Mayincatec / Video Games

• Age of Empires II:
  • The game does largely avert the trope, but has to use it to a certain extent to make the game function properly, such as using Eagle Warriors as a common unit to Mayans and Aztecs rather than just Aztec. Also, while both civilisations have exactly the same architectural style, this is due to putting its societies into aesthetic groups: East Asians (Chinese/Japanese/Koreans/Mongols), Western Europeans (British/Celts/Franks/Spanish), Eastern Mediterraneans (Byzantines/Saracens/Persians/Turks) and Central Europeans (Huns/Goths/Vikings/Teutons) all look the same too. Both Aztec and Maya wonders are pyramids, but are in totally different shapes that are accurate to their respective cultures.
  • Further avoided by the programmers since they did consider adding an Inca civilization in the x-pack, but decided to drop it when they found that it would require a completely different architectural style (the other reason was that they already had trouble designing two playable factions with no cavalry, and felt that they couldn't do a third that would come as different enough from either of them).
  • In the Aztec campaign the real life Tlaxcalans, whom the narrator describes as "wicked", are built using the Aztec civ. Understandable because the Tlaxcala were also Nahuatl speakers, with the same religion and weapons.
  • On the other hand, the campaign also has the line "even the feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl demands more sacrifices" and the Aztecs taking the Spanish for gods, at least initially. But also the Aztecs winning by adopting cavalry and gunpowder, so...
  • The Aztec units' dialogue seems to be some kind of Mayan language, possibly not-completely-accurate Yucatec. Mayan units do speak accurate K'iche' Mayan, though.
  • Giving the name "Eldorado" to the Mayan Unique Technology is inexcusable. This seems to pursue the Mayas for some reason: When the fan-made x-pack Forgotten Empires (later officialized as The Forgotten) gave civilizations a second UT, the Mayans got one called "Tlatoani" - the title used by Aztec emperors. When fans complained, it was changed to "Obsidian Arrows", which also makes more sense as a name for the technology (a boost in archer damage to buildings). Later, "Obsidian Arrows" was found to be overpowered and was replaced with "Hul'che Javelineers", which allows skirmishers to throw two javelins instead of one (Hul'che is the Mayan version of the Atlatl, which is also the name of an Aztec tech buffing their skirmishers, though in a different way).
  • Forgotten Empires/The Forgotten does include an Inca civilization. It uses the same Mesoamerican building style and eagle warriors (who get even more obvious Aztec skins than in the previous x-pack), but it also has two unique units (Kamayuks and Andean slingers), units that speak Quechua, and in the final version the player even begins every game with a free llama.
• Age of Empires III has playable Aztecs and Incas with completely different buildings and units roster, and even a hidden Mayan faction that is unlockable by launching two consecutive revolutions as the Mexicans (based on the Yucatán Caste Wars of the 19th century). Aztecs still speak bad Mayan.
• Age of Mythology: The Atlantean civilization partially has this aesthetic when it was added as a playable culture in The Titans expansion pack, for example their trading caravans use llamas. This is probably based on a theory that the Atlanteans were the first to reach the Americas and build colonies there.
• Averted in the Real-Time Strategy game American Conquest. All three civilizations have unique bonuses, building architecture and units.
• In Age of Wonders 3, the Draconians, particularly their cities, have this design.
• Aztec: an early videogame from the Apple II era. The Indiana Jones-like protagonist had to explore the Tomb of Quetzalcoatl in search of a jade idol, facing beasts, snakes, spiders, traps and fearsome blowgun-toting warriors rendered in all their '80s graphics glory.
• Banjo-Tooie has Mayahem Temple, where sports like archery and kickball are practiced. In Real Life, while Mayans played Mesoamerican ballgames, they never practiced target shooting (and especially didn't worship a target shooting god).
• Call of Juarez, a Western-themed FPS has the protagonists seeking and finding Aztec treasures.
• Various Civilization games have played with this trope, but mostly avert it. The Aztec, Maya, and Inca are portrayed as different factions and typically have very different focuses—the Aztecs are an aggressive warmonger with a religion focus, the Inca are based around powerful infrastructure and food production, and the Maya are oriented towards scientific discovery through observatories. VI adds the relatively obscure Mapuche to the mix for good measure. VI also features a variety of non-playable city-states, a few of which are based on pre-Columbian societies from Central or South America, including the Nazca (who let you create Nazca Lines if you become their suzerain) and La Venta (who grant the ability to build Colossal Heads).
