Gamers fondly remember the late 1980s and early 1990s. At the time, the gaming industry was slowly transitioning to 3D graphics, though the majority is still side-scrolling games with pixelated graphics.
This period was the time of the Gameboy handheld, and for a good reason: it made gaming more accessible and portable than an arcade cabinet or video game console. However, not all games have black-and-white pixels for graphics to illustrate the game to players.
A fine example of a video game like this is Faxanadu for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) video game console.
Faxanadu History, Highlights
Faxanadu is an action RP developed and published by Hudson Soft and Nintendo in 1987 for the NES, per the Strategy Wiki. It made its way to the US via Nintendo of America in 1989 as a first-party title under license from Hudson Soft.
The game follows a nameless wanderer on a quest from the local royalty to restore the realm's prosperity by defeating The Evil One and his army of monsters.
Faxamadu could be considered a side-story of Dragon Slayer II: Xanadu, the second installment of the Dragon Slayer series from game developer Falcom; gamers widely consider the series as the progenitor of the modern RPG genre in the video game industry, per 4gamer.
Many modern gamers would be familiar with Faxanadu's mechanics thanks to this fact. The hero comes with a health bar that depletes when they're damaged, while they can tell how much magical power he has through a magic or "mana" bar.
Players could also track the hero's experience, currently equipped weapons, and resources they have.
While the game doesn't use a save system like its contemporaries, it does offer a similar feature - it provides passwords through NPCs called Gurus that let gamers stop and restart their journeys when entered.
What it does have that impresses people is graphics. Faxanadu features a color palette that creates an "earthy atmosphere" to complement the fantasy world Faxanadu is in.
Gamers who previously played the game could probably remember the browns, greens, reds, and blues that come with the game to show its detail with the graphics of its time. Even though it is a side-scroller, its use of color makes it one of the memorable ones if you had the chance to play it.
Critical Reception, Legacy
Unfortunately, the Faxanadu didn't find much of an audience when it was released. Nevertheless, it did receive critical acclaim. IGN gave it an 8.5/10, thanks to its more forgiving learning curve than The Legend of Zelda II.
Nintendo Life, meanwhile, mentioned that Faxnadu is basically the better version of The Legend of Zelda because it has all the great things about it and none of its flaws, making it a must-have for anyone who likes platformers, action games, or RPGs.
The game helped RPGs grow into the genre we know today due to many of its mechanics, which is probably the reason why Nintendo added it to its Virtual Console for the Nintendo Wii, per Nintendo.
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