This game has a special nostalgia. I bought this game from Toys r Us when I was a kid back when you used to have to take the slips up to the front counter. My stepfather used to watch me play this all the time and I would come home from school and catch him playing it and he fell in love with it. He passed away in 2006 so every time I hear the theme music it brings a tear to my eye. I have a hard time playing it now. But I think all of us that grew up in the '80s and '90s have special connections to Nintendo games.
what a cool memory to have shared with your stepfather. i def remember getting DuckTales from the cage Toys R Us - it wasnt very often that id get to buy a game at a store, i usually only got them for like Christmas or my birthday. Thanks for sharing that!!
I got this game as a gift to me and my brother from my neighbor the first Christmas after my parents divorce, she was a devout Christian who came to Canada from the Philippines, I knew it was special to her, to get us a gift at Christmas, little did she know how special the bonding time me and my little bro had was, for years after because of her small kindness.
I appreciate the style you've been developing over here. The way you prioritize giving clear and interesting information, leaving enough space for the game audio to shine, and keeping the vibes chill. Please keep it up.
My Dad bought this for us for Christmas the year it came out. I still remember seeing the tan box emerging from the wrapping. I was so excited at the promise of adventure contained within that little pack, and the game delivered!We would watch Dad play it, jumping in to lend advice or support along the way. What an amazing journey we went on together. I remember getting to the mist land late one eveningt. That eerie music haunted us through the night. Me and my brothers, moving in closer to my Dad as we looked over our shoulders at every shadow we imagined moving along the walls. We made it through, and emerged from the fog just as the sun was coming up outside in real life. We felt we had truly made it to 'Daybreak'. I couldn't believe we had stayed awake all night playing. It had gone by so fast. Later I would tell my little brothers, Jim and Jason, stories of the continuing adventures of the hero 'James' (named after my brother) as he journeyed to return the Dragonslayer to it's resting spot. I would tell a little piece of the story each night in our room as we went to sleep, stopping as soon as I heard the snoring start. Each night they would beg for the next installment. The sequel stories went on for over 3 years as James went on many adventures and met new friends, such as Sylva Alleanna a talkative elf and love interest, Thunderstruck the dwarf and Quest, an elf who was sometimes a friend and sometimes a rival with James. This beautifully crafted game grew into something much more special for us and gave us so many wonderful memories. It is my favorite game of all time. I play it again about every 5-10 years, but Jim plays it every year. It will remain in our hearts forever.
This game has an absolutely unique atmosphere. Also the feeling of leaving a town and entering a dangerous and risky route full of uncertainties till the next town finally saves you made a big impression on me when i was a kid. No other game managed to deliver that feeling.
@@User0000000000000004 Sort of, but this game did a better job of keeping you off balance. Weird towers with nothing important in them... Intro level magic that is efficient enough to use for the whole game... item that hurts your damage instead of helping... Having to talk to guris more than once to get key items. How many other action games drag you around like that? I know of a few rpg's that do, but this one definitely has unique design aspects that combine into a game that no one else seems to have thought of quite like this.
I always pick up the pendant because I'm a sucker for the full inventory at the end. I've been playing this game my whole life and it's great to see such a deep dive into it. I hope it reaches many new fans. Thanks so much!
I second that. And if of were a sequel, they need to keep the platformer style. I will say, of you have not played Infernax, it borowed some from this game, as it did Castlevania 3, Simon's Quest, and a few others. Really worth it honestly. :)
It has a remaster. Looks good, but the music is worse in my opinion. I’d play a full remake if they did one, for sure. Modern adventure RPG style. It’s so good. I’d love to see what the world tree looks like in a remake
I always loved when you equipped different armor or weapons, and it showed on your character. A lot of old games just had the same sprite throughout the whole game regardless if you ve have full plate mail or no armor at all.
@@darthboxOriginal I would play it for sure, but don't want to seek it out and pay for it. If they release it for the Switch's online NES platform, I'll be all over it.
Wait, so you guys set aside hours...not to actually play games, but to watch others play them? This is like kids who have given up playing with toys to watch other kids open them online...
@@badcp455 nah, I don't watch for hours, never made it through a whole episode, but it is fun to watch an easier way to get through some of these games. I spend a lot more time playing games for sure.
This is really a hidden gem. The world is huge and really has a sense of atmosphere and great music in some areas. At the same time, it's not terribly difficult to beat if you're persistent.
I have played the shit out of this as a kid but never finished because I would play it at my babysitters at the time an the other kid would get mad at me for hogging the NES all day lol, so I wrote all the passwords down but one day a younger kid who went to the same babysitter, got a hold of the papers with all passwords and tore them all up so I had lost all the passwords. Maybe someday I will go back and FINALLY finish the game lol.
As a Faxanadu speedrunner, I can confirm that we indeed do call that one room Fight Club, and when we attack and hit an enemy with sword and magic at the same time a Shiner Strike! You sure did your homework!! Heck, I even learned something new about the game I didn't know about! It is time to put that new knowledge into practice and improve one of my world records! Thanks for the tip ;)
This is incredible. Faxanadu is one of my favorite games, and I can’t believe that I learned all these cool tricks and secrets all these decades later. Thanks for the amazing video!
I was trying for so long to remember the name of this game! Played this maybe in 1990 at ten yrs old. Started to remember this game bits and pieces in my head. Finally remembered the name after searching all game titles for NES at the age of 40.
1:15:33 there is actually a way to avoid using wing boots at this place: you climb up the ladder to the top, but instead of trying to face right to fight the blue guy (which you cant cause he will always hit you first if you push right), you just keep pushing upwards until the character starts to fall down a bit, creating a loop of climbing and falling. if you release the pad a the right moment while doing this, the character will stand on the ladder as if he was on a ground and either face to the left or right, being able to use the sword again.
