The player uses a helicopter backpack and other tools to rescue victims trapped deep in a mine. The mine is made up of multiple screens using a flip screen style.
Gameplay
About to blow up a cave-in (Atari 8-bit)C64 screenshot
The player assumes control of Roderick Hero (sometimes styled as "R. Hero"), a one-man rescue team. Miners working in Mount Leone[2] are trapped, and it's up to Roderick to reach them.
The player is equipped with a backpack-mounted helicopter unit, which allows him to hover and fly, along with a helmet-mounted laser and a limited supply of dynamite. Each level consists of a maze of mine shafts that Roderick must safely navigate in order to reach the miner trapped at the bottom. The backpack has a limited amount of power, so the player must reach the miner before the power supply is exhausted, in which the player restarts the level from the beginning if that happens. The player only needs enough power to reach the trapped miner - not to return with him as well.
Mine shafts may be blocked by cave-ins or magma, which require dynamite to clear. The helmet laser can also destroy cave-ins, but far more slowly than dynamite. Unlike a cave-in, magma is lethal when touched. Later levels include walls of magma with openings that alternate between open and closed requiring skillful navigation. The mine shafts are populated by spiders, bats and other unknown creatures that are deadly to the touch; these creatures can be destroyed using the laser or dynamite.
Some deep mines are flooded, forcing players to hover safely above the water. In later levels, monsters strike out from below the water. Some mine sections are illuminated by lanterns. If the lantern is somehow destroyed, the layout of that section becomes invisible. Exploding dynamite lights up the mine for a brief time.
Points are scored for each cave-in cleared and each creature destroyed. When the player reaches the miner, points are awarded for the rescue, along with the amount of power remaining in the backpack and for each remaining stick of dynamite. Extra lives are awarded for every 20,000 points scored.
Development
As Activision grew as a company, it began setting up satellite offices outside of its main California location. The first of these areas was in a New Jersey office which was set-up after Garry Kitchen contacted Activision who was impressed with his work on his port of Donkey Kong that he made for the Atari 2600.
[3] Kitchen joined Activision in June 1982.[4] Along with Kitchen, other members joined this New Jersey office for Activision, including H.E.R.O. designer John Van Ryzin. Prior to joining Activision, Van Ryzin had worked on Apple II games with a small group of friends. Van Ryzin began work on a game titled Cosmic Commuter for nine months which he intended to be his first release for Activision. During early playtests of the game, it was decided that it was not ready for release. Van Ryzen was told it was well done technically, but play testers did not find it fun. This led to Van Ryzen developing his next game which would become H.E.R.O.[3]
The inspiration for the game came from Van Ryzen touring a cave on a weekend trip for the games cavern setting. He was also a fan of comic book superheros as a child, specifically Superman and his ability to shoot solar energy from his eyes, all of which would come into play for the general concept of H.E.R.O.[3] With these concepts, Van Ryzen first coded the figure, cave, and controls then began developing the levels, enemies and features of the cave.[3] Van Ryzen created the art, sound effects and programmed the game in Assembly language and developed the game via a PDP-11 computer and a debugging tool. Van Ryzen recalled that this was all "state of the art, because before that I wrote games on the Apple II with no debugging tools at all."[5]H.E.R.O. was made for a eight-kilobyterom cartridge.[6]
Van Ryzen began adding more elements into the game as he developed it, such as a secondary weapon of dynamite and more enemies in the cave such as snakes hiding in the walls.[5] Van Ryzen later recalled that "The most amazing thing about Activision abck then was that we had no deadlines or budgets for games - it was done when it was good."[5] Van Ryzen used the time to perfect the controls of the helicopter pack and adjust the difficulty as levels progressed. He designed the middle levels first, then made adjustments from those for the later harder levels and earlier easier levels. He also discussed with other designers in the New Jersey office which he said he received great feedback from.[5] Among the suggestions from his co-workers, were ideas such as the lamps breaking and the lights going out while exploring the cave.[7] Further elements were added into the game as it continued, namely the raft and tentacled monster.[8] Following approval from the staff in California, the staff at that location developed the manual, marketing and packaging for the game.[7]
Release
H.E.R.O. was first released on March 30, 1984.[9]H.E.R.O. was released for ColecoVision in August 1984 while the Commodore 64 and Atari 5200 in the third quarter of 1984.[10]
The game was ported to several other consoles such as the Atari 5200, Colecovision, SG-1000 and home computers such as the Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Commodore 64, MSX, and the ZX Spectrum.[8] The other versions mostly very on colors and graphic detail, while the SG-1000 version adds music, new traps such as stalactites, lava geysers and featured female miners. Van Ryzen did not code any of these versions, but was asked to approve of them and suggested ideas on the graphics. Van Ryzen suggested for the packaging of the later games to make the character more of a super hero, as on the original game the cover art had him looking "kind of goofy" according to Van Ryzen.[7] An unofficial fan-made version of the game was made in 2005 for the Amstrad CPC.[11]
Van Ryzen said that "Unfortunately the game market crashed at the time, so I did not get the financial rewards I might have gotten. But hey, how many people can say "I designed a top ten videogame!" That is priceless."[7]
Reviewing the Atari 2600 game, A reviewer in The Video Game Update noted the game was challening, writing that most players will accidentally blow themselves up with the dynamite charages before getting used to avoid them. The review went on to praise the games graphics, noting that they were similar to those of Pitfall II: Lost Caverns particularly liking how the recued person waves at the player when rescued.[18] A review in the British magazine TV Gamer gave it straight four out of five scores for value, graphics, sound and gameplay calling it "an excellent game."[19] Lou Hudson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram opined that the game "isn't a bad action game, but appears to be out of a past generation. A year ago, it would have been excellent. This year, it's a little blah."[20]
In a review of the ColecoVision port, Electronic Games wrote, "Activision has wisely used the superior graphics of the CV units to provide a breathtaking underground panorama," and concluded, "Congrats Activision! H.E.R.O. is a real champion."[21] Reviewing the game for the Commodore 64, Bob Wade of Personal Computer Games noted it was far more action-oriented than any of the mining-themed games as of late, while his fellow critics Chris Anderson and Peter Connor stated the game did not have state-of-the-art graphics for the home computer, it was still very enjoyable and challening.[17] In the June 1987 issue of Zzap!64, Julian Rignall wrote—of the C64 version—"HERO looks awful, sounds terrible but plays absolutely beautifully."[16] The Japanese magazine Technopolis reviewed the game for the MSX, declaring it to be rea really fun game that fit the system perfectly. The review specifically praised the narrative, play control only finding the characters not strong.[22]
From a retrospective review in Computer and Video Games, H.E.R.O. was praised for its' colourful graphics while concluding that that the addicitve gameplay made it one of the best games for the Atari 2600.[15] Brett Weiss included the game in his book on the top 100 console games released between 1977 and 1987. Weiss wrote that the game made you "feel like a real adventure hero [...] a rare feat in the pre-NES era of gaming."[23] In their list of the top 25 Atari 2600 games, Stuart Hunt and Darran Jones of Retro Gamer listed H.E.R.O. as the second best Atari 2600 game. The writers declared that the game mix of action and exploration made it "a truly outstanding release" that was "beautifully designed, with bold detailed visuals and sound sound effects."[24]
Legacy
Atari 2600 ROM cartridge
In 1985, ANALOG Computing published a clone called R.O.T.O. for the Atari 8-bit family.[25]
Hickey, Jr., Patrick (2020). The Mind Behind Adventure Games: Interviews with Cult and Classic Video Game Developers. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN978-1-4766-7966-2.
