Aztec Adventure: The Golden Road to Paradise

n/a

NTSC-U/PAL NTSC-J
Aztec Adventure: The Golden Road to Paradise
System(s): Sega Master System
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sega R&D 2
Distributor: Tonka (US), Tec Toy (BR)
Peripherals supported: FM Sound Unit
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code JP 1987-09-20 ¥5,0005,000 G-1335 US 1988-03 5100 EU 1988-09 MK-5100-50 UK 1988-10 £22.9522.95 MK-5100-50 AU 1988 5100 MX 19xx BR 19xx KR 19xx GB-1335

Aztec Adventure: The Golden Road to Paradise, known as Nazca '88 (ナスカ'88) in Japan, is an action game developed and published by Sega for the Sega Master System. The setting of the game was changed from Nazca, which is in Peru, to Aztec, which is in Mexico, for the Western world. This may have been because people are more familiar with the Aztec civilisation than the Nazca. Elements of the original culture, including the Nazca Lines, can still be seen.

Story

The player assumes the role of El Niño, an adventurer in search of paradise.

Gameplay

Adventurers

The game is an action game with an overhead perspective. Niño explores ten different lands, including desert, marshes, ruins, underground waterways, and forests. In each round, he must find and defeat special enemies called demons before finding the exit. The player is shown which demons to defeat and how many of them appear before the round starts. These demons are bigger and stronger than regular enemies. The exit door does not open until all demons have been defeated.

Niño moves in any direction with the D-Pad. He is armed with a sword, and extra weapons and items can be picked up from defeated enemies. He uses his weapon with . His sword can defeat enemies as well as their projectiles. He can cycle through his different weapons with . Niño uses his sword when no special weapon is selected. All of the weapons besides the swords are finite in supply. The last weapon varies depending on the round being played; it appears as a question mark in the inventory until the player finds one. Demons can be defeated with Niño's sword but also have vulnerabilities to particular special weapons.

Some enemies can hired with money to join Niño. He can collect money bags and throw them at these enemies to bribe them. They follow him and fight for him until they are killed. The more powerful the companion, the more money he requires to join the Niño.

Niño has a health meter that goes down as he takes damage from enemies and hazards (such as rivers). Niño loses a life if he runs out of health but starts over at the beginning of the round or at the location of the last demon defeated if he has extra lives left. The game ends if the player runs out of lives. Wishing Wells appear in rounds and heal Niño if he throws money bags into them, and the player can earn extra lives by defeating Ranbaike enemies.

Companions

These enemies can be bribed to join Niño. They are armed with swords but can also mirror one of Niño's special attacks when he uses them.

	Papi
	A bird that has money bags. He can be bribed with 1 money bag.
	Pupe
	A cat that has iron balls. He can be bribed with 2 money bags.
	Poh
	A dog that has spears. He can be bribed with 4 money bags.
	Lady
	A rabbit who cannot be recruited but tries to kidnap Pupe and freeze Poh when they are following Niño. She cannot be harmed by weapons but can be bribed to leave.

Objects

	Wishing Well
	Throwing money into the well summons a goddess to heal Niño. Throwing any other item into the well makes the goddess angry and does not heal.
	Exit
	Completes the round. The exit does not open until all of the demons have been defeated.

Items

Niño can carry up to 8 of each item. The item inventory is not carried over to the next round.

	Money
	Money can be used to bribe certain enemies into fighting alongside Niño. It can also be thrown into Wishing Wells to heal Niño.
	Iron Ball
	A projectile attack that flies in a straight line.
	Spear
	A projectile attack that flies in a straight line and pierces through multiple targets.
	4-Directional Iron Balls
	Shoots four iron balls in the four cardinal directions. It can hurt some enemies that cannot be harmed by regular iron balls.
	Fireball
	Burns down certain plants to open new paths. It can also burn flower enemies. Only found in Forest rounds.
	Boots
	Temporarily allows Niño and his companions to walk on water. Only found in Underground Waterway rounds.
	Tornado
	Whirls around and attacks enemies. It is the only weapon that can harm the ant hill enemies. Only found in Desert rounds.
	Lightning
	Temporarily makes Niño and his companions invincible. Only found in Marsh rounds.
	Dynamite
	Throws a bundle of dynamite, which destroys enemies in an area. It can be thrown over walls and other obstacles. Dynamite can be used to blow up moving walls. Only found in Ruins rounds.

Demons

Demons can be defeated by swords, but they are only vulnerable to one kind of special weapon. They must be defeated to advance to the next round.

	Monster Flower
	Vulnerable to fireballs. Appears in the Forest rounds.
	Bat
	Vulnerable to spears. Appears in the Underground Waterway rounds.
	Masked Rabbit
	Vulnerable to tornadoes. Appears in the Desert rounds.
	Waterman
	Vulnerable to spears. Appears in the Marsh rounds.
	Rock Lion
	Vulnerable to dynamite. Appears in the Ruins rounds.
	Ranbaike
	Vulnerable to spears. The player receives an extra life for defeating this enemy. They spawn soldiers that are vulnerable to any weapon (except money bags). Appear in rounds 3, 5, 7, and 10.

Rounds

	Forest 1
	Map: 1️⃣
	Underground Waterway 1
	Map: 1️⃣
	Desert 1
	Map: 1️⃣
	Marshes 1
	Map: 1️⃣
	Ruins 1
	Map: 1️⃣
	Desert 2
	Map: 1️⃣
	Underground Waterway 2
	Map: 1️⃣
	Ruins 2
	Map: 1️⃣
	Forest 2
	Map: 1️⃣
	Marshes 2
	Map: 1️⃣
	Phantoms' Shadows
	Map: 1️⃣

Versions

Localised names

Also known as

Language	Localised Name	English Translation
English	Aztec Adventure: The Golden Road to Paradise	Aztec Adventure: The Golden Road to Paradise
English (US)	Aztec Adventure: The Golden Road to Paradise	Aztec Adventure: The Golden Road to Paradise
Japanese	ナスカ'88	Nazca '88

Production credits

• Music: Chikako Kamatani

Source:

Uncredited

Hints

• 

  US hints

Magazine articles

Main article: Aztec Adventure: The Golden Road to Paradise/Magazine articles.

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score Complete Guide to Consoles (UK) 39 Complete Guide to Consoles (UK) 38 The Complete Guide to Sega (UK) PAL 38 Console XS (UK) PAL 70 The Games Machine (UK) 41 Mean Machines Sega (UK) 38 S: The Sega Magazine (UK) PAL 68 Sega Power (UK) PAL 50 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 70 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 70

	52
Based on 10 reviews

Aztec Adventure: The Golden Road to Paradise

Master System, JP
Cover
Cart Manual

Master System, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Master System, EU
Cover
Manual

Master System, EU (Sega®)
Cover

Master System, EU ("No Limits")
Cover

Master System, AU
Cover
Cart

Master System, AU (Hotline sticker)
Cover
Cart

Master System, BR
Cover
Cart Manual

Master System, MX

Master System, KR

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
?	CRC32 ff614eb3 MD5 12ce04ff557a96add46f04b12b0d47cc SHA-1 317775a17867530a8fe3a5b17b681d5ada351432	128kB		Cartridge