I was hoping you'd get to this game sooner or later. Glad it was sooner. My parents got me this game when I was like 8yrs old and I was totally bummed since i never heard of it. I popped it into the NES and it quickly became one of my favorites. Thanks for another great video. This has quickly become the best part of my Saturday.
@@jamesriley007 I remember seeing the cover of xenophobe and telling my dad I wanted it and him telling me I won't like it. I insisted I would love it and ended up with a total crap game lol
Oh another classic I used to play as a kid. Unfortunately it's anotherone in the unsolved case box in my shelf. But with this video, this looks like another game I can and will complete after many years. Awesome content, I really love the deep dive and all the informations about the games you present. It's not jus a complete guide, it's everything... the most complete review, stratetgy, lore and secrets guide you can get but still in a compact format... in one word: fantastic!
It's amazing how much Hudson Soft crammed into this cart considering it came out in '87. You can tell there was a lot of care and attention put into this, I'm sure as heck going to give this a crack.
The fact that you actually take your time and explain what the items are, what they do, how to get them, how they work ect... is amazing. 1st video i watched was Friday the 13th and ive beaten the game quite a few times but had no idea about the sweater or the fact that you can fight jasons mom multiple times and now watching Faxanadu im blown away. Keep up the good work bro. Look forward to watching Batlle of Olympus next.
We got this game with our first Nintendo along with Tetris and Super Mario Bros. when I was a kid. My brothers and I were instantly hooked and to this day it is a favorite. We all remember it fondly. So hard, even frustrating, but also very satisfying when you beat it :)
deadpan lines like "What's up, dried meat guy?" made me laugh. The constant running commentary on such a slow game really reached new heights this time around. I remember playing this game with my dad when I was too young to read it on my own. He kept pages of detailed notes and passwords, and we eventually finished the game after weeks of working on it. Still amazes me just how short it is if you know what you're doing.
Honestly, for a NES game i don't think it's all that short. Sure, you can beat it in an hour or two if you know exactly what you are doing (assuming no speedrun strats, then it's more like 30 minutes), but even then that is not bad for a NES game. Most NES games, once you've learned how to beat them, can be beaten in 20-40 minutes and mainly rely on difficulty to pad out the playtime :)
@@RutabagaSwe I dunno man, I can't help but feel like that's just not true. Every game that comes to mind is longer than that. SMB games (4) without warping, Friday the 13th, Battle of Olympus, Final Fantasy, Zelda and 2, Rygar, Ninja Gaiden (1-3), Karnov, Kid Icarus, Bubble Bobble, Every sports game with a season, Wizards and Warriors (1-3), Deadly Towers (lol), Dragon Warrior (1-4), Destiny of an Emperor, Legacy of the Wizard, Wacky Races, Mega Man (1-6), Blaster Master, Punch out even without losing a fight, Rescue Rangers, Shatterhand, Batman, Contra (maybe not... but that's with zero continues), RC pro am, Hydelide, Wacky Races, Yo Noid, Castlevania (1-3), Renegade, Bayou Billy, Dr Mario, Skate or Die 2, Metroid, Spy hunter/Super Spy Hunter, Gunsmoke, pro wrestling, Ghost Busters, Star Tropics, River City Ransom, Lolo (1-3), Solomon's Key, Ghosts n goblins, Millons secret castle, Vice Project Doom, Crystalis, Journey to Silius, A boy and his blob, Bionic Commando, Defender of the crown, GI Joe (1-2), TMNT (1-3), Gargoyle's Quest, Ikari (1-3), Ultima (3-5), and on and on. I mean, yeah, some games were short, but I think the vast majority were at least an hour, with a good chunk taking longer than 2, and plenty taking over 10 without using speed run strats. A half hour for "most" NES games just isn't true, unless I'm just toally forgetting about dozens of really short games.
@@iami3rian394 Well, to be fair i did say that in the context of you knowing the game well already. I can count a bunch of games that i never beat at all as a kid, in spite of owning them for years (this was before the internet, and i dint have no nintendo power), but that doesn't mean that they are long games. Does the fact that Shadowgate will take you FOREVER to beat blind mean that it's a long game? No, it's just borderline impossible to figure some of the puzzles out without spending hours and hours scouring each room and trying different item combinations. If you know how to do it all, it's over in like 20 minutes. Same is true for Faxanadu, essentially. Which is why i don't think 1-2 hours is all that bad when following a guide. Castlevania is also a good example. Took me maybe 2 hours the first time, when i knew what i was doing it took me 18 minutes. Sure there are a handfull of RPGs that take a long time to beat, but there weren't that many of them. Most games on the NES are action games that rely on you dying over and over, retrying and learning every stage to make the game long. Once you learned it, you beat those games fast :)
@@RutabagaSwe what you are describing is literally a glitch Free Speedrun. So yes, I will agree that you can Speedrun most NES games in less than an hour. That's true of just about every game on every system, but ok. I'll concede that after playing dozens if not hundreds of hours of a game, it's very likely that you can then beat it in less than an hour. If you're 100%ing btw, that's STILL not true of most of the games I listed. Just a heads up.
@@iami3rian394I mean, the entire reply was to OP saying that the game was short. Which in terms of following a guide that shows you where to go and how to beat everything means that essentially most games on the NES are short. It just seems like you want to say that mastering a game can take a while, which is true, but is also not what the post was really about :)
I loved that game so much as a child. I was 6 or 7 when i played it. Couldnt beat it for month. one weekend, two friends slept by me. We played this game to death and finally beat it. It was a real adventure. This game introduced me into that kind of action rpg and i still love games like that today. Games today dont give you the same feeling like those old once. Most got just way to easy, to many guids etc. We had to find out everything by ourselfs and we really lived games like that. This game will always have a special place in my heart.
This was also one of my absolute favorites. After watching your Chrystalis video I had to play through it again for Old times sake. I guess Faxanadu is next.
