H.E.R.O. By John Van Ryzin ACTIVISION(R) DUTY CALLS! ----------- Roderick Hero, at your service. Please, call me R. Hero. Everyone does. I wish to address myself to fledgling Heroes and All-Around Good Guys everywhere. A crisis is afoot, affording me an ideal opportunity to share a few of the finer points of heroic endeavour with you. Do pay attention. Volcanic activity has trapped miners in mineshafts in Mount Leone. I shall use equipment (some think it rather nifty) of my own invention to help miners no mere mortal can reach. It would give me great pleasure to have your help. The object of this undertaking is to rescue all the miners possible before running out of lives. BASICS ------ 1. Load H.E.R.O. into your system (see instructions on reverse). 2. When loading is complete, the demonstration mode will begin, followed by a high score display and then, the menu. To go directly to the menu, press M on the keyboard. Select desired controller by pressing its corresponding numerical key. 3. When the starting screen appears, select game 1 to 5 by pressing the appropriate number on the keyboard. The game number appears beneath the power gauge. Game Starting Level 1 1 2 5 3 9 4 13 5 17 (*) (*) Game 5 starts at level 17, but all following levels are random. No level number will appear. In games 1-4, the word PRO appears in place of the level number after level 20. 4. The Keyboard screen will now appear, displaying all the controls. 5. To begin the game, press ENTER. The action commences with a move of the Joystick or by pressing any control key. 6. Reserves. You begin with five "lives" - one active and four in reserve. A bonus "life" is awarded for every 20,000 points earned, up to a maximum of six. 7. Joystick/Keyboard Controls: - To fly up, move Joystick forward or press 2 on the keyboard. - To fly left or right, move Joystick left or right, or press O or P on the keyboard. - To fly down a shaft, just step off the ledge. Gravity does the rest. 8. To pause the action at any time, press H on the keyboard. To resume the action, press it again. 9. To reset the game you have just played, press CAPS SHIFT and ENTER. To reset back to controller menus, press SYMBOL SHIFT and ENTER. 10.Game ends when reserve lives have been depleted. SPECIAL FEATURES ---------------- The Power Gauge fills at the start of each level, and diminishes steadily. R. Hero must rescue the miner before the power runs out, or face certain doom. A Microlaser beam can be emitted from the helmet by pressing the joystick button or key E (hold for continuous fire). Use it to blast away nasty creatures. It can also slice through walls, but this takes a lot of time and power. Dynamite. You'll begin each level with six sticks of dynamite, each of which can demolish a small wall. * Land and move near a wall. * Ignite dynamite by pulling the joystick toward you (or press key A). Now move away quickly or R. Hero will be caught in the blast! A Heat resistant Raft floats on certain parts of the lava river. Be careful - getting off the raft isn't always easy. RESCUE ESSENTIALS ----------------- Mineshafts extend horizontally, as well as vertically, so don't forget to search passed the left and right borders of the screens. Some shafts are dead ends; others are blocked by walls, Some walls and surfaces glow purple; these contain magma deposits, molten lava behind the rock. Like lava rivers, magma deposits spell doom if R. Hero touches them. Lanterns light the murky mineshafts. Touch or shoot one and that section of the mine will go dark. The shafts are alive with danger; spiders, shaft bats, mine moths and nesting snakes. Avoid them or blast them with the microlaser beam. A tentacle traces one's every move over certain parts of the lava river. One cannot shoot it so be cautious. Touching any of these hazards results in the loss of a life. One must locate a miner on each level before moving lower in the mine. The deeper one goes, the more numerous the challenges become and the harder it is to find the miner. The current level number appears beneath the reserve lives. LOADING INSTRUCTIONS -------------------- 1. Be sure that the EAR socket of the Spectrum is connected to the EAR socket of the tape recorder. 2. Place the cassette in the recorder and rewind to the beginning. 3. TYPE LOAD "" (using the J key for LOAD, and the P key and SYMBOL SHIFT for the " quotes). 4. Press the ENTER key. 5. Press PLAY on the recorder. 6. After several seconds, the program title should appear. After a minute or so, a full title screen will appear, surrounded by a moving, static- like background, and lasting approximately 4 minutes. If this loading sequence does not occur, adjust the volume on the recorder and repeat this entire procedure. SCORING ------- - Shoot a critter: 50 points - Each dynamite stick remaining when miner is rescued: 50 points - Dynamite a wall: 80 points - Rescue miner: l000 points One earns additional points for every unit of power remaining when a miner is rescued. The higher the level number, the more each unit of power is worth. The day has been saved when the score reaches 1,000,000. The rescue operation ceases. Can you say what else happens? R. Hero, of course, knows... TIPS FROM JOHN VAN RYZIN Designer of H.ER.O. - Review the opening sequence before starting the action, familiarizing yourself with the terrain ahead. - Dynamite doesn't have to be placed right next to a wall in order to blow it up. - If R. Hero runs out of dynamite, he can burn through walls with the Microlaser. The closer he stands to the wall, the faster he'll break through. - If a lantern goes out, try 'feeling' your way around. At best, ignite a stick of dynamite. It's like lighting a candle. - Finer movements can be made by gently tapping the Joystick. Who are you?? We'd love to know!! Fill out the reverse side, and mail it, in a stamped envelope to the address below. Feel free to include a letter describing your software interests as well. In either case, we'll keep you informed of upcoming innovations from the Activision designers. ACTIVISION UK INC. 15 Harley House, Marylebone Road, London NW1 (UK) URK-003 (C) 1984 ACTIVISION, INC. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please print in BLOCK CAPITALS NAME_________________________________________________________________ ADDRESS______________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ POSTCODE_____________________________________________________________ AGE__________________________________________________________________ H.E.R.O. Spectrum