|    |      ______      ______          _______
|    |     |           |      |        /       \
|    |     |           |      |       |         |
|____|     |______     |______|       |         |
|    |     |           |   \          |         |
|    |     |           |    \         |         |
|    |  _  |        _  |     \     _  |         | _
|    | |_| |______ |_| |      \   |_|  \_______/ |_|

H.E.R.O. FAQ/Walkthrough (Atari 2600) version
(c) 2004 by Jason Owens
E-mail: [email protected]
AIM: StormyWeather980


CONTENTS
1. FAQ/Update History
2. Introduction
3. Controls & Related Things
a. Controls
  1. Flying/Hovering Tips
b. Enemies
c. Scoring
d. Variations
e. Ending
4. Walkthrough
5. Credits
6. Legal Stuff


1. FAQ/UPDATE HISTORY
=====================

Sunday, April 11, 2004: Started on my first ever FAQ! Completed the
Introduction and Controls, Enemies, Scoring, etc. sections. Not bad for my
first day!

Friday, April 16, 2004: Finished the H.E.R.O. FAQ and submitted the completed
version to GameFAQs and HonestGamers.


2. INTRODUCTION
===============

First, the story, which was pretty cool for its time. Roderick Hero (R. Hero to
his associates) is a hero who's come to the rescue of his comrades, which are
all trapped deep inside the claustrophobic holds of underground mines. But
Roderick Hero isn't your everyday hero by any means. He's grown attached to a
helicopter that stays on his back and he has a laser beam that he can shoot out
of his helmet at will. And he has a supply of dynamite for blowing up walls
that stand in his way. Roderick Hero will need more than these three cool
abilities and items to make it alive through 20 levels of twisting mine shafts
that are full of living non-human critters, rivers of lava, and magma deposits.
Time isn't his friend either!

H.E.R.O. stands for Helicopter Emergency Rescue Operation. Not only does it
have a great title and storyline for its time (1984), it's an unbelievable game
(and one of the best!) for the Atari 2600. The crisp graphics, fluid sounds,
and extremely engaging gameplay are almost of NES quality. I could go on for
several paragraphs about this title's greatness, but I'll save that for a
future review.


3. CONTROLS & RELATED THINGS
============================


a. CONTROLS
-----------
*Up: Pushing the joystick forward Makes R. Hero fly upward. Whether you're
standing on solid ground or already in the air, you'll have to keep the
joystick pushed forward for a few seconds (around 3) before he'll begin moving
up.

*Left & Right: Makes R. Hero run or fly to the left or right.

*Down: Pulling the joystick back (toward you) places a stick of dynamite on the
ground. You have 6 sticks of dynamite in stock at the beginning of each level.
Dynamite (or bombs) is used to blow up small walls of rock or lava, but after
laying it move out of its way (at least two steps away from it) quick or you'll
become a fried hero! You can only place one stick of dynamite on the ground at
once and you must be on the ground, whether standing still or running. While in
the air, pulling back on the joystick has no effect. It won't make you descend
faster or make you change direction while going up any more precisely than
simply returning the joystick to the central position will.

*Firing button: Fires R. Hero's microlaser beam. Press the firing button to
make a single shot come out of his helmet or keep hold of the button for
continuous shots. The laser is used primarily for defeating the various living
enemies (only takes one shot to kill any of them), but it can also be used to
knock down the aforementioned walls that block your path. But this takes around
20 seconds to do; you'll be better off using dynamite.

**Flying/Hovering tips: As mentioned earlier, to take off from the ground
manually, push forward on the joystick and keep it held for about 3 seconds.
Once you're airborne, you can stay in the air as long as you like - there's no
fuel requirements or anything of that sort. You usually won't need to take off
from a standstill, however. When you see a hole in the ground, you simply walk
off of it and you'll automatically begin flying downward, letting gravity take
control. Whether flying vertically, horizontally, or diagonally, it's easy to
get used to - it just takes a little practice. R. Hero flies at a constant
speed and is pretty easy to manage. You can fly left and right without any
hassles whatsoever; as soon as you press left you start moving left, and vice
versa for right.

The only thing that will give you a good bit of frustration is slowing your
descent with precision or slowing down and then moving up. While floating down,
you must push the joystick forward and it takes about 2 seconds to stop your
descent, then about 3 seconds to begin flying up. Let's say you've reached a
magma door that opens and closes (these will be discussed later in the
Walkthrough), making it where your timing on your descent has to be in
top-notch form. I've found that the following is the best option: Push and hold
forward on the joystick until you become stationary in the air. Once you're
stationary, tap forward briskly without holding the joystick forward. This will
make you stay in place while you time it in your mind and get comfortable
enough to descend past your obstacle.

****REMEMBER THIS FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE AND SPREAD THE WORD: You may have
heard by now that it's possible to plug in and use a Sega Genesis controller to
play your Atari 2600 games. This is TRUE! I must admit, H.E.R.O. is one of
those games that are much easier to control with a Sega Genesis directional
control pad than with a joystick. If you use the Sega controller, B will serve
as the firing button. No, you won't be able to pause the game with the Sega
controller  :-P


b. ENEMIES
----------

Shaft Bats: These critters tend to hover right above or below a narrow shaft,
making it where you can't pass through them unless you want to give up a life!
You'll have to drop down certain passageways cautiously and slowly to see some
of them but avoid hitting them. At least they show you which way NOT to go!

Mine Moths: The moths flap their wings and fly left and right all the time.
You'll come up on a lot of these moths and they'll give you more trouble than
any of the other living enemies, especially in the latter levels when they
speed up.

Springing Spiders: These are the laziest spiders I've ever seen! Before reading
the instruction booklet, I thought these were just swords hanging stationary in
the air, but if you look close you can see that they really are spiders. They
hang by a thin thread in the air with no web or caught prey anywhere in sight.
They barely move up and down in place; these spiders should be the least of
your worries when it comes to the enemies.

Nesting Snakes: Look a little ahead of you at times and you're liable to see a
snake that nests in the mines, restlessly sticking its head in and out while it
opens and closes its mouth. These reptiles are hungry for something other than
dust and chemicals, and they like what they see in you!

Tentacles: In the latter levels of H.E.R.O., when you're crossing a lava river
(some rivers look more like water but oh well) you'll see what looks to be a
warped bubble, but it's the tentacles of some mysterious creature that refuses
to show its face!

Proceed with caution against all of these enemies, for if you touch any of them
just once, you're a dead man. You can shoot and destroy each of the
aforementioned foes, with the exception of Tentacles. When it comes to magma
deposits (the walls, ceilings, and floors that flash red) and lava rivers (even
the ones that are dark and appear to be murky, cold water), don't touch them.
You can get as close to them as possible, but don't let any part of you, even
your copter blade, touch them or you'll be R. Dead Hero. Once you play H.E.R.O.
a good bit, you'll find that the until the latter levels, the only hazards that
will give you problems, really, are the magma deposits and the lava. The actual
living enemies are nothing as long as you play it cautiously.


c. SCORING
----------

*Shooting an enemy------------------50 points
*Dynamite a wall--------------------75 points
*Rescuing a miner-----------------1000 points

You can also earn points for completing a level. A graph (horizontal line) of
life fills up at the start of each level. When you find and rescue the level's
miner, this graph will empty as points. You earn extra points for each unit of
power that's left on that graph, and the higher the level number, the more
points you'll get for each unit of power. My friend and fellow FAQ'er/reviewer,
ASchultz, thinks the formula for the timer at the end of a level is as follows:
"You get 80 ticks to solve a level. Bonus = (# of ticks) *(20) *(level #)."
Playing through the game, that seems pretty accurate to me! A 'tick' on the
Power meter goes extinct about every 3 seconds. It takes about 3-4 minutes for
the meter to count all the way down. Once it's completely empty, you'll stay
alive for about 3 seconds, and then you'll lose a life. You also get 50 points
for each stick of dynamite that you have left at the end of a level.

**Extra lives - You start the game with 3 lives in storage. For every 20,000
points you obtain, an extra life will be given to you. You can have up to six
reserve lives in the tank.


d. VARIATIONS
-------------

Variation 1--------------Begin on Level 1
Variation 2--------------Begin on Level 5
Variation 3--------------Begin on Level 9
Variation 4--------------Begin on Level 13
Variation 5--------------Begin on Level 17*

*Variation 5 is a little different from the other four. It begins on Level 17,
but all of the following levels are random. Also, it never tells you at the
bottom of the screen which level you're currently on in Variation 5 like it
does in variations 1-4. H.E.R.O. is a one-player game; no two-player variations
are available.

e. ENDING?
----------

I suppose you could say there's an ending of sorts to H.E.R.O. When you
complete Level 20 in variations 1-4, instead of saying which level you're on at
the bottom of the screen, it'll say LEVEL: PRO for the rest of your game, and
the levels will begin at Level 13 and cycle in order through Level 20 and keep
going in that cycle until your game is over. Finally, when you get a million
points (1,000,000), the score won't roll; your game will just end and you'll
see a bunch of exclamation points (!!!!!!) at the bottom of the screen where it
usually tells you which level you're on.


4. WALKTHROUGH
==============

LEVEL 1
-------

Upon beginning, you'll immediately see what happens at the start of each and
every level. And the same thing happens each time you lose a life (except for
your restarting where you died at when you lose a life). Your Power graph will
fill up and then you'll be hovering in the air as no sound is heard. This is
because the level hasn't yet begun. You can take as long to start a level as
you want! In a time when the "Pause" feature hadn't yet been invented, this was
awesome! Move the joystick in any direction to begin. Upon landing, all you see
in front of you is a small wall. Every single wall in the game that can be
blown up looks like this (it's about twice your height and about as wide). Go
up to it (you don't HAVE to be right up against it - you can be a step away)
and dynamite it. Walk in the opposite direction quickly to keep from being
blown up yourself. Now, simply walk off the ledge into the hole in the floor,
which will take you to the next screen. Shoot the hopping spider and rescue the
miner.

LEVEL 2
-------

Blow up the wall in front of you and drop down the hole. You'll see two narrow
holes in the floor. The one on your right leads to a dead end. Destroy the
spider and bomb the wall and then drop down into the left hole. Kill the bat
and continue your downward journey, lasering the spider on your way down if you
so choose. Do in the bat and rescue your man.

LEVEL 3
-------

As you've now grown accustomed to doing at the beginning of each level, bomb
the wall and fall through the opening. As you're dropping down, hug the left
side of the wall to avoid touching (or shooting) the lantern, which would turn
the lights out in the current room, allowing you to see nothing but the
airborne enemies, glowing magma deposits (these are discussed later) and
yourself. When you touch a lantern, the lights immediately go out, and you
won't be able to see anything the rest of your game in that room. If you go
back to the previous room or to the next, you should be able to see a little
light - unless you touch a lantern in there too! Dodge or kill the enemies on
your way down. When you land, kill the spider and drop down the left hole. A
spider is in the middle of the left hole, so on your right, bomb the wall,
defeat the bat, and drop down the right hole. Bomb the wall and continue
downward. Shoot the moth and rescue the worker in distress on your left.

LEVEL 4
-------

What do you think you do at the beginning of THIS level? Very good! Bomb the
wall and descend down into the deep, dark mine. Stay along the left side of the
wall to avoid making it even darker. Do in the spider on your right and go down
that hole. Laser the bat to get it out of the way and keep going down, staying
as close as you can to the right side of the wall to avoid the upcoming snake
who's playing peek-a-boo. Avoid the serpent and keep going downward. Land and
bomb the wall. TIP: If you lay the bomb right next to the wall (not a step away
from it) and time it correctly, you can blow up the wall and the moth as well.
Try to make it where the moth will be at the wall when the dynamite explodes.
If you didn't do that this time, shoot the moth and fall down the opening,
hugging the left side to keep things alight. Bomb the wall on your left and go
down that hole. Then bomb the next wall and continue downward, avoiding the
bat. Land on top of the block in the middle of the screen. You'll see a snake
right below you on your right that's sticking its head in and out of the block
on which you stand. As he's retreating back into the block, step off the edge
and rescue the trapped miner.

LEVEL 5
-------

Bomb the wall in front of you and drop down the pitch black hole, hugging the
left side. Introducing in the right corner of the screen the first magma
deposit in the game! You'll know a 'magma deposit' when you see one by its
flashing orange and red. Kill the clueless moth on your left and venture out of
screen to the next screen. Now, this is a BIG hole, and a big drop too. Avoid
(when I say avoid, you can always kill them if you like :-P ) the spider and
moth as you venture southward. You might want to go into the next screen
somewhat slowly if you're a beginner, because you'll want to avoid the two big
rectangles of magma on either side of you and the spider that's directly over
the narrow hole in the middle of the screen. Kill this spider and go down. As
you're going down, press up momentarily to see what's in this upcoming room
before you hit the lantern and turn the lights out, because you can't help but
to hit this lantern.

The right passageway has an unavoidable snake. Stay away. Bomb the wall on your
left, kill the moth, and drop down. While the bomb is flickering, you can see
your surroundings; keep that in mind from here on out. In the next room, bomb
the magma wall on your right, conquer the spider, and keep going down, staying
up close and personal to the left wall to avoid the lantern. A bat guards the
entrance hole on the right, so bomb the magma wall on your left, kill the
spider, and go down that left hole. You're finally there! Go right, kill the
moth, and rescue your pal. That was the first mildly long level, and they only
get longer and more difficult from here.

LEVEL 6
-------

Bomb the magma wall in front of you and drop down the hole, hugging the left
wall. You can actually go either left or right once you land. On the right is a
fluttering bat, and on your left is a wall with a moth right below it. Let's go
left. Bomb the wall and avoid the moth on the way down. Destroy the bat and
carefully step off onto the left part of the ledge into the hole below you,
avoiding the spider that's hanging threateningly on the right side of the hole.
Stay on the left side of the hole on the way down. Whoa now! There are four
small holes in the ground in which to choose from this time. You know the third
one from the left isn't the right one cause it has a spider occupying it. If
you try the first or last one, you'll see that they lead to a floor of magma
deposit. Don't do it! Slip by the moth and then slip down into the second hole
from the left. Now there are two holes, one you could simply continue down
into, and one on your right that has a destroyable magma wall and a moth
guarding its path. You guessed it. The one on the right is the correct one to
choose. Bomb the wall, kill the moth, and go down.

Next, steer clear of the bat and spider as you continue down into the next
screen. As you're letting gravity take you down, move a little to the left to
stay away from the lantern that hangs on the right-side wall. Go right, tell
the bat that its time has come, shoot it, and go down that hole. Here we go.
It's easy to see where to go, but here I can tell you about a basic tactic that
will come in handy, especially in the levels to come. Once you land, you see a
narrow opening in the ground with a spider in it. Yep, you know to go past it,
but here's the thing. You COULD push forward on the joystick for a few seconds
and wait for R. Hero to take off and then fly over this tiny pit, or you can
simply run over it as you push forward a little on the stick. If you simply run
forward, you'll fall into that pit, hit the spider and die. Simply push the
joystick in a forward/left diagonal position and you'll run right over that
hole without even lifting from the ground. Nifty! Bomb the wall, kill the bat,
and descend into the left hole. I suppose you don't really have to right here,
but you need a little bit of practice coming to a complete stop and staying in
place while in the air (see section 3 - Tips on flying/hovering). As soon as
the screen changes, push forward on the stick to come to a complete stop in the
air. Keep your eye on the moth below you, which will be flapping to the right.
Wait until it starts moving left to ease your way down to the ground, kill the
moth, and destroy the magma wall. Venture down the hole, kill the spider and
rescue the miner.

LEVEL 7
-------

Ooooooo, nice colors to start this level. They're colored much like the main
character, R. Hero! Of course, bomb the magma wall and drop down the one and
only opening in the ground. Embrace the left wall on the way down if you like
seeing the room you're in. Here's another place where you could go either left
or right, but I recommend going right because on the way down on the left is a
lantern. Bomb the wall and go down the right hole. Show the bat the way to its
tombstone and go down the hole. Here we are with another room in which you have
no choice but to hit the lantern. Land and then run left. You'll see that you
can only run to a certain point. That's because there's a wall here that's
waiting to be dynamited. Dynamite it and then. . . . .well then! We have a
snake that's ever so slightly above the reach of your helmet's lasers. What I
do in this situation is hold down the firing button for continuous fire as I
push the joystick forward and keep it there to fly up. That'll show that snake
who's boss! Now go down that left hole cautiously. As soon as the screen
changes, hover for a few seconds until the moth begins moving to the left. Then
land and kill the critter. Walk a bit to the left, being careful not to run too
fast (you'll hit that magma deposit if you do) while also timing your descent
down into that hole to where you don't get bitten by the green snake. I always
kill that snake too, cause I don't like him.