I'm amazed as to how much patience I had as a kid back in the day when I beat this game. The amount of enemy milking required to collect all the money and buy all the stuff is insane! Also at the end I never used the Wingboots or the ointment to get to the evil one final boss via that shortcut and went through the long way which was like a maze!
From what I understand, the flaw with the pendant is with the enable bit. That is, it doesn't apply a -25% damage modifier but that the pendant bonus is actually enabled from the beginning of the game but collecting it flips the bit that sets the bonus. This means that as much as you might have struggled up to that point, the game was actually giving you a 25% advantage!
I grew up calling it that too. I refused to believe otherwise for decades. It took learning Japanese phonetic characters and seeing the original name to change my mind.
Thank you for doing this! My wife is obsessed with the game and I’ve only ever done the speed run. So seeing it fleshed out makes us both happy. Keep up the stellar work, man!
Faxanadu was the only NES game my dad ever played. He got further than I did and actually wrote notes as he went. He eventually beat it while I got lost somewhere in the misty area and gave up.
Damn, I was so hooked by this game when I bought it that I completed it in four days. I was a bit disappointed it was relatively short but sure one of the best NES memories. Still have my old cart and love to replay two or three times a year. Cheers!
This was the first game I beat, so it will always have a special place in my memory. It was fun to play, and helped me gain confidence to beat the legend of zelda afterward. It was the first game in a long series of games I have played and beat, but it still remains my most memorable one. Thank you for allowing me to revisit it again. I no longer have those games I once had, due to real life complications, but it brought a smile to my face to see it once again.
This game is amazing. I'm 47 years old. I remember playing it from the cart on the original NES back in the 80s. Zelda and this (maybe Metroid) were my favorites.
My mom Was kind enough to give me $20 to buy this game from a classmate in eighth grade, which was a steal considering it was practically brand new and in high demand! Loved this game! Great memories!
25:50 ish - I should probably watch the whole video before this, but here's a cool pro-tip: If you did NOT get the small shield you can use the ointment to fight a nearby boss safely since when you have the ointment you can still take magic damage, but only when it hits your shield. You can kill the boss many many times for a single ointment
This is definitely one game I want to sit down with and play through at some point. Was very much looking forward to this one. Thanks man! You're a gem.
I wrote into Nintendo Power as a kid asking for directions through the Evil One’s palace. I love this game. I’d like to see the game Magician covered at some point along with The Immortal
I was shocked. SHOCKED! Your reputation for knowing every enemies name in a game was like gravity, it was not to be questioned. Im not sure what is real anymore.
Just wanna mention that as soon as you leave Eolis, the starting town, you cannot go back. The only way would be to die and never enter in a cathedral, so you can spawn back in the first cathedral.
You are absolutely killing it! I used to speedrun this game as a kid. Never knew about manipulating the item rooms though. Good luck on your channel going forward I wish you the best.
The 2 most disheartening flaws in this game are that the Pendant, found in the tower of suffer, makes you weaker (programmer's error not malicious item), and that as your level rises, the amount of time the flying boots are effective decreases, resulting in a scenario in which for a short time at the start of the game, you can't raise your level due to having to fly for ?? number of seconds at a certain location, which raising your level would make impossible. All in all it's really rather good, but what I just explained is told nowhere that I know of in the game. So make like Yggdrasil and 'branch out' and give it a try! Thank you, thank you, I'm here until the dwarf king's fireball hits me about 1/4th into the game!.
@@erwinekkel9676 the number-of-seconds decrease is a fixed number of seconds every certain number of levels, I don't believe it goes down measurably every level, if I remember correctly it does drop significantly at certain levels being reached though. The way you measure the pendant making you weaker is number-of-swings vs enemies, without it, the number of swings it takes to kill them will be less. Visiting the tower itself is not a pointless endeavor, if you are ready to gain lots of levels you should visit, just avoid picking up the amulet. If I remember correctly theres an invincibility ointment in one of the rooms near the tower / in the tower.
I love this channel. I can tell our doggy reviewer has hit up on speedrun strats for these playthroughs, because I recognize the flying boot trick from AGDQ. EDIT: One other thing! You can mash the pause button to extend the timer on your flying boots!
My favorite NES game. Thank you so much for uploading this video! Your guide to Faxanadu has it all, it's thorough, informative, well made and you really covered every single aspect of the game.
Same, I've played that game thousands of times and never beat it. I even said "Eff it I'm going to use game genie" but still never had the chance to finish it. Well, I think I know what I have to do now.
this was one of my favorite games when i was a kid, in fact i blame it for making good music so important to me in which games i like. it was nice to see you finish it also because i only ever made it half wayish.... so thanks for the nostalgia :D
It was a highly ranked game most people know about, i always got lost and never came close to beating hence im here to learn what i missed. @Craig - i believe under 700 games were made on the NES for America.
Such an underrated under appreciated gem forgotten to time. So sad that it never got sequels or remakes. Still my favourite RPG on the NES as it reminded me a lot of my beloved Wonder Boy in Monster Land game which was my favourite game in the SMS! Hudson Soft were involved in both so doesn't surprise me I guess!
I got this game the summer it came out. I was 12 at the time and this was the closest thing to a 2D Dark Souls experience as you can get. The nostalgia is real. Brilliant game.
Best intro and ending EVER in a video game. Intro: walking up to a desolate and dying town, just a lone wanderer, the sound of footsteps but no music.... Outro: Walking away from a thriving and luscious vibrant oasis, blue waterfalls, greenery, that you singlehandedly saved, the epic title screen music playing. Feeling accomplished lately? Mic drop.