• Curse of the Dead Gods features a temple to the titular Gods of Wonder (and Big Bad X'belz'aloc) that has Incan rope bridges, a huge emphasis on Aztec blood sacrifice, and a giant rotating stone wheel-door that bears much similarity to the Mayan long-count calendar. Justified, as the temple was built by the in-universe Chatac civilization, which is implied to have influenced the other cultures in Mesoamerica in a weird inverted example of Culture Chop Suey.
• The Dancing Line level "The Maze" seems to take place in this setting, as it has various imageries (i.e. pyramids and golden statues) placed along the map.
• Diablo II: Kehjistan combines Mayincatec building elements with South Asian jungles. It is also the seat of power of a monotheistic, very Christian influenced world religion, and most of it has a very Darkest Africa feel. They do practice blood sacrifice - to the prime evil Mephisto, probably without even knowing it.
• Huitzil from Dark Stalkers is a Mayincatec space robot.
• In Deadfall Adventures, the final chapter of the game takes place in Guatemala, in and around Xibalba, the Mayan "city of the dead". The game's mythology is correct regarding the city and its rulers, but here it's a real place, with a failed expedition of conquistadors (and their sailing ships, high in the mountains), one of whom's diary you can read.
• Sauria in Dinosaur Planet and Star Fox Adventures is a combination of this and Prehistoria.
• Donkey Kong 64 has Angry Aztec, with a llama in the middle of a tropical jungle in an island with no mountain high enough to match those of the former Aztec domains in historical Mexico. The level itself is mostly a Shifting Sand Land desert. While Mexico does have coastal dunes, llamas reside in the mountains that are nothing like the Aztec themed desert of the work at hand.
• Bloodseeker from Dota 2 has a vaguely Aztec motif. His gods require cubic furlongs of blood just to be satiated, and Bloodseeker contributes to that by shedding other heroes' blood and transferring its energy to his gods.
• In the HD remake of DuckTales, the lock mechanism to access the Incan Temple of Doom in the Amazon stage is an Aztec calendar stone.
• The Elder Scrolls
  • Cyrodiil, homeland of the Imperials and the heart of the various Tamriellic Empires throughout history, was stated originally have been a lush jungle and home to the Nibenese, a cross between a Mayincatec culture with some early Chinese Empire influences as well, with jungles, rivers, rice fields, tattoos, and stone cities. Later depictions transform it instead as a Fantasy Counterpart Culture of ancient Rome. This is justified as Tiber Septim, founder of the Third Cyrodiilic Empire, would use his powers post-apotheosis as the deity Talos to perform a Cosmic Retcon, transforming Cyrodiil into a temperate forest as a thanks to the Imperial Legions who served him so well in life. As shown in the prequel The Elder Scrolls Online, this change was retroactive, making it so Cyrodiil had always been a temperate forest.
  • Black Marsh, home of the Argonian race has aesthetic influences to this effect. There are some suggestions in the lore that some of its ancient stone cities and pyramid structures were not built by the Argonians themselves, but older civilizations which have since been wiped out.
• Empire Earth 2:
  • The three civilizations represent the Mesoamerican civilizations, sharing the same design for buildings, units, and wonders (including two pyramids), differing in their unique units (Bola Throwers, Eagle Warriors, Jaguar Warriors, etc.) and minor combat bonuses.
  • The tutorial campaign features the Aztecs actually beating Cortes and eventually establishing a nation parallel to the United States, while the Incas become a fascist nation allying with Nazi Germany.
• Fahrenheit (Released in America as Indigo Prophecy): Big Bad The Oracle is a Mayan priest who performed human sacrifice, magically living on into the present day. The other Big Bad is suspiciously Matrixish Artificial Intelligences the Maya fight against. It's a weird game.
• For the King: The inhabitants of the jungle continent, featured in the Lost Civilization quest, are an indiscriminate mix of several different Central and South American cultures, including the Maya and the Aztecs.
• Gift: The world of Paztec.
• Golden Sun: The Lost Age has the city of Contigo, which is in this style. Bizarrely, it's also the birth hometown of Ivan, who lives in Kalay and looks European, and Hama, who lives near Xian and looks Chinese. And they're siblings.
• In Greendog: The Beached Surfer Dude!, the protagonist is a cool surfer dude unfortunately cursed with an amulet that prevents surfing. He must track down a lost Aztec civilisation and recover six pieces of treasure in order to lift the curse.
• Horizon Zero Dawn: the Carja tribe displays many of these traits. Their capital city Meridian is a hybrid of several South American styles of architecture, and before the beginning of the game they were also said to have offered ritual sacrifices to the sun on behalf of their ruler, who is known as the Sun-King. Their priesthood is also frequently seen wearing elaborate headdresses.
