Faxanadu
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Faxanadu is an 1986 adventure role-playing game (RPG) for the Family Computer and Nintendo Entertainment System. It was produced for Nintendo by Hudson Soft, who licensed the title from Falcom. Faxanadu is a gaiden of Xanadu, which is a sequel or a side story in the popular and long-running RPG series by Falcom known as Dragon Slayer. The name is a play on the combination of the words Family Computer and Xanadu.
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Story
The story is as printed in the game manual:
"The Elf town, Eolis, was once a town boasting peace and prosperity. Yet, now it is on the verge of destruction. Meteorites are raining down upon the World Tree and crazed monsters have taken the opportunity to run amuck. Wells are drying up and people are in the grips of fear.
To restore peace again, someone has to penetrate the giant World Tree and overthrow the Evil One that lives in the Evil Place. Now it is your mission to set out on a journey bearing the hopes of the people of Eolis."
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Gameplay
Gameplay closely resembles the much better known sidescrolling battlefields, towns and dungeons in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link which was released about one year after Faxanadu. The silent protagonist's ability to jump, hack with his sword and use magic are quite similar to Nintendo's second Zelda game.
Unlike its Japanese, Family Computer cousin, the NES version of Faxanadu lacks a savegame system and instead requires the player to input a lengthy and complex password which gets even longer as the game progresses. Your character's status and inventory are encrypted in this password.
In the game, magic abilities, health and magic restoration items as well as better swords and armour can be bought with money gained by slaying enemies. Your hit points and magic abilities are upgraded according to your level which is raised by defeating enemies also. This plus the quite involving story arc and conversations within towns and shops gives Faxanadu a very RPG-like feel while most of its gameplay is action based.
The sometimes stubborn controls and tedious password system, as well as tricky enemies give this game an above average difficulty, but players with skill and patience will appreciate the game as a classic.
Presentation
Graphic and musicwise this is a far superior NES-game than most of its competitors at the time. The graphics are quite dark and gloomy and more washed than detailed which distinguishes this game very much from most NES-games which feature a more cartoon-like graphic style, mostly due to the limitations of the NES's GPU. The music adds to the atmosphere of the gothic feel of the game and is mostly melody-based with some quite remarkable compositions. The sound effects are few but well placed and don't add or subtract much to the overall design of the game.
Conclusion
As with many games for the NES this one suffers from the fact that it is not a Nintendo game, but made by a third party producer. Its similarity to Zelda II: The Adventure of Link prevented it from gaining as much support from its exclusive publishers at Nintendo, who would rather promote their own game than Hudson Soft's. All in all, Faxanadu is one of the NES's many classics which broke with many trends adapted by many video game companies during the early and mid 80s. Its difficulty and overall design make it more fit for the older NES players above the magic 12 years mark set by Nintendo themselves. Its modern day relevance remains quite small outside of Japan since no distinguishable sequel has been released to put this game into modern video gaming context.
External Links
- RPGClassics' Faxanadu Shrine (http://www.rpgclassics.com/shrines/nes/faxanadu/)