The Apple II version of John Van Ryzin‘s classic H.E.R.O. of course lacks the colour of other ports, but it still plays well enough. The game was converted by Charlie Heath (of Microsmiths) and published by Activision in 1984.

This version does have some features that other versions don’t have. For instance, you can start on levels 1, 5, 9, 13, and “Pro” by pressing the number keys one to five.

The “Pro” difficulty also has a few features I haven’t seen before, like walls that open and close (and will crush you if you get caught in them), and also tentacles in the water that will follow you and grab you if you get too close to them. I’m not sure if these features exist in other versions of H.E.R.O. – just that I haven’t managed to get that far in other ports, so aren’t sure if they’re new or not. If you know: please leave a comment below.

The graphics in this version of H.E.R.O. are flickery in places. In particular, the walls. I think they’re maybe meant to flicker, but I can’t be sure of that.

Overall, the Apple II version of H.E.R.O. is playable, but it looks pretty rough and it’s also not the version I’d choose to play for fun if I only wanted to play the best version (that’d probably be the Atari 5200 port).

More: H.E.R.O. on Wikipedia