Beat this crappy game... if you can!
Developed by Atlus and published by LJN for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1989, Friday the 13th is based on the iconic 1980-1993 horror film franchise of the same name. This game is considered by many to be one of the worst games of all time. Interestingly, this game was also actually quite revolutionary, as it was one of the first horror games. This game was released ten months before Sweet Home was released in December of the same year, 1989, and definitely the first one that has you keeping track of multiple party members.
The box art is way too colorful for horror game standards. Just look at it:
See? It's way too flashy and obtrusive, even for a game of its kind. There are even other odd color choices like how Jason Voorhees is aqua blue and purple.
The music in the cabins is admittingly quite good and scary, fitting the horror genre. Aside from that track, the soundtrack gets annoying quick since it loops after only a couple of seconds.
Players can choose between six camp counselors, each with different jumping skills and speed, who must protect the children and themselves from Jason Voorhees and his army of zombies, crows, wolves, fishermen and the severed head of his mother, Pamela Voorhees. The counselors all have differing stats (rowing speed, jump height, strength, and running speed), the problem is that all except two of the six camp counselors have terrible stats save for one. Each counselor has only one life and if all counselors die, it's game over and you have to everything again.
The gameplay is repetitive and tedious, and the balancing is terrible. Most of your time will be spent trying to avoid as many enemies as possible while trying to figure out what to do and where to go. It doesn't help that you have to constantly stop what you're doing and haul to practically the other side of the map if Jason targets some of the children.
Speaking of the map, the map is a top-down 2D map which shows branching paths while the main mode of gameplay takes place on side-scrolling 2D zones, making the game world confusing to navigate. It also takes time getting used to the directions, as it first seems like the player is going in one direction only to turn out they are headed in the opposite. The forest and cave areas especially are extremely difficult to navigate, due to little to no change in the areas and there is no indication to show which part you are in. The same can be said about the cabins, they're mapped out exactly the same between small and large varieties; only any items located inside are different. The 3D indoor sections have terrible controls and you can easily get lost due to almost every part of each cabin looking the exact same.
Jason is overpowered and shows up in what appears to be random intervals, however, it was found out by speedrunners that Jason actually has a route and you can catch up to him by accident. When facing Jason outside of the cabins, he moves lightning fast and throws weapons, making it extremely difficult to dodge his attacks and outrun him. It's even worse when rowing. If he appears in the lake, you can't avoid him period. He's also too tall to jump over without pixel-perfect jumping. The children and counselors must survive for three days...or face Jason. One of the things that Jason doesn't do is kill children, but in this game you have to protect as many children as you can from Jason or else he'll kill them.
By killing enemies you can make items appear such as potions, weapons, and a key to unlock Jason's mother's house. The way to make items appear isn't by killing enemies like in other NES game, but instead randomly appears while jumping. One of the in-game hints also tells you to light the fireplaces with the torch. You're actually supposed to light the fireplaces with the lighter in order to get the flashlight.
The default weapon, the rock, arcs over enemies. If you have these, it's important to duck before throwing unless one stands far away enough or up close to the target. Additionally, the weapon progression system seems broken and convoluted. The final weapon (the pitchfork, if you collect a weapon to override the pitchfork) is weak against Jason, one weapon can be skipped entirely due to the method of unlocking the torch (Jason's weakness), unlocking the torch is hard to figure out (light every fireplace in the game and pick up a flashlight that will suddenly appear in the cabin) and you're likely to not even get the flashlight even if you do meet the conditions (due to a glitch it is possible to light a fireplace and have the game not realize you lit it, and the flashlight disappears if you don't immediately pick it up).
The boss fights are terrible. You have to time your dodges just right to not get hit and you have a small window to actually attack. The hit detection for the player's weapons is otherwise decent. But what's worse is that you have to beat Jason three times to win the game. If you decide to skip fighting Pamela Voorhees on Day 2 then her sweater is unattainable.
Is this really one of the worst games? Some might say so, but others may say it was revolutionary. I'm not sure I'll even bother.
