H.E.R.O. 1984

Is it still worth playing?

An Atari 2600 game from March 1984, designed by John Van Ryzin, in which Roderick Hero goes down the mineshafts of Mount Leone to rescue miners trapped by volcanic activity. Its name is short for Helicopter Emergency Rescue Operation. He flies up, left or right and can hover, and a microlaser beam helmet fights most enemies and breaks some walls. Each level gives six sticks of dynamite, which light up a dark screen as the fuse burns. The dark is a danger of its own, since touching a lantern puts it out and darkens the screen. Lives are lost when the power gauge runs out or when Roderick touches spiders, snakes or walls glowing red with magma. On the console, the game select switch sets the difficulty by choosing the level to start from. Dark mineshafts to fly through, with dynamite to light the way, still make every rescue worth trying today.