Faxanadu time!
This game is actually awesome and highly underestimated. You play as this hero who comes home to his village to find it deserted. You'll learn that the dwarfs (!) is behind this evil in the world (a very good friend of mine always told me that dwarfs are evil ;P guess he was right).
For the gameplay. There are loads of stuffs you need to plan ahead and that took me most time. This is because you must do quests and obtain certain items to proceed in the game. Since I don't want to backtrack at all it was even harder because then I had to plan ages ahead which keys I need and so on. And here's the next problem, money! In order to obtain swords/keys/magic/you-name-it you mostly needs to buy them. So this is why I fight the first boss over and over again. Also you might notice that some coins get suck in the wall there. This is the prize for killing him really fast but he still gives me a good 400 golds which is way more then enemies at this point. So it's worth it.
I do some more stops to collect money but it was worth it and I think I found pretty much the best places for collecting.
Next hard step to plan is the energy/mana meter. Since I don't want to waste time and money on either dying or to refill my life I had to plan where to take damage or to waste mana. That's hard in a 37 minutes run! Ok, I do refill twice in order to get some mana but it was totally worth it. Else some boss battles would have taken much more time and would have been awfully harder.
Hmm. I don't know if there are much to add. This run is quite long but it's almost non-stop action. One thing though, if I jump and slash an enemy in mid air I will stop there. This can't be avoided and since I have to kill almost every enemy this take some time.
I also takes damage where I can profit for it. Either to save time or to do something else. Also I couldn't find any glitches except this one. When being hit OR flying on a ladder you will stand on it instead of climbing. This saves overall lots of seconds.
Oh and the third time I use the wing boots is because it's necessary. See that little block that's is on the "ceiling"? I can't get past that without the boots. So getting those at that point did save me quite some time. And the trick to get those boots is that every third time you enter a certain screen the enemies will drop something. That's why I go back n forth there.
There is one more trick that I use all the time. If you stand close to an enemy you can hit it twice with the range of your sword. I use this as much as possible but in some cases it wasn't just possible. For example if I am one block above the enemy, then it's not possible to do this.
I think that anyone that have played this game will enjoy this ;) It's a kinda hard game because if you start to take damage you can lose big amounts pretty fast. And also I skip loads of items that would normally be very useful to have. Like armors and stuff.
Also after the last town money is useless. However I can't just skip all the enemies so I had to collect some more. Guess that is good afterwards ;)
I think that was it.
I almost forgot! I want to thank TNSe for some information and great support!
Edit: I do not use the money refill trick in the beginning of the game because it would waste time (Im pretty sure anyways) and it would look uncool. This is because if you were to die first to get full energy and mana that would take time. When you die this text comes up "Don't have negative thoughts bla bla bla" and then you are set in the church again meaning I have to walk a few screens extra. After that you can go to the king and get your money. Then you need to get exactly 0 golds to be able to revisit the king in the opposite side of the town. This would take an awful time walking to him and talking to him. After that I need to buy one last thing I couldn't afford before and that would leave me with 1100 golds. That's the only good thing about this strategy because then I could have killed the first boss 3 times less but I kinda doubt it should be faster. And even if it were to be faster which I doubt I choosed not to do this because I think it's cooler to have almost no energy at some parts of the game. Hope all this made sence and explained my start of the game.
  • Takes damage to save time
  • Abuses programming errors
  • Aims for fastest time.
  • Manipulates luck (enemy pattern)
Enjoy it!
/Walker Boh

Bisqwit: Time to publish it...


TASVideoAgent
They/Them
Moderator
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 15576
Location: 127.0.0.1
This topic is for the purpose of discussing #379: Walker_Boh's NES Faxanadu in 37:30.42
Emulator Coder
Joined: 10/9/2004
Posts: 453
Location: Norway
Another good run by Walker Boh :P Having owned this game myself and knowing how hard it is, it's quite nice to see it still takes nearly 40 minutes to complete during a speed run.
Former player
Joined: 6/27/2004
Posts: 550
Location: New York
Very nice. But in some instances(the early on moments stick out particularly) wouldn't it be faster to attack as you jump? I checked it out, and it seems if you attack them at the apex of your jump you stop horizontal movement, but if you attack on the descent you keep moving. Why did you opt for stopping to make all attacks(though sometimes you do attack while jumping)?
