Faxanadu

Single-segment speed run of Faxanadu, done on December 11 2006. Abuses death to save time. Faxanadu was one of my favorite games when I was younger. I played through it several times always taking my time, building up for the best equipment and exploring every nook and cranny. Those playthroughs usually took upwards of two weeks, the first much longer than that, and I had to restart more than once due to incorrectly perceived mantras.

Back then, the game seemed so big and quite long, and I'd have never believed it could be beaten in a sitting, let alone inside of an hour.

Well, it can.

First off, thanks to the following:

• Radix, Nate, mikwuyma, and all the rest of the moderators and staff of SDA for making the site what it is, and for processing and hosting this run (why must everyone forget DJgrenola!!!!).
• Walker Boh for his tool-assisted run. It really opened my eyes to what was possible for this game and I took a bunch of tricks from it.
• Shiner for his non tool-assisted run. It helped fill in the gaps for routes and tricks from the TAS that weren't realistically possible in real time and gave me a bar against which I could measure myself.
• tmont for providing the console on which this run was produced. An incredibly awesome gesture. Thanks again (for like the fiftieth time)!
• Red Scarlet and Lokarin for offering tips and ideas on the boards. This run is all the better for it.
• Everybody else who swung by the thread with words of encouragement (you know who you are).
• My girlfriend for putting up with my strange hobbies.
• And my mom, for finding the cartridge for me.

As for the run itself, it took me about 2 months to produce, and during that time, it underwent several route changes and purchasing plans. In those regards, I think what I ended up with is about ideal. There were a few places where my execution could've been better. I think with this route, a time under 36 minutes would be possible, but it would have to be pretty close to perfect. On the whole, I'm very happy with my time.

I think the run speaks fairly well for itself for the most part, but there are a few points that I think need a little explaining.

I admittedly don't fully understand how the item drops in this game work. At multiple points in the run you'll see me entering and exiting rooms repeatedly to rig one up. I know for a fact that the number of times it is necessary to enter each room is based on the route taken to that point (my last route change did change the number for one of them). Also, there were a couple of places where if I was knocked onto a screen I didn't mean to enter, it would throw the counts off for the rest of the run. However, some
other screens would leave the counts unchanged. What I don't know is how exactly the game tracks this, but all I really needed to know was how many times I needed to reset a given screen for my route. As long as I didn't deviate from it, the numbers remained static.

For those that don't know, the Hourglass is what stops the King Dwarf from shooting fireballs. I'm not sure if the programmers intended for it, but it works. Without a shield, it's pretty much necessary to beat him.

You might notice the extra Hand Dagger in my inventory when I equipped the Dragon Slayer. I have no clue where it came from or when exactly it hit my inventory, but it also happened to both Shiner and Walker Boh in their runs. I'm guessing it's just a glitch.

If you're curious as to what I was thinking every step of the way, you can go on to read my extended comments. If not, you can stop here. Hope you liked it.

Extended Comments

• Eolis
  I clocked tons of resets here believe it or not, largely due to the fact that I was being extremely picky this early. You'll notice that I don't lose my walking speed anywhere here until the hopping skull at the end, which is harder to do than it looks, especially at the King and the first two shop trips (if you look really close between transactions you'll see I'm still moving).
  
  As for the action itself, those Red Potions I buy are the only ones I get all game, and they conveniently let me spend all my money so I can hit up the King twice. The fact that I do this makes my run unacceptable by Twin Galaxies standards, but oh well. There is really nothing else of note here.
   
• Tower of Trunk
  The stretch between Eolis and the first town is one of the hardest parts of the run due to my tiny lifebar. The hopping skulls are one of the most random enemies in the game (most of the others either charge you or follow a set pattern) and it only takes a few hits for a reset. I do pretty well through here for the most part. Ideally, I don't get hit at all before I get to the screens with the zombies in my path. If that happens I have enough health to suck up a hit from both of them if I fail to jump them cleanly (and
  jumping them isn't easy). As it stood here, I had enough health to get hit once, and I don't try to jump the first one because the spiked crawler on the screen with the second one makes it harder to navigate if I have to kill him. A couple seconds lost, no biggie. Hit up the hospital in the town and it's smooth sailing to the tower.
  
