Tag Archives: caverns

H.E.R.O., SG-1000

Activision‘s classic underground rescue game, H.E.R.O., was released on Sega‘s SG-1000 console – in Japan only – in 1985, and it is somewhat different to all the other versions of the game out there.

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H.E.R.O., Atari 5200

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.

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H.E.R.O., Apple II

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.

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Barbarian II: The Dungeon of Drax, Commodore 64

The sequel to 1987’s cult hit Barbarian, Barbarian II: The Dungeon of Drax is a similar fighting game, but with more variety than the first game, and the possibility of exploring the actual world by moving from screen to screen (“wow! What a technological advancement!“). Barbarian II was first released in 1988 by Palace Software. The game was later licensed by Epyx for distribution in North America under the title of “Axe of Rage“.

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Fort Apocalypse, Commodore 64

The Commodore 64 version of the classic Atari 8-bit helicopter shooter, Fort Apocalypse, was ported by Joe Vierra and published by Synapse Software in North America in 1982. US Gold published the game in Europe slightly later.

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Rocket Roger, Commodore 64

Rocket Roger is a scrolling action game written by Steve Evans and published by Alligata Software in 1984. In it you control the titular Roger who must fly around using a jet pack and collect crystals from a series of underground caves. The crystals are needed to power your spaceship and you need to collect 99 of them to escape the planet.

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Spellbound Dizzy, ZX Spectrum

Also known as Dizzy V (five), Spellbound Dizzy was once again designed and coded by Big Red Software and was first published by Codemasters in 1991.

Spellbound Dizzy was the biggest Dizzy game yet, with 108 screens to explore, and it had a slightly different graphical style to previous games. Message windows were made to look transparent, with background graphics shown as dark blue on top of which text was overlaid, which is a neat little detail that works well. Dizzy himself looked the same though.

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Cyberun, ZX Spectrum

Released in 1986, Cyberun was arguably Ultimate Play the Game‘s most successful Spectrum game after the label’s sale to US Gold. The game received a Crash Smash in issue 28 of Crash magazine. Although it really shouldn’t have…

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