Dig Dug
"The Pit" was released in April 1982. A sub-genre of action games with digging mechanics was emerging at the time. Namco's "Dig Dug" was released in March 1982 in Japan, just a month before "The Pit" released, with "Dig Dug" releasing internationally the same month in April 1982. This led to some controversy, with "Dig Dug"s US distributor Atari, Inc. threatening legal action, but Centuri registered their US copyright for "The Pit" three weeks earlier than Atari did for "Dig Dug". "The Pit" designer Andy Walker claimed he demonstrated a prototype of "The Pit" at a trade show where it was seen by some Japanese people who may have been from Namco or Atari.