Former player
Joined: 4/16/2004
Posts: 1276
Location: Uppsala, Sweden
Hmm, im not quite sure I understood all of that. But here's the deal with jumping and attacking. When hitting an enemy in mid air you will stop. However, if magic is used it's possible to continue jumping. But since I have limited mana I can't do that all the time. Also in some cases there are enough room to jump, strike and hit them as you land. I don't think I missed any of those situations though. In most cases it was just best to hit them as soon as possible because I couldn't accelerate and then strike or accelerate or jump over them or something because I need all money I can get..
/Walker Boh
Former player
Joined: 4/16/2004
Posts: 1276
Location: Uppsala, Sweden
Any comment of that no-vote?
/Walker Boh
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 380
Location: Finland
/me likes. I've played this too as a kid and can verify that this one looks a lot easier than it really is. Your movement is good, I can't find anything to whine about. You've also done your planning extremely well and seem to find the fastest routes along the way. The game is a bit long and repetetive for a speedrun, so a viewer who isn't familiar with the game might (or will) find it boring. Also the shopping sequences are a bit stupid, due to the moronic shopping system in the game. Boss-recycling is a problem too, but it doesn't stick out so badly. As a conclusion, this is a well played and planned run of a bit boring game. Nice work. This gets a 'yes' -vote.
"Kids! Bringing about Armageddon can be dangerous. Do not attempt it in your home." ( Pratchett & Gaiman: Good Omens )
Former player
Joined: 4/16/2004
Posts: 1276
Location: Uppsala, Sweden
Thanks Tombad! I agree with those shop owners. They are really stupid. I thought saying "Hello" once was enough but apparently they suffer from short memory loss and has to say "Hello bla bla" every time I want something.
/Walker Boh
Editor, Active player (297)
Joined: 3/8/2004
Posts: 7469
Location: Arzareth
I saw something similar as in Youkai Douchuuki, and I think this movie should be published.
Player (71)
Joined: 8/24/2004
Posts: 2562
Location: Sweden
I clicked the YES button because I generally think this is a good speed run. I played it some when I was a kid too and I never menaged to complete the game. How ever.. Ain't it possible to use more magic etc? And those wing boots. Is it possible to use it more? I think you could improve alot by using the wing boots more frequent as possible. As mana is an issue you would have to refill more. Thus you can take more damage perhaps to decrease the time taken to complete the game. But as I said in the beginning. A good speed run that deserves getting published. Cheers mate! Keep em' coming.
Former player
Joined: 4/16/2004
Posts: 1276
Location: Uppsala, Sweden
Wing boots first. They unfortunately don't grow everywhere. I only found those 2 places where I could get a pair without buying them. If I want to buy them later on they will cost me loads of money, and if I were to collect those money the run would be very much less interesting. As for the mana usage, yes I could probably have fired off another... well not that many shots actually. This is because in the last town where I spend 500 golds to refill mana and energy im pretty close to not get a full mana meter. And I want an almost full mana meter so I can use tilte on the Dwarf King. So ok, say I could have fired off another 5-10 shots. But that would'nt have saved much time actually. I still needs to kill almost all enemies to collect money. It is very hard to judge if you can fire 1 shot or if it will have consequenses ~15 minutes later in the game (meaning like 4 hour game time!!!!). Good points though.
/Walker Boh
Player (71)
Joined: 8/24/2004
Posts: 2562
Location: Sweden
Well.. 500 gold ain't that much if you reiceive 400 gold from killing the first boss over and over again. But I don't know how well balanced that would be. Compare the time getting the ammount of gold VS the time you gain by taking more damage and using more magic. How much more would you gain if you had an extra pair of wing boots? Would it be worth gathering gold for an extra pair?
Former player
Joined: 4/16/2004
Posts: 1276
Location: Uppsala, Sweden
If I were to collect money for another pair of wing boots in the third town (they cost 2800 and the boss gives me ~400 everytime I kill him) that would force me to kill the first boss yet another 7 times. Would that be more interresting? Oh, and the next place where I can buy wing boots is in Conflate (Where I get the second last ring) and there they cost a small sum of 5500 golds. If I were to collect this on the first boss or those yellow enemies (they both gives ~400 golds each) I would have to kill em 16 times more. Would that be entertaining? As for the energy, I can gain pretty much energy by killing enemies who drops those breads. But (again) since I don't wanna waste like 10 minutes alone on the first boss collecting money for the entire run I don't see _that_ much point in gaining more speed by taking more damage since I have to kill loads of enemies anyways. This means I can't really take more damage because I wouldn't earn anything from it. It might be possible though to take more damage from the Dwarf King to the last boss but I tried that and in those situations I had to choose between being pushed backwards or killing the enemies in my way. I choosed the later since IMO it looks less shabby. I tried to take damage and to gain speed from it but I couldn't do it on all enemies. Therefore I killed them. Hope that's answer enough.