  My only real gripe with the tower was the slight difficulty I had getting on the ladder right before I got the Hourglass (which is much less out of the way than the one Shiner got by the way). Other than that, this place went pretty well. The only actual farming I had to do took place here, and outside of one gimpy kill of the goat thing on the way out, it all went smoothly.
   
• Springs
  I have a pretty good run to the next town, which is great since that stretch does contain one of my problem screens (the one with the two flying things and a hopping skull can be a huge pain). In town, I buy my sole equipment upgrade until the endgame in the form of the Long Sword and the only pair of Wing Boots I actually pay for, though I lose my speed after shopping at the tool store (the jump is in frustration). From there I hit the Spring in the Sky, which the game actually wants you to get second, but this way I only have to go to the Tower of Fortress once as having this spring activated is the trigger for getting the Joker Key. The stretch from town to the Spring and back to the dungeon could've been a little faster, but not much so, and I still have the Wing Boots as long as I need them.
  
  In the tower itself, both Shiner and Walker Boh only got one pair of Wing Boots, each a different one. I get both as it saves me from buying a pair (and a large chunk of time) later on. This place went fine with the exception of the cobra on my way back from the first pair of boots. I missed the hit as I was falling to his level, which cost me a little time and made me use my Elixir a little sooner than I wanted to. Other than that, no real complaints.
  
  The Joker Spring went great; I normally take at least 3 hits from the wyverns but got through with only one, which helped to offset the early use of the Elixir. My only gripe is that I lost my speed at the guru guy, but that's only a tiny mistake.
   
• Mist
  Before getting to Mist proper, I suffer another tiny error as I gimp out a little on the ladder after I got the ointment, but it didn't cost enough time to prevent me from running by everything I needed to with the invincibility. Nothing to do in the first town, so I run right through. The stretch to the second town goes pretty well except for the first room I have to enter going up a ladder. The damage is unavoidable, but ideally, I would kill the floating eyeball that hits me. Since I didn't, I needed to take a little time out to kill a second tiny swordsmen on the screen with the building I get Wing Boots from in order to afford the King Keys I'm about to buy, which costs me a few seconds.
  
  The next bit where I have to use the Wing Boots is one of my favorite parts of the run. It's really not all that hard to do, but I think it looks rather impressive. I work my way to the next town quickly, hit up the guru to rig up my first use of death abuse, throw an item in hand for inventory space, buy up 4 King Keys (which are the last things I need to buy in the game, money is now obsolete), and book it to the shortcut in the screen after town (which I can't take credit for finding, didn't know about it until after I
  watched the TAS, which Shiner's run predates and he used it too). From there, there's nothing really eventful until the tower.
  
  Before I watched Shiner's run this place gave me lots of trouble. Afterwards, I found out about the Ointment on the third screen and that makes things tons easier. The brief pause I make before exiting the first screen is intentional as it lets me run straight through the next one (the mace guys' feet don't hurt you when they're jumping). Also, it's
  faster to go up the ladder on the screen with the wyvern and fall than it is to navigate both ladders on that screen. The fight with the demon dog could've gone better. If it looks like I'm hitting him way more times than seems possible, keep an eye on my magic meter. I'm really rapid-firing him with Deluge (you can produce a new shot the instant the first finds a target), and with this technique it's possible to kill it in one jump, but two is much more common. I don't mind the fact that he hit me, since I had to kill myself right after anyways, and I still had a lot of health, but I wish he hadn't gotten away from the corner. A couple of seconds gone there. Once he's dead it's off to kill myself for the first time. 3 hits isn't quite ideal, but about par for the course here, and using death abuse here saves about 10 seconds on walking. It's certainly not a huge
  timesaver, but it's a timesaver all the same.
  
