Friday the 13th

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FriNES

Rate: 5 out of 5
Difficulty: 4 out of 5
Played: 10/26

Opinion: Friday the 13th is a misunderstood NES game. Most people don't realize how deeply strategic it is. That being said, killing Jason Voorhees, however scary he is, takes a long time. Whoever designed this game did an excellent job for putting so much thought into it. In order to understand the game more, I recommend spending a lot of time with all characters (especially their strengths and weaknesses), how the menu works, and different areas of the map. My favorite part of Friday the 13th is the sudden message: "JASON WIPED OUT THE KIDS. GAME OVER" or "YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS ARE DEAD. GAME OVER."

To consider Friday the 13th beat, you must kill Jason with at least one counselor alive. Who cares about the loss of some children? It ain't a cardinal rule that they can't die in a horror movie.



Technical Notes

Basic Moves
♦B is use weapon.
♦A is jump.

Important Notes
♦Don't get frustrated; it's a tough game that takes a while to be familiar with. Even if you know the strategy forwards and backwards, not every time will result in a successful outcome due to randomness.
♦In the north is the largest forest, and I will refer to it as "Northern Woods."
♦Keep resetting the game until Mark is somewhere around the lake; the closer he is to Northern Woods, the better, but not at the top of it.
♦Mark is the most important counselor; under no circumstances do you lose him. If so, the task of killing Jason becomes much harder. You can always try with Crissy, providing there are some medicine bottles left around to discover.
♦Make sure Mark always has medicine bottles [there are many of them in the woods at the top and bottom and in the cave, but it's up to you because of how hard it is to get out and to deal with the wolves]; don't let others have it. Mark should have at least 8 handy (the more, the better). That way, if he dies, each bottle helps him to come back automatically from the dead, but don't use any of them until Day Three if possible.
♦You can only switch counselors in any small cabin; therefore, ignore the large cabins.
♦Always be jumping in search of hidden items.
♦In the middle of any goal, you'll be forced to confront Jason, so watch for the timer on the top left which becomes an alarm. If you're 30 seconds or less, Jason will start killing children. Sometimes, you need to be in a small cabin to switch counselors (preferable), and sometimes, you'll have to locate a counselor who's the closest to the middle of the lake (annoying). Either way, you have no choice but to do it.
♦Therefore, it's a good idea to move two weak counselors to small cabins around the lake for convenience.
♦Do not let any of the counselors collect same things again because they're actually limited in supply. So if Mark has a key, he must avoid that in the future. Let the others get it.
♦It takes seven hits to win a mini-battle with Jason, whether it's inside a cabin or outside.
♦This is a longshot advice: you have to kill 60 zombies for an axe, machete, or torch to show up. Honestly, it's a waste of time.
♦If Mark dies and he hasn't gotten the torch or sweater, Crissy takes over.



Day One



What To Do
Think of Day One as grunt work for preparation.

Goal One
♦Starting off, Mark needs to acquire three things pronto: key, knife, and lighter.
♦Before that can happen, Mark needs to kill 3 (it varies from 2 to 5 for other counselors) zombies for items to show up.

Goal Two
♦Mark must go to the large cabin located northwest on the lake and discover a note that says, "GO INTO THE WOODS." (Select TAKE in the menu when you see a paper lying on the floor)

Goal Three
♦Go to Northern Woods from the bottom, and once there, move to the right until there's a trail up, take it, and go up again exactly as you stand. You'll be in a cabin to discover a second note that says: "FIRE WILL DAMAGE JASON THE MOST."
♦Before leaving the cabin, there will sometimes be a machete on the right as you go toward the door. Take it. If it's not there yet, come back a bit later.
♦To get out exactly where you came from, go right, down the trail, right again, and down the trail.

Goal Four
♦If Mark has a machete now, give that to somebody else first. Either way, as long as Mark has a knife or a rock, go to the same large cabin on the lake where the note was found, move forward once, and turn around facing the door to discover a torch.

Goal Five
♦Repeat Goals One through Four for two or three counselors, preferably Crissy, Paul, and Laura. Debbie should be last, and there may not be enough time for her to acquire the torch which is okay. Barring her, all should have either a machete or a torch.

Goal Six
♦Take Jason down by depleting his life to zero with any of the counselors; it will take a long time but faster with better weapons like machete and torch.
♦If a counselor is extremely low in health, s/he is done for the day (not to worry, all of their health will be restored to 100% tomorrow; it's important that they don't die).
♦If the battle is taking longer than normal, that is, exceeds the customary seven hits, it means you're nearing the end.



Day Two



What To Do
This is much easier and shorter compared to Day One. Mark is the main focus.

Goal One
♦Mark must go into the cave and pick up a third important item of the game: sweater.
♦Once inside the cave, go left, jump over the gap, go left, and jump over the gap. Just before the high gap, press up, leading Mark to the mother. It will take 10 torch hits to kill her, and she's tough to deal with.
♦Once done, take the sweater which will reduce Jason's damage to Mark substantially less.

Goal Two
♦Use Mark to take down Jason; if inside a cabin, dodge to preserve health; otherwise, attack, attack, attack with no regard for health outside.



Day Three



What To Do
This won't take long.

Goal One
♦Stick with Mark as always, because of his torch and sweater, to hunt down Jason. Whenever the alarm goes off, go there without switching counselors. Attack, attack, attack Jason with no regard for health. Eventually, move to the west side of the lake and stick around the entrance until the alarm sounds again. Chances are Jason's in there. After that, go to the east side, so you can attack him out in the open (preferable). Keep chasing him until he dies.

Optional Goal Two
♦In case that Mark dies and Jason's health is very low, use the rest of the counselors to finish him off. That's exactly why you did the grunt work on Day One just in case.