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This FAQ is copyright Trunks, 2000. Please don't
distribute it without permission, and don't rip off my
work without crediting me, okay? I spent a lot of time
ferreting out the secrets of this game, and while I
don't expect a heckuva lot of kudos for that, at least
do me the honor of not ripping off what I said.
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Friday the 13th
NES FAQ
by Trunks (trunksie@excite.com)
version 1.0
Contents
i - Introduction
1 - The Premise
2 - The Heroes
3 - The Stuff
4 - The Villain
5 - The Monsters
6 - The Strategy
6.5 - Extra Strategy
7 - The Bugs
8 - Game Genie Codes
9 - Credits and Thanks
i - Introduction
If you're not familiar with the Friday the 13th movie
series (or even if you are), then you may be taken quite
by surprise when you start to play this game. Despite
what you might have heard, this is an incredible and
well-written game, especially when compared to others of
its time.
The reasons why I enjoy and laud this game so greatly
are diverse, but probably the most going for this game
is its inclusion of strong female characters, something
all but unheard of in wide release until practically the
1990s...Samus Aran and the girls in Below the Root were
the exceptions rather than the rules.
Not only that, but the characters are all realistic:
instead of battle-honed warriors, you control six very
realistically-powered teenage counselors, all of whom
spend every moment in the game in mortal peril from the
weapon-wielding maniac of Crystal Lake.
And besides, darn it, it's fun.
1 - The Premise
Since this film really only draws from the first movie
very much at all, I have only included back story from
it, and the rest I've improvised according to the game
itself.
Jason Voorhees was a mentally retarded child who, one
year, decided to wander too close to the waters of
Crystal Lake and, since the counselors that were
supposed to be watching him were instead making love, he
drowned...or did he?
A few years later, a string of mysterious deaths shut
down Camp Crystal Lake for good, or so the people of the
town thought. However, when sufficient time had passed
to forget or gloss over the incident, they reopened the
camp.
By the end of the counselors' first struggle against the
unseen killer, only one remained, and she was the one to
discover that Jason's mother had gone insane at his
death, and she thought that Jason was telling her to
kill everyone...not that she wouldn't have on her own,
since she was so furious at what she perceived as all
counselors' lackadaisical attitude.
However, Mrs Voorhees lost her head. Literally. The
final survivor sliced off her head with a machete, in
self-defense, but the curious thing is, the police never
found the head, and the surviving girl swore that as she
drifted in Crystal Lake, on a boat for her own safety,
Jason rose up from the waters and pulled her in.
Somehow, she escaped, though. But, as she put it,
'then he's still out there...'
People tend to forget as time goes on, and indeed they
did that once more, as Camp Crystal Lake opened up once
more, with a few new counselors. They thought that the
killer had been caught, but the new counselors were soon
to discover that they were wrong.
One of the counselors was discovered murdered in one of
the large cabins...obviously by someone much, much
stronger than her. Crissy, the oldest of all of them,
remembered something she had heard when she was a good
bit younger about a maniacal killer called Jason, who
was supposed to intermittently roam the camp, killing
counselors who were never prepared for his assaults and
always goofing off.
She decided, there and then, that they wouldn't share
that fate. Calling a meeting of the six remaining
counselors, she outlined the threat as far as she knew
it, and all of them went to gather rocks in groups of
three. They all came back and prepared by practicing
their aim and pitching strength, and then they decided
that also, they would do well to preserve the children,
who had already arrived, by hiding them in a large cabin
on the far side of the lake.
Finally, the six decided to split up, each armed with
large, sharp rocks and a communicator, Debbie also
having left one in the children's cabin in case anything
happened while they were gone.
They were prepared. Now they would have to see if it
would work.
2 - The Heroes
The six counselors are all courageous and concerned for
their friends and the children, all with different
strengths, and all motivated by different goals, and a
common goal as well: to defeat Jason and end his reign
of terror at Crystal Lake.
Crissy - Much like the heroine of the first movie, she
seems to be the most resourceful of all the
counselors. Indeed, on land she runs the
fastest and jumps the highest, and her strength
is the best. Since she's the oldest of all, it
isn't surprising that she often seems the most
responsible as well.
Mark - The best rower of the group, he deeply cares
about the children...chiefly because one of his
cousins is now in the cabin across the lake. He
is about equal to Crissy in strength and
swiftness, but she's a little faster. Not to
worry though, he's the best at getting the boat
across to the cabin, in case the children are
endangered.
