Fax-anna-doo? Fuh-zahn-ado? However you choose to pronounce it, one thing is clear: This game rips. Developed by Hudson, based on a computer game by Nihon Falcom, published in the U.S. by Nintendo: A lot of hands touched Faxanadu! But what matters is that it eventually reached America, nearly two years after its debut on Famicom, and it still stood comfortably in the presence of 1989's massive NES milestones. A clever and compelling take on the action-RPG concept, Faxanadu presented a console-oriented take on Dragon Slayer's sequel Xanadu whose aesthetics and mechanics hinted at some real consideration for how things worked best on Famicom. A breezy, compact, and fairly dense quest packed with memorable music and atmospheric visuals, Faxanadu is one of the strongest games of its type ever to appear on NES... even if you aren't familiar with its background. (And, let's face it, NES kids in 1989 didn't.)