• In Illusion of Gaia, the first two main dungeons see you venturing into the ruined Incan city of Machu Picchu and then after traveling halfway across the ocean on the Incan ship of gold, visiting the Nazca lines, which are revealed to be a landing strip for the Moon Tribe's flying Sky Garden (never mind the fact that Machu Picchu and the Nazca lines are actually quite close to each other in Peru in reality, while they're on different continents in the game- the Comet did it).
• Inca 1992, Sierra On-Line. Inca and Conquistadors at war in space!
• Kolibri's last few levels (Penetration, Extraction, and Remission) take place around and in what appear to be Maya ruins.
• The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning: The Tall Plains are a jungle-covered Temple of Doom area home to armadillos, Apes wearing feathered headpieces and decorated armor in a pseudo-Aztec style and wielding clubs loosely resembling Aztec weaponry, and a native population of anthropomorphic llamas.
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • In The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, the Tower of the Gods is a mix of Mayincatec and Ancient Grome architecture, and the boss, Gohdan, is designed after an Incan sun god mask.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass: One of the last areas Link visits on his quest is the Isle of Ruins, which contains a lot of pyramid-like architecture built by the long-gone people of the Cobble Kingdom. Their aesthetics and design are strongly inspired by Mesoamerican architecture, and the civilization that built them (the Cobble Kingdom) brings the Aztec to mind.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom: The ancient technology of the Zonai has a strong Mayan and Aztec influence in its appearance, with lots of snake motifs. There's also the geoglyphs, enormous patterns that have mysteriously appeared in the ground across Hyrule, and very much resemble the famous Nazca Lines.
• The Lost Vikings: The jungle levels in the second installment include distinctive ruins riddled with traps and spear-throwing savages, and a shaman who needs to collect some ingredients for supposed time travel.
• Marlow Briggs and the Mask of Death is set in the ruins of one of these civilizations. Ruins that are being dug up by a giant mining operation.
• Medieval II: Total War:
  • Averted in Americas Campaign. The Aztecs and Mayas are both playable and are shown to be very different but with some overlapping features, for instance both worship the Feathered Serpent but call him Quetzalcoatl and Kukalkan respectively.
  • The Inca are nowhere to be found because the map doesn't go south of Guatemala, but the Tarascans are present and they originated in the Andes.
  • While the Aztecs are the only Nahuatl speakers most people know, the Tlaxcalla and Chichimeca are also present.
• Block Man's stage in Mega Man 11 is a Chichén Itzá-like pyramid with Aztec-styled murals of Mega Man getting killed by an army of several of the enemies found in the stage, led by Block Man himself.
• Metal Slug: the very first thing Marco and co. see in the series is a gigantic Olmec head in the background at the start of the first game's first level. Metal Slug 5 features Aztec-like shamans and their temple full of traps.
• One of the new characters to be featured in Mortal Kombat X is Kotal Kahn, who looks like a straight example of this trope at first glance, but he is an overall faithful representation of Huitzilopochtli, and his name bears resemblance to Quetzalcoatl. Although in his backstory he actually ends up playing the role of the Mayan war god, Buluc Chabtan.
• The ruins of La-Mulana appear to be located in Latin America and at first appear to be the work of ancient indigenous people. The boss Palenque is based on a famous Maya bas-relief often interpreted by cranks as evidence of Ancient Astronauts. The final year of the Aztecs' fifth age (2012) figures in one of the puzzles.
  
  Unusually, the mix of South American cultures is explicitly explained in the backstory; the ruins of La-Mulana are the birthplace of all civilizations. Every area contains elements of different cultures and mythologies, suggesting that these cultures actually borrowed theological, architectural, and mythological elements from La-Mulana. Lemeza notes this in one of his lectures on the Wiiware remake blog. Being an archaeologist, he is quick to point out the images, structures and elements, seen in multiple ancient cultures including the Mayan, Teotihuacan, Aztec, Tiwanaku, Inca, and even Persian civilizations.
• OutRun 2006 has a Mayincatec race track. It ends with the atlantes from Tula, Hidalgo sitting next to the pyramids of Teotihuacán a few miles north from Mexico City, after crossing the pyramid of Chichén Itzá in the Yucatán peninsula, which is next to the Major Temple in downtown Mexico City, and throughout the track you'll see Olmec heads from the southern Gulf Coast.
• Path of Exile has the ancient Vaal civilization, one of the first civilizations to develop on Wraeclast and the first to discover thaumaturgy and the use of Virtue Gems. The Vaal made extensive use of human sacrifice and Blood Magic, developed advanced Magitek technology, and built great cities and pyramids. The Incursion update brings these traits to the fore and centers around raiding the Temple of Doom Atzoatl for its treasures. Alva, your NPC companion for incursions, has a very strong conquistador style to her design.
