Top 98 greatest video games ever made

7. Pitfall

Released by Activision in 1982, Pitfall was the second best-selling game made for the Atari 2600. The player must maneuver through a maze-like jungle to recover 32 treasures in a 20-minute time period, while avoiding numerous hazards, including pits, quicksand. So why was it a success? Because it arguably formed the essence of the modern platformer and even more arguably presented the earlier blueprint for games like Tomb Raider and Uncharted. The fact that it was longer than most games at the time didn’t hurt.