I read somewhre that there are no random drops in this game, but it seems to be pretty random. I do not mean drops from enemies, but how to get ointment and wing boots for free. I have tried it many times now, with different result. My first example: Just after the third town where you can buy the long sword and wing boots, it is possible to get ointment. Sometimes it appears directly when the enemies on the screen are defeated, Sometimes you need to go back and forth one time, sometimes two time or three of four times. This vary from time to another.

Same thing where you can get free wing boots in the tower where you get the joker key, sometimes the wingboot  will appear after the bees are gone, sometimes you must climb up the ladder and back one time, two or three times. Same thing where you can get wing boots in the fog area, there are three doors there, in the one to the right you can get wing boots. Same thing there. 

Can anyone explain this, because it seems to be very random and if it does not work, you have to try all other possibilities.

Not random. https://kb.speeddemosarchive.com/Faxanadu

That is exactly what I read, but it does not correlate with my experiences. Sometimes I need to go back and forth two times, three times or four times, if  it does not appear the first time.

Well this has been confirmed by reading the code and watching memory, as well as many time in practice by some of us.  You're probably adding extra room loads in spots where you should not.

Thanks for your reply. Here is a short video withcomments and  two example of what I mean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEJzFKLTxnw&feature=youtu.be

your savestate clearly didn't have the count at the right point

This happens even if I play without savestates, and it can vary from time to time, I could come up with more examples but you get the idea. It is strange. Any ideas about that?

You'd have to show us videos of full runs from power on/reset.

Thanks, I will maybe try to a deathless playthrough and then upload it, I guess I need to practice a bit first. I can also add where in the video I will try to get ointments and wing boots. I do like this game and since I have watched the other runs of Faxanadu on the leaderboard, it is strange. Maybe I have missed something or something else is wrong. Could be nice to figure that out if it is possible.

An update, I have been playing through the whole game, without save states of course, just to try the item drops. It seems to be a bit "more stable" without save states, maybe it has nothing to do with it, I don't know. However, some things remain the same: The ointment right after the third town is still not stable. The wing boots after taking out the bees in the tower in the first world is rather stable, either the wing boots will appear right away or after four times. 

However, this is not stable at all! If you watch from about 17:38 in this video http://www.speedrun.com/run/6yjwp8nm, he enter the room twice and get the wing boots, after that the wing boots will drop after he entered the room four times. 
It does not correspond with this text: "However some room spawns will only appear about one fourth of the time. " https://kb.speeddemosarchive.com/Faxanadu/Game_Mechanics_and_Glitches

Sometimes, I can get the wing boot right away, sometimes after entering the room five times, sometimes four, sometimes three. Really strange.

It's on a global counter. Every fourth time you enter ¤any¤ room with a drop like that, it increments the counter. All room drops are on the same counter.

I see, thank you very much. Well, a crappy gameplay or what to call it. I played until I died. Here are the time spots for the interesting parts, they are in my video description as well, easy to click on. I would really appreciate if you could take a look at it. I will remove it later on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNyMwQHh5BM&feature=em-upload_owner

10:40 to 11:02 No ointment after the first screenload, not after the 4th eiter.
12:27 to 13:14 Wing boots after six screenloads.
17:30 to 18:06 Ointment after six screenloads.
22:30 to 23:42 seven screenloads to get wing boots.
37:12 to 37:37 Ointment after three screenloads.

I removed the video. I also watched the good tutorials made by ShinerCCC, but still, wing boots seldom appear right away in the room where the bees and joker key are like in his tutorial video, sometimes I can get them after four screen loads, sometimes after three or five or even more. I have tried three different roms and two different emulators with the same result. I think I give up, to me it seems to be very random. Thanks for the input anyway.

Yeah I wasn't able to review your video promptly as I'm recovering from a bad virus and hospital stay. 

Make sure you never, ever leave or enter screens except when doing so exactly when Shiner does so.

I hope you get well soon. The reason I removed the video is becaus I played rather bad and uploading bad videos are not that fun. 

Alright, I actually like this game, so I guess I have to try it again. It just made me a bit frustrated when I was not able to understand it or got it to work. It would be nice to be able to get ointment and wing boots even in casual playthroughs. But I will give it another try. And thanks again for your input, and get well soon.

Just here to echo what Pres said. The "hidden item counter" increments whenever you visit any screen with a hidden item, so the value is only ever 0, 1, 2 or 3. When it equals 3, the item will appear, and on the next visit, the counter wraps around to 0.

Hidden items confused me at first too, but once I realized it worked that way it was pretty easy. I should probably compile a list of where all those screens are, you might be surprised which screens have items you didn't even know about, such as the first screen of the Mist section containing hidden Wing Boots!

@ShinerCCC Thank you for the reply. That makes sense, so you have to remember when you visited a screen with a hidden item and how many times I guess.

Indeed! And not to forget that there are screens withhidden red potions as well. A list would be very nice! If ou have he time and would like to share one. Wing boots on the first screen in the Mist section? Wow, that was new to me. I think, if I remember right, that there is a red potion where you use the mattock the first time if you load the screen twice.

https://kb.speeddemosarchive.com/Faxanadu
Maps linked on the resources page include all items.