• Persona 2 has "mystical" ruins created by Mayans mysteriously appear after the publication of a book of such rumors. Those ruins never existed before that. The book's release brought them into reality.
• Pokémon: Game Freak loves America so much, they've dedicated at least one mon to each continent. The Kanto region gives us Zapdos, a thunderbird. Natives of Johto can get Natu, a quetzal, that evolves into Xatu, a totem pole. And in Unova, which is in the United States, you get Sigilyph, which looks like a living Nazca Line drawing.
• Rise of Legends has the Cuotl, a race of jungle dwelling natives led by alien gods, who use animate stone jaguars and snakes as combat units.
• Rise of Nations features the Mayans, Inca, and Aztec all separately, but the Aztecs do get the "Power of Sacrifice" as their starting power.
• One of the scenes in Sanitarium takes place in a very Mayincatec village, where the villagers are terrorized by a bloodthirsty rampaging Quetzalcoatl. Except it's really your nemesis, so there's an excuse for out of character behavior. Also, you are at the time Olmec, a stone warrior god. Also, it all only exists within your mind.
• The first half of Serious Sam: The Second Encounter takes place during the Mayan age, while The First Encounter took place entirely in Ancient Egypt. The player gets to visit Palenque and Teotihuacan, with the boss of the episode being the wind god Kukulkan aka Quetzalcoatl. While there are a few artistic liberties taken in the depiction, overall it's impressively accurate. Worth mentioning is that Kukulkan avoids two stereotypes: he is presented as a giant wind elemental spirit instead of a feathered serpent and the ingame bestiary explicitly says that he isn't evil or aligned with Mental's armies at all, instead he's simply doing his job as a guardian of a time portal and will even disappear after beaten as a sign of respect for the player. There are also references to several deities (Ixchel) and real historic people (Montezuma).
• Shadowbane has a bunch of lizardmen who inhabit heavily Aztec influenced ruins. While the blood sacrifice aspect isn't played up much, the game lore say that they were up to something pretty bad - that is, until the centaurs killed off their priesthood.
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider has this as the theme of Lara's adventure trying to stop the Mayan apocalypse she started by taking a mystic dagger. It especially becomes a plot point midway through the game, after she finds the hidden Mayan city of Paititi in Peru, that's been kept far away from civilization since the Conquistadors. She outright hangs a lampshade on it when she begins finding Aztec, Mayan, and even Inca relics and ruins hundreds of miles from the extents of their historical empires, noting they shouldn't be there. The game attempts to justify this: refugees fleeing the collapse of the Mayan Empire were aided by Incans, with the two joining forces to build a city in Peru, which was later conquered by an Aztec cult. As such, the cultural distinctions of the three are blended together, and it can be difficult to tell which elements originate in which culture.
• Shin Megami Tensei frequently includes Mesoamerican and South American gods in its Demonic Compendium, but they are almost always well-researched and specifically tied to their cultural origin. Of particular note, Soul Hackers and Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey (which takes its demon designs from the former) use Quetzalcoatl's "pale-skinned Caucasian priest" form rather than the too-literal (but inaccurate) "snake with wings" of the original series and the Persona subfranchise (Quetzalcoatl's "feathered serpent" form is actually Gucumatz, another name for the Mayan version of Quetzalcoatl, Kukulcan, and is depicted as a separate demon in the games.)
• The Sealed Evil in a Can in Shivers (1995) originated from an unspecified ancient Central American civilization.
• The Sims 4: Jungle Adventure has Selvadorada, where your Sim can go to find "Omiscan" ruins in an Indiana Jones-esque fashion.
• Skies of Arcadia features the Ixa'Takans, a primitive Mayincatec Fantasy Counterpart Culture complete with an invasion by the very Spain-like Valuans.
• The Mayan Pantheon was added to Smite in order to fill the role of a Mesoamerican culture. However they avert this trope by being faithful to the surviving records of real world Mayan mythology. Though worth mentioning is that one of the playable characters- the winged serpent god Kukulkan has an alternate costume referencing Quetzalcoatl, his more popularly depicted Aztec counterpart.
• Soldier Of Fortune II has a level in Colombia that has Mayan temple ruins, which is a gross failure in geography.
• The Mystic Ruins and Angel Island in the Sonic the Hedgehog series are generally based on Mesoamerican culture. However, the usual generic trappings are actually defied in Sonic Adventure; Sega paid a few developers around $250,000 each to go down to Mexico and do research on Mayan culture for the game. Consequently, the Mystic Ruins — and by extension, Sand Hill and Lost World — are very distinctly based on the Maya, which carries over onto Tikal (who herself is named after an ancient Mayan city in Guatemala) and the rest of the Echidna Tribe.
