The Atari 5200 version of H.E.R.O. was ported by The Softworks and published by Activision in 1984. It is definitely a step up from the original Atari 2600 version and is more or less identical to the Atari 8-bit version, but with slightly richer colours.

One thing I did notice about this port is that pushing up has an almost instant effect on the main character’s vertical movement. In the original – and in most other versions – there’s a slight delay before the man’s helicopter backpack makes him rise upwards. This does have a significant effect on gameplay and can make you overcompensate when trying to fly over water or anything else deadly to the touch.

Overall, I’d have to say that the Atari 5200 version of H.E.R.O. is among my favourite ports of the game. It doesn’t have the ‘messy’ graphics of the C64, ColecoVision or MSX versions, or the over-simplistic look of the Atari 2600 or ZX Spectrum versions. It’s a good middle ground, with fast, smooth gameplay and solid visuals.

More: H.E.R.O. on Wikipedia