GOTD – Faxanadu
axanadu – Adventure/RPG (NES)
Hudson Soft / Falcom
If you’re thinking about playing an action RPG for NES, you’ve basically got two choices: Crystalis and Faxanadu. Faxanadu is evidently an offshoot from the Dragon Slayer series (a sequel to Xanadu), which Legacy of the Wizard is also from.
In any case, it’s not necessarily a game’s pedigree as much as gameplay that matters. Faxanadu is a side-scroller sort of like Rygar but with tighter controls. Your character can jump, duck, climb ladders, etc. and you’ll navigate through mountainous regions, underground, and in caves, dungeons, towns, et cetera. Although there is not as much of the open-endedness as found in Legacy of the Wizard there is still a decent amount – enough that you might get lost at some point, but it also lends a non-linear feel to gameplay.
You are a mysterious wanderer – no name, if I recall correctly – an elf who returns, after a long journey, to his homeland. He finds that not only is his hometown nearly empty, but all the wells have gone dry – many blame the dwarves, but there is no clear answer. The King lends you money for your travels and tasks you with finding the cause and, hopefully, restoring the water.
Although the story is relatively good for an NES game, it takes a backseat to the action – there is at least as much of it as there is in most action games – and to the puzzle / exploration elements. The only dissapointment in the game is the roundabout leveling system, in which you obtain a new rank depending on your current experience level each time you go to a “Guru” (church / temple). There is no indication from the game that it actually increases any stats, which it actually doesn’t.
Faxanadu is a great game, and well-deserving of the title of classic. Its game cover also wins the “shiny object of the day” award (one Gamespy article claimed that the seal on the front would make a great hood ornament, and I agree), and can be seen here, along with more information about the game than I could hope to provide here. As Keith would say, >_<. Screenshots:
