H.E.R.O.

H.E.R.O. is a computer game by the game company Activision and was released in 1984. The game was programmed by John van Ryzin.

The aim of the game is to play with the character who owns a helicopter backpack, fly into the depths of an underground cave to rescue lost miners there. On the way, she has to fend off spiders, snakes and other enemies.

H.E.R.O. The abbreviation stands for Helicopter Emergency Rescue Operation.

Action

The player assumes the role of Roderick Hero (sometimes called " R. Hero", an allusion to " our hero " in English ), a one-man rescue team. The assignment: miners are trapped in a mine and Roderick they must now save.

The player has a backpack, with which he can fly like a helicopter. Next Roderick has a helmet laser and a limited amount of dynamite with him. Each level in the mine consists of a maze of ducts through which Roderick must safely navigate in order to reach the miners at the end of each maze. The backpack has a limited amount of energy, so the player must reach the mountain man, before the power supply is exhausted.

A number of obstacles stand between Roderick and the miners. Some wells are blocked by collapses. For Roderick needed dynamite to blast away barriers. But it must Roderick not stand close to explosives, so he does not even explode. The helmet laser can blast away and collapses, but erfür needs the destruction of the laser is much longer than with the dynamite. Some sections are illuminated by lanterns. If the lantern is somehow destroyed, the light goes off and you can not see the area around the cave. Exploding dynamite lit up the mine for a very short time. The bays are populated by spiders, bats, and other unknown creatures that are deadly to the touch. The creatures can be destroyed with the help of the laser or they will be destroyed when they are near the exploding dynamite. In later levels the player magma rivers and underground rivers must overcome.

The player collects points for each level that he can successfully complete and for each creature he destroyed. When the player reaches the miner, points will be awarded to the rescue, along with the amount of residual charge, which is still in the backpack. He also gets points for the remaining sticks of dynamite. Extra life every 20,000 points the player receives.

Ports

Shortly after the game was released on the Atari 2600, Activision ported HERO on several other game consoles that dominated the market at the time. These included the console Atari 5200 and Colecovision. H.E.R.O. was also ported to home computers: Apple II, Atari 8- bit computers, the Commodore 64, MSX and ZX Spectrum. Sega reproduced the game for the SG -1000 console in Japan in 1985.

In the recent past H.E.R.O. was re-released in the Activision Anthology for newer gaming consoles. In June 2010, the Atari 2600 was version of HERO service for the Xbox 360 re-released in Microsoft 's Game Room.