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 In
1984 Dragon Slayer was released
by Falcom on the PC as one of the first adventure/RPG
video games of all-time. The game
was very popular in Japan
and led to many sequels all of which are quite different from one another
and are related really only by the fact that they were all created by Yoshio
Kiya.
The second game in the series was entitled Xanadu and when this game was ported over to the Famicom in
1987 by Hudson Soft the name Famicom and Xanadu were combined to come up
with the strange title of Faxanadu.
While the game was originally licensed from Xanadu, the actual game that Hudson Soft created is wildly
different and was a very unique game in its day being most similar to Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. The plot of the game is pretty
simple: you are an elf that has returned to his village only to discover
that it is in ruins. You quickly
learn that the dwarfs who used to live harmoniously with the elves have
turned evil due to a meteorite that has landed in their neck of the woods.
It is your duty to save the world
by entering the World Tree, finding this meteorite and then destroying
the dwarves that have been transformed into evil beings.
As soon as you enter the World Tree you will notice that this game is
different from many other adventure games because it is strictly a
sidescrolling game. That forces
the game to be pretty linear because you will come to a town, look
around, and end up at the other end of the town with a mission. Once you beat the mission you either
keep going until you hit the next town or you reverse and return to the
previous town to earn your reward.
The game is divided into three distinct sections: you start in the
roots, you eventually make your way into the trunk and the final third of
the game takes place in the branches of the World Tree.
 Along
the way you will enter many towns where you can get healed, buy weapons
and healing potions and talk to gurus who will give you passwords to
write down in case you die. Although
Faxanadu came with a battery on
the Famicom, Nintendo of America decided that it wasn’t worth the cost to
supply it with one in the United
States. This problem was solved by using an
experience point system where you earn points for each enemy you
killed. After you have earned
enough experience points you are given a new title when you visit a
guru. Each title dictates how much
gold you have the next time you start up the game. You begin the game as a Novice and can
earn 15 promotions ending as a Lord.
You do not need to earn the status of a Lord to be able to beat
the game, though, as I beat the game as a Paladin (the 2nd highest
ranking).
As the hero you are able to equip yourself with a sword, shield, armor
and magic spells. You can also
carry up to eight items on your journey, which will normally be divided
between healing potions and keys.
You never know what key you will need next so you always have to
buy a couple different keys just to be safe.
Faxanadu was decently
popular upon release in the United States in 1989 and has
grown in stature over the years.
It is a moderately challenging adventure game and is pretty unique
as well. Interestingly, the game Legacy of the Wizard is
technically a sequel to Faxanadu as
it is based off of Dragon Slayer IV
for the PC. But since there is
rarely any continuity from one Dragon Slayer release to the next, there
is no way you can tell.
Positives:
 I
really like how well this game blends the sidescrolling style of Castlevania with the adventure
aspect of The Legend of Zelda. When I first started playing the game,
I thought it was going to be disappointing since it is so linear but it
kept my attention the whole way through.
It is cool how you can save up to buy really good equipment early
on by repeatedly killing the same bad guys or how you can choose to just
move on with your wimpy stuff. The
password system is very original since the amount of gold you continue
with depends entirely upon your ranking and not by how much you had when
you died. Faxanadu is decently long and definitely provides a few tough
puzzles to figure out along the way.
Glaring
Negatives:
The graphics in this game are not the best. The whole game is immersed in very dark
colors due to it taking place in a tree and the individual enemies all look
pretty similar. Even the hero of
the game looks a little goofy and turns you off from the game when you
first get started. The controls
are also a bit stiff. You can’t
duck and you can’t jump or fight while on a ladder. It is also frustrating how you can’t
sell goods to a store unless they are selling that exact item. I ended up stuck with a key for the
entire game that was useless because I didn’t sell it at the right
time. When you are only allowed to
carry eight items, one useless key can get pretty annoying. While I do admit that the gameplay was
stronger than I expected, I still think that it was a mistake to make the
entire game a sidescroller. It would have been much  more
fun if the overworld would have been like that of the Zelda series.
Graphics
and Sound: OK
The graphics and sound are not horrible but they aren’t great
either. The whole game is dark and
a little ugly. There are also not
that many different bad guys in the game.
You will run into an incredibly weird boss of a castle and then
find the same crazy looking bad guy in the next castle as well. The sound is fine but gets grating when
you play for a couple hours at a time.
Gameplay
and Controls: A little clunky
The controls are not perfect. You
can’t duck, you attack slowly and climbing ladders is a pain. Sometimes a bad guy will stand directly
on top of your ladder waiting for you to climb up it so it can whomp on you. Trying to buy stuff at the store takes
forever due to the awkward controls.
The gameplay however is pretty darn fun. The game takes some twists and turns
and will keep you playing for a few hours.
Features:
Password
Nintendo of America decided this game didn’t need a battery so they
gave us a strange password system.
The passwords get progressively longer as the game continues and
are very hard to not screw up because there are O’s and 0’s as well as H’s
that look exactly like N’s.
Fun?: Yes
You will be hooked on this game until you beat it. It won’t take you as long as an RPG but
it will definitely take you a few hours to beat this sucker the first
time through. You will find
yourself confused a couple times on where to go next, which is important
for this kind of game.
Challenge:
Moderate
Faxanadu is very
beatable. It will take you some  time
and you will probably screw up your password at some point but with a
little perseverance you will beat this game without swearing too often.
Replay: Not
Much
Once you beat it, I can’t imagine you wanting to replay the adventure
again. You’ll probably just want
to move on to another classic NES adventure game like its “sequel” Legacy of the Wizard.
2
Player: No
That is not an option.
Online
Manual?: Yes at Nintendo Age
You can find all the NES manuals
at Nintendo
Age.
Bottom Line: Fun But Basic Adventure Game
If you are a huge fan of adventure games in the vein of the Zelda
series than you will definitely want to pick Faxanadu up. While
much more linear and no where near as complex as some NES Adventure
games, this one still will last you a little while and stump you once or
twice along the way.
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