by a small amount. This forgiving design gave the cavern a sense of true exploration rather than punishing trial and error.
Updated: Jun 22, 2026
Screenshots

0.01 MB · Atari 2600 ROMs
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Specifications
| Platform | Atari 2600 ROMs |
|---|---|
| Genre | Platformer |
| File Size | 0.01 MB |
| Release Year | 1984 |
| Developer | Activision |
| Updated | Jun 22, 2026 |
Overview
Pitfall II Lost Caverns is a side-scrolling platform adventure released by Activision in 1984 for the Atari 2600. David Crane designed and programmed the game as a sequel to the original Pitfall, and he pushed the console far past its usual limits by including a custom DPC chip inside the cartridge. This chip allowed the game to play actual background music and display a much larger world than other Atari 2600 titles. Players control Pitfall Harry as he explores a vast underground cavern system in Peru to rescue his niece Rhonda, his cat Quickclaw, and to recover the Raj diamond. The game removed the lives system that defined most platformers of the era. Instead, when Harry gets hit by a bat, scorpion, electric eel, or condor, he floats back to the last red cross checkpoint he touched, and his score drops by a small amount. This forgiving design gave the cavern a sense of true exploration rather than punishing trial and error.
The cavern map stretches across 27 screens filled with ladders, ropes, rivers, balloons, and twisting tunnels that lead deeper into the earth. Harry can ride a hot air balloon upward to reach hidden ledges, swim through underground waterways, and grab gold bars scattered along the path. The soundtrack shifts based on what Harry is doing, with triumphant notes when he picks up treasure and a sad tune when he respawns at a checkpoint. There is no multiplayer mode, since the focus stays on a single player working through the puzzle of the caverns. Pitfall II earned wide praise for its scope, audio quality, and clever level design, and many critics treated it as one of the most impressive technical feats ever produced on the Atari 2600. The game later received ports to home computers and arcade hardware, but the original 2600 cartridge remains the version most fans remember as a high point of the console's library.