I remember beating Castlevania 2 Simon's Quest several times as a kid...thanks to Nintendo Power. I doubt anyone would know how to beat it without a guide on a couple of parts. Goonies 2 also would have been difficult without Nintendo Power's map.
I recall walking into my local Wally World to find an NES game worth make time and sweat... This was back in Fall of 1989 and I stumbled upon a game that caught my eye... It was Faxanadu boxed in its beige color like box with a sticker price of $39.99. I took the plunge and enjoyed every moment of game play!!! Faxanadu is truly an NES game worthy of any collector!!! Thanks for the awesome vid dude!!!
I will never forget this game. I put a ridiculous amount of hours into Faxanadu... probably 100+...it will always be one of my top 10 all-time favorites!
Loved this game as a kid. The most frustrating part was the font used for the mantras. If you screwed up writing it down exactly right, there goes all your saved progress lol
The fact that Nintendo themselves published this shows how much faith they had in the game itself. Yeah it took a while to get to North America but 1989 was PEAK NES mania. Zelda 2's influence is everywhere in this game.
I love Faxanadu and Zelda 2. I think this game achieved those side scrolling mechanics much less frustratingly than Z2! The soundtrack is amazing too, something weird I noticed was how much Eldin Ring reminded me of Faxanadu haha. It's almost like the expanded universe of this game. Just a personal opinion.
I don't know. The release dates are pretty close (10 months) do you really think Zelda 2 influenced it's direction in that time? It's not as "Zelda 2 like" as other games like 'Rambo' and 'The Battle of Olympus'. Zelda 2: Famicom Disk System - January 14, 1987 Faxanadu: Famicom - November 16, 1987
One of my favourite games ever! I remember playing this as a kid. I loved it WAY more than Zelda or Castlevania. Picked it up again thirty years later and it still holds up. Also, correction to the video: The dried meat replenishes both HP and Magic. It's usually more economical to purchase several of these over one hospital stay.
Funny enough I'm constantly reminded of Faxanadu because of how much Hungrygoriya videos I watch for the nostalgia hit. She uses the password theme for her intro. But yeah, this game is always a pleasant memory when I run across it again.
When I got back to video games, NES and started collecting those oldies in 2001-2002, FAXANADU was the second game I bought after Ghost'n' Goblins. I played and completed it and I have good memories of it thought I did not played it since.
A friend of mines let me borrow this game and the way he explained about wing boots and rings with letters and elves and dwarf I was hooked and did t play it yet
I don’t care what anyone says… top 5 NES game and in my personal top 5 all time games. I love this game. The music is perfection. The sound effects are still in my brain all these years later. I played many many many hours of this game. Very underrated.
I also first discovered this beloved classic from that same Nintendo Power issue that you mentioned from June 1989. I had to have this game and was thrilled to have it under our Christmas tree the next year!
You shouldn't get the treatments at the hospitals in this game. Always go to the meat seller. It replenishes both your health and your magic as well. Not as much as the hospital treatment though. But even if you would have to buy the meat three times to refill your magic meter only for example, it will still be a lot cheaper than the treatment for sure. If I remember correctly, there was only like one town in the game that didn't have the meat seller's place
Hey, It's that game who's music I listen to guitar covers of almost every other day. I totally forgot this game ever existed for a couple of minutes! Just like Father Time!! 😃😃
Played it retrospectively because I was looking for hidden gems on NES, still has some of the usual klunky and cryptic NES moments, but the action rpg in slightly metroidvania style is real. It holds even today. Faxanadu and Legacy of the wizard are classics to me.
Never forgot this is one of my favorite games from my childhood my step father who passed away a few years ago got it for me as a gift when I was sick with a rare Illness and out of school for 2 months and all I did was play this game. Makes me so sad it’s not available on switch online
I remember my brother and I buying this at Kmart in 1990. I don’t know why we chose it I think maybe my brother saw it in a magazine, but I remember simultaneously loving this game but also having a lot of frustration playing it. We eventually beat the game but it was tough, and the password system sucked because of some of the characters looking the same. I have it loaded to my snes classic but haven’t played it yet. 41 years old now with young kids and free time to play these games is limited lol
I had this game when I was young, loved it got very far but never finished it. I now have on my modded NES classic but with 2 jobs I don't have time to play games like used to.... I would love to more time to game again.