  The last bit in Mist could've gone better. I'm a little upset that I didn't get a double hit on the blue guy on the screen where I got my last pair of Wing Boots, another couple seconds gone. Also, while it didn't actually cost me any time, I almost forgot to put an item in hand before I got the Ace Key, and that would've been a reset (I'd have still gotten the Ace Key, but it would've replaced the bottom item in my inventory, which is no good). Fortunately, I only almost forgot, and got to Branch without a hitch.
   
• Branch
  Smooth sailing in the beginning (even nailed the tricky jump in the room after the first ladder on the first try). No complaints until the first demon dog. Again, I was hoping to get him on the first jump, but he survived until the third, and what's worse, he hit me twice. That forced me to play the room after him a little more carefully than I usually do. Yet a few more seconds down the crapper. I also missed the jump over the poison on my way to town. That jump is really hard to nail, so I'm not too disappointed with that, but it would've certainly been nice to make it. Then it's off to town to rig up death abuse part the second. For those of you with elite pausing skills you can pick up a mantra that will dump you right there (you're welcome).
  
  From there it's off to the Battle Suit. No real gripes with the trip there. The room right after the second door could've gone better, as could've the demon dog fight, but getting him on the second jump isn't bad at all. I also had more health than I would've liked when I tried to kill myself (in this instance 3 hits is definitely not par for the course). This time around, death abuse saves loads of time, probably 2 minutes easy.
  
  More than once I've forgotten to get the ring after my resurrection, but fortunately not this time. I've had cleaner runs to the next town, more than one ugly little error on the way, but nothing too time consuming. However, there was some good here. I nailed the room I screwed up on my way to the Battle Suit and got lucky in the room with all the ladders as the teleporting thing didn't get in my way. After the town it's just a straight shot to the door to the fortress, no hang ups there.
   
• Fortress
  Things go pretty smooth all the way to the King Dwarf's dungeon, including the screen with the 3 jumps and the 2 hornets (that screen has killed several promising runs). The Wing Boots save a little time getting to the dungeon, but where they really shine is inside. They allow me to fly down the ladders (even though I don't dismount one of them too smoothly), make the jumps by the flying squid a non-issue, make it so I don't need to be lucky to get by the ghost generator quickly, and help to bail out a less than optimal start to the King Dwarf fight. The hourglass is the only thing that makes it winnable (stops his fireballs), but the boots definitely helped to kill him faster. Ideally, I whack him with my sword before he starts rising and again before he's out of jump range, which corners him. Since I missed the first swing I had to fly after him and almost manage to corner him with Deluge before he swooped again. Without the Wing Boots, he wouldn't have died until at least late in the third swoop. With them, I almost got him on the second even after the initial errors. It wasn't an ideal outcome, but it could've been much worse certainly.
  
  After the fight, I stutter step in my inventory (meant to equip the sword first, threw me for a second), and we get the premier glitch in the run in the form of the second Hand Dagger. Where it came from, I don't know exactly, but like I mentioned earlier, it appears in both other runs of the game I've watched. The rest of this dungeon goes smoothly. I didn't really need the Red Potion when I used it, but since I had a fair amount of health, it took less time to use it then, and I didn't have enough life to get through the game, so I did need it at some point. The only other real thing of note that happens here is on the screen before I exit. I'm not sure how I killed both hornets
  with one shot of magic. It's never happened before, and I'm guessing it's a glitch. Maybe saved me half a second.
  
  The rest is mostly uneventful. I use the Wing Boots when I do so that I can climb the ladders faster. The only real mistake on the way is in the first room of the last dungeon. I stop flying just a split second too soon and miss the edge of the platform, and I lose a couple seconds as a result. Just for the record, I knew about this particular shortcut before I watched the TAS, found it myself way back in the day, and it's a good one. Thanks to the ointment, the last boss is a pansy, and goes down quite easily. Cue the ending which is pretty short and doesn't have credits like many games this old.
  
  'What a restless guy!' Indeed.

If you read all that and still have any questions feel free to hit me up on the boards. Thanks for watching!