Wait a minute now! You could easily continue downward past this next screen
without even worrying about it, but that would lead to a hot dead end. Land on
the edge of the ledge in the middle of the screen instead. Shoot the spider and
then bomb that wall on the right. Then go down into the next screen, avoiding
the moth. Keep your cautious hat on as you go down. As soon as the screen
changes to the next one, you see two different magma deposits bordering the
bottom of each side of the wall, and to add to the suspense, a spider is
sitting on its lazy ass right beside one of them. You must carefully hover and
position yourself in the air to land right on the left side of that spider, and
you want to be facing your right. R. Hero will land with most of his feet
hanging off the edge; we don't know how he does it but we're glad he can! Shoot
the spider that's terribly invading your personal space and drop down the hole.
Land on the bottom piece of land, bomb the wall, and then either fly or hover
over (you know, that little trick I taught you earlier where you push
up/diagonal position on the joystick to basically walk over a small hole) to
reach the left side of the land that borders the next hole. Squeeze down the
left side of the hole to avoid the spider and stay on the left to squeak past
the lantern.

You can go either way in this next screen. I tend to prefer the way that
doesn't have the lantern, so I go left right here. Bomb the magma wall and drop
down the left hole. Here we have two small openings in the ground that are
right next to one another. Destroy the spider and choose the hole on the right.
ALERT! This is the introduction of another kind of screen/challenge. It looks
as if you'd keep going down, but if you did that, you'd drown in that brown sea
of lava. To your right you see a bat that guards a horizontal opening in the
wall. Hover just right and kill the bat. Then touch ground and run into the
next screen. Kill the bat and rescue the miner.

LEVEL 8
-------

Destroy the magma wall and start your downward journey, staying against the
left side of the wall to keep from turning the light out along the way. Don't
move any left or right as you go down. You'll go between the two spiders. Then
in the next screen, STILL don't move left or right a bit. You'll slip right
between the big magma deposits on either side of you and right past that spider
in the one and only hole. Keep falling straight down until you land on the
ground. Now, bomb the magma wall to your left, dodge the moth and go down that
left hole. Keep going down and down, avoiding the snake on the way. While
dropping past or shooting the snake, keep to the right side of the wall to
avoid landing on the upcoming magma deposit. Bomb the magma wall on your right,
shoot the spider, and continue going down. Here we are in the next screen with
yet another place where you could go left or right and wind up in the same
place. Since a lantern is on the way down the left hole, I recommend killing
the spider to your right and going down that one instead. Now, bomb the magma
wall on your left and carefully walk a couple of steps to your right to avoid
the explosion; I say 'carefully' because you don't want to run into that magma
deposit on your right! Slip by that snake that's nesting in the volcanic
deposit (ouch! How does he do it?) to your left while he's slipping his head
back in and go down the hole.

You won't be able to help but to touch the lantern and turn the lights out in
the upcoming room. Come to a stop in the air right before you leave the current
screen (the one with the snake that's nesting in the deposit) and then ease
your way down if you'd like to get a quick view of the next screen before you
turn the lantern off. With H.E.R.O.'s excellent controls and with a little
practice, you'll be able to do this like an expert before you know it, if you
can't already. Land right beside the middle magma deposit and then time your
descent so that you slip by the snake below you. This takes you to the next
room. Again, don't be too hasty; a magma deposit borders the left and right
side of you not long after you enter this next room/screen. Slip between the
two deposits and continue down. Land on the right piece of ground and catch
your breath if you need to. Below you see a green river; it might be spring or
summer where you are in real life, but R. Hero isn't a fan of swimming in lava
rivers, because they kill him! Either take off from the ground first and then
fly to your left, or push forward on the joystick as you walk off the ledge,
whichever way you can control it better. I always do the latter, myself. Shoot
the spider to get it out of your way in the middle of the screen, then land on
the piece of land on the left side, and then walk out of the screen into the
next one.

You'll immediately see a snake that's poking its head in and out of the gray
block in front of you. Stand close to the edge of the platform you stand on and
push forward on the stick as you hold down the firing button for continuous
laser shots. You'll fly straight up and kill the snake right after you take
off. Now it gets tough. This variety of screen is the most challenging in the
game, in my opinion. First, land back on the piece of ground that you came in
on. Next, step off the ledge and let gravity take you down just a little bit,
but not much. You must go down enough for your head and helicopter blade to get
past that large block in the middle of the screen, but if your dangling feet
touch the lava river at the bottom, you're dead. You'll probably die a few
times trying, but again, like you've heard all your life, practice makes
perfect. Right after you walk off the ledge, push forward on the joystick as
you also move left. Don't worry about your copter blade touching the
aforementioned big block that you must go low enough to clear. It won't hurt
it. Shoot that moth out of your path, continue left, keep pushing forward on
the joystick to fly up, and finally land on the left piece of land. I imagine
these kinds of screens are the ones that would make some impatient or
not-quite-dedicated-enough gamers give up on H.E.R.O. Don't give up!

Bomb the wall and exit left to the next screen. Oh, man. Well, we can now see
that Level 8 is where H.E.R.O. gets really H.A.R.D. Not only is your time
running short now, but here's what looks to be an even tougher species of
screen. But looks can be deceiving. You see a very small piece of land in the
middle of the screen with a bombable wall occupying most of its landing area. A
snake is playing peek-a-boo on the right side of the land, right below the
landing part. For awhile, I thought I had to hover down just right and shoot
this snake so I could then fly up and land on that middle piece of land, bomb
the wall, and step off the ledge as my bomb explodes. But I was wrong. Ok,
you're still standing on the right piece of land you entered this screen on,
right? Good. Forget the snake and fly over to that skinny, middle piece of land
and land right beside the wall. Keep your eye on the snake. Time it in your
head. Wait until you're truly ready to do this. As the snake is going back into
its nest or the split second before it begins going back into its nest, lay the
bomb and IMMEDIATELY step off the ledge to the right and push forward on the
joystick to keep from hitting the water. Make sure you go enough to the right
to avoid the continuously snapping fangs of the snake. Fly up and to the right
and land where the wall you just blew up was. Take off from a standstill or
step off the edge to your left, shoot the spider, and go left out of the screen
and into the next. Phew! That was a tough level. Shoot that bloody spider and
rescue the miner.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Remember this from now on! If for some reason you just can't
get past those screens that are like the next to the last one that I just
described in detail (the one with the skinny piece of land in the middle with
the dangerous snake), remember that you can always opt to use your laser to
blast through any wall that you would normally blow up with dynamite. But also
keep in mind that doing so takes about 20 seconds. If you're reckless with your
bombing, you might HAVE to use your laser to plow through some walls, but if
you're conservative with dynamite like you should be, you'll never have to
laser through any - unless you want to.

LEVEL 9
-------

Annihilate the magma wall at the start and proceed down into the hole. Keep to
the left side of the wall to avoid the lantern. Destroy the magma wall to your
left, kill the bat, and continue your downward trek through the haunting mine.
You'll be in a U-shaped room. Keep going nearly straight down, to the left of
the spider. Then do the same in the next screen, except you'll go past a bat
this time. You should still be in the left side of the screen. Slow down a
little before you go to this next screen. It's much like the previous two; it
has two narrow openings through magma deposits that you must squeeze through,
but you'll probably have to move just a bit to the right to avoid hitting the
fiery magma. The next room is more of the same. Choose either of the two cracks
to go down, just make sure you avoid the moth at the bottom. Slow down and wait
for it to fly out of your way if you need to, then progress. Land on the small
platform in the middle and shoot the bouncing spider and then go down that
right hole. Blow up the magma wall on the right and proceed down that hole.
Then go down the next screen's only hole, staying on the left to save a little
light. Don't touch the spider or moth on your way down to the next screen.