Debbie - A little bit particular and definitely the most
squeamish of all of the counselors, she at times
may come off as a bit of a 'princess'. And she
does happen to be daddy's little girl...but the
circumstances have forced her to grow up a lot
more than she was ready to do. She was the one
who worked the hardest on target practice,
because since these were the first real friends
she ever has had in her life, she wants to keep
them all alive, and herself as well.
Paul - The most intellectual of the group, he was the
only other one to rival Crissy's knowledge of
Jason. Not much for running and jumping, he's
still better than George and Laura, and like
Debbie, he can use weapons pretty well. He is
looking forward to seeing all his other friends
upon returning home, and they anxiously await
his return to launch the model rockets they had
worked on before his departure.
Laura - The most motherly of the bunch, and naturally
the most fragile, Debbie thinks of the children
as her own, and since her boyfriend proposed to
her before she went off for her summer job, she
has a lot of good reason to stay alive. She
isn't all that great of a rower, but she can use
sharp weapons as well as the next person, and
her heart is naturally in everything she does to
protect the children and her friends. She
happens to be a better runner than she is a
jumper, so she's an ideal choice to stay near
the lake, despite her lack of rowing talent.
George - The most fun-loving of the counselors, he often
enjoys practical jokes and used to try to scare
them all before everything went to pot. Now a
little bit rattled by everything going on, he
nonetheless tries to keep everyone in good cheer
as much as possible, trying his best not to
think about what's really going on.
Unfortunately, he's not all that great at the
weapons or running, but his friends care about
him deeply, and will help him out in times of
trouble.
3 - The Stuff
There is a great variety of items to be found around the
camp, and it is mostly discovered by jumping around. At
times, weapons may appear after you defeat enemies, but
in my experience, it has been completely random for the
most part, discovered just by happening to jump in the
part of the screen where it's hidden.
Knife - a step up from the rock, this packs more of a
punch and should be equipped by all of the
counselors at some point in the game.
FOUND: on the trails
Machete - a step up from the knife, this is one of the
best weapons in the game. These sometimes will
actually appear at random on the trails and in
the cabins.
FOUND: on the trails, Jason's mother (day 1), in the
cabins
Pitchfork - gained primarily by defeating Jason's
mother in the cave, this is the second-most-
powerful weapon in the game. I don't remember
seeing it appear at random on the trails, but it
is always a possibility.
FOUND: Jason's mother (day 3), in the cabins?
Torch - the most powerful weapon; like most undead
creatures, Jason is extremely susceptible to
fire, and the torch will do the most damage
against him. The best part is that this is a
random object that usually appears by the time
you need it the most!
FOUND: on the trails, in the cabins
Sweater - Jason's mother's sweater can be won by
defeating her the second day, and it lessens the
damage taken from Jason by the counselor that
wears it.
FOUND: Jason's mother (day 2)
Lighter - this is useful to light the fires in the
fireplaces of the large cabins.
FOUND: on the trails, in the cabins
Flashlight - this item reveals the location of secret
doors within the cave.
FOUND: in the cabins
Key - this will unlock any door in the camp, including
the door in the cave and the door to any of the
three cabins hidden in the woods.
FOUND: on the trails
Medicine - use this item to restore life points to
wounded counselors.
FOUND: on the trails, in the cabins
NOTE: medicine is most plentiful in the forest.
4 - The Villain
Jason is a powerful force of evil, incarnate in a kind
of zombie creature. He walks the paths of the camp with
only one thing in mind, and that goal is the total
extermination of all the counselors and children at the
camp.
With a stash of weapons in the forest, he gets stronger
and stronger with every encounter, and he is extremely
fast.
Handle with caution.
5 - The Monsters
Zombies - these rise from the ground of the trails, and
they can be the biggest pain in the entire game
because there are so many of them. You have no
hope of defeating all of them, but try to at
least run and get them all behind you, leaping
over as many as possible, then hurl knives or
rocks at them, to blow them away in order. If
you have rocks, remember to kneel before using
them, or else most times they will just sail
over their heads.
Bats - only in the cave, and so far I've only seen them
at night, these more or less travel in a
straight line and are pretty easy to avoid if
you can run from them or leap and fire.
Wolves - these are the worst things in the entire game
besides Jason. If you see one while you happen
to be in the woods, run the other direction, or
down a trail if you can. They're tough, fast,
and they run and leap at you.
