Herc's Adventures

Herc's Adventures is a video game released for the PlayStation and the Sega Saturn by LucasArts in 1997. The PlayStation version was released internationally, but the Sega Saturn version was exclusive to North America. The overhead, action-adventure format is similar to Zombies Ate My Neighbors. Up to two players each take on the role of one of three ancient Greek heroes: Herc (Hercules), Atlanta (Atalanta), or Jason, who are on a quest to defeat Hades and save the goddess of nature, Persephone. In 2014, it was released for PSN in North America.

Herc's Adventures was originally announced as a Sega Saturn exclusive with a release date of December 1996, but delays pushed its release back to July 1997.

Gameplay
The characters pick up various weapons and items, which include: pepper breath against bees and wasps, frost breath that freezes enemies, lightning which blasts a target with electrical energy, spears, boar traps, flaming spears (used against the Hydra to prevent its head from reforming), bombs, an evil Pandora's box which when opened releases rough weather, a shrink doll which miniaturizes any target and a laser gun. Items include Circe's potion which turned the player into a pig to fit into small crevices, Medusa and Minotaur's head, and the golden fleece (which opens the gates of Hades' underworld).

Gyros increase the player's health bar, and each hero has a second strength bar that depletes whenever moving or picking up an object. Health and strength are increased by buying lessons from a strength trainer or finding red hearts.

Every time the players die, they are sent down to the underworld and need to fight their way to the exit in order to continue. The more they die, the further back into the underworld they are sent, making it increasingly harder to fight their way out. Dying five times results in a game over.

With the exception of the switch to and from the underworld section, the game world is presented as an open, singular map, without any loading screens or interstitials between areas.