• Spelunky has every Mayincatec trope in the book. Human sacrifice, priests with feather headdresses worshiping evil gods, underground trap-filled stone temples, and even a gold city. Oh, and throw in an Olmec head for good measure.
• In Starbound, one of the playable alien races are the Avians, a bird-like civilization with all the Mayincatec trappings, that is deeply religious, usually doing blood sacrifices for their god Kluex.
• Walled City in Star Fox Adventures has a very clear Mayincatec look, complete with the pyramids, though its inhabitants don't have any Mayincatec traits. It is a likely cross between this and Asian architecture, which may explain the presence of dragon heads near the Arwing. Likewise, Cloudrunner Fortress is a blend of Greek, Japanese and Mayincatec elements.
• Super Mario Bros.:
  • Mario Super Sluggers: K. Rool's new outfit has a marked pre-Columbian influence.
  • Super Mario Odyssey: Breaking the tradition of Egyptian themed desert levels (the only feature being a riddling sphinx), Tostarena is based on Mesoamerican history, with the pyramid being a step pyramid common to Mayan, Aztec, and other societies, and the boss being based on Olmec statues. There's also a more modern-day Mexican town, a cowboy outfit bought there and moai creatures, further distancing the theme from Egypt. Also, the track sounds more like a crossover between pan-flute music and spaghetti western.
• Ogre of Tekken is based on the real-life Aztec god of war Huitzilopochtli. The story claims that he's created by the Ancient Astronauts eons ago.
• In Temtem the island of Tucma is a rather unusual example. It is based on northern Argentina and its Incan heritage, but many of its names are in Nahuatl and a cenote is plot relevant. Ultimately it eschews typical trappings like pyramids or blood sacrifices.
• The Lost Kingdom park in Theme Park World, which name-drops Incan, Mayan, and Aztec cultures simultaneously.
• The RTS/civilization game Theocracy is set in and around the Aztec empire. In the campaigns you play the Aztecs or other nearby tribes.
• Tomb Raider I: The City of Vilcabamba is based on the real-life last outpost of the Inca. It contains a gold idol modelled on a Tumi, a ceremonial knife used in sacrifices, as well as an Aztec sun stone.
• Tombs & Treasure is a first-person graphical adventure game that has the ruins of Mayan city Chichén Itzá as a setting.
• In Tony Hawk's Underground 2, one of the sections of the Pro Skater level has an ancient temple with native NPCs holding spears and wearing headdresses.
• Mayincatec is the general aesthetic for trolls in Warcraft and World of Warcraft. Different types of trolls emphasize different Mesoamerican influences.
  • The cult of Hakkar, sometimes also called The Blood God, brings in the Aztec influence. Hakkar takes the form of a feathered serpent, referencing Quetzalcoatl. However, at least at present, Hakkar is highly hostile to living creatures. Technically, "blood god" is a misnomer because it's the souls he eats not the blood. This cult is most popular among the jungle trolls: but because the trolls are declining (they used to rule most of the world), they are turning to worshipping Hakkar in larger numbers.
  • The Zandalari trolls in World of Warcraft, especially the Battle for Azeroth expansion, are Mayincatec WITH DINOSAURS!. With them, the emphasis is on the Inca part: lots of gold and everything is enormous. Battle for Azerothalso introduced the Blood Trolls who are Aztec with a side of Chthulu cult. they worship the "Old God" Ghuun.
• Wizard101 has Azteca, which was appropriately enough, released in late 2012.
• Worlds of Ultima: The Savage Empire has a liberal sprinkling of this trope. The primary example is the Nahuatla tribe, who live in a city called Tichticatl. There's also a lost underground city formerly inhabited by the Kotl, who were Mayincatec lizard people.
• In Ys IV: Mask of the Sun (and a lesser extent Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys and Ys: Memories of Celceta), the temples of Celceta have Mesoamerican-derived architecture, and the titular Mask of the Sun is based on the Aztec Sun Stone.
• Mayincatec designs show up a lot in Yume Nikki. It's anyone's guess why Mayincatec gods/symbols/abominations feature so much in the dreams of a Japanese Hikikomori.
• Zuma is a color-chain matching game given a Mayincatec design theme. The aesthetic is mostly Mayan, but it references both Aztec (Ehecatl, Centeotl, Tlaloc, Quetzalcoatl) and Mayan (Kukulkan) gods. There is even a passing mention to the Mixtec, another unrelated Mesoamerican civilization.

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