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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.
| Friday the 13th | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Atlus[1] |
| Publisher(s) | LJN |
| Composer(s) | Hirohiko Takayama |
| Platform(s) | Nintendo Entertainment System |
| Release |
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| Mode(s) | Single player |
Players control one of six camp counselors (each with varying levels of running, jumping, throwing and rowing 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!!.[3] 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 large cabins, leading the player to other notes in other locations and eventually 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.[2]
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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:
- 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, possessing slow running speed, low jump and average weapon throwing speed, but with a fast rowing speed
- Laura has fast movement speed, fast weapon throwing speed, but with 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 with a slow weapon throwing speed.
- Paul has a slow running speed and a low jump, but fast rowing speed and fast weapon throwing speed
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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.[4] Ryutaro Ito, later a planner on the Shin Megami Tensei series,[5] 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.[6] 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.[7] 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.[8] Publisher LJN released Friday the 13th exclusively in North America in February 1989.[9] It was produced as part of an "aggressive expansion" by LJN to focus on video games based on media licenses.[10]
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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.[11] Michigan Daily's Matt Grandstaff called it a "poor offering" by LJN.[12] GamePro listed it as the 10th worst video game based on a film, criticizing its "repetitive music score and amazingly frustrating gameplay".[3] In 1997, Electronic Gaming Monthly ranked it the eighth worst console video game of all time.[13] 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."[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] IGN's 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] Joystiq's 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 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.[23]
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