You've now reached the bottom of that treacherous drop through several screens.
If you don't look closely, you'd think that you keep going down, but as in
every screen, you need to look closely! A moth is flapping back and forth above
a blue river while a spider hangs over a chunk of land on the right. Land on
the land, kill the spider, and run right, into the next screen. The next screen
has the same blue river flowing with a moth flying back and forth above it. Fly
across the gap to the other piece of land, you landlubber! Then blow up the
wall and continue right. Stop for a second as soon as you enter the next screen
or you're liable to walk right off the ledge and drown. Glide over to the
vulnerable wall that stands in your way and blow it...wait, wait just second
before you lay the bomb.

Let me teach you another one of my little tricks right here. You should be
standing right against the left side of the wall. Read the next few sentences
before you do your bombing. When you get ready, lay the bomb. You know you'll
need to step to the left, off the platform, right when you lay it, to keep from
blowing R. Hero into pieces. But here's what you should know. Common sense
would tell you that you need to go at least a few feet away from the flickering
bomb in order to avoid its blasts, even though you'll be hovering in the air,
right? Well, if this were a real life situation, you would. But this isn't the
case with H.E.R.O. As soon as you place the bomb down, step JUST off the
platform and of course keep your joystick pushed forward in order to keep from
falling into the river. You can be hovering right up against that small
platform where the wall stands/stood and the bomb is flickering/blowing up. You
can have R. Hero's head seemingly not even an inch away from the bomb, and you
won't get killed - as long as you're not standing on platform with the bomb.
Neat, huh?

When you're done with that, get back on that small ledge. You could do one of
two things here. Right below you is a snake, and a spider is hanging a few feet
in front of you. If you want to challenge yourself (not recommended!), you
could time it just right and step off the platform, go low enough to fly under
the spider and rise back up once you get past it, and then land on the right
piece of land and be on your way to the next screen. What I would do is take
off from the middle platform on which you stand and then hover over to the
spider while holding down the firing button, drop down just a little to shoot
it, then go right. Argh! Here's another one of these U or V-shaped screens
where you have no choice but to drop down just enough, hover to the right, then
go back up and land on safe territory.

No type of room will take more practice than these. That's all I can say to do.
This particular one has a moth flying in the lower region where you must hover
horizontally. Wait until the moth is nearly as far right as it will fly and
then step off the ledge as sharply as you can. Get under the square in the
middle of the screen and keep the joystick pushed forward full force. While
pushing forward on the stick (you should be staying stationary; don't move left
or right any), hold down the fire button. As the moth moves back toward you, it
also bobs up and down a bit. It'll run right into your life of fire. Then
continue right and up, killing the deadly spider and landing on ground. Bomb
the wall and go right. Next is another U-shaped room, except that it has no
enemy at the bottom. Work your way under the rectangular block, fly up to kill
the spider, then land and keep going right. Kill the final spider and rescue
the miner.

LEVEL 10
--------

Bomb the magma wall and go down, hugging the left side of the wall to keep your
world alight. It looks like you've been here before. Once you land, a moth is
flying to your left, a bat is guarding the left hole, and a magma wall is on
your right. But you notice something. That moth and bat seem a bit faster than
they were in previous levels. Yep, there's nothing you can do about this. This
is to signify that you've made it a long way and the game's challenge is trying
to catch up to your skill! Bomb the magma wall on your right and go down the
hole. Go down slowly and hover in place if you want to see the next room for a
few seconds before you hit the lantern. You'll have to hover in place for at
least a few seconds anyway; if you don't you'll land on the moth and lose a
life. Land, kill the moth, and...well, let me teach you another valuable trick
to H.E.R.O. that can help you from start to finish.

Anytime you hit a lantern and everything goes dark, there's one way you can
still tell where the holes in the ground are. Let's take this screen, for
instance. Look down at the bottom of the screen, right above your Power meter.
See that stationary, black & white pattern that resembles waves on top of
flowing water? It looks like a perfect, symmetrical pattern except that the
middle crest (top of the wave) has a hole in the top. This is the one and only
hole in the screen, and it leads to the next room. If there were two holes,
there would be two broken crests, and so on. That's neat too! Especially for an
Atari 2600 game. But I'm sure you've noticed by now that H.E.R.O. is
spectacularly awesome for an Atari 2600 title. It's almost of NES quality in
every way.

Anyway, go dive into that pit in the middle of the screen to go to the next.
Hover in the air again at the top of this next screen if you want to see this
room in full light. You have no choice but to hit a lantern yet again. There
are now three pits to choose from. The one on the right is the right one. Bomb
the magma wall and go down that right one, proceeding with caution again.
You're introduced to another new kind of challenge right here. You can easily
see that you just keep plunging straight down, but the passage is narrow - so
narrow that when the everyday nesting serpent sticks its head in and out of the
magma, its head reaches over far enough to bite any passerby that comes
through. All you can do is hover in place above the snake until you're ready to
make the move. This takes some top notch timing right here, folks. I guess you
can call me a H.E.R.O. expert since I can get a million points and make it
through all 20 levels, but this kind of hazard kills me more than any other. My
suggestion is to get right above the snake to where your toes are almost
touching it and hover in place. When the snake is still sticking its head out,
when its head is almost all the way out, return the joystick to the center
position and slip by the snake. Yep, you probably got killed. It'll take a lot
of practice, of course, but even once you're considered a H.E.R.O. expert,
doing this will also take a good bit of luck. Good luck!

Keep going down. When you reach the next screen, it looks like a spitting image
of the one you just passed and probably died in, but it's not. This snake
cannot reach you with its bite. Land, push forward on the stick to fly straight
up, and keep hold of the firing button to kill the snake. Then continue
downward. Bomb the magma wall, kill the menacing moth, and then go down the
center hole. NOTE: When you play H.E.R.O. a lot, especially in the harder
levels, it'll become second nature to stop and hover in place at the top of
each new screen. You'll find yourself doing this instinctively because it's
impossible to memorize exactly which way to go in every level, and after dying
so many times, you'll learn to be super cautious. You need to stop and hover in
place and be cautious like always in this next screen. Get yourself in position
and squeeze through the tiny opening in the magma that seems to have been
specifically fitted for you and go down into the next screen, avoiding the
moth. Keep floating straight down through the next one as well. And then the
same through the next. That bat on the right and the moth on the left shouldn't
be in your way; if they are, position yourself and slip by them or even better,
kill them on your way down.

Whoa, now! Don't get accustomed to going straight down like a bomb for too
long! If you do, you'll land right on top of this massive magma deposit. Make
your way to the left, killing the bat and walking left out of the screen and
into the next. Ahhhh, nice fresh air! Well, not really. Mines are never full of
fresh air, but at least this room is pretty wide open, except for a couple of
bats. Hover along the ceiling and to your left, defeating the top bat on your
way. Walk left to the next room. Hover over to and land on the small platform
in the middle and then either shoot through the wall or bomb it, whichever you
prefer. Since this is a long level and time is probably running short, I
recommend bombing the wall, stepping sharply to the right off the platform,
then hovering back over to where the wall was. Shoot the bat and hover left to
the next screen.

Man, H.E.R.O. is really socking it to you now! New kinds of challenges are
being thrown your way seemingly every few rooms now. Here's another one. That
small yellow platform on the river is your friend. Land on it. It immediately
begins floating at a constant speed to the left. If you wait long enough, it
would turn around and come back to the right, then back to the left, etc. Don't
worry about it sinking. To get off of this friendly platform, keep the joystick
pushed forward for a few seconds until you lift off. It's exactly the same as
lifting off from solid ground anywhere else. What matters the most is your
timing. You wouldn't want to lift off of the floating platform while under the
magma deposit. Wait until you're directly under the middle of the magma deposit
and then keep the joystick pushed forward. You'll take off right near the end,
just as the doctor drew it up. Go left into the next screen. Bomb or shoot
through the wall, kill then hover to the left, killing the top moth, and keep
proceeding left into the next room. Kill the final moth and rescue the miner.
YOU ARE NOW HALFWAY THROUGH THE GAME!! You deserve a victory cigar, beer, or
whatever's up your alley.

