Friday the 13th (1989 video game) explained

Friday the 13th
Developer:Atlus[1]
Publisher:LJN
Composer:Hirohiko Takayama
Platforms:Nintendo Entertainment System
Modes:Single player

Friday the 13th is a video game developed by Atlus and published by LJN for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Based on the horror franchise of the same name, players control counselors at Camp Crystal Lake as they attempt to defeat Jason Voorhees. The game received generally negative reviews, with criticism centered on its high difficulty and poor gameplay.

Gameplay

Players control one of six camp counselors (each with varying levels of speed, rowing, and jumping ability) in a side-scrolling perspective. The counselors start with an arcing rock attack. The goal is to find and defeat Jason Voorhees three times. Along the paths, players will find cabins, a lake, caves, and wooded areas with all but the cabins having enemies such as zombies, crows, and wolves attacking the player. Players may upgrade their weapons upon finding a new one. A timed alarm appears at certain intervals, requiring players to find Jason before he kills one or more children or another counselor. Using the map, players must navigate their way to Jason's location or switch to the counselor being attacked and defeat him. If they do not make it there in time, Jason will kill the counselors or some of the children.[2] Upon nearing Jason's location, Jason may appear on the path or in the lake and attack the player. When inside a cabin Jason will attack the player in a way reminiscent of the video game Punch-Out!!. Players may light the fireplaces inside of larger cabins. Upon lighting all fireplaces, a flashlight and torch weapon are available. Notes are found in some larger cabins leading the player to other notes in other locations, eventually leading to new items. The objective of the game is to survive for three days and three nights while attempting to find and kill Jason. Players may battle Jason's mother who is in a hidden locked room in the cave. She is represented as a Medusa-like floating head that swoops down to attack the player. Navigating in the woods or cave can be confusing as they are set up to purposely disorient the player. They hide several locked rooms/cabins. If all counselors or children die, the game is over.

Characters

The player can choose from six camp counselors at the start of the game. The currently played counselor can be changed after stepping into a small cabin, which allows for quick traversal across the map in times that a counselor or the children are being attacked. It is also possible to trade items with unplayed counselors by moving to their location. Each counselor has strengths and weaknesses in speed and they could make the difference in surviving or dying during the course of the game:

Development and release

Friday the 13th was developed by Japanese company Atlus as an adaptation of the film franchise of the same name. The game was supervised by Atlas founder Hideyuki Yokoyama, who stated that he oversaw eight titles being produced for the North American market during this period.[3] Ryutaro Ito, later a planner on the Shin Megami Tensei series,[4] was a junior member at Atlus during the development of Friday the 13th. Working as a tester, he recalled it being very hard to progress in the game.[5] He claimed that this was because it was a trend of certain publishers to make highly difficult NES releases for the US at the time.[6] While the Friday the 13th franchise is known in Japan as, Ito said that the game project was abbreviated as among Atlus staff.[7] Publisher LJN released Friday the 13th exclusively in North America in February 1989.[8] It was produced as part of an "aggressive expansion" by LJN to focus on video games based on media licenses.[9]

Reception

Friday the 13th was released in North America exclusively in February 1989, as part of LJN's focus on creating video games based on licenses, to very poor critical reception. Game Informer lists the game among the most difficult horror games of all time.[10] Michigan Dailys Matt Grandstaff called it a "poor offering" by LJN.[11] GamePro listed it as the 10th worst video game based on a film, criticizing its "repetitive music score and amazingly frustrating gameplay".[12] In 1997, Electronic Gaming Monthly ranked it the eighth worst console video game of all time.[13] GamesRadars Mikel Reparaz criticized its box, commenting that only LJN "would ever think to surround Jason Voorhees with neon-pastel vomit, thereby making him even more of an '80s relic than he already is."[14] Writer Christopher Grant commented that the game was more terrible than the deaths of the campers in the first Friday the 13th film, calling it "craptacular".[15] IGNs Levi Buchanan used this game as an example of LJN's poor development abilities.[16] The book Vintage Games: An Insider Look at the History of Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario, and the Most Influential Games of All Time criticizes it for not being frightening, citing technical reasons for this.[17] The authors of Nintendo Power rated Friday the 13th the sixth worst game ever made in the magazine's September 1997 issue. The writer stated "After playing a few minutes of this aardvark, you wanted Jason to slaughter all the counselors and then you. Anything so it would just end."[18] Joystiqs James Ransom-Wiley noted it as a game that the staff "loved to hate."[19] The Daily News of Los Angeles, however, noted it as a hit.[20]

Legacy

In June 2013, the National Entertainment Collectibles Association released an exclusive figurine of the video game-style Jason with the turquoise and purple color palette to go along with their other Nintendo-esque horror figure, a video game-style Freddy Krueger based on LJN's A Nightmare on Elm Street game.[21] [22]