Crows - these are pretty bad too, but at least they're
not all that fast and rather predictable. They
will dive at you when they get close enough, so
just wait until they get to a level where you
can hit them with your weapon of choice, and do
so.
Water Zombies - these will leap out of the water while
you row towards the children's cabin. Just
avoid them as best you can and keep firing while
you row. You might actually hit them and banish
them from your path, for the time being.
6 - The Strategy
Day 1
The game begins right after the counselors have all
split up, in order to seek out weapons with which they
may fight Jason. Armed with only rocks, they must
endure the legions of undead and the other dark minions
of the hulking killer in order to have any hope of
defeating him.
In short, they need to power up, and fast. Since they
don't happen to be incredibly strong or superhumanly
fast, they're going to need better weapons than rocks to
have a chance at all against their foe, so first arrange
for Paul and Laura to be in two of the cabins around the
lake, then send out either Mark or Crissy to get knives
for everybody by defeating zombies and jumping around to
reveal the weapons. While you do this, be sure also to
pick up the various other items, like keys and medicine,
that will appear, as well as the lighter. You're going
to need to have at least one counselor with a lighter.
The first thing you should do is light all the fires in
the fireplaces of the large cabins, and you should stop
at all of the cabins while you walk around the camp to
give knives to the weaker counselors and search for
weapons, because they truly do appear at random, so keep
your eyes open. If you get a machete, either give it to
the counselor that seems to be picked on the most (like
George or Debbie), or equip it on Mark or Crissy and
designate whichever one as the Rescuer. Try to use this
counselor as much as you can to rescue the other
counselors when Jason terrorizes them.
A word of advice: if you find a machete on the trails,
just by jumping around, don't go fight Jason's mother
for another one. Just try the 'Rescuer' method and you
won't have to bother with her, because she's very tough
and random, and it's really not worth the effort, since
you can get a machete or better (sometimes a torch will
appear in a cabin near the lake or on the trails) just
by defeating zombies.
My motto for this game is, hope for the best but prepare
for the worst. As long as everyone is well-equipped to
handle themselves in case they're attacked, you should
be fine.
Boss Strategies:
Jason's Mother
To find her in the cave, just go over two pits to the
left of the cave's entrance, then you should be able to
see a discrepancy in the rock where it meets the cave
wall. Press up to enter here...it's on the far left of
the second platform from the entrance, so just keep
trying until you get it.
She's more difficult than Jason at this point, because
she doesn't really have much of a pattern. She hovers
back and forth, from one side of the screen to the
other, and then she'll sweep down or just hurl herself
in a straight line down at you, going up slowly.
What you need to do is move in the opposite direction
from her as quickly as possible, avoiding her swoops and
hopefully getting in a hit or two on your way. She's
vulnerable when returning to the top of the screen from
a dive-bomb, but be careful you aren't hit by another
sweep...she's very unpredictable.
You can either use a middle-of-the-road counselor armed
with a knife, or if you have a tougher counselor and a
better weapon, make short work of her and then go and
bring a weaker counselor to get the machete. You don't
have to defeat her more than once, so if you leave the
machete, it'll still be there when you come back.
Jason
The first encounter will be with a relatively weak Jason
using only his fists. He's so sure of himself that he
feels he doesn't have to use anything more to defeat the
counselors, but teach him the error of his ways!
All you have to do is dodge him when he aims a punch at
you, and notice when he gets a little fast...because at
times he'll follow his first punch by another, just to
catch you off guard.
The way you dodge is by holding down and tapping left or
right...I usually choose left, but it doesn't really
matter, as long as you dodge. It's easy on an emulator
if you have a 'southwest' directional key to tap, and
even if you don't, it's still easier to keep 'down' held
and tap 'left' or 'right' than to hold down that hard
NES controller...take it from someone who's played both.
It's also usually okay if you go ahead and dodge twice
to every strike, just to be sure, even if he doesn't hit
you twice. He's not all that fast at this point, and it
shouldn't catch you off guard. But be careful and
attentive, or otherwise he will catch you, and that
isn't a good thing.
When he returns, he'll be armed with a machete. The
strategy is exactly the same...just stay in one place
and avoid his hits, then hit him once or twice (or three
times if you're fast and very alert) as he retreats to
the back of the room. The next encounter, he'll be
armed with an