LEVEL 11
--------

To start off, let's bomb the magma wall and go down that first hole there,
sticking closer than close to the left side to avoid the lantern, like you do
at the start of most levels. Keep going straight down into the next screen. But
slow down before the screen changes, or right when it does change, cause you
don't want to land on that magma deposit in the center of the screen. That
wouldn't be very comfortable for R. Hero. Time it so you don't land on top of
the killer moth on the left, either. You want to make landfall under where the
most is as it's moving to the left, so you can dodge it then shoot to kill it.
Then bomb the wall and proceed down into the dark depths of that pit. Be
careful in the next room as well cause it's much like what you just finished
doing. Time your landing to where you can dodge the moth then land and kill it,
bomb the wall, and go down the left side of the hole, past the spider.

This next room is an interesting one, especially given the fact you'll see it
twice. Continue down into the next room. Ignore or laser the moth and then go
up into that narrow right hole. And do it carefully, because a moth is up at
the top and it loves flying horizontally back and forth, as if guarding its
territory. Destroy it and then go down the right hole, past the next screen and
into the next one. You won't have any choice but to switch off that darn
lantern. Just keep falling until your feet hit the ground, right below the
lantern. This room looks tougher than it is. It's all talk and no show! Simply
walk to your left until you walk off the ledge, staying to the right of that
spider and moth. As you're going down, move a little to the left to keep from
turning the light out in the next room or landing on a too hot deposit. Slip
through that one and only crack through the deposit and go down into the next
room, stopping in place at the top. Position yourself and then go down the left
hole, since it's open, and go into the next room. Stop in place at the top
again and move a little to the right and go through the next magma deposit
crack and into the next room.

You should land in the middle of the screen on a tall piece of land. You'll see
that you must maneuver your way through one of the small U-shaped challenges,
being careful not to let your feet touch the river, which would cause R. Hero
to look directly at the screen (at you!) as he sinks slowly into this river, as
if asking you "Why? Why did you let me die like that!?" Make landfall on the
right chunk o' land and run right into the next room. You've seen this next
kind of room too, where there's a small piece of land in the middle with a wall
that makes up most of its ground space. Only this time, that wall is a magma
one, so you can't run against it. Hover over to and land lightly beside the
magma wall. Shoot through it or bomb it, whichever you prefer, then take off
toward your right, shoot the moth, and go right into the next screen. Ok,
here's another screen where you must, or should, ride the floating raft. Land
on the raft and fire up that spider right in front of you. Right before you're
in the middle of the screen, push forward on the joystick and keep it there to
lift off from the raft. You want to lift off to where you can fly straight up,
shoot the spider, then make landfall and run into the next room. If you lift
off while under the spider, no sweat. Just return the joystick to the center
position, move left a bit to get out from under the arachnid, then continue
upward and to the right, killing the spider that's not as friendly as the one
in Charlotte's Web.

Fly over the left hole and land up against the bombable wall. If you bomb it,
make sure you step off the ledge to your left, cause I just tried out of
curiosity to bomb it and simply walk over to and stand on the edge of the land
and I got blown to smithereens. Go right into the next screen. Hover over the
pit, not letting yourself dip so low to walk with the spider and go over to the
wall and bomb it. Murder the bat and go into the next room. Kill this moth and
rescue your friend.

LEVEL 12
--------

Bomb the magma wall and go down, sticking to the left to avoid making it
nighttime. Bomb the magmatic wall on your left, shoot the spider, and continue
down. It WILL become nighttime in this next screen. I hope you're not scared of
the dark, because R. Hero certainly isn't! Once you land, run to your right,
shoot the spider, and keep running right into the next room. Hope over that
little first pit and the bat, kill the spider that's hanging over the right,
and correct, hole, and drop down that one. Again, you won't be able to help but
to turn the lights out. And your surroundings appear to be scarier than they
really are again. Land, walk toward the moth and shoot it. Then do the trick
that I taught you earlier. Look at the pattern at the bottom of the screen,
right above your Power meter. The crest of the middle wave has a hole in the
top, so you know that there's a hole right there. A hungry snake is even more
obvious. Step off of the immediate right edge of this ledge, timing it where
the snake will have its head in or mostly in its nest so you can shoot it on
your way down. As soon as you traumatize this snake, immediately push forward
on the joystick or if you're really on cue, immediately hug the left wall,
because there's a lantern near the beginning of the next screen on the right.

Whether you can see your environment now or not, do what I say. Face the right,
shoot the bat, bomb the magma wall, and carefully step off into the hole in the
right. Hover stationary at the beginning of this next screen as soon as it
changes, as you should be doing second naturedly by now anyway, position
yourself to where you can drop straight down and through that ever so narrow
magma crack and into the next screen. One small tip here: Try to be facing your
left as you slip through that crack, just in case the moth below you gets too
close for comfort and you want to shoot it. Next, hover at the top of the next
screen, move a little to the left to avoid hitting the lantern or falling on
the moth, then make landfall. Shoot the moth and go right. In the next room,
shoot the spider and drop down the hole, avoiding the moth on your way to the
next screen. Do like you (should) always do and hover at the very top so you
can see what challenge awaits you in this new screen. You'll see that you need
to go up against the left wall and drop straight down into the next screen.
Those moths look mean but they're really just minding their own business. You
can ignore them altogether if you want.

I know you probably feel like landing already, but you can't quite yet. Fly
precisely over to the left at the right altitude to shoot the spider and then
continue into the next room. Then fly over to the magma wall and get rid of it,
avoiding the snake. Fly to your left, shoot the moth, and go left out of the
screen and into the next. In the next one is another one of those feared
U-shaped territories. Shoot the snake just to be on the safe side, then drop
down and show this U that you know how to fly like a pro and land and bomb the
wall, being sure to step off the ledge while it explodes. Then go left into the
next room. We have another screen just like the one a couple of rooms before
with the nesting snake, except that this wall is made of magma and that a lazy
spider is sitting a few feet down and to the right of the piece of land on
which you stand. This is a gut check room right here. Do you feel confident
enough with your H.E.R.O. skills? If you do, lay down that stick of dynamite
and step off the ledge quickly, not venturing far enough to the right to touch
that spider.

REMEMBER: The bomb can blow up right in your face and you'll live, as long as
your feet are BELOW the level of the blast. You can't be standing on the ground
beside the bomb or flying at its level (to where your feet are right beside it)
or above it. That sounds sort of weird, but that's just the way they made the
game.

If you're not yet confident in your ability to hover with precision, just shoot
through that magma wall. Fly over to your left, kill the moth, and go into the
next screen. Here's another, but harder, lava river room with a lake. A small
piece of magma deposit is hanging from the ceiling in the middle part of the
screen, so you certainly don't want to take off from the life-saving raft while
you're under it. To the top left of that deposit is a moth. At your level,
while riding the raft, just a little to the left of the deposit (you see it) is
a spider. You could hold down the firing button as you also push forward on the
joystick to get ready for liftoff, but if this is one of your first times, I
don't recommend doing that quite yet. Do this instead: Get on the raft and
shoot the spider. Let the raft hit the left side and ride it back to the right
side of the screen. Then, when it starts moving left again, get ready. Push
forward on the joystick and keep it there once you get to about the middle part
of the screen (directly under the magma deposit). Make sure you lift off near
the end of the raft ride. Don't let your head hit the moth. Go left into the
next room. Fly as far up as you can and get in place and keep the firing button
held down to kill the topmost moth, then fly over to the miner and rescue him.
You don't have to land or even decrease your altitude one bit to rescue the
man. It's impossible to hit that magma deposit behind him.

LEVEL 13
--------

Destroy the magma wall and go down the hole to get the level started. Hug the
left-side wall to avoid turning the lights out. Once you're past the lantern,
switch over to the right side of the wall and go down to the next screen. Keep
going down until you hit the ground; as long as you're on the right side, that
moth can't touch you. Now kill the moth anyway. Even though it has a clearly
visible lantern, go up the left hole to return to the screen you just passed.
Very carefully land beside and bomb or shoot through the magma wall to your
left. Shoot the spider then go down, passing the next screen whose lights are
still out. Hug the right side of the wall after you slip through the magma
deposits. Again, you'll have to turn the lights off. Land, kill the moth, and
walk to the right and bomb the magma wall. Go down the hole on the right. Avoid
the moth and continue down into the right hole in the next screen, keeping to
the left side of the wall. You want to be facing your right, though, so you can
shoot the upcoming bat that's exercising right beside a deposit.

