A new version of the Apple2 FPGA core is out for MiSTer FPGA:
https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Apple-II_MiSTer

This is a significant upgrade bringing many useful features; if you have a MiSTer, SuperStation, or similar, give it a try and let me know what you think!

Special thanks goes to AlanSWX, Kitrinx, Rikkles, and Jsmolina for their help and code contributions to several components!

Hardware

• .woz file support (in addition of the existing .dsk, .nib, .po, .do and .hdv handling)
• accurate NTSC color decoding (in addition to the existing RGB modes)
• custom palette option for RGB (create your own!)
• floppy disk sound simulation and drive lights
• CP/M card, Clock Card, and Saturn RAM expansion
• Mockingboard and Mouse II support

Quality-of-Life / Usability

• Save States! Four slots to save your game to SD card (filename is per disk)
• On-screen keyboard (with transparency options, and can be moved up or down the screen)
• Joystick-2-key functionality with loadable custom profiles (so you can customize per game)
• Option to recenter the joystick X axis and relative analog joystick mode (does not recenter)

Advanced options

• Eight video presets plus optional NTSC vertical comb filter (e.g. gray floor in Karateka)
• Customizable video ROM (load your own) for non-English keyboard layouts
• 6502 and 65C02 CPU selection
• Configurable slots to setup the machine for games or productivity (Z80 Softcard, Saturn)

Hi all,

I seem to be dusting off my RetroPie setup for Apple games and thinking about "what are the best games, and which ones haven't I actually played", and also "what games have I played that don't maybe get enough attention"...

And so I searched here for mention of Return of Heracles and I can't find ANY mention of it at all?

I really like this game. It was by Stuart Smith - there's a good blog article about it here.

https://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2014/07/game-153-return-of-heracles-1983.html

Things I appreciate about it: it's probably the most "historically accurate" (mythically accurate?) game I've ever run across. A lot of modern games will look at Greek myth or whatever mythology they're working with and change things around to suit what they want. Not Smith, apparently he liked it all and just committed to it. There are some crazy things that will happen in the game, like take a hero to the place where something terrible happened to him, and maybe something terrible WILL happen to him. I think one of the playable characters is a dog!

The main balance in the game is around score. You can hire all the heroes you want; it will make your turns longer, so it will take you longer to get things done, but if you need help to overcome a challenge you can get it. It also serves as a kind of Greek mythology crossover story. "What if Achilles fought alongside Perseus to retrieve the Golden Fleece"!

Smith as I recall also developed Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves and... Adventure Construction Set, right?

I'm looking for an apple II game I played as a child. All I remember is you played as an astronaut or alien that crashed or landed on a planet and the game mechanics involved combining items in your inventory to create other things. Maybe basic chemistry elements, or I could be misremembering that part. I remember making rubber for some reason. I know this is vague, does anyone know what I'm talking about?