Welcome once again to 8-Bit Blockbusters, the column where I look at a blockbuster movie release and its 8-Bit counterpart. For this installment I found myself thinking of summer; those long, hot days, possibly away at camp, learning how to paddle a canoe or shoot a bow or fleeing for your life from a deranged serial killer with a predilection for hockey masks. Submitted for your approval this is 8-Bit Blockbusters: Friday the 13th.

1980 was a banner year for New Jersey. Not only was I born but on May 9th, Friday the 13th (Ft13), shot entirely in NJ including famously at the still operating Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco, was released in theaters providing the groundwork for the “slasher” genre. Starting life as a screenplay called “A Long Night at Camp Blood, Ft13 grew from the template that Halloween had set 2 years prior. Boiling down the plot of these films to their essence, what we got was a metaphor of the consequences with becoming detached from the obvious dangers present all around us. Which may be a bit deep for a slasher flick but the subtext is there. What set Ft13 apart from other scary movies of the time was its twist on the familiar story. Spoilers here for a 45 year old flick but the killer turns out to be the boy's momma, at least in the first film anyway. In a truly clever twist director Sean S. Cunningham used POV shots from the killer’s perspective and only gave the audience brief flashes of their clothing, heavy boots or a man’s gloves, to strongly indicate that the killer was male. But the reveal in the 3rd act, with Betsy Palmer chewing the absolute hell out of the scenery, that Jason Voorhees’ mother was killing the new group of counselors at Camp Crystal Lake as revenge for her son’s accidental drowning 23 years prior was delightfully unexpected. Screenwriter Victor Miller said of Pamela, "I took motherhood and turned it on its head and I think that was great fun. Mrs. Voorhees was the mother I'd always wanted—a mother who would have killed for her kids." The Jason we know and love, and the subject of most of the game below, did not appear with his iconic hockey mask until part 3 in 1982.

I don’t remember exactly how old I was when I saw this movie but I know for damn sure that I was not old enough. I was maybe 7 at the oldest but more likely 6. I do remember where I was, my grandmother’s living room seated atop the Battle Cat Bounce-On. My cousin and I overheard our parents talking about the disgusting movie they had rented and how it was so bloody and violent and awful and we knew we had to see it. So, like a lot of kids growing up in the 80’s can attest to, we found ourselves alone in the house. We immediately popped the movie into the VCR. We definitely didn’t finish the entire movie, either because we were too scared, which we definitely were, or because our parents came home. What I saw that day scared the bejesus out of me though and I was not a kid who frightened terribly easily. I stayed away from the franchise for a few years after that day and didn’t revisit it until I attended Camp Scuffy in Airmont, NY. I vividly remember helping the counselor running the hockey game get equipment from the storage shed. He told me to grab the goalie pads from one the chests and when I opened the lid, I saw the coolest looking hockey mask I had ever seen. I asked him if I could wear it and he said sure and that it was pretty cool a little kid, he was a teenager so obviously the coolest, most mature person I knew, liked Jason. Not knowing who that was but also not wanting to disappoint I responded with something super cool like, “yeah…”. After camp I made my grandfather, he will factor into a lot of these stories, rent the first few movies so I could be cool like the counselors. To his credit he did and I fell in love with the entire genre. These movies, especially this first one, are not good movies… but they are great movies.  

“It’s a pretty typical summer at Camp Crystal Lake. There's a group of happy children staying in the camp. You and your 6 camp counselor friends are watching over the kids, while enjoying the lake and the wilderness. The days are bright and sunny. The nights are cool and clear. And Jason is on a rampage.” So begins the instruction manual included with Friday the 13th for the NES. This 8-Bit adaptation of the film franchise was developed by Atlus and Published by LJN in February of 1989. At the time of its release there had been 7 films released in the Ft13th franchise and this game chose to… not really focus on any of them. More of an 8-Bit original featuring Jason and his mother, you take control of 6 camp counselors, each with different strengths and weaknesses, tasked with protecting the children attending Camp Crystal Lake. You start with a rock, the ultimate weapon against an undead zombie murderer, and can upgrade as you find new weapons throughout the exploratory side scrolling sections. Along the way you’ll travel around the camp, through the woods, and inside caves all while battling zombies, wolves, crows, and bats. (just like in the movie!) Search hard enough and you will even find the floating, decapitated head of Jason’s mother! If you hear the warning buzzer though watch out, Jason is trying to kill a camper or counselor. It’s up to you to stop him 3 times, in a Punch-Out! style fight, and end the suffering of all involved.

Look, I don’t want to lie to anyone reading this and suggest Friday the 13th is a well rounded 8-Bit masterpiece. It isn’t, full stop. But it also isn’t nearly as bad as it has been made out to be. This game was released during the glorious era of the mom and pop video rental store. And if your store was anything like mine, when you rented a game you did not get the instruction manual, which I’d argue led to a massive amount of frustration associated with this game. It’s obtuse. The Jason fights don’t make sense really. The switching between counselors does not seem as seamless as it should be. And all of this is covered in the manual! Didn’t know you could switch counselors from any small cabin? It’s in the manual. Didn’t know down/left or down/right dodged Jason’s attacks? It’s in the manual. Didn’t know Jason’s mom was a hidden boss fight? It’s in the manual! (and hey, maybe you want top print a copy out and keep it protected...)

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I have fond memories of this game. The color choice for Jason is odd surely but has become a bit of a cult classic look with figure maker NECA producing a Jason figure in his 8-Bit colorway. Ft13 was one of the games that got rented frequently and talked about a ton in the school yard. Once we all figured it out, and managed to take Jason down, it was a banner day. It is at once a deeply flawed game with interesting mechanics and ideas, perhaps a bit ahead of its time as some 8-Bit adaptations tended to be more straightforward, and is absolutely worth a playthrough. 

But I want to know what you think. Join the Stone Age Gamer discord, or you can find me on Bluesky to let me know your thoughts. See you in two weeks.