Walk slowly off the ledge, careful not to run into the deposit that the bat was
right beside. Stay to the left side until you hit the ground, slipping by that
spider, lantern, and to keep from landing on top of the blood-sucking bat.
Shoot the bat and run right into the next room. Shoot the moth and slip down
past the bat into the next screen. Again, stay on the left side to keep from
touching the pesky lantern. Upon landing, shoot the spider to your left and go
down that hole. Hover for a few seconds at the top of this next screen to avoid
coming too close to comfort with the moth. When it's out of your way, land and
then shoot the moth. The room will be all dark except for yourself and a magma
deposit to your far right. Run left out of the screen. Shoot the next moth,
bomb the magma wall, and keep going left. When you come to the ledge in the
next room, take off from your standing position and fly over to the magma wall
Before you blow it up, watch the moth for a few seconds. Other than noticing
that it's a fast little critter and that it flies left and right like they all
do, it should come to your attention that when it's as far left as it'll go,
it's right under where you'll have to hover once you set your stick of dynamite
onto the ground. If there's any parts of the game where you should opt to shoot
through the wall, it's the screens like these, with the moths. If you're a
brave soul, lay your bomb down right before the moth begins to fly right, and
step off the ledge and hover in place as the wall's being annihilated.

Whichever way you decided to get the wall out of your way doesn't really
matter. It's all up to you. Go back to where the wall was and shoot the spider,
then fly over to the left piece of land and go into the next screen. It's
another raft-riding room. Get on the raft and (by now, you should be able to do
this with ease) hold down the firing button so that spider in the middle part
of the screen won't kill you. When you're under the beginning part (right side)
of the hanging magma deposit, push forward on the joystick until you lift off.
You may have to fly just a bit to the right as you're going up to avoid the
moth. Kill that bug that's infamous for being attracted to light and go left
into the next screen. Another room just like the one I just have described in
detail makes a second showing. Fly over and land on the thin piece of platform
beside the magma wall. Shoot through or bomb it, being careful to avoid the
moth if you decide to do the latter, and keep going left, shooting the other
moth along your way. In the next room, I recommend hovering directly over the
bat and holding down the firing button until the moth runs into your line of
fire. Then continue westward into the next room. Don't even land. Hug the
ceiling and fly to where you're just to the right of the most rightward
position that the topmost moth flies over to and keep the firing button held
down to kill it. Keep going left and rescue the miner.

LEVEL 14
--------

Destroy the wall and go down the first hole, just like you've done in the
previous 13 levels. Like you've done in most of the earlier levels, stick to
the left wall on your way down to keep from turning the lantern out. Also, slow
your descent so you won't land on top of the moth. Shoot the bug and run left
into the next room. Shoot the next moth and time your descent down into the
next hole to keep from being swallowed whole by the snake. Keep to the right
side until you land. You'll have to turn the lights out on your way down to
keep from landing on a bat. Run right, into the next room. Here we are with
three regular-sized holes to choose from. The left and right one don't have
anything in them, while the middle one has a gaping snake inside it. Guess
which one you have to go down. Yep, go down the middle one, sticking to the
right side in order to slip by the snake. Hover at the very top of the next
screen. I hope your heart's prepared to speed up cause it's about to when you
see what lies ahead of you. It doesn't really matter whether or not you turn
the light off or not. It would probably be better if you stayed on the right
side and did turn the light out, because a bat is occupying the left side of
the space below you.

But it's what's right before the bat that is the most dangerous. I know I said
several levels ago in this walkthrough that the hardest type of room to get
used to are the U-shaped ones in which you must drop down just right without
hitting the lava rivers, but this right here is what kills me more than any
other type of obstacle. It's nothing more than two magma deposits, with a crack
in between the two in which you must pass through, like you've seen a million
times. One thing's different about this one and several more that you'll come
across in the rest of the levels of H.E.R.O. These open and close at a constant
rate. If even the tip of your toes or the top edge of your helicopter blade
touches this magma deposit, you'll lose a life. And trust me, you will lose a
BUNCH of lives on this type of obstacle. My advice is to hover down more
cautiously than you ever have before in any other place, until you're right
above the opening and closing magma deposit. It's real hard to explain how to
time your descent through these seemingly living deposits. All I can say is to
do a little trial & error until you've figured out the pattern. You've played
H.E.R.O. enough to see that once you're hovering in place, it takes about 2
seconds to begin dropping.

When you're directly above these moving deposits, wait until the deposit doors
are about three-fourths of the way closed, and then return the joystick to its
center position to start the 2-second wait until you start descending. I still
die around 25% of the time on these screens; it's all in the timing, baby.
Again, good luck, cause you'll desperately need it. I hope you've been shooting
most of the enemies you come across, cause you'll sure need those extra lives
from this point on.

One thing I waited till now to mention is as follows: Activision tried to be as
fair as possible when making H.E.R.O. And that's awesomely fortunate for its
dedicated players! Check this out. Whenever an enemy hits and kills you, that
enemy disappears from the screen, so it won't hit you again. When a magma
deposit door kills you, it will open up as wide as it can and stay open the
rest of the time you're in that screen, as if having mercy for you.
Interestingly, if a lantern's on the wall, it will totally disappear. That's
some thoughtful 20-year-old programming right there now. Too bad those lava
rivers don't disappear when you hit one of those! And when you hit a stationary
magma deposit, they don't show any mercy either.

Continue downward with caution. A magma deposit block is covering the middle of
the screen. Hover over to the right without touching the lantern, then land and
kill the spider. Continue your southward path, staying to the left-hand wall.
Get rid of the bat and then run right into the next screen. Fly over the first
pit, which has a bat in the center of it, and kill the moth on your way to
dropping down into the pit on the right. Stay on the left side of the wall
while dropping down the pit, until you hit the ground. Bomb the magma wall and
go down the single pit. Stop at the very top of the next screen before you hit
the lantern, which you should now be accustomed to doing. Before the lights go
out in this underground world, you'll see that you must go down to where you're
barely above the murky-looking river, then to the right and up. Do that then
continue to the right, into the next room. If you accidentally hit the lantern
before seeing your surroundings in this room, just go down and keep the stick
pushed right as you ease your way down and clear that big block. In the next
room, fly to the right, kill the moth, shoot through or bomb the magma wall to
get it out of your way, and then continue to the right to get to the next
screen. Then we have your everyday raft challenge. Make the bat go extinct at
the top before you land on the raft. Push and hold forward on the joystick and
keep the firing button held down (to get rid of that pest in the form of a
spider) right before you reach the left side of that magma deposit that hangs
in the air above you. Bomb the magma wall and keep going right.

Shoot the spider and then get rid of the magma wall and travel right into the
next room. Bomb or shoot through yet another magma wall, then take off from the
ground and continue right, killing the spider on your way to the next screen.
It's the last room of Level 14! Float over the first pit, kill the bat, float
over the second pit while being careful not to dip down and touch that ugly ass
spider, and rescue your man.

LEVEL 15
--------

Another level whose colors seem to have been patterned after R. Hero! Destroy
the magma wall and go down to begin your mine trek. Hang to your left to dodge
the lantern as you hover for a second or two to keep from falling on a moth.
Land and shoot the little nuisance that's in the form of a bug. Then walk over
to and drop into the left hole. Shoot the bat and spider on your way down into
the next screen. Avoid falling on the moth on your way down and then shoot it.
Bomb the magma wall and go down the right hole. Go down the big hole in the
center, shooting the moth and swinging over to the left side of the wall as you
continue downward, avoiding the lantern. Land and destroy the bat. Choose the
hole on the right and go down. Keep falling straight down until you reach the
snake. Shoot that mean reptile and then hug the left side of the wall to avoid
the upcoming lantern. Continue your seemingly never-ending downward journey
into the right hole. After you unwillingly hit the lantern, land beside the
magma wall and bomb it. Then go down that middle hole.

