Xanadu: Dragon Slayer II (aka just “Xanadu“) is the 1987 sequel to 1984’s Dragon Slayer. It was developed and published by Falcom in Japan only, but the game is entirely in English so is playable by non-Japanese speakers/readers.

Xanadu is an action RPG that looks and plays similarly to Falcom‘s own Ys series, with side-scrolling town and dungeon sections and overhead, real-time combat taking place on a separate screen. Xanadu was a much bigger hit than its predecessor and was released in MSX and MSX2 versions.

The game begins in King’s Town. After visiting His Majesty, you then get to name your character and must apportion thirty training points (aka CST) into your seven main attributes (Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma, Dexterity, Agility, and Magic Resistance). You do this by visiting a series of doors with trainers behind them.

Next, you can then buy some extra food, because it’s a vital resource that is needed to remain healthy and is gradually consumed as time passes. When that’s done, you then climb down the stairs to the first level.

After a confusing detour through some featureless caverns (actually a “copy protection maze”), you’ll eventually reach a large scrolling area with ladders, platforms, buildings, and towers. Monsters roam around, and colliding with one will initiate a battle. This takes place on a single-screen stage, and the aim is to face and push into individual monsters to battle with them. As you do so, their HP will drop – as will yours if they manage to get any hits in on you. Defeating a monster will usually result in them dropping a white chest, which you can either push into to open, or leave on the floor to act as a temporary barrier against other attacking monsters. To get a special drop from the monster group, you need to kill the last monster with a physical attack (rather than with magic). Doing so will result in a red chest being left behind, which sometimes contains useful items. What you mustn’t do in battle is show your back to your enemy, or allow them to attack you from the sides, because this will cause your HP to plummet.

Xanadu has two types of experience that you can earn during combat. Using physical attacks gives you “F. EXP” – Fighter Experience – and using magical attacks gives you “W. EXP” – Wizard Experience, both of which are shown on the information panel underneath food. It’s a good idea to try to keep these two stats as close to each other as possible as you play, because your actual level is calculated using both.

Each level has a number of shops where you can refill your HP and food (for a price), and also buy weapons, keys and armour. In Xanadu, each weapon you find or buy has its own level, which increases as you use it. So a dagger that’s been used a lot is usually more powerful than a longsword that’s new and hasn’t yet been used, so you have to spend time fighting with a new weapon before it becomes properly effective.

Levels also have a number of towers (castle-like structures), with doors that you can enter, and with dungeons inside them. Initially these towers look like background decorations, and you might not realise that you can enter them, but if you stand in front of their entry door and press fire (or Space) you’ll go inside. These dungeons are a collection of rooms filled with enemies, and they contain useful items – like weapons, armour, new spells, and stat-boosters – that you can collect if you’re careful. One tower on each level also contains a boss fight, although it’s not necessary to actually fight the boss to progress to the next level. You can return to bosses later, when you’ve levelled-up more.

Moving to the next level actually requires that you reach a certain rank, and doing so will open the appropriate door. On the first level, for example, becoming an “Aspirant” is enough to open the door to the second level. To increase ranks, you must first earn enough experience through combat, and then report to either a temple – or to the King – to be levelled-up.

It’s worth mentioning here the “bane” of Xanadu – at least from a player’s perspective – which is the attribute of “Karma”. Karma can be a real problem in Xanadu, because if it’s not zero then temples and the King will not grant you entry, so you cannot level up. You gain Karma by killing “good” monsters accidentally (butterflies being one such creature), or by loading saved games without having enough gold to pay for them. You also can’t complete the game if you have positive Karma. The only way to remove Karma, if you get any, is to find and use “Black Poison”, which is only found inside towers. Karma can be a real bitch in Xanadu, so much so that players prefer to reset the game and continue from the main menu – rather than using the game’s built-in save/load system. Using quicksaves in an emulator can also guard against Karma gain. If you’re going to play Xanadu now, it’s worth reading a guide about this before commencing.

The goal of Xanadu is to find a legendary sword, called “Dragon Slayer“, and use it to kill The King of Dragons at the end of level ten. The sword is found in a tower on the final level, and this tower can only be entered if you’ve found four crowns (located inside towers in previous levels), and have zero Karma.

Completing Xanadu is a major challenge, but the game is enjoyable and absorbing enough to warrant playing – if you have the time and patience. This sequel was a big hit in Japan at the time of its initial release and was influential on other JRPGs that followed it. It was also converted to other systems, including the NES/Famicom.

Dragon Slayer series on The King of Grabs:
Dragon Slayer (MSX), Dragon Slayer (Game Boy), Xanadu: Dragon Slayer II (MSX), Faxanadu (NES/Famicom), Romancia: Dragon Slayer Jr. (MSX), Romancia: Dragon Slayer Jr. (NES/Famicom), Dragon Slayer IV: Draslay Family (MSX), Legacy of the Wizard (NES/Famicom), Sorcerian: Dragon Slayer V (PC), Sorcerian: Dragon Slayer V (MSX), Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes (PC Engine), Xanadu Next (PC).

More: Xanadu on Wikipedia