Friday the 13th (NES) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
2,011A playthrough of LJN's 1989 license based action-platformer for the NES, Friday the 13th.
Appearing on shelves a few months before the theatrical release of Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, this Atlus-developed NES adaptation of the movie series was clearly meant to capitalize on the popularity that the series enjoyed throughout the 80s.
This rendition of Friday the 13th most closely resembles the second film in the series (released in 1981), featuring the psychotic and supernatural serial killer Jason Vorhees (though sporting his signature hockey mask instead of a pillowcase with an eye hole) alongside his mother Pamela's severed head, complete with altar. Of course, the iconic Camp Crystal Lake plays host to their murderous hi-jinx.
You begin the game with six controllable camp counselors, each with varying abilities, and are responsible for protecting the fifteen campers on-site from Jason. Jason appears in different cabins at regular intervals throughout the game, and when the alarm sounds, you need to rush in and fight him off before he can make mincemeat out of his target. If all of the counselors or all of the campers die, it's game over.
Thankfully, you get a map that tells you which cabin he is attacking, and in many of these cabins you'll find notes that will give you clues to find useful items and weapons, as well as fireplaces that need to be lit (if you want to find the game's strongest weapon, that is). The game takes place over three days, and he grows increasingly stronger over the course of each.
In order to find key items and to upgrade your weapons from the base rocks, you have to run around killing an assortment of zombies (what?! when did that happen in the films?) in the platforming areas and searching the cabins in a first-person 3D mode. However, Jason can and will attack you as you explore the campgrounds (if the screen suddenly stops scrolling, get ready!).
Friday the 13th has been savaged by both critics and the gaming public in the years since its release - a fact not helped by the box bearing the LJN logo (even though it was developed by Atlus, believe it or not). And while there are a lot of repetitive elements to the game (including the four-second music loop that repeats endlessly as you walk around) and it can be frustrating until you get to know it well, I have to argue that it is far from the worst game of all time, as many people like to claim.
There are a few cool moments of tension that it manages to build, and it does effectively utilize the Crystal Lake setting by providing different areas to explore (like the cave, the forests, and the cabins that can only be accessed by boat) in a structure not totally unlike Konami's The Goonies II. Some of the hidden stuff is entirely too hidden - like how to find the flashlight so that you can see the back wall of the cave in order to find Jason's mom's head if you want the pitchfork weapon - and the controls can be a bit sloppy, especially in the 3D sections, but overall, I'd call it mediocre. Not particularly terrible, nor particularly good. It tries to do quite a few things to change up the game play, which I appreciate, and there's quite a bit more substance to it than other LJN movie games (Back to the Future, Jaws).
I admit, as a kid, I absolutely hated it. I couldn't make sense of it, and I often just turned it off rather than allowing myself to be frustrated by it. But as a more patient adult, I can sit down with it and enjoy it. It's no A Nightmare on Elm Street (not by a long shot - that game was thoroughly excellent), but it's well above the likes of some of the garbage on the NES. *Glares at The Uncanny X-Men box on the shelf* I'd actually go so far as to call it somewhat innovative - there are elements that almost resemble survival-horror in its infancy here.
If you can clear your thoughts of how much the internet encourages you to hate the game, and bear with the game while you figure out what it wants you to do, you might have a fun time with it. It could've been far, far worse.
_
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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