Whew! Here's your second 'magma door' obstacle, as I like to call them. Do the
trick I taught you earlier. Ever so carefully hover down until you're right
over the opening and closing magma deposit, then wait until it's NEARLY all the
way shut (about three-fourths of the way shut) and return the joystick to its
center position and then wait for R. Hero to slip on through - hopefully alive.
If you died (like I just did!), just be patient. You'll get better. Once past
the deposit, stay to the left side of the wall. You'll land right beside a
lantern. Take a look all around you at the room you just entered. You'll have
to step off the very edge of the ledge on which you stand, turning the lights
off in the process, kill the bat on your way down, then gain the right altitude
and make your way to the left and up, also killing the moth that's invading
your privacy. Bomb the blue wall and go left into the next screen.

Now we have another one of these screens that we love so much. Fly over to the
tiny piece of land and land right beside the magma deposit. If you're low on
lives and have a decent amount of power left in your meter, just shoot through
this magma wall to be safe. Then continue left, killing the moth in the
process. Here's a sneaky little room of sorts. You know what to do by looking
at it. Drop down and go under the hanging block, then, fly up the immediate
left side of it, ignoring the bottom snake. Land on the platform, bomb the
wall, then fly straight up and shoot this top snake. Fly under this other
hanging block and go left into the next screen. Land on the raft and ride it.
Push forward on the joystick and keep it there once you're under about the
middle part of this huge magma deposit to lift off at the end of your
short-lived joyride. Oh yeah, shoot the spider along the way. The next screen
is stunningly easy! Simply walk to the left, shoot the moth on the way, and
keep going left until the screen changes. Go over the first pit, kill the
spider, go over the second pit, and rescue the miner to end this frustrating
level! You're now three/fourths of the way through the game; If you can make it
this far from starting on Level 1, you should definitely be able to beat the
game.

LEVEL 16
--------

Hey now...this is a little different from the previous 15 starts. Instead of a
single hole in the ground, there's now three of them. Blow up the magma wall in
front of you and select the one on the right. Kill the bat and continue right.
Shoot or dodge the top moth and make your way down into the next screen, moving
a little to the right to keep from landing atop a body of magma deposit. Slip
by the two spiders and keep letting gravity do its natural work as you stay a
bit to the left of the center of the screen. Land beside the bat, shoot it,
bomb the magma wall, and go down that left hole. The lights will go out soon
when the screen changes. Bomb through the magma wall, shoot the bat, then
carefully step off the ledge, avoiding the moth on your way down. Hover at the
top of this coming up screen and position yourself to go down either one of the
holes. Don't forget to dodge that moth as you keep going down. Woohoo, our
favorite! Another magma deposit door is alive and kicking, or opening and
closing, whichever you prefer. Time it right and make it through unscathed and
keep plummeting downward. Keep going down into the middle hole in the next
screen.

Then attempt to make it out alive past yet another opening and closing magma
deposit! Keep going down, hovering at the top right when the screen changes.
Fly your way down and to the right, shooting the moth and venturing through the
hole in the wall into the next screen. Shoot the spider and land on the raft.
Do like you've been doing and hold down the firing button to get rid of the
upcoming enemy, and push forward on the joystick and keep it there once you
reach about the middle of the magma deposit that's hanging above you. Go right
into the next screen. Fly over to the magma wall and get it out of your way and
then continue right, killing the moth and running (or flying) through the
wall's hole. Shoot the bat and land on the raft. Shoot the spider during your
temporary ride and carefully lift off at the end of the raft. Lift off slowly,
just in case you lift off a bit too soon, while you're still under the huge
deposit. Bomb the magma wall and keep going right. Kill the first moth, bomb
the next magma wall, and fly over the second hole, going into the next screen.
Shoot the spider and stand there a few seconds until you feel brave enough to
drop down and fly with precision under that hanging magma wall. Rescue the
miner.

LEVEL 17
--------

Bomb the magma wall and go down to start the action. Hang to your left side to
give the lantern the cold shoulder on the way down, but be wary of the moth
below you. Destroy the magma wall on your right and go on down past the bat
into the next screen. Hover at the top and position yourself to go on down past
the spider and through the narrow opening. Before you go down far enough for
the screen to change, move about three/fourths to the left of the screen, and
then go down cautiously, because two moths are flying back and forth in a neat
row. These two must be in love. Then keep going down into the next screen,
being cautious of two upcoming moths that are flying to and fro together yet
again. It must be moth mating season. Then keep going down until you touch
ground beside the lonely bat. Shoot this bat to end its misery, then go down.
The lights will soon go out. Shoot the moth to your left, then bomb the magma
wall to your right and go down the right hole. The lights will go out for the
second room in a row. Shoot the moth and run to the left for seemingly a mile
to the next room. Shoot the spider then drop down past the moth.

Well, you knew it wasn't going to be easy for the rest of this level. Put your
best timing hat on and slip through the magma deposit door and past the spider
below it. In the next screen, be careful not to land on top of the moth, then
go left into the next screen, gliding over the small pit with the snake. Here
you're introduced to Tentacles for the first time. That weird looking bubble
right below you in the water isn't a bubble at all, and it's not a platform
that you can safely land on either! It's the tentacles of a mean octopus. As
long as you don't touch it, it won't bother you, so don't go to bed tonight and
have any nightmares of an octopus tentacle reaching up and grabbing you. Shoot
the spider, drop down until you can fit under the big block above you but stay
above the tentacles, then go left and land beside the wall that's standing in
your way. Bomb it and go left. Fly over to and bomb the magma wall and keep
going left, shooting the moth on your way. Dang at the walls! In the next room
is yet another wall of the not so overheating type. Fly over to and bomb it,
then continue left, shooting the bat along the way. Land on the platform and do
the trick that I've told you about at least twice in detail (pushing forward in
the middle of the magma. Shoot down both of those spiders in the process (be
careful not to let your head hit the upper one after you lift off) and continue
going left. Fly along the ceiling, shoot the moth, and rescue the miner.

LEVEL 18
--------

Bomb the magma wall and go down. I would say to hang to your left to avoid
touching the lantern, but man. Your heart will definitely skip a beat or two
when you first enter this room, hovering at the top, and look down at what lies
ahead. There's nothing you haven't seen before, but that moth and bat are both
flying at speeds that would make you think their ass is on fire. In this room,
I always go ahead and turn the lantern off, then land below it, cause timing
your landing correctly without landing on moths THAT fast isn't easy. Shoot
that moth when you do land. There are four tiny holes in which to choose to go
down. Bomb the magma wall, then go down the furthest hole on the right. The
light will go out soon after you enter this next room. Shoot or ignore the
spider on your right after you land, then carefully step off the ledge to your
left, going down past the scary snake. If you want to, hover at the very top of
this next screen so you can move over to your left (or shoot the snake and
hover and move to the left side of the wall at that time), to avoid the
lantern. Land, bomb the magma wall, then take off from a standstill and kill
the moth on your left. Then, step off the ledge carefully on your right to
avoid landing on the bat. Continue southward. It looks like you could land on
this moth, but you can't. Shoot it if it irks you, then bomb the magma wall on
the right and go down that right hole.

You CAN land on this next moth. You can't help but to hit the lantern, but time
your descent carefully (you'll lose a lot of lives to these lightning quick
moths, but you'll get better) to avoid letting the moth take a life from you.
One thing I've found to be helpful in avoiding these super fast moths is to fly
as far in the opposite direction as soon as you can on your way down. Run
right, into the next screen. Shoot the moth at the top, then you can choose
either hole. I recommend flying over the first one and going down the one on
the right, since the one on the right doesn't have any moths or lanterns in it.
Once you touch down, shoot the bat and continue going down. The lights will go
out again, giving that magma deposit door a new light. Slip on through it when
the time is right and keep going down past the next screen completely. And then
keep going down until you hit the ground. Man, the room you're in now and the
one you just skipped completely just went dark as well. Kill the lively moth to
your right, then walk to your right until you're standing close to the magma
deposit.

Lift off and travel back up at full speed, holding down the firing button. If
you go up more slowly, you'll have to time it right to keep from hitting the
deadly insect, but doing so at full speed, the moth will be on the far right
and will fall prey to your constant lasers. Land below where it was flying and
walk to the left until you fall through the pit. You'll hit the ground. Go to
the right, to the next screen. Shoot the spider and dip down and to the right
quickly to escape the tentacles that are chasing you in the water. Kill the
bat, bomb the wall, and continue right. In the next room, shoot the spider at
the top then ride the platform, shooting the spider along the way and lifting
off at the right time to keep going right. Knock down the magma wall, shoot the
spider, then continue flying right. Stay in the air and cross that huge pit
below you. Land, squash the spider, and keep progressing to the right. In the
final room, shoot the moth, then make your way to the other side of this
U-shaped room and rescue the miner. That was a long level. My time was almost
down to the last tick. Was yours?

