This is the oldest game that i like on the c64! I played it again today after about 32 years! And it was GREAT the different gameplay styles are fantastic and so is the music!!!
Spent a good chunk of my summer trying to beat this game 19, or 20 years ago. I made it to the bridge level, never beat it, but now that I've seen the ending, I think I'm okay with that fact. Fun, fun, fun, fun, frustrating game all the same.
Wow! After all these years now I know that I was so close to completing the challenge. The only leg I couldn't remember ever reaching is the last one in the video: The Bridge. Probably because I was playing on a black and white TV and always got eaten up by the Piranhas. I actually enjoyed playing this game and the music is just hard core heavy metal. Great stuff.
Hah yeah I had a problem too for the same reason, black and white TV. BYou could just BARELY make out the Piranhas but it was really just one specific pattern of static against truly random static. I had to close one eye for some reason, it helped.
The piranhastage was the hardest. It took me countless hours until I passed it, but after I did it once, I could do again with ease. I was the only one in my family who could finish this game, that made me really proud back then. If you could finish it once, the game wasnt that challenging anymore and you could finish it pretty fast. That game was a christmaspresent by my uncle and I still have it, but the C64 doenst work anymore ... since 15 years or so.
"Aztec Challenge was originally created by another COSMI programmer in the style of Mario Bros. before my arrival. I was asked if I could do a port to the C64, and, for one reason or another, I went off and made a completely new game from scratch that in no way resembled the first, except for the title." -- Paul Norman, designer and programmer [Aztec Challenge - C64]
I barely ever made it past the first temple run part as a kid. Didn't realize there was so much more to this game. Also interesting to look back on this after how much the "endless runner" genre has grown (Canabalt, Tiny Wings, Subway Surfers) since then -- the first section is basically one of the earliest endless runners. Also loved the music on this one mostly because it builds to a crescendo as you make it pretty far in each section (maybe it's even dynamic? Seems like more instruments are added as it goes on, but perhaps that's just baked into the track.)
I played this all the time, but could barely get past the first spears area. I did get to the rooms eventually. I remember watching my dad and our cousins try it, and get further. I was only about 5-8 yrs.
Thank you so much for posting... gives me Goosebumps. This was actually the Game that took me from my Atari 2600 to the C-64. I still get Chills hearing the starting Sound ... Brooooooom... 1982 released... this is (now 2011) 29 Years old! Like watching the 50s Hollywood Movies back then. Im SO curious what Computergames will look like in the Year 2040. If i'm still alive then.
Me and my mate went down to our local computer shop and they had this on display,and we were playing this for over 2 hours(very nice bloke to let us play that long) and when i was playing it was the music getting louder that mad my heart race and panic on that first level and getting killed and start all over again wanting to get further.I did`nt get past the first level my mate did. I LOVE the music.
I loved this game when i was so much younger:) I recently bought a original again just to keep sweet memories... this game was fustrating, but the most fustrating was that when I finished this game there was no end sequence at all :( still love the concept and the music, thanks Paul Norman for giving me so much fun many years ago!
best game ever!!!! only problem i had was the piranha level as i had only monochrome tv and red piranhas were not visible in blue water - d-oh. only found out once i plugged it in later in colored tv
oh god... i finished it but i thought i made a mistake because there is nothing at the end .... please tell me i didnt get a trauma as a kid thinking i always died but actually finished it loool ????
I played it throught last week (using raspberry pi + retropie image on a big screen tv) and was wondering the same. As a kid i could never finish it, after 30+ years it just happened, what a feeling. (:
1:26-Paul Norman probably got the idea for the steadily building music in this game from the Bee Gees hit "Jive Talkin'." The first 22 seconds of "Jive Talkin'" remind me of Aztec Challenge, from the scratchy intro (which makes some people's teeth itch) which, after 4 seconds, is combined with a booming bass line, followed by a guitar solo about 12 seconds later, to when the drums and vocals kick in and replace the scratching.
I FINALLY FOUND IT. I think this was the game was what the game Pharaoh was spoofed off of. Pharaoh being the game Randal was playing in the "the last starship trooper" episode from the Clerks Animated Series.
i will always have memories of wataching my big brother play this game on the c64 and i saw how hard it was and never attempted to play this game but i always enjoyed the time i spent with him playing c64 games
this is probably the hardest and the most frustrating game in C64. Still cant understand with what kind of patience we played these games when we were kids :)
I used to go play C64 to my neighbour/friends home. I remember this being one of the hardest games. They had gotten to the bridge level and had to leave the computer running when they went to the supermaket so they wouldnt have to start from the beginning :) Great times.