Found this channel by chance but I'm loving it so much. Nihon Falcom is over 40 years old now I think. Also of note Worzen was a translation error from Legacy of the Wizard and the title name of the family wasn't their actual name but rather supposed to be a play on Dragon Slayer because they are the Dragon Slayer family. The actual properly translated name makes a cameo in Cold Steel with the Worzel (Dragon) family. Not the only reference to older titles in the new ones either. Faxanadu and and Xanadu were referenced in Tokyo Xanadu and The King of Dragons Keela (called Kira in the game) made a brief appearance as a pile of bones reconstructed for a museum in another Legend of Heroes title. Tokyo Xanadu referenced a LOT of things though including Vantage Master and the game store had a trailer playing on the TV's for Cold Steel 3. Needless to say I'm impressed that the company has been able to remain around for as long as it has but I did hear it does events at actual theme parks which makes me want to try and catch the next one they do when the lockdowns are over.
It's a total mystery to me why you don't have 1M subs yet. Your content is top quality. It's a joy listening to you there is absolutely nothing annoying about you. Which is not that common on youtube!
"When you start the game, go to the right and get killed by the dwarf. When you respawn, your life and magic will be refilled for free." -- I submitted this line to GameFAQs back in... what was it, 2002? And I completely forgot about it until I saw you use the trick at the start of the video. I watched the whole video and I have nothing to add. You've mentioned every single thing I know about the game. Thank you. That was a very entertaining trip down memory lane.
I remember 30 years ago being stuck near the beginning at the wall where you have to use the Mattoc. A few weeks later a school friend explained you have use a special key combination to use it. I think it was hold up and press A. Eventually finished it and recall it being a great experience. Watching this makes me wany to play it again. Thanks for posting this video.
This channel is like the reincarnation of classic game guide books. Like the kind you'd get at gamestop. You can watch a walkthrough on youtube but they won't have nearly as much information. I'll be watching one and have to rewind a part 5 times to try to understand what the hell he just did. Not with this channel. "You could do it this way and it'll be quick and easy but let's do it the way the game expects you to do it too..." Keep up the good work.
I was a fan of this game when I was a kid, but could never remember the name of it. Years later, I rediscovered it and still enjoy it a lot. It makes sense, its ties to Ys. I love those games, as well 👍
This game has a special nostalgia. I bought this game from Toys r Us when I was a kid back when you used to have to take the slips up to the front counter. My stepfather used to watch me play this all the time and I would come home from school and catch him playing it and he fell in love with it. He passed away in 2006 so every time I hear the theme music it brings a tear to my eye. I have a hard time playing it now. But I think all of us that grew up in the '80s and '90s have special connections to Nintendo games.
what a cool memory to have shared with your stepfather. i def remember getting DuckTales from the cage Toys R Us - it wasnt very often that id get to buy a game at a store, i usually only got them for like Christmas or my birthday. Thanks for sharing that!!
I got this game as a gift to me and my brother from my neighbor the first Christmas after my parents divorce, she was a devout Christian who came to Canada from the Philippines, I knew it was special to her, to get us a gift at Christmas, little did she know how special the bonding time me and my little bro had was, for years after because of her small kindness.
My mom bought my brother and I this game from Canadian Tire at a real big discount. It was unique to see them sell a game so cheap.
This is going in my stash of screenshotted youtube comments
Sounds like stepdad was a blast, this game was so hard.
I appreciate the style you've been developing over here. The way you prioritize giving clear and interesting information, leaving enough space for the game audio to shine, and keeping the vibes chill. Please keep it up.
Thanks!! I'm glad you're enjoying the channel, and I def have a lot more ideas for games I want to cover
I love your avatar - I'm a huge Calvin and Hobbes fan. So I tip my hat to your Susie Derkins :)
Agreed, he has really refined his method and is doing some incredible work
This is like waking up to your favorite Saturday morning cartoon!
Ha! It is, though.
Never did this one
Great analogy lol📺 dont forget your favorite cereal-peanut butter crunch for me!
No its not.
I was thinking that too! It's one of my favorite things to have on when I work on Sunday mornings/afternoons
My Dad bought this for us for Christmas the year it came out. I still remember seeing the tan box emerging from the wrapping. I was so excited at the promise of adventure contained within that little pack, and the game delivered!We would watch Dad play it, jumping in to lend advice or support along the way. What an amazing journey we went on together. I remember getting to the mist land late one eveningt. That eerie music haunted us through the night. Me and my brothers, moving in closer to my Dad as we looked over our shoulders at every shadow we imagined moving along the walls. We made it through, and emerged from the fog just as the sun was coming up outside in real life. We felt we had truly made it to 'Daybreak'. I couldn't believe we had stayed awake all night playing. It had gone by so fast. Later I would tell my little brothers, Jim and Jason, stories of the continuing adventures of the hero 'James' (named after my brother) as he journeyed to return the Dragonslayer to it's resting spot. I would tell a little piece of the story each night in our room as we went to sleep, stopping as soon as I heard the snoring start. Each night they would beg for the next installment. The sequel stories went on for over 3 years as James went on many adventures and met new friends, such as Sylva Alleanna a talkative elf and love interest, Thunderstruck the dwarf and Quest, an elf who was sometimes a friend and sometimes a rival with James. This beautifully crafted game grew into something much more special for us and gave us so many wonderful memories. It is my favorite game of all time. I play it again about every 5-10 years, but Jim plays it every year. It will remain in our hearts forever.
This game has an absolutely unique atmosphere. Also the feeling of leaving a town and entering a dangerous and risky route full of uncertainties till the next town finally saves you made a big impression on me when i was a kid. No other game managed to deliver that feeling.
The Adventure of Link?
@@User0000000000000004 Sort of, but this game did a better job of keeping you off balance. Weird towers with nothing important in them... Intro level magic that is efficient enough to use for the whole game... item that hurts your damage instead of helping... Having to talk to guris more than once to get key items. How many other action games drag you around like that? I know of a few rpg's that do, but this one definitely has unique design aspects that combine into a game that no one else seems to have thought of quite like this.