LEVEL 19
--------

We're to the next to the last level already!? Time sure does fly by (no pun
intended) when you're having fun! Bomb the magma wall and go down to start the
beginning of the end. Hover at the top of the changing screen. You'll
involuntarily switch the lights to the Off position. Drop down until you're
right above the hyper as hell moth. Once it's moving to the right and it's
about in the middle of its rightward flight, return the joystick to the center
position to try and time it right. Since there's a magma wall to your right,
you'd instinctively think by now that that's the right way to go, but you'd be
wrong. Walk into the left hole and let gravity take full effect until you land
on the blue surface. Then continue down, making sure you don't land on the
moth's head, or butt, whichever way it's facing. In the next screen, bomb the
magma wall on your right, then once again time your step off the ledge so that
you don't land on top of the moth pest. Hover at the top of the just-changed
screen and position yourself to land right to the left of the spider. Now tell
the spider it was nice knowing him and shoot it. Keep going down, past the bat
and into the next room.

Bomb the magma wall, shoot the spider, and continue your journey downward and
closer to the earth's core. Hover at the top and drop down to turn the lights
off so you'll be right above the magma deposit door. Time it like a pro and
slip through in one brave piece and keep going down into the next screen. Step
off the left ledge in the next room, wholly avoiding the moth and bat. Hover at
the top of the next screen and position yourself to where you'll go down past
the snake on its right. Keep going south to the next room, again hovering at
the top. Position yourself and go down the scrawny left hole. Hover at the top
of the next and go down past the snake on its right. Then be careful not to
touch that filthy mud-looking body of water below you and make your way to the
left and into the next screen. Shoot the bat and maneuver your way down and to
the left, avoiding the invincible tentacles and shooting the vulnerable moth.
Bomb the wall and continue left. Interestingly enough, if any of these enemies
kill you (like Tentacles just did me!), all of them will disappear, even
Tentacles.

Land on the platform, kill the spider along your way, then take off and shoot
the bat as you keep going left. Land next to the magma wall and annihilate it
slowly or quickly (lasers or bomb), then continue left, killing the moth along
your way. Follow the U-shaped pattern as you're accustomed to doing by now in
the next room, staying as far away from the tentacles as possible and knocking
that spider out of your way near the end. Get rid of the magma wall and
progress to the left. In the final room, shoot the moth and lift off if you're
not already in the air. Drop down past the bat on your right and then carefully
avoid the magma deposit above you as you rescue the miner.

LEVEL 20
--------

This is it, folks. Can you feel the excitement of completing this 20-year old
game? I can. Bomb the magma wall and go down to get the show on the road. Hover
at the top and after your eyes adjust to the suddenly onset darkness, time your
descent down to the ground with accuracy to avoid the moth. Shoot that moth
ASAP. Bomb the magma wall on your right and step off the ledge to the left of
the spider, staying to the left side of the wall on your way down. Drop down
the hole and hover right above the moth. When you're ready to suck it up and
make the move down past the moth and into the next room, do it. Hover at the
top of the next screen and then glide all the way over to the left side of the
screen where the snake-free hole is. Then go down past the spider. When the
screen changes, hover over to the right side of the open space between the two
magma deposits. Do that and the moths can't reach you. Go down past them and
into the next room.

Use your awesome timing skills (if you've made it this far, you KNOW you're
awesome!) to slip through the magma deposit door, as I'm fond of calling the
opening and closing deposits. Hover at the top of the next screen and then move
to the left. This part's a good challenge. Make sure you don't accidentally
hover back up into the previous screen, cause you could easily hit a moth or
deposit that you've already passed. Position yourself so that you can fall
straight down through the narrow crack between the deposit and ledge, being
even more careful not to land on top of the moth. When the screen changes,
hover and make your way to the right in the next screen. Drop down the
right-side hole, past the moth. In the next room, keep to the left of the
lantern, then land on the small ledge on your right. Step off that same ledge
to continue downward when you're 100% positive that you'll squeeze by that moth
below you. Hover at the top of and position yourself in the next screen to fit
through the miniscule hole in the deposit and past the spider.

Upon landing, run to the right, step off the ledge, hovering in place
immediately to shoot the spider, then go right, into the next room. Shoot the
bat, then land on the platform and do what you always do in this room, lasering
through the spider on your way. Bomb the magma wall and continue east. Shoot
the moth, fit under the hanging magma deposit until you're just past it, then
rise straight up, ignoring the spider. Land beside the magma wall and get rid
of it. Then continue right. Shoot the bat, make your way down and to the right
through this U-shaped monster and shoot the moth to get it out of your way.
Make landfall, bomb the magma wall, and keep going to the right. Another
U-shaped room! How many of these in a row are there??? The game knows you're
close to the end and it's really socking it to you now! Shoot the moth, make
your way to the right, avoiding the tentacles and shooting or rising above the
moth, then continue right. Shoot the moth in this, the FINAL room, then make
your down, right, up, and right to rescue the miner.

IS THIS THE END?
----------------

Yep, but only if you want it to be. Look down at the bottom-center of the
screen where it always informs you of which level you're currently on at the
very beginning of the level as your Power meter is filling up and you'll see
the words, LEVEL: PRO. The levels will now start over at Level 13 and go in
order from Levels 13-20. Once you complete Level 20, the cycle will start over
again at Level 13 and that'll continue until your game is over. So you'll
notice that in some levels the enemies will be back to normal speed (they'll
seem slow to you now!), while in others they still suffer from Attention
Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. It'll say LEVEL: PRO at the beginning of each
level now that you've completed the 20th stage, which really inflates your ego!
But your ego deserves to be awakened, because H.E.R.O. isn't that easy of a
game, and it's not short either.

Believe me, it's worth continuing, and not just because H.E.R.O. is boat loads
of fun. Yes, you've beaten the game, but you haven't yet achieved the ultimate
goal. The greatest achievement that is to be had is to reach the pinnacle of a
million points. That's 1,000,000 points. Unlike it does in most Atari 2600
games, such as Asteroids, Ms. Pac-Man, etc., the score does not roll over
(start back at zero). As I said in an earlier section, the bottom of the
screen, where it usually tells you which level you're about to go up against,
will change to a bunch of exclamation points (!!!!!!). Then the screen will
freeze. Watch it for a few more seconds and it'll then start showing the
computer play like a pro in the demonstrations. It's even interesting to watch
this. Unlike most games, on any platform, the computers play through several
stages in H.E.R.O.'s demonstrations.


5. CREDITS
==========

Retro (that's me) would like to thank the following:

God, for everything and more.

Activision, for producing an unbelievable Atari 2600 game in the name of
H.E.R.O. that I'll never forget. Activision Classics and Activision Anthology,
for introducing me to H.E.R.O. after I missed out on it all those years for the
real Atari 2600. CJAYC, for running this awesome site we all know as GameFAQs.
Jason Venter for trying to contend with GameFAQs with a not so bad site itself,
HonestGamers.

And of course, where would I be without all the cool people I've met on
GameFAQs? The following are cool enough to be listed in this FAQ: Masters (or
whatever name he chooses to use later today), Jerec, VGrevolution, cyper, Snow
Dragon, KBroccoli, NT220, Psycho Penguin, Leroux, RuninRuder, yatesy, Bloomer,
FFM, J-dog, inkhands, Zigfried. Lastly (but extremely far from leastly!),
ASchultz, for inspiring me to write this FAQ with his suggestions and saying
that he was excited to see the final product.


6. LEGAL STUFF
==============

As you've probably read in every other FAQ on the site, the same holds true for
this one. Don't think you can simply copy it over to your site. If you want
this H.E.R.O. FAQ/Walkthrough on your website, e-mail or IM me and get my
permission first. Once posted, it must not be altered in any way, shape, or
form, unless I do it.

Remember to contact me at [email protected] if you have any questions or
comments regarding H.E.R.O. or this FAQ. Well, have a good day and enjoy
H.E.R.O.!

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