The OG Survival Horror Game
Breakdown: Pick a counselor (Paul+Crissy are the best), stay alive, save your friends, save the children, avoid Jason and his zombie victims (as they were describe in the games booklet, which I thought was kinda clever) and maybe, if you're lucky, kill his mothers head each day to get special power ups. Add an NES music beat you could recognize if you were Helen Keller, and you have "Friday the 13th" on the NES.
I feel if this game never happened, we probably never woulda seen the likes of Resident Evil, Silent Hill, etc. Jason appears randomly each time (I feat I wish some video games today could hold true to), and when he shows up, he shows out. I always thought Capcom got their idea of Nemesis from Jason up in this game, but even Nemesis isn't smart enough to pop out whenever he feels, as Jason does.
Sure, you throw rocks at him. But that's just the starting weapon. They become more powerful. The weapons are: Stone, Knife, Machete, Pitchfork, Torch (weakest left, strongest right). And that damn torch is quite an accomplishment to get, on it's own (lighting fireplaces in a certain order).
I have seen this game dragged through the mud, and I think it's a shame, but it doesn't surprise me. People suck. And, judging by how many people have accepted this into their collection on here, it warms my heart to see some people know a good game when they see it. Even if this wasn't "Friday the 13th" with Jason, it just had some Bumchuck Nobody as the killer, this game woulda still rocked my fears when I was a kid. And I think that's what makes this game so special- it doesn't need the "Friday the 13th" moniker for me to like it. You wanna play a bad game based on a bad horror movie? Play "Nightmare on Elm Street". THAT game deserves the slack this one gets!
Jason's Mom's head as a mini-boss? Genius.