The player controls one of six camp counselors with varying levels of running, jumping, throwing and rowing ability in a side-scrolling perspective. The counselors start with a rock attack. The goal is to find and defeat Jason Voorhees three times. Along the paths are cabins, caves, a lake and wooded areas. Apart from the cabins, these areas have enemies like zombies, crows, and wolves. The player may upgrade their weapon upon finding a new one. A timed alarm appears at certain intervals, requiring the player to find Jason before he kills one or more children or a counselor. Using the map, the player must navigate to Jason's location or switch to the counselor being attacked and defeat him. If they do not make it in time, Jason will kill the counselors or the children.[1]
Upon nearing Jason's location, he 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!!.[2] The player may light the fireplaces in the larger cabins. After lighting each fireplace, a flashlight and torch weapon become available. Notes are found in some of the large cabins, leading the player to other notes in different locations and eventually to new items. The goal is to survive for three days and three nights while attempting to find and kill Jason. The player may fight 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 disorient the player. They hide several locked rooms/cabins. If all counselors or children die, the game is over.[1]
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 the other counselors by moving to their location. Each counselor has strengths and weaknesses in speed, which could make the difference in surviving or dying during the course of the game:
Crissy is the strongest female character, with fast running speed, fast weapon throwing speed, and a high jump, but her rowing speed is slow.
Debbie is the weakest female character, with fast weapon throwing and average rowing speed, but slow running speed and low jump height.
George is the weakest male character, with slow running speed, low jump and average weapon throwing speed, but a fast rowing speed.
Laura has fast movement speed, fast weapon throwing speed, but a low jump and average rowing speed.
Mark is the strongest male character, with fast running speed, a high jump and fast rowing speed, but a slow weapon throwing speed.
Paul has a slow running speed and a low jump, but fast rowing speed and fast weapon throwing speed.
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 Atlus founder Hideyuki Yokoyama, who stated that he oversaw eight titles being produced for the North American market during this time.[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 13-Nichi no Kinyōbi Shirīzu (13日の金曜日シリーズ), Ito said that the game project was abbreviated as 13 Kin (13金) 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 poor critical reception. Game Informer lists the game among the most difficult horror games of all time.[10]Michigan Daily's 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".[2] In 1997, Electronic Gaming Monthly ranked it the eighth worst console video game of all time.[12]GamesRadar's 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."[13] 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".[14]IGN's Levi Buchanan used this game as an example of LJN's poor development abilities.[15] 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.[16] 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."[17]Joystiq's James Ransom-Wiley noted it as a game that the staff "loved to hate."[18] The Daily News of Los Angeles, however, noted it as a hit.[19]
In 2017, after developer IllFonic released Friday the 13th: The Game, 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.[22]
↑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] (in Japanese). Micro Magazine Inc. ISBN978-4-89-637267-0. Archived from the original on October 14, 2022.
↑Ito Ryutaro [@higeito] (August 13, 2021). 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.] (Tweet) (in Japanese). Archived from the original on November 25, 2024 – via Twitter.
↑Ito Ryutaro [@higeito] (August 13, 2021). 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.] (Tweet) (in Japanese). Archived from the original on November 25, 2024 – via Twitter.
↑"The Top 10 Worst Games of All Time". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No.100. Ziff Davis. November 1997. p.107. 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.
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