/Walker Boh
Joined: 3/11/2004
Posts: 191
yet another exellent movie :) i had no trouble sitting through this game as i remember hiring it out at the store only to have it lock soon as i entered the game so never actualy playing it made this movie even more enjoyable for me. i did'nt see any huge areas for improvement and any questions i had during the movie were answered within 5 min (just has the gold collection toward the end of the movie) so i'm voting yes. good work again
Active player (435)
Joined: 9/27/2004
Posts: 650
Location: Canada
My brother wanted to do a video of this, but I disuaded him because of the intensity of the planning that was neccesary. Truly, you did a fantastic job. I especially liked the way you worked the elixirs. If I may, though, would it have been quicker to die at the first town before getting the 1500$ to not have to buy the dry meat, and maybe got a red potion? It would have allowed more casts of deluge, and more hits. I'm not sure about this, because the death animation and the life refill animation could have very well added up to more frames. Anyway, it's still a sweet movie. Thanks for this one.
Former player
Joined: 4/16/2004
Posts: 1276
Location: Uppsala, Sweden
Actually im not sure if dying is faster in the beginning. But I seriously doubt it. TNSe sort of helped me out with this since he created a demo of what I would have to do if I were to die. One start of this game is to get the ring, then die to get energy and mana. Then visit the king, go buy stuffs so you get 0 golds, revisit the king for another 1500 golds. Then buy one last thing (elixir for example) which you couldn't afford before and then proceed. By doing this it means you have to first of all ,since you are dying, see the text "Don't have negative thoughts bla bla bla". After that you need to buy 1-4 extra things to get exactly 0 golds so you can revisit the king. And he talks alot ;) And then you have to buy that last thing you could'nt afford and then you can leave town. Im pretty sure this would take more time. I concider it anyways but choosed not to even if it were to be faster because it's uncool to die. I think it's cooler to have almost no energy sometimes in this hard game. The only good thing I can think of with this tactic is that you would have 1100 money left when leaving the first town. Meaning you could fight the first boss 3 times less. Good point though.
/Walker Boh
Fihlvein
He/Him
Joined: 7/28/2004
Posts: 135
Location: Finland Realms
Great speedrun of a great classic, I really enjoyed this one from the start to the very end. I got nothing to complain about. Btw, I love most of the music on this game, they are quite beautiful. ;)
Former player
Joined: 4/16/2004
Posts: 1276
Location: Uppsala, Sweden
Thanks ;) Suggestions are always welcome though. Even though I think I thought about pretty much everything. But I can never be sure ;)
/Walker Boh
Joined: 8/10/2004
Posts: 173
Location: Bethel, VT
Ah, the infamous over blinking characters game. I love this game more then anything. This time attack is great. You do kick ass work Walker. Keep up the good work!
Joined: 1/1/2022
Posts: 1716
Id also like to know what !@#$% voted no, without even having the guts to say why not...lol..talk about lack of disrespect for the art of game movie making...
Emulator Coder
Joined: 10/9/2004
Posts: 453
Location: Norway
Hehe, people are entitled to their opinions however stupid they are *cough* ;)
Former player
Joined: 4/16/2004
Posts: 1276
Location: Uppsala, Sweden
Im happy that so many likes this run! And of course everyone has their own free will. Maybe the no-voter maybe just dislikes the game (how anyone could do that..) but I still like to hear comments about it. Thanks anyways guys.
/Walker Boh
Post subject: Faxanadu madness.
Joined: 8/17/2004
Posts: 16
Location: Helsinki, Finland
Thank you Walkerboh. Since the day I started visiting nesvideos regulary, I've been hoping to see a "Tool-assisted Superplay movie" of Faxanadu. I also like this hard game very much. I never played it through when I owned the game. Awesome work. Voted for Yes. Now I only have to wait, untill someone decides to try his luck on the worst SNES-game ever: Last Action Hero.
Former player
Joined: 4/16/2004
Posts: 1276
Location: Uppsala, Sweden
Glad you liked it! And please, call me Walker ;)
/Walker Boh
Joined: 10/25/2004
Posts: 6
where can i see this video? i cant find it.
Joined: 10/25/2004
Posts: 6
nvm i found it. Awesome video I always loved this game. I remmeber when my sister tryed to beat this game and she was using a game genie. LOL