Pitfall!

David Crane spent a thousand hours creating Pitfall!, and every second shows. In an era of single-screen games, Crane created a scrolling world with 255 interconnected screens, vines to swing on and crocodiles to leap. Pitfall Harry had 20 minutes to collect 32 treasures: the first game with a clear objective and recognizable character. It sold over 4 million copies and proved side-scrolling platforming was the future. Without Pitfall!, we probably wouldn't have had Super Mario Bros. Crane also co-founded Activision, the first independent video game publisher.