The Mystery of Atlantis

This page details one or more prototype versions of The Mystery of Atlantis.

This prototype is documented on Hidden Palace.

Super Pitfall II is an unreleased US localization of The Mystery of Atlantis done by Activision (you know, because Super Pitfall was such a high-quality NES game), submitted for manufacturing approval in August 1989. It's unknown why it went unreleased, but the increasing maturity of NES platformers between then and the original release of Atlantis can't have done it any favors.

General Differences#

• Super Pitfall II uses a CNROM mapper as opposed to the original game's Sunsoft-1 mapper. Since CNROM uses a single 8K page of swappable graphics as opposed to the Sunsoft-1 having 2 swappable 4K pages, Super Pitfall II uses double the CHR-ROM size to store every combination of the 4K pages as 8K pages.
• All of the title screen debug codes were removed, though the effects of the codes themselves were not and can still be accessed through memory editing.
• In The Mystery of Atlantis, the ordinals on the zone start screen are incorrect for zones ending with a 1, 2 or 3 past Zone 20, always ending in "TH" (for example, Zone 21 is displayed as "21TH ZONE!"). This is corrected in Super Pitfall II.
• The "Arrow" power-up, found in Zones 9 and 50 of The Mystery of Atlantis, was completely removed from Super Pitfall II. Its only function was to give you 3 (three!) points whenever you pressed up on the D-Pad, so it's certainly something potential players of Super Pitfall II could've lived without. Like the title screen codes, the code for the item itself was not removed and can still be reactivated through memory editing.
• Due to the NES lacking the microphone the Famicom's second controller had, the "Voice" power-up that freezes all on-screen enemies was changed to be activated by pressing Select on Controller 2.
• The "CONGRATULATION" text shown when beating the game was corrected to "CONGRATULATIONS".

Graphical Differences#

The Mystery of Atlantis	Super Pitfall II

The title screen was overhauled, becoming quite a bit more colorful in the process. The "-PUSH START BUTTON!-" message was removed, and Sunsoft's name is now written out in the game's standard font rather than with unique graphics.

The Mystery of Atlantis	Super Pitfall II

Due to the aforementioned removal of the Arrow power-up, the "inventory" displayed during zone transitions had to be altered a bit. The "Star" power-up, previously the last one displayed, now takes the place of the Arrow power-up, and all of the power-ups have been moved 8 pixels to the right to accommodate for there being one less power-up to display.

If you were to cheat the Arrow power-up into your inventory in Super Pitfall II, it will still show up on the inventory screen, revealing that the display locations of the Arrow and Star power-ups were merely swapped as opposed to the former being removed completely.

Level Differences#

Zone 20#

The Mystery of Atlantis	Super Pitfall II

The hint towards the secret warp to Final Zone in Zone 20 was changed. "NAGOYA" is a Goroawase wordplay containing the numbers 7, 5, and 8. Super Pitfall II instead has the numbers written out directly, since the original hint is useless to a player who doesn't know Japanese.

Zone 21#

The Mystery of Atlantis	Super Pitfall II

The door you enter from is now embedded into the ceiling, with the stalactites adjusted to make room for it. Perhaps Activision found this one particular floating door aesthetically displeasing?

Zone 26#

The Mystery of Atlantis	Super Pitfall II

The developer nicknames dotting the sky were deleted. Kinda hypocritical when you consider the reason Activision was formed in the first place...

It seems this did not sit right with developer Akito Takeuchi (credited as -A.T- in the original Zone 26), and thus he found a way to hide his full name in Super Pitfall II. After collecting the diamond in the Final Zone, head ALL the way back here, wait for the timer to count below 100 and step on the 7th tile from the right of the first treasure box. If done correctly...

The background color will suddenly change to black, and Akito's name will appear in the sky and flash shades of blue. Note that the text's flashing animation will freeze if you step off of this block.

Zone 30#

The inaccessible door leading to Zone 59 was removed from the level. It wasn't removed from the game though, more on that below...

Zone 42#

The infamous "BLACK HOLE!" Zone was made just a tiny bit more forgiving in Super Pitfall II; it now sends you back to the middle door of Zone 29 (the place you enter it from) when it has drained all but your last life. Entering the zone while only having one life remaining will still give you a Game Over though. The code for this overrides the unseen flashing palette the stage has in The Mystery of Atlantis.

Zone 47#

The Mystery of Atlantis	Super Pitfall II

The aforementioned inaccessible door in Zone 30 was given a new home here, now being an invisible door placed below the door leading to Zone 52. This change allows the player to visit both Zones 59 and 55, which were inaccessible in The Mystery of Atlantis.

Zone 59#

The rightmost door, which previously led to Zone 69 in The Mystery of Atlantis, was changed to now lead to Zone 84, a zone which was previously completely inaccessible as no doors linked to it. As such, every (in-bounds) zone is now fully accessible in Super Pitfall II, allowing the player to collect all 200 treasure chests in the game without the usage of the level skip cheat.

Zone 95#

The Mystery of Atlantis	Super Pitfall II

The door from Zone 91 was raised above the ground, making it a one-way trip. Given that entering Zone 91 immediately drops you right above the entrance to Zone 95, requiring you to hold left or right immediately after entering the level in order to not drop into said entrance, this is a rather mean change!

Final Zone#

The reward for finding the secret warp from Zone 20 was buffed quite significantly: In The Mystery of Atlantis you only receive 4 million (useless) points, but Super Pitfall II in addition gives you EVERY power-up in the game (besides the aforementioned "Arrow") alongside maxing out your current lives at 9. Makes solving the cryptic puzzle far more worth the effort!

It's worth noting that Super Pitfall II technically only gives you 2 million points, but since you receive the "Double" power-up before the points are given, they up being doubled to the same amount of points Atlantis gives you.