Atlantis no Nazo

Atlantis no Nazo (アトランチスの謎) is a platform video game developed and published by Sunsoft, released for the Family Computer on April 17th, 1986. A localized version under the name Super Pitfall II was planned but never released.

Gameplay
The game plays as a side scrolling platformer. The player plays as an adventurer, named Wynn, armed with throwable dynamite. Wynn start with 7 lives, but dies in one hit (with no continues). Wynn has a stiff jump and a constant movement speed (no running). The game starts in zone 1 and allows traversal through many alternate routes and secrets to get to the final zone. These alternate paths are often cryptic and/or completely hidden (a map of alternate paths and secrets can be found here). Throughout all 101 zones, various enemies are encountered, which can usually be taken out with dynamite. Zones get progressively harder, with later levels obscuring the view of the stage itself. Each zone also has a rather strict timer, a number counts down from 999 and once the timer runs out in a zone, the player loses a life.

Legacy
While western reactions to the game have been less than positive, in Japan the game is remembered rather fondly. It's also remembered for its absurd difficulty. The game gets modern re-releases fairly often, most recently on the Famicom Classic Mini and included on the Family Computer - Nintendo Switch Online service.