Aztec Challenge: Difference between revisions

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{{Infobox video game

| title = ''Aztec Challenge''

| image = This_is_the_cover_art_for_Aztec_Challenge.jpg

| image =

| caption =

| developer = [[Cosmi Corporation|Cosmi]]

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| released = {{vgrelease|NA|1982|DE|1984}}

| genre = [[Action game|Action]]

| platforms = [[Atari 8-bit computers|Atari 8-bit]], [[Commodore 64]], [[TI-99/4A]], [[VIC-20]]

}}

[[File:Aztec Challenge C64.jpg|thumb|right|230px|The 3D stage in Paul Norman's Commodore 64 version of Aztec Challenge]]

'''''Aztec Challenge''''' refers to either of two early action video games published by [[Cosmi Corporation|COSMICosmi]], as well as two subsequent remakes. In all game versions the player takes control of a running [[Aztec]] warrior. The first was a side-scrolling platform-jumping game created by Robert Tegel Bonifacio and released in 1982 for the [[Atari 8-bit familycomputers]]. Subsequently, a different game with the same title and overall theme was created by Paul Norman and released for the [[Commodore 64]]. It includes a level in a modified-first-person 3D-style.

==Atari 8-bit computer version (1982)==

[[File:Aztec Challenge 1982 Screenshot.png|thumb|right|230px|The original 1982 Cosmi release of ''Aztec Challenge'' on the Atari 8-bit]]

[[File:Aztec Challenge 1983 Screenshot.png|thumb|right|230px|Improved 1983 version, also on the Atari 8-bit]]

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==Commodore 64 version (1983)==

[[File:Aztec Challenge C64.jpg|thumb|right|230px|The 3D stage in Paul Norman's Commodore 64 version of Aztec Challenge]]

===Gameplay===

The player must guide their character through seven different levels. In every level new deadly perils lurk for the hero. The first, entitled The Gauntlet, is probably the most famous level. It sees the player running towards a temple in the distance. On the left and right are some aztecs,Aztecs who throw spears at the player, who must duck under the spear or jump over it (depending on the height the spear is coming at). If the player fails to avoid a spear they are placed back at the start of the level.

In the second level, The Stairs, the player is required to dodge left and right to avoid stone blocks thrown down at them as they ascend the stairs of the temple.

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===Reception===

''Your Commodore'''s reviewer praised the "high standard of graphics and sound" in the game and thought it was "one of the best games around."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/02-your-commodore-magazine/Your_Commodore_Issue_02_1984_Nov#page/n31/mode/2up |title=Your Commodore Magazine |website=Archive.org |date=November 1984 |accessdate=2017-01-02}}</ref>

Commodore User said the game was "rivetting" with in the most part "really excellent" graphics. They were less impressed with the music which they found "gets boring after a while."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/commodore-user-magazine-08/page/n59/mode/1up?view=theater|title = Commodore User Magazine Issue 08|date = May 1984}}</ref>

==Legacy==

This game was remade in 2003 by Paul Norman as ''Azteca: Queen of QuezalcoatlQuetzalcoatl''. It is only found on his website, DigiTTARIUS. {{Citation needed|reason=Flash-based website does not show non-flash link to this game, can't verify game exists|date=February 2021}}

{{anchor|avcstec_challenge}}

A clone of Paul Norman's Commodore 64 version of ''Aztec Challenge'' was released in 2006 for the [[Atari 2600]] as ''[[A-VCS-tec Challenge]]''.<ref name="BoingBoing">{{cite web

|url=http://boingboing.net/2006/07/10/new-atari-2600-game-.html

|title=New Atari 2600 game cartridge released

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|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101110022446/http://boingboing.net/2006/07/10/new-atari-2600-game-.html

|archivedate=November 10, 2010

}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=M.Games.N184.2009.02 | date=12 March 2025 | url=https://archive.org/details/M.Games.N184.2009.02/page/84/mode/2up }}</ref>

}}</ref>

==References==

{{Reflist|refs=

<ref name='interview'>{{cite web|title=Robert Bonifacio Interview|website=NES Warp Zone|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724201257/http://www.neswarpzone.com/bonifacio.html|quote=I got my first non-exclusive agreement with Atari's APX (Atari Program Exchange) in 1981 for 'The Bonifas' a game that almost within the same week was picked up by COSMI and renamed 'Aztec Challenge'. [..] COSMI wanted a simultaneous 2 player option which made it a very fun 2 player game.|url=http://www.neswarpzone.com/bonifacio.html|accessdate=2018-04-12|archive-date=2008-07-24}}</ref>

I got my first non-exclusive agreement with Atari's APX (Atari Program Exchange) in 1981 for 'The Bonifas' a game that almost within the same week was picked up by COSMI and renamed 'Aztec Challenge'. [..] COSMI wanted a simultaneous 2 player option which made it a very fun 2 player game.|url=http://www.neswarpzone.com/bonifacio.html|accessdate=2018-04-12|archive-date=2008-07-24}}</ref>

}}

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[[Category:1982 video games]]

[[Category:Action video games]]

[[Category:Atari 8-bit familycomputer games]]

[[Category:AztecsWorks set in fictionthe Aztec Empire]]

[[Category:Commodore 64 games]]

[[Category:Cosmi Corporation games]]

[[Category:Atari Program Exchange software]]<!-- As original version "The Bonifas" -->

[[Category:Platform gamesPlatformers]]

[[Category:Video games based on Native American mythology]]

[[Category:Video games developed in the United States]]