I first played this game on a black/white TV set, which is really funny. Especially the Piranha stage. You just don't see the fish. Fortunatly it is enough to swim out at the bottom and then up again, minimizing the risk of being eaten :)
Magnificent !!!! My brother and I were fanatic players, the music I still remember as the day of yesterday 😁 and my brother with a red face shouting at the computer in ibis only drive to win 😬🤭
You are awesome! Thanks for the ride down Memory Lane! I used to whoop this game on the lowest level, but it would cream me at anything over level 3, lol...
Excellent palying. This is one of the most frustrating games. I remeber taking it to the level - that now turns out to be the last one - and never being able to beat it. Actually I was about 6-7 years old then, and looking at the game now and trying to pass the first level today, I have absolutely no idea how I managed to reach level 7.
Ho passato molto tempo giocando ad atzec challenge, il livello con i piranha era impossibile da superare (avevo un tv in bianco e nero). Tecnicamente lascia a desiderare, ma l'idea alla base del gioco è buona. Molto bella è anche la schermata di avvio con il logo della software house che si trasforma.
Yeah - and on a colour screen, you got eye cancer from trying to distinguish reddish static dots zipping through blueish static water at lightning speed. Oh the memories :-).
This game was a grueling test of focus and perseverance. It would've been easier to be an albino Aztec, at least I would've gotten a more merciful ending than this game had.
Great game, not that easy, especially in some parts, but very exciting to me and also graphics and music were stunning for the times. The weird fact is that your 1st stage playing is by night, while I remembered was always daytime in that (cyan sky and sand was yellow as screen frame) and I got a C64 and the game again the last year and never had that darkness in the 1st level. :-|
One of the most difficult games I played on the C64 and was still able to beat. The music was good too. Tk, tktktk, tktktk, tktktk, tktktk, dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-DUN-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun, doo, doodoodoo, doodoodummmmm, tuweeyuuweeyuuweeyuu... I literally had nightmares from wrestling that game.
Did you use a cheat oder something like that at the piranhas level ? I see many piranhas hit you. I remember that if one piranha bite, all piranhas came and make a heavy meal
I remember our neighbours had this game when I was a kid. I remember them having a joke with me and trying to convince me that their eldest brother had made the game by just mashing all the buttons, and this is what came out. I actually believed them too haha. O was pretty impressionable as a child. All I could remember was a vague recollection of the bridge level, and the game music.
Anyone who played this game will have the music (essentially a cannon) etched into their brain ... especially the early bars ... you would hear them over and over again each time you failed. Getting near the end would spook you because the cannon would become fuller and was something you heard far less frequently, adding to the pressure :-)
I loved this game! I remember the piranhas was invisible on Black % White N TVs, some friends playing BN didn't understand how to pass the river level. :)
Played this for a couple of hours yesterday with a friend. He got to the level with the piranhas, I was having trouble with level three haha. FYI. Set up my original commodore!
This is probably the hardest and the most frustrating game in C64. Still cant understand with what kind of patience we played these games when we were kids :)
also growing up i so thought the graphics were different colors. So lame that this game doesn't have an end. It was fun for its time, but only meaningful gameplay is getting good at this odd game.
@@aphixe this is the final difficulty level. the others have the graphics the way you remember them. Hopaztec is really the only unfair level, as you have to memorize the correct path.
I guess we were patient because there was no alternative. Patience is relative though because our neighbors probably didn't think that I was patient whenever I was screaming at the tv 🤣
Still love the music after all these years ! Another flawed yet brilliant masterpiece from Paul Norman.
This game is pure life experience. The soundtrack is the stuff of nightmares.
scary music, but sweet memories of my youth...
This is the oldest game that i like on the c64! I played it again today after about 32 years! And it was GREAT the different gameplay styles are fantastic and so is the music!!!
The game with the neverending levels. Played it a lot as a kid.
Spent a good chunk of my summer trying to beat this game 19, or 20 years ago. I made it to the bridge level, never beat it, but now that I've seen the ending, I think I'm okay with that fact. Fun, fun, fun, fun, frustrating game all the same.
