“You’re doomed! You’re all doomed!”
-Friday the 13th

The 1980s were a renaissance for cinematic horror, with countless classics splattering onto celluloid. The decade was also famous for its obsession with merchandising, evident in the many cartoons that were little more than glorified toy commercials. Don’t get me wrong, I still adore Transformers and company, but let’s not kid ourselves that quality writing was paramount in producers’ minds. Blending these neon-era ideas often led to bizarre fusions. Just because a franchise was blood-soaked didn’t mean it wasn’t milked for every ounce of pop culture appeal.

Kids might not have been old enough to buy tickets to the Friday the 13th films, but they could certainly buy Halloween costumes in their size. Glow-in-the-dark hockey masks still grace store aisles every season. That dichotomy between dark maturity and family-friendly marketing could be seen everywhere, from toys to T-shirts to the very subject of today’s discussion: video games. Nintendo may have prided itself on a wholesome reputation, but it wasn’t about to miss out on that sweet capitalism, even when it came with a menacing Ch-Ch-Ch, Ha-Ha-Ha.

So how do grisly scenes, mature themes, and scares translate into a game anyone could have rented from their local Blockbuster? Is it an authentic adaptation of the source material or just another shallow cash-in?

Right from the start, Friday the 13th for NES delivers a jarring contrast. In the game, Camp Crystal Lake is in full swing when Jason begins his killing spree. Strangely enough, only one film in the series actually takes place while camp is in session, flashbacks notwithstanding. When counselors are picked off in the films, it’s usually before opening day as they’re getting things ready—or they’re just a random assortment of teenage slasher fodder. Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives is the only entry where the camp is active. Campers encounter the masked menace, but while he has no qualms about axing their counselors, he leaves the kids alone.

In the game, the camp is also open, but both counselors and campers are on the chopping block. I’ll admit it ratchets up the tension since no one is safe, but it removes some of Jason’s depth. His drowning was the fault of the employees, not the children. That restraint added nuance to a character already on his seventh cinematic outing (The New Blood) by the time the game released.

Much like A Nightmare on Elm Street for NES, it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly which film Friday the 13th is trying to capture. The sheer amount of damage Jason can absorb, coupled with the camp being open, suggests the aforementioned Jason Lives, the first film where Jason is literally undead. But as mentioned, Jason doesn’t harm kids in that movie. Furthermore, protagonist Tommy Jarvis—who first appeared in The Final Chapter and accidentally resurrected Jason—doesn’t appear at all. The only link to The Final Chapter is the title screen, which pays homage to that film’s poster. To make things even more confusing, the inclusion of Pamela Voorhees’s sweater and (spoiler) decapitated head implies events closer to Friday the 13th Part 2. Granted, her head didn’t float around in that film, but the developers had to come up with new enemies somewhere.

Now let’s talk about the counselors, six in total, each functioning as a playable life. Each shares a name with a character from the films, but the connections are inconsistent. The closest are Mark and Paul, both counselors from Part 2, but they never reopened camp before Jason attacked. There’s George from A New Beginning, but he’s not a counselor, and Jason technically isn’t even in that film. Yes, you read that correctly. Laura appears only as a minor character in a Friday the 13th graphic novel. Debbie and Crissy are from Part 3, with Crissy serving as the “Final Girl,” but neither were counselors. It’s likely these were simply common names chosen without much thought toward continuity.

That’s a lot of films blended together and pureed into one NES cartridge. I appreciate the franchise nods, intentional or not, but how does it all translate into gameplay? We already know the premise: Jason is out to murder everyone. Your goal is equally straightforward—kill him first. Easier said than done, since pixelated Jason can soak up dozens of knives and machetes before going down. Look at the cracked mask and skeletal smirk from the box art, lifted from The New Blood, and it’s clear zombie Jason is the version in play. And no headshot will bring this corpse down. You’ll need to scour the map for heavier weapons, since your starting rock won’t do much damage.

The game takes place during camp, so while you hunt for weapons, Jason will target campers or fellow counselors. When this happens, a timer starts. The race is on to confront Jason before his machete finds another victim. You can run or switch to a besieged counselor, but only from small cabins, or row across the lake to reach the kids before the timer expires. The longer you wait, the more life Jason carves away from a counselor—or worse, the more campers he slaughters. If a counselor’s timer hits zero, that character is gone forever. If a camper’s timer hits zero, one-third of the kids are toast. The game quickly becomes a scramble to gather resources between Jason’s assaults. It’s an effective way to capture horror-movie tension without gore, but it can be frustrating to pause exploration constantly for emergencies. Alerts can go off mere seconds into a new game, before you’ve even upgraded from rock to knife.

Your characters control responsively enough and have differing speed and jump stats, but their health plummets quickly, and healing items restore very little. Item management adds an interesting strategic layer, as does counselor placement. Though counselors (annoyingly) move around cabins when not controlled, deciding how to deploy and equip them is key to survival. Items and power-ups can be traded. While there are platforming elements, Friday the 13th is just as much a strategy game. Reflexes alone won’t save you.

Unlike the films, Jason isn’t your only enemy. The hordes of zombies may not be movie-accurate, but their inclusion makes sense. Otherwise, you’d only have a single foe. According to the manual, these undead are Jason’s former victims. Whether he’s dabbling in necromancy or the land itself is cursed, zombies spawn endlessly. You’d think the timers would push you to avoid them, but killing enough rewards you with better weapons. Again, it’s all about balance. Do you focus on chasing Jason, clearing zombies, exploring the woods, or finding the cave? You might stumble upon the shack from Part 2, where Jason keeps his mother’s head as a grotesque shrine and mini-boss encounter. But get lost at the wrong time and a fellow counselor may die before you arrive. Get sloppy—easy to do when rushing—and chip damage adds up fast.

On paper, it’s a fun balancing act. In practice, small mistakes can end entire runs. Lose a counselor battling Jason while kids are in danger, and another must rush over, taking damage along the way as the clock ticks down. Even if you win, you’ll likely be left in critical condition. Lose again, and yet another counselor will need to try, making survival exponentially harder.

It’s a shame, because with a few design tweaks, Friday the 13th for NES could have been great. Sometimes it genuinely is fun. But it can go from enjoyable to infuriating in seconds. I suppose that’s fitting for a horror game—to make you uncomfortable when you least expect it. I’ll commend the developers for including so many references to the films. And the Friday the 13th series certainly had plenty of material to draw from, with the total now at twelve movies. There may not be a drop of 8-bit blood, but I’d still recommend giving the game a try. The homages are there, even if the tone is off. Though frustrating, it blends strategy, action, and tension in a way few NES titles attempted. You probably won’t be scared by the purple-and-blue Jason sprite, but trying to pull off a jump scare in 1989 deserves some credit.

Thanks for reading, and Happy Halloween!