This game has the creepiest graphics Ive ever seen
I always pick up the pendant because I'm a sucker for the full inventory at the end. I've been playing this game my whole life and it's great to see such a deep dive into it. I hope it reaches many new fans. Thanks so much!
I do it just to make the game a bit more challenging. 😁
Great to see one of favorite youtubers commented on another favorite
This game deserves a Remaster!
Yes, or... A SEQUEL!
I second that. And if of were a sequel, they need to keep the platformer style. I will say, of you have not played Infernax, it borowed some from this game, as it did Castlevania 3, Simon's Quest, and a few others. Really worth it honestly. :)
100% agree brother. I loved this game and wold love to be able to play it again
It has a remaster. Looks good, but the music is worse in my opinion. I’d play a full remake if they did one, for sure. Modern adventure RPG style. It’s so good. I’d love to see what the world tree looks like in a remake
Definitely
Your super laid-back narration is much appreciated after a work day.
I always loved when you equipped different armor or weapons, and it showed on your character. A lot of old games just had the same sprite throughout the whole game regardless if you ve have full plate mail or no armor at all.
a lot of new games too
Okay! That's so valid. I always wished Dragon Warrior had done this.
I remember feeling like a total badass once you finally get to equip that battle suit!!!
That’s one of my favorite things on an RPG…!!!
This game is the only good memory of my brother and I spending time together, thank you for the memories
Just told the wife and kids I’d see them in about an hour and a half… this is what I look forward to every Saturday morning!
Right? I'm not even planning on ever playing this game.
@@kadenhadley9980 you should! It's fun!
@@darthboxOriginal I would play it for sure, but don't want to seek it out and pay for it. If they release it for the Switch's online NES platform, I'll be all over it.
Wait, so you guys set aside hours...not to actually play games, but to watch others play them? This is like kids who have given up playing with toys to watch other kids open them online...
@@badcp455 nah, I don't watch for hours, never made it through a whole episode, but it is fun to watch an easier way to get through some of these games. I spend a lot more time playing games for sure.
This is really a hidden gem. The world is huge and really has a sense of atmosphere and great music in some areas. At the same time, it's not terribly difficult to beat if you're persistent.
I have played the shit out of this as a kid but never finished because I would play it at my babysitters at the time an the other kid would get mad at me for hogging the NES all day lol, so I wrote all the passwords down but one day a younger kid who went to the same babysitter, got a hold of the papers with all passwords and tore them all up so I had lost all the passwords.
Maybe someday I will go back and FINALLY finish the game lol.
As a Faxanadu speedrunner, I can confirm that we indeed do call that one room Fight Club, and when we attack and hit an enemy with sword and magic at the same time a Shiner Strike! You sure did your homework!! Heck, I even learned something new about the game I didn't know about! It is time to put that new knowledge into practice and improve one of my world records! Thanks for the tip ;)
🤘
This is incredible. Faxanadu is one of my favorite games, and I can’t believe that I learned all these cool tricks and secrets all these decades later. Thanks for the amazing video!
I was trying for so long to remember the name of this game! Played this maybe in 1990 at ten yrs old. Started to remember this game bits and pieces in my head. Finally remembered the name after searching all game titles for NES at the age of 40.
Battle of Olympus would be a good one to do. I love the music for that game.
Totally agree
I will also vote for this.
He said a little while back that he's working on it.
One of my favorite nes titles. I beat it as a kid but i cant remember if that was thanks to mu shameless game genie usage.
i'd pay money(donate) if a new/revamped version of Battle of Olympus came out. but...it will not happen, either...
1:15:33 there is actually a way to avoid using wing boots at this place: you climb up the ladder to the top, but instead of trying to face right to fight the blue guy (which you cant cause he will always hit you first if you push right), you just keep pushing upwards until the character starts to fall down a bit, creating a loop of climbing and falling. if you release the pad a the right moment while doing this, the character will stand on the ladder as if he was on a ground and either face to the left or right, being able to use the sword again.
One of my favorite games on the NES. It took me all the way until the end of the video to see that it came out on my birthday this year!
I was hoping you'd get to this game sooner or later. Glad it was sooner. My parents got me this game when I was like 8yrs old and I was totally bummed since i never heard of it. I popped it into the NES and it quickly became one of my favorites. Thanks for another great video. This has quickly become the best part of my Saturday.
It least you didnt get 8 eyes my god that game made no sense and later drakken on snes
@@jamesriley007 I remember seeing the cover of xenophobe and telling my dad I wanted it and him telling me I won't like it. I insisted I would love it and ended up with a total crap game lol
@@josephrhodes5025 shame too because I remember the arcade game and of course console never lived up to the arcade
I was the same way about River City Ransom.
Same I think I was about 8 too.. needless to say it grew on me and is a title I love to revisit
Oh another classic I used to play as a kid. Unfortunately it's anotherone in the unsolved case box in my shelf. But with this video, this looks like another game I can and will complete after many years. Awesome content, I really love the deep dive and all the informations about the games you present. It's not jus a complete guide, it's everything... the most complete review, stratetgy, lore and secrets guide you can get but still in a compact format... in one word: fantastic!
It's amazing how much Hudson Soft crammed into this cart considering it came out in '87. You can tell there was a lot of care and attention put into this, I'm sure as heck going to give this a crack.
Favorite game of all time!
LOVED THIS GAME - we spent 4 days, day and night to pass this game in 93
This game has some of the most unique enemy sprites. I love this game.
Some of them are truly beautiful pixel art and some are just a mess lol
It's funny, even now people who are newly introduced tend to be pretty suprised by the sprites and especially the world detail.
The fact that you actually take your time and explain what the items are, what they do, how to get them, how they work ect... is amazing. 1st video i watched was Friday the 13th and ive beaten the game quite a few times but had no idea about the sweater or the fact that you can fight jasons mom multiple times and now watching Faxanadu im blown away. Keep up the good work bro. Look forward to watching Batlle of Olympus next.