In 2017, after developer IllFonic released , a "Retro Jason" skin based on Jason from the 1989 game was added by developers in a video game patch to apologize to fans for issues the game experienced when initially released.[23]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Atlus . 2015-08-16 . GDRI.
  2. Book: Friday the 13th . February 1989 . . instruction booklet . NES-F3-USA.
  3. Book: Manent, Mathieu . January 31, 2018 . PlayStation Anthology Classic Edition . Geeks Line Publishing . 197 . 9791093752327.
  4. Book: Shigihara Moriyuki . October 30, 2007 . ゲーム職人 第1集 だから日本のゲームは面白い . Game Craftsman Volume 1: That's Why Japanese Games Are Fun . https://web.archive.org/web/20221014224921/https://www.tumblr.com/blueforestbible/109174139417/an-interview-with-ryutaro-ito-megami-tensei . October 14, 2022 . ja . Micro Magazine Inc. . 978-4-89-637267-0.
  5. Ito Ryutaro . higeito . August 13, 2021 . 1426171612760444938 . ja:うわー、NES版『13日の金曜日』！！ 懐かしいなあ。これ実はアトラスで開発してたんだよね。当時下っ端だったので、テストプレイやりました。難易度が無茶苦茶高くて、進むのに苦労した記憶が。 . Wow, the NES version of "Friday the 13th"!! I have such fond memories. This was actually developed by Atlus. I was just a junior member at the time, so I did the test play. I remember it was so difficult that I had a hard time progressing. . https://x.com/higeito/status/1426171612760444938 . https://web.archive.org/web/20241125113813/https://publish.twitter.com/?query=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fhigeito%2Fstatus%2F1426171612760444938&widget=Tweet . November 25, 2024 . ja.
  6. Ito Ryutaro . higeito . August 13, 2021 . 1426185733715361798 . ja:当時のアメリカ向けNES版タイトルは、高難易度にしなきゃいけないという方針でした。あちらの家庭用ゲームの風潮、傾向がそうで、向こうのパブリッシャーからもそうしろ、と。 . At the time, the policy for NES titles for the US market was that they had to be highly difficult. This was the trend and tendency of home video games over there, and publishers over there also told us to make them that way. . https://x.com/higeito/status/1426185733715361798 . https://web.archive.org/web/20241125114309/https://publish.twitter.com/?query=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fhigeito%2Fstatus%2F1426185733715361798&widget=Tweet . November 25, 2024 . ja.
  7. Ito Ryutaro . higeito . August 13, 2021 . 1426172569825157124 . ja:当時社内では「13金」と呼んでました。 . At the time, we called it "13 Kin" within the company. . https://x.com/higeito/status/1426172569825157124 . https://web.archive.org/web/20241125114020/https://publish.twitter.com/?query=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fhigeito%2Fstatus%2F1426172569825157124&widget=Tweet . November 25, 2024 . ja.
  8. Nintendo Power staff . January–February 1989 . NES Planner . . . 4 . 87 . 1041-9551.
  9. Book: Steinbock, Dan . Triumph and Erosion in the American Media and Entertainment Industries . 1995 . . 124 . 9780899309149 . 1. publ. . . registration.
  10. October 2008 . The Wrong Kind of Scary: Worst Horror Games Ever . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20121102054726/http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2012/10/31/the-wrong-kind-of-scary-worst-horror-games-ever.aspx . November 2, 2012 . 2010-10-18 . Game Informer . . 120 . 186.
  11. Web site: Grandstaff . Matt . November 27, 2001 . Videogames, Movies Make Formidable Mix with GameCubes Rogue Leader . 2010-10-18 . The Michigan Daily.
  12. Web site: Smithee . Alan . July 2, 2004 . 10 to 1: The Worst Movie Games Ever, Feature Story from . https://web.archive.org/web/20100525230638/http://www.gamepro.com/article/features/36530/10-to-1-the-worst-movie-games-ever/ . 2010-05-25 . 2010-10-18 . GamePro.
  13. November 1997 . The Top 10 Worst Games of All Time . . . 107 . 100. Note: Contrary to the title, the intro to the article explicitly states that the list covers console video games only, meaning PC games and arcade games were not eligible.
  14. Web site: Reparaz . Mikel . May 7, 2009 . Totally '80s Box Art! (Page 2) . 2010-10-18 . GamesRadar.
  15. Web site: Grant . Christopher . April 13, 2007 . Happy Friday the 13th! Destroy Jason ... If You Can! . 2010-10-18 . Joystiq.
  16. Web site: Buchanan . Levi . April 30, 2010 . An NES Nightmare on Elm Street – NES Feature at IGN . 2010-10-18 . IGN.
  17. Book: Loguidice, Bill . Vintage Games: An Insider Look at the History of Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario, and the Most Influential Games of All Time . Barton . Matt . Focal Press/Elsevier . 2009 . 9780240811468 . 2010-10-18.
  18. September 1997 . Along with the Best Comest the...10 Worst Games of All Time . . . 97 . 100.
  19. Web site: Ransom-Wiley . James . September 21, 2005 . NES Spoof: Friday the 13th Part Deux . https://web.archive.org/web/20101023085734/http://www.joystiq.com/2005/09/21/nes-spoof-friday-the-13th-part-deux . 2010-10-23 . Joystiq.
  20. News: July 1, 1990 . Video Games Toy with Blockbusters . https://web.archive.org/web/20170705180911/http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=LA&p_theme=la&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EF60C949671B243&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM . 2017-07-05 . 2012-03-26 . . MediaNews Group.
  21. Web site: June 6, 2013 . SDCC Exclusive: Video Game Jason Voorhees Action Figure Coming to Comic-Con! . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20161018052833/https://necaonline.com/2013/06/sdcc-exclusive-video-game-jason-voorhees-action-figure-coming-to-comic-con/ . 18 October 2016 . September 28, 2013 . Neca Online.
  22. Web site: Miska . Brad . August 7, 2013 . NECA's 8-Bit Freddy Krueger Based On the 1989 NES Game!!! . September 28, 2013 . Bloody-Disgusting.
  23. Web site: June 19, 2017 . Friday the 13th Developers Say 'Sorry' with a New Update and Free Stuff for Everyone . June 21, 2017 . PC Gamer.

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