Wow! After all these years now I know that I was so close to completing the challenge. The only leg I couldn't remember ever reaching is the last one in the video: The Bridge. Probably because I was playing on a black and white TV and always got eaten up by the Piranhas. I actually enjoyed playing this game and the music is just hard core heavy metal. Great stuff.
Talented!
Hah yeah I had a problem too for the same reason, black and white TV. BYou could just BARELY make out the Piranhas but it was really just one specific pattern of static against truly random static. I had to close one eye for some reason, it helped.
I love that low bassy synth sound at the intro, and always have.
+limegreensquid Me too! I wish I made the music like this.
The piranhastage was the hardest.
It took me countless hours until I passed it, but after I did it once, I could do again with ease.
I was the only one in my family who could finish this game, that made me really proud back then.
If you could finish it once, the game wasnt that challenging anymore and you could finish it pretty fast.
That game was a christmaspresent by my uncle and I still have it, but the C64 doenst work anymore ... since 15 years or so.
😂
I completed this game taking turns with my dad and friends, a very good memory, we were hooked on it. Awesome game for it's time.
I'm glad I never saw the "end" although numerous hours were consumed trying to get there.
I don't get why there was no end celebration
likewise, I would have expected a much better ending/reward for the long hours of practice required to get there
"Aztec Challenge was originally created by
another COSMI programmer in the style of
Mario Bros. before my arrival. I was asked if I
could do a port to the C64, and, for one reason
or another, I went off and made a completely
new game from scratch that in no way
resembled the first, except for the title."
-- Paul Norman, designer and programmer [Aztec Challenge - C64]
Just watched it twice. Once for the memory. twice for the music
I barely ever made it past the first temple run part as a kid. Didn't realize there was so much more to this game. Also interesting to look back on this after how much the "endless runner" genre has grown (Canabalt, Tiny Wings, Subway Surfers) since then -- the first section is basically one of the earliest endless runners. Also loved the music on this one mostly because it builds to a crescendo as you make it pretty far in each section (maybe it's even dynamic? Seems like more instruments are added as it goes on, but perhaps that's just baked into the track.)
I played this all the time, but could barely get past the first spears area. I did get to the rooms eventually. I remember watching my dad and our cousins try it, and get further. I was only about 5-8 yrs.
You gotta love the ending, haven't you?
Did not see the ending coming. Still haven't.
Thank you so much for posting... gives me Goosebumps.
This was actually the Game that took me from my Atari 2600 to the C-64.
I still get Chills hearing the starting Sound ... Brooooooom...
1982 released... this is (now 2011) 29 Years old! Like watching the 50s Hollywood Movies back then.
Im SO curious what Computergames will look like in the Year 2040.
If i'm still alive then.
Apocalipto: The videogame
Me and my mate went down to our local computer shop and they had this on display,and we were playing this for over 2 hours(very nice bloke to let us play that long) and when i was playing it was the music getting louder that mad my heart race and panic on that first level and getting killed and start all over again wanting to get further.I did`nt get past the first level my mate did. I LOVE the music.
Am I the only one who finds this music utterly terrifying? ok...
Vervain Vanity This sound has some weird mysterious vibe in it.. I love it! :)
Yes, weird and mysterious like @Edwins1984 said, but also unsettling, kind of like Forbidden Forest and the like :-D
Haha looking back at it it does, forgot it was like that but I dug it big time back then
No your not and my Therapist can testify to that.
@piacca73
This is the C64-version. You had to play that game four times thru before you reach the end. And the last round have the dark background.
I loved this game when i was so much younger:) I recently bought a original again just to keep sweet memories... this game was fustrating, but the most fustrating was that when I finished this game there was no end sequence at all :( still love the concept and the music, thanks Paul Norman for giving me so much fun many years ago!
best game ever!!!! only problem i had was the piranha level as i had only monochrome tv and red piranhas were not visible in blue water - d-oh. only found out once i plugged it in later in colored tv
oh god... i finished it but i thought i made a mistake because there is nothing at the end .... please tell me i didnt get a trauma as a kid thinking i always died but actually finished it loool ????
I played it throught last week (using raspberry pi + retropie image on a big screen tv) and was wondering the same.
As a kid i could never finish it, after 30+ years it just happened, what a feeling. (:
Crap ending :(
@@CricksHz you mean no ending lol
Oh man I remember going through so much pain playing this game! :-)
1:26-Paul Norman probably got the idea for the steadily building music in this game from the Bee Gees hit "Jive Talkin'." The first 22 seconds of "Jive Talkin'" remind me of Aztec Challenge, from the scratchy intro (which makes some people's teeth itch) which, after 4 seconds, is combined with a booming bass line, followed by a guitar solo about 12 seconds later, to when the drums and vocals kick in and replace the scratching.