Lots of nostalgia in this game. My Uncle and I would sit and play it for hours.
We got this game with our first Nintendo along with Tetris and Super Mario Bros. when I was a kid. My brothers and I were instantly hooked and to this day it is a favorite. We all remember it fondly. So hard, even frustrating, but also very satisfying when you beat it :)
deadpan lines like "What's up, dried meat guy?" made me laugh. The constant running commentary on such a slow game really reached new heights this time around.
I remember playing this game with my dad when I was too young to read it on my own. He kept pages of detailed notes and passwords, and we eventually finished the game after weeks of working on it. Still amazes me just how short it is if you know what you're doing.
Honestly, for a NES game i don't think it's all that short. Sure, you can beat it in an hour or two if you know exactly what you are doing (assuming no speedrun strats, then it's more like 30 minutes), but even then that is not bad for a NES game. Most NES games, once you've learned how to beat them, can be beaten in 20-40 minutes and mainly rely on difficulty to pad out the playtime :)
@@RutabagaSwe I dunno man, I can't help but feel like that's just not true.
Every game that comes to mind is longer than that. SMB games (4) without warping, Friday the 13th, Battle of Olympus, Final Fantasy, Zelda and 2, Rygar, Ninja Gaiden (1-3), Karnov, Kid Icarus, Bubble Bobble, Every sports game with a season, Wizards and Warriors (1-3), Deadly Towers (lol), Dragon Warrior (1-4), Destiny of an Emperor, Legacy of the Wizard, Wacky Races, Mega Man (1-6), Blaster Master, Punch out even without losing a fight, Rescue Rangers, Shatterhand, Batman, Contra (maybe not... but that's with zero continues), RC pro am, Hydelide, Wacky Races, Yo Noid, Castlevania (1-3), Renegade, Bayou Billy, Dr Mario, Skate or Die 2, Metroid, Spy hunter/Super Spy Hunter, Gunsmoke, pro wrestling, Ghost Busters, Star Tropics, River City Ransom, Lolo (1-3), Solomon's Key, Ghosts n goblins, Millons secret castle, Vice Project Doom, Crystalis, Journey to Silius, A boy and his blob, Bionic Commando, Defender of the crown, GI Joe (1-2), TMNT (1-3), Gargoyle's Quest, Ikari (1-3), Ultima (3-5), and on and on.
I mean, yeah, some games were short, but I think the vast majority were at least an hour, with a good chunk taking longer than 2, and plenty taking over 10 without using speed run strats.
A half hour for "most" NES games just isn't true, unless I'm just toally forgetting about dozens of really short games.
@@iami3rian394 Well, to be fair i did say that in the context of you knowing the game well already. I can count a bunch of games that i never beat at all as a kid, in spite of owning them for years (this was before the internet, and i dint have no nintendo power), but that doesn't mean that they are long games. Does the fact that Shadowgate will take you FOREVER to beat blind mean that it's a long game? No, it's just borderline impossible to figure some of the puzzles out without spending hours and hours scouring each room and trying different item combinations. If you know how to do it all, it's over in like 20 minutes. Same is true for Faxanadu, essentially. Which is why i don't think 1-2 hours is all that bad when following a guide.
Castlevania is also a good example. Took me maybe 2 hours the first time, when i knew what i was doing it took me 18 minutes. Sure there are a handfull of RPGs that take a long time to beat, but there weren't that many of them. Most games on the NES are action games that rely on you dying over and over, retrying and learning every stage to make the game long. Once you learned it, you beat those games fast :)
@@RutabagaSwe what you are describing is literally a glitch Free Speedrun.
So yes, I will agree that you can Speedrun most NES games in less than an hour. That's true of just about every game on every system, but ok. I'll concede that after playing dozens if not hundreds of hours of a game, it's very likely that you can then beat it in less than an hour.
If you're 100%ing btw, that's STILL not true of most of the games I listed. Just a heads up.
@@iami3rian394I mean, the entire reply was to OP saying that the game was short. Which in terms of following a guide that shows you where to go and how to beat everything means that essentially most games on the NES are short. It just seems like you want to say that mastering a game can take a while, which is true, but is also not what the post was really about :)
I loved that game so much as a child. I was 6 or 7 when i played it. Couldnt beat it for month. one weekend, two friends slept by me. We played this game to death and finally beat it.
It was a real adventure. This game introduced me into that kind of action rpg and i still love games like that today.
Games today dont give you the same feeling like those old once. Most got just way to easy, to many guids etc. We had to find out everything by ourselfs and we really lived games like that.
This game will always have a special place in my heart.
This was also one of my absolute favorites. After watching your Chrystalis video I had to play through it again for Old times sake. I guess Faxanadu is next.
God i played chrysalis so much as a kid. I dont think i ever actually beat it without game genie...
Glorious, encyclopaedic knowledge of a game I couldn’t get my head around as a little kid. Thank you for entertaining me!
I'm amazed as to how much patience I had as a kid back in the day when I beat this game. The amount of enemy milking required to collect all the money and buy all the stuff is insane! Also at the end I never used the Wingboots or the ointment to get to the evil one final boss via that shortcut and went through the long way which was like a maze!
From what I understand, the flaw with the pendant is with the enable bit. That is, it doesn't apply a -25% damage modifier but that the pendant bonus is actually enabled from the beginning of the game but collecting it flips the bit that sets the bonus. This means that as much as you might have struggled up to that point, the game was actually giving you a 25% advantage!
Such a great hidden gem. However I just have to pronounce it “Fax-AN-a-du”. I just can’t add the z sound lol.
I love the earthy palette and the music.
I grew up calling it that too. I refused to believe otherwise for decades. It took learning Japanese phonetic characters and seeing the original name to change my mind.
i think most of us called it that
I still call it that
That's literally how the word is pronounced in English, regardless what Hudson Soft intended.
X doesnt make the Z noise ever unless it is the first letter in a word. This guy is saying it like that because he new of Xanadu.
Thank you for doing this! My wife is obsessed with the game and I’ve only ever done the speed run. So seeing it fleshed out makes us both happy. Keep up the stellar work, man!
WoW! The world of Faxanadu seemed like an immense universe to me when I was a kid. Unbelievable.
Beat faxanadu, Simon's quest and Zelda 2 as a kid. 35 years later I can barely play any of them without dieing fast lol!
Me too! Lol What's happened to us!?
Didn't think I was gonna watch the entire thing. Yet I did!
Nice work, bear this game as a kid and never saw it beaten so easily before
thanks!! glad you enjoyed it!
Man this takes me back....One of my favorite games I never got to finish.
Faxanadu was the only NES game my dad ever played. He got further than I did and actually wrote notes as he went. He eventually beat it while I got lost somewhere in the misty area and gave up.
Man, it's always nice to see this absolute classic get some love! One of my favorite NES titles.
Amazed by how many actually loved this game. It's by far one of my favorites.
0:08 seconds in I see a game I haven’t thought about in 30 years Clash at Demon head
You should watch Scott Pilgrim…!
Thanks for doing this, man it took a long time for me and my cousin to finish this game back when it was first released. Great job bringing me back.
I was always fascinated by this game's world and aesthetics.
Damn, I was so hooked by this game when I bought it that I completed it in four days. I was a bit disappointed it was relatively short but sure one of the best NES memories. Still have my old cart and love to replay two or three times a year. Cheers!
I loved this game back in the day. I could never afford it, so I kept getting my parents to rent it every few weeks so I could beat it.
This was the first game I beat, so it will always have a special place in my memory. It was fun to play, and helped me gain confidence to beat the legend of zelda afterward. It was the first game in a long series of games I have played and beat, but it still remains my most memorable one. Thank you for allowing me to revisit it again. I no longer have those games I once had, due to real life complications, but it brought a smile to my face to see it once again.
Never clicked on play so fast! Thanks for your INCREDIBLE series!!!
This game is amazing. I'm 47 years old. I remember playing it from the cart on the original NES back in the 80s. Zelda and this (maybe Metroid) were my favorites.
My mom Was kind enough to give me $20 to buy this game from a classmate in eighth grade, which was a steal considering it was practically brand new and in high demand! Loved this game! Great memories!
That's awesome!
The first rpg I ever played and beat as kid. Always remembered as my first really hyped video game moment. Thank you Faxanadu!
"Dwarf" (9-foot-tall blue gargoyle)
"Dwarven King" (giant golden dragon)
I always thought that was weird to, but I think they were transformed due to the meteor and them giving in to it or something lol.
Elves probably call anything that's a pain in the ass a Dwarf.
they were twisted/mutated by the meteor or something, right?
25:50 ish - I should probably watch the whole video before this, but here's a cool pro-tip: If you did NOT get the small shield you can use the ointment to fight a nearby boss safely since when you have the ointment you can still take magic damage, but only when it hits your shield. You can kill the boss many many times for a single ointment
This is one of my favorite videos… this game is great and it’s incredible how you can constantly do great narration.
This is definitely one game I want to sit down with and play through at some point. Was very much looking forward to this one. Thanks man! You're a gem.
I wrote into Nintendo Power as a kid asking for directions through the Evil One’s palace. I love this game. I’d like to see the game Magician covered at some point along with The Immortal
one of my all time favorites as a kid..... so many hours..... loved every moment
Never played this game but I was thoroughly entertained watching you play and beat it. Keep up the great work man, I love seeing your uploads weekly.
I was shocked. SHOCKED! Your reputation for knowing every enemies name in a game was like gravity, it was not to be questioned. Im not sure what is real anymore.
Just wanna mention that as soon as you leave Eolis, the starting town, you cannot go back. The only way would be to die and never enter in a cathedral, so you can spawn back in the first cathedral.
This is one of my favs. Loved it. NES was the best.
Love this game, great soundtrack as well. I was an absolute beast at this game, I played it so much, grinded like crazy.
You are absolutely killing it! I used to speedrun this game as a kid. Never knew about manipulating the item rooms though. Good luck on your channel going forward I wish you the best.
I never could get through this game back in the day. Still enjoyed it.
I loved this game. I loved the world tree levels. I found the last boss easy to beat.
The 2 most disheartening flaws in this game are that the Pendant, found in the tower of suffer, makes you weaker (programmer's error not malicious item), and that as your level rises, the amount of time the flying boots are effective decreases, resulting in a scenario in which for a short time at the start of the game, you can't raise your level due to having to fly for ?? number of seconds at a certain location, which raising your level would make impossible. All in all it's really rather good, but what I just explained is told nowhere that I know of in the game. So make like Yggdrasil and 'branch out' and give it a try! Thank you, thank you, I'm here until the dwarf king's fireball hits me about 1/4th into the game!.
Really? I'm inclined to try these. I never noticed a difference in flying. And how did you measure the pendant making you weaker?
@@erwinekkel9676 the number-of-seconds decrease is a fixed number of seconds every certain number of levels, I don't believe it goes down measurably every level, if I remember correctly it does drop significantly at certain levels being reached though. The way you measure the pendant making you weaker is number-of-swings vs enemies, without it, the number of swings it takes to kill them will be less. Visiting the tower itself is not a pointless endeavor, if you are ready to gain lots of levels you should visit, just avoid picking up the amulet. If I remember correctly theres an invincibility ointment in one of the rooms near the tower / in the tower.
Oh. My. God. I haven’t seen this game in over 30 years. So many good memories!
This is one of my favorite adventure games, beating this is seriously impressive, great job!!!!!
I love this channel. I can tell our doggy reviewer has hit up on speedrun strats for these playthroughs, because I recognize the flying boot trick from AGDQ.