I've forgotten my mantra from time to time, but never Faxanadu! Love this game. Awesome soundtrack, and aesthetic. And the monster design? It really is something else.
@@cherokeefit4248 that's one enemy I was thinking of for sure lol. They are so off-putting, when I examine them anyway. I always thought it was like he was doing a rain dance, but instead of rain you get hit with thunder or something
I've been planning for years to remake this title as well as expand the world. I've never had any luck finding artists that seemed to be interested in the project, so I've been working on my art skills and hope to get some assets put together in the next few months to get the project rolling.
You've found one! I am a writer/artist who has been planning to build a 16bit sequel to Faxanadu and have already expanded its lore. I've been studying Unity and want Faxanadu 2 to be my first project. We should work together!
@@Robanjo Yes! We have made contact and are at the very earliest stages of conception. I am working on concept art that can be converted into pixels for what will hopefully be a 16-bit revamp of the original as a primer before moving on to a full blown sequel. At least, that's the plan... as ambitious as it sounds.
I played this waaay back in grade school. I would let the protagonist get destroyed just so that I could listen to the mantra song. One of the best songs ever put into a video game. There is a video floating around on yt of an actual orchestra performing the song. So epic!
I loved this game, though it was a bit difficult for my brother and I, since we were basically still learning to read at the time. We would play a little, stop, play a little, stop, but the farthest we got was when we needed the wing boots. It took forever (it felt like at the time) to grind for, then we used it at the spot we thought we needed it.... and nothing happened. We tried every button combination, everything we could think of, and didn't want to have to grind again for the wing boots just to have nothing happen again. Sadly, we didn't play it much after that, but I've always wanted to figure it out and try again.
@@TheACcam if I'm not mistaken, it's actually part of a series, but they all have different names and gameplay. It was an odd concept, but this was the best of the series. They also may not have all been licensed NES games. It was a different time 😂
@@Lordoftheapes79 yes, Dragon Slayer series. But I meant a direct sequel to this particular game and gameplay style for the NES (or SNES). A literal Faxanadu 2. It's like "Let's make this nifty sub series game! Oh, yeah, that was a thing.... Next!"
Just found your channel here friend. You got my sub! Good work. One of my favorite games too. Mega Man 2 was in my nes nonstop until a friend turned me on to faxanadu. Back in probably 89 or 90
You're telling me you think you can walk up to a stranger and they would know about this game? I've been gaming since the NES and I've never heard of it. Get out of your bubble.
"Dragon Slayer" sounds so much like "Dragon's Lair" but wow i never knew it was part of a series of other games. I rented this as a kid but didn't understand it.
It does have sequels, Xanadu Next is on Steam, Xanadu Tokyo is on the Vita. There is also recently a HD version patched. If you look up ChoopiChoosi on Twitch he has been streaming them.
I just looked it up and that doesn't count man. Faxanadu needs a proper 2D platformer upgrade. Faxanadu Remastered for PC was as close as we have right now.
I had this game as a kid, (I'm 39), but never finished it... Until, finally, the year 2015. Back then I didn't have patience, and was more into classic platformers, fighting games and shooters. (Faxanadu has all these elements, though!) I was so happy when I finished Faxanadu, decades later, that I actually recorded rough video footage of it lol. Just for me. Awesome game. Soundtrack is amazing. The intro music is mindblowing.
Love FAXANADU! The game played-out like an epic journey. It never felt repetitive. Each area differed from the previous one. Even the dungeons varied in size & scope. Yes, the bosses were certainly recycled. However, the gameplay evolved as the character acquired better weapons, armor, and spells. Excellent video! You've just earned another subscriber 👍
I don't typically like and comment. I've liked this, and this is what commenting is like, eh? I just figured I'd like to support this sort of thing, there's definitely potential here. I'm not sure how far you can take this, or how cool this could get, but I'm optimistic you'll find a dope path and hope you find enough audience to keep you motivated until then. Glgl.
Oh I wouldn't say this game was "forgot." I had this from 1990 to 2016 until my NES died but still have it on emulator and still play to this day. Also, it has recently been revived in the gaming community with the rise in popularity of speedrunning.
When I say forgotten, I mostly refer to the fact that there hasn't been a sequel or remaster of it for some time. But I am happy to see many views on this video, meaning that people in general still love this classic hit. Wasn't aware of this game having speedruns. Gonna have to check that out.