I FINALLY FOUND IT.
I think this was the game was what the game Pharaoh was spoofed off of. Pharaoh being the game Randal was playing in the "the last starship trooper" episode from the Clerks Animated Series.
i do remember this game, quite frustratin', playin' the same level again and again, but never managed to see the "end" until now. thx 4 da upload.
One freaking excellent game. Great gameplay with one of those soundtracks thats impossible to get out of your head.
This was my first game when around 8 years old, and taught me what to expect from a video game.
@6anatolyy4
Thats how Cosmi games were man. You crossed your fingers and hoped for the best.
I never made it past bridge 3 growing up, you are a beast!
i will always have memories of wataching my big brother play this game on the c64 and i saw how hard it was and never attempted to play this game but i always enjoyed the time i spent with him playing c64 games
The years when a completely normal game was terrifying
this is probably the hardest and the most frustrating game in C64. Still cant understand with what kind of patience we played these games when we were kids :)
That music and atmoshphere!! Jesus! What a good game!!
I Always remember that!
That music give me chills after a long time I didn't heart .gosh I miss the 80s
Gotta love those awesome heavy PWM sweeps of the SID as well.
One of the most difficult games of all time on the C64 or any other system from the "golden years" of gaming (late seventies to mid eighties).
When those Aztecs have challenges they don't mess around.
One of the most difficoult game of my chldhood, now i understand the mechanic and is still an awesome game!
This is the earliest example of dynamic videogame music I can recall. Great music it was
I was so frustrated from that first level. You need damn good reactions to go through it. Great upload!
memories...
Great synth soundtrack..that baseline!
I used to go play C64 to my neighbour/friends home. I remember this being one of the hardest games. They had gotten to the bridge level and had to leave the computer running when they went to the supermaket so they wouldnt have to start from the beginning :) Great times.
one of the most pure video games. amazingly simple yet challenging.
In retrospect, that first level reminds me of the pod racing arcade part in Space Quest 1.
I first played this game on a black/white TV set, which is really funny. Especially the Piranha stage. You just don't see the fish. Fortunatly it is enough to swim out at the bottom and then up again, minimizing the risk of being eaten :)
I am now 46 years old and I never forget this game and music
Best difficult game of the Milky-way Galaxy
I used to go mental playing this game when i was 5. Ah the memories! This is one of the few that i remember.
I love imagining that in the running-and-spear-dodging part of the game, everyone's like HEY EVERYONE! JOE'S DOING THE RUN! LET'S TRY 'N SPEAR 'IM
Magnificent !!!! My brother and I were fanatic players, the music I still remember as the day of yesterday 😁 and my brother with a red face shouting at the computer in ibis only drive to win 😬🤭
It was my first game in C64 (1986). Difficult game
Someone needs to update all these with a dope narration talking about the game and the levels.
Insane, psychedelic game that could cause nervous overload, even seizures.
I remember making it all the way to the ladder section but never being able to succeed a triple jump.. That game was annoyingly addictive..
The frustration contained within this game defies reason.
You are awesome! Thanks for the ride down Memory Lane! I used to whoop this game on the lowest level, but it would cream me at anything over level 3, lol...
I loved the music to this, really menacing!
Not sure what is was about the C64 music, it still brings me the creeps just as when i was a kid... i couldn't stop playing, but the music lol
i remember playing this as a kid and i didn't have troubles. now i am suffering trying to beat it again.
Ho aspettato 35 anni per vederlo finito. Oggi so, grazie. Ma è una sola finisce e ricomincia daccapo...
Excellent palying. This is one of the most frustrating games. I remeber taking it to the level - that now turns out to be the last one - and never being able to beat it. Actually I was about 6-7 years old then, and looking at the game now and trying to pass the first level today, I have absolutely no idea how I managed to reach level 7.
Could never get passed the first few levels and the music drop you nuts
First video game I ever played.
I played it in my C128, from a cassette: Aztec Challenge on side A, Magic Carpet on side B. It was 1989.
Ho passato molto tempo giocando ad atzec challenge, il livello con i piranha era impossibile da superare (avevo un tv in bianco e nero). Tecnicamente lascia a desiderare, ma l'idea alla base del gioco è buona. Molto bella è anche la schermata di avvio con il logo della software house che si trasforma.
The music made this game nervebreaking hard - you could really feel the tension - for me the pirahnas was the thoughest level.
this was such a good game. you really had to get in the zone to play it
Yeah - and on a colour screen, you got eye cancer from trying to distinguish reddish static dots zipping through blueish static water at lightning speed. Oh the memories :-).
This game was a grueling test of focus and perseverance. It would've been easier to be an albino Aztec, at least I would've gotten a more merciful ending than this game had.
@6anatolyy4
The character can dive for few seconds. Under warter he is invisible for the piranhas.
Great game, not that easy, especially in some parts, but very exciting to me and also graphics and music were stunning for the times.
The weird fact is that your 1st stage playing is by night, while I remembered was always daytime in that (cyan sky and sand was yellow as screen frame) and I got a C64 and the game again the last year and never had that darkness in the 1st level. :-|
I really enjoyed this game as a kid...
80's were fucking beautiful
Age of Barbarian: Arena, uses some of these segments as mini games.
One of the most difficult games I played on the C64 and was still able to beat. The music was good too. Tk, tktktk, tktktk, tktktk, tktktk, dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-DUN-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun, doo, doodoodoo, doodoodummmmm, tuweeyuuweeyuuweeyuu... I literally had nightmares from wrestling that game.
I remember the music helping me concentrate on it. :)
I loved his game with its several gameplay. I was able o finish it after long hours of training.
Did you use a cheat oder something like that at the piranhas level ? I see many piranhas hit you. I remember that if one piranha bite, all piranhas came and make a heavy meal
The graphics go downhill the moment you get to the stairs screen.
"Aztech Challenge" by Cosmi and "Crazy Comets" by Martech and "Hybris" by Discovery Enterprise: WONDERFUL!
I remember our neighbours had this game when I was a kid. I remember them having a joke with me and trying to convince me that their eldest brother had made the game by just mashing all the buttons, and this is what came out. I actually believed them too haha. O was pretty impressionable as a child. All I could remember was a vague recollection of the bridge level, and the game music.
I remember the bass sounding so much deeper in my head
this was one tough game, to be honest I wouldn't want to play this again - happy to watch this and just say I completed it
The trick for the first stage is that you have to watch/concentrate on the torso of your player and not the sides. (:
Yeah loved this game! Did all those levels
nice game. very mystical and hypnotic music.
Anyone who played this game will have the music (essentially a cannon) etched into their brain ... especially the early bars ... you would hear them over and over again each time you failed. Getting near the end would spook you because the cannon would become fuller and was something you heard far less frequently, adding to the pressure :-)
I had the same problem. Black and white television. 😊
I loved this game!
I remember the piranhas was invisible on Black % White N TVs, some friends playing BN didn't understand how to pass the river level. :)
That bass track. Laid the foundation for modern reggaeton.
Ha yeah, now I remember, thanks for reminding me. :)
I just got confused because it was just on the video startup.
Have a great MMXXIII!
I actually loved this game, except the maze level which was mostly just guessing and getting lucky. But the music was unforgettable.
I loved this game as a kid!
Yes. They made an incredible work . C64 is an old platform but with a very good sound card also
its strange i don't remember the floor square level at all but i remember the final bridge level
Played this for a couple of hours yesterday with a friend. He got to the level with the piranhas, I was having trouble with level three haha. FYI. Set up my original commodore!
Why is the sky black?? When I played this game, the first stage had daylight! Am I missing something??
This is probably the hardest and the most frustrating game in C64. Still cant understand with what kind of patience we played these games when we were kids :)
also growing up i so thought the graphics were different colors. So lame that this game doesn't have an end. It was fun for its time, but only meaningful gameplay is getting good at this odd game.
Same here. Going through the game on the first difficultly was easy.
@@aphixe this is the final difficulty level. the others have the graphics the way you remember them. Hopaztec is really the only unfair level, as you have to memorize the correct path.
Stabil up until a few minutes ago i had high hopes of finishing delta, I can get to stage 8, only another 20 to go (big sigh)
I guess we were patient because there was no alternative. Patience is relative though because our neighbors probably didn't think that I was patient whenever I was screaming at the tv 🤣
@6anatolyy4 Haha, I feel you! Was in an airport on a business trip as well a few days ago, watching old C64 games and getting high on nostalgica :)