EDIT: One other thing! You can mash the pause button to extend the timer on your flying boots!
This is one of my earliest NES soundtracks that stood out - it's never the soundboard, it's the composer 👍
Jun Chikuma's best work in my opinion although her Bomberman and Legendary Axe scores are also really good!
This is the most comprehensive guide to Faxanadu that I’ve ever seen. Great work and amazing channel. I really enjoy your videos.
Thanks Jason!!
My favorite NES game. Thank you so much for uploading this video! Your guide to Faxanadu has it all, it's thorough, informative, well made and you really covered every single aspect of the game.
I was just thinking about how you should do an episode on Faxanadu, you read my mind! This game is so underrated.
Underappreciated. Just like this channel
You didn't get the scheduled notification yesterday?
I think he was working on this long before you just thought about it
This was one of my faves. You have a lot of knowledge of these games. Thank you!
" But What If I told you..." Should be a shirt.
I've been getting stoned and binge-watching all your content lmao. Keep it up!
Loved this game in my younger days, happy to see it here!
Yes! I was waiting for this one! Such a great game. Back in the day I felt like I was the only one that knew bout this game. Excellent vid!
I’d love to see you do Willow on the NES, I never knew what to do in that game as a kid
Willow was hard! Never did beat it without the game genie
Same, I've played that game thousands of times and never beat it. I even said "Eff it I'm going to use game genie" but still never had the chance to finish it. Well, I think I know what I have to do now.
Got to the end of that game 3 times and couldn't finish it, if you aren't high enough lvl you run out of magic to be able to finish :(.
this was one of my favorite games when i was a kid, in fact i blame it for making good music so important to me in which games i like. it was nice to see you finish it also because i only ever made it half wayish.... so thanks for the nostalgia :D
Never heard of this game. Nice to highlight the less known NES games.
It was a highly ranked game most people know about, i always got lost and never came close to beating hence im here to learn what i missed.
@Craig - i believe under 700 games were made on the NES for America.
I don’t consider this a hidden gem because I’m certain it was a fairly known and popular game at the time
I still own this, the box/innards too. One of my favorite games, so many memories, thank you.
Such an underrated under appreciated gem forgotten to time. So sad that it never got sequels or remakes. Still my favourite RPG on the NES as it reminded me a lot of my beloved Wonder Boy in Monster Land game which was my favourite game in the SMS! Hudson Soft were involved in both so doesn't surprise me I guess!
I got this game the summer it came out. I was 12 at the time and this was the closest thing to a 2D Dark Souls experience as you can get. The nostalgia is real. Brilliant game.
One of the first games I beat as a kid. Sick an amazing hidden gem
Was one of the first games i played as well, back in the early 90s when i was around 7 or 8. Very special game.
Best intro and ending EVER in a video game. Intro: walking up to a desolate and dying town, just a lone wanderer, the sound of footsteps but no music....
Outro: Walking away from a thriving and luscious vibrant oasis, blue waterfalls, greenery, that you singlehandedly saved, the epic title screen music playing.
Feeling accomplished lately?
Mic drop.
Maniac Mansion and Karnov would be dope
Classic game, that every real gamer would know about....
Found this channel by chance but I'm loving it so much. Nihon Falcom is over 40 years old now I think. Also of note Worzen was a translation error from Legacy of the Wizard and the title name of the family wasn't their actual name but rather supposed to be a play on Dragon Slayer because they are the Dragon Slayer family. The actual properly translated name makes a cameo in Cold Steel with the Worzel (Dragon) family. Not the only reference to older titles in the new ones either. Faxanadu and and Xanadu were referenced in Tokyo Xanadu and The King of Dragons Keela (called Kira in the game) made a brief appearance as a pile of bones reconstructed for a museum in another Legend of Heroes title. Tokyo Xanadu referenced a LOT of things though including Vantage Master and the game store had a trailer playing on the TV's for Cold Steel 3. Needless to say I'm impressed that the company has been able to remain around for as long as it has but I did hear it does events at actual theme parks which makes me want to try and catch the next one they do when the lockdowns are over.
Thank you!!!
It's a total mystery to me why you don't have 1M subs yet. Your content is top quality. It's a joy listening to you there is absolutely nothing annoying about you. Which is not that common on youtube!
True. But he's small enough that he stills answers comments and questions. He deserves better, but I'll miss the personal touch
"Ointment, my one weakness!" - the evil one
This game was a gem and really under rated.
Oh hey, it's my favorite NES game!
How do u know which rooms are item rooms?
You either know from reading guides or this video, or you just get lucky like most of my runs
"When you start the game, go to the right and get killed by the dwarf. When you respawn, your life and magic will be refilled for free." -- I submitted this line to GameFAQs back in... what was it, 2002? And I completely forgot about it until I saw you use the trick at the start of the video.
I watched the whole video and I have nothing to add. You've mentioned every single thing I know about the game. Thank you. That was a very entertaining trip down memory lane.
Dragonslayer 2: Xanadus electric boogaloo.
I remember 30 years ago being stuck near the beginning at the wall where you have to use the Mattoc. A few weeks later a school friend explained you have use a special key combination to use it. I think it was hold up and press A. Eventually finished it and recall it being a great experience. Watching this makes me wany to play it again. Thanks for posting this video.
This channel is like the reincarnation of classic game guide books. Like the kind you'd get at gamestop. You can watch a walkthrough on youtube but they won't have nearly as much information. I'll be watching one and have to rewind a part 5 times to try to understand what the hell he just did. Not with this channel. "You could do it this way and it'll be quick and easy but let's do it the way the game expects you to do it too..." Keep up the good work.
I was a fan of this game when I was a kid, but could never remember the name of it. Years later, I rediscovered it and still enjoy it a lot. It makes sense, its ties to Ys. I love those games, as well 👍
There was a fourth Indiana Jones movie? *blink* *blink* I have no idea what you're talking about.