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Faxanadu

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Faxanadu
North American box art
Developer(s)Hudson Soft
Publisher(s)
Designer(s)Hitoshi Okuno
Toshiaki Takimoto
Composer(s)Jun Chikuma
SeriesDragon Slayer
Platform(s)Nintendo Entertainment System
Release
  • JP: November 16, 1987
  • NA: August, 1989
  • EU: December 28, 1990
Genre(s)Action role-playing, platform
Mode(s)Single-player

Faxanadu[a] is an action role-playing platform video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The name was licensed by computer game developer Falcom and was developed and released in Japan by Hudson Soft for the Famicom in 1987. Nintendo released the game in the United States and Europe as a first-party title under license from Hudson Soft.

Faxanadu is a spin-off or side-story of Xanadu, which is the second installment of Falcom's long-running RPG series, Dragon Slayer. The title Faxanadu is a portmanteau formed from the names Famicom and Xanadu.

The game uses side-scrolling and platforming gameplay, while employing role-playing elements with an expansive story and medieval setting.

Story

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The player-controlled protagonist of Faxanadu is a wanderer who returns home.[1] He has no name, but the Japanese version allows the player to choose one. The game begins when he approaches Eolis, his hometown, after an absence to find it in disrepair and virtually abandoned. Worse still, the town is under attack by Dwarves. The Elven king explains that the Elves' fountain water, their life source, has been stopped and all other remaining water has been poisoned and provides the protagonist with 1500 gold, the game's currency, to prepare for his journey to uncover the cause.

As the story unfolds, it is revealed that Elves and Dwarves lived in harmony among the World Tree until The Evil One emerged from a fallen meteorite. The Evil One then transformed the Dwarves into monsters against their will and made them hostile towards the Elves. The Dwarf King, Grieve, swallowed his magical sword before he was transformed, hiding it in his own body to prevent The Evil One from acquiring it. It is only with this sword that The Evil One can be destroyed.

His journey takes him to four overworld areas: the tree's buttress, the inside of the trunk, the tree's branches and finally the Dwarves' mountain stronghold.

Gameplay

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A typical gameplay shot

Faxanadu is a side scrolling action role playing game,[1] sometimes classified as a metroidvania.[2] The player guides the hero through a screen-by-screen series of fields, towns, and dungeons. The hero can walk, jump, and climb ladders that are all typical characteristics of a platform game. Along the way, he may also purchase usable items with gold, equip and use bladed weapons against enemies, wear armor, and cast magic projectiles. In addition, he can access information regarding the game's events by speaking with townsfolk or by consulting other sources.

The limits of physical damage the hero can sustain from enemies is tracked by a life bar, and the magical power he can exert is tracked by a magic bar. These are listed on the top of the screen along with total experience, gold amount, time (for items with a timed duration), and the currently held item.

When the hero defeats an enemy, it usually leaves behind gold or life-giving bread. The hero also gains a set amount of experience. Experience points help increase the hero's rank. Occasionally, an enemy will also drop an item; some activate specific effects when touched, while others may be stored for later use.

The game utilizes a password system. Passwords, or "mantras" as they are known in the game, can be obtained from church-dwelling Gurus. Gurus also bestow ranks to the hero when he meets certain experience totals; these determine the amounts of experience and gold a player will possess upon resuming a game via password.

Due to its use of statistics, reliance on story, thematic basis upon medieval fantasy, and provision of interactive NPCs, many observers have classified Faxanadu as a role-playing video game.

Development

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Jun Chikuma composed the music for the game and was assisted by Hudson Soft's sound programmer, Toshiaki Takimoto. Chikuma, working with just the tone generator of the NES which had only three channels, used her background in jazz technique to create melodic movements and express chord progression. The team gave her full freedom "from general directions to sound-making details", and Jun said that in these good circumstances she was able to work quite freely.[3]

Release

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Faxanadu was released in Japan on the Famicom on November 16, 1987.[4] It was released in North America in August 1989 and was published by Nintendo.[5] The November/December 1989 edition of Nintendo Power, Faxanadu debuted on the magazine's "Top 30" list at #6. It gradually fell from the list in subsequent issues.[6]

The game world is featured in two episodes of Season 2 (1990–1991) of the Nintendo-based, Saturday morning cartoon series, Captain N: The Game Master. They are "The Feud of Faxanadu" and "Germ Wars". The Elven King is named Melvis and looks and sounds like Elvis Presley for his first appearance; the voice was changed in the latter episode. The Dwarf King is not featured in the series and is replaced by Queen Dwarfine.

The game was released on the Wii's Virtual Console in 2010 and 2011.[4][7][8][9]

Reception

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The game has received critical acclaim. Weekly Famitsu scored it 29 out of 40.[4] IGN reviewed the game in 2011, after its Wii virtual console release, giving it a better score of 8.5 out of 10 and called it a hidden gem. IGN went on to call it a better action RPG than Zelda II: The Adventure of Link and Castlevania II: Simon's Quest.[11]

Marcel van Duyn of Nintendo Life gave the game an 8 out of 10, saying it is a surprisingly fun game and an absolutely essential purchase for those who like RPGs, but he criticized the password system for western audiences, and was grateful the Virtual Console release eliminates that feature.[12] Retro Gamer listed the game as the 16th best game for the NES, saying it is a "forgotten gem" of the system's library.[1] IGN listed the game as the 36th best NES game, calling it one of the best and least-known Nintendo-published adventures.[13]

Notes

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  1. ^ Japanese: ファザナドゥ, Hepburn: Fazanadu

References

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  1. ^ a b c The NES book: everything you need to know about Nintendo's iconic console; The master system: the Sega book. Jones, Darran,, Imagine Publishing. Bournemouth. 2015. p. 51. ISBN 9781785460180. OCLC 909815695.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  2. ^ "Episode 111 resumes our exploratory journey into the metroidvania realm". Retronauts. 7 August 2017. Retrieved 2022-12-31.
  3. ^ Tieryas, Peter (2021-12-25). "The Unique Artist Behind Bomberman's Catchy Beats". Kotaku. Retrieved 2023-01-16.
  4. ^ a b c "ファザナドゥ [ファミコン]". www.famitsu.com. Archived from the original on 2018-03-12. Retrieved 2018-08-25.
  5. ^ "NES Games" (PDF). Nintendo. 2006-02-12. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-02-12. Retrieved 2018-08-25.
  6. ^ "Top 30". Nintendo Power. November 1989. p. 81.
  7. ^ "Vc ファザナドゥ". Archived from the original on 2014-08-14. Retrieved 2018-10-08.
  8. ^ "Nintendo - Official Site - Video Game Consoles, Games - Nintendo - Official Site". Archived from the original on 2018-10-08. Retrieved 2018-10-08.
  9. ^ "Faxanadu".
  10. ^ "Faxanadu for NES". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 2019-12-09. Retrieved 2021-01-06.
  11. ^ "Faxanadu Review - IGN". IGN. 26 February 2011. Archived from the original on 2016-10-27. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
  12. ^ "Review: Faxanadu (Virtual Console / NES)". Nintendo Life. 28 November 2010. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
  13. ^ Top 100 NES Games - IGN.com, archived from the original on 2020-12-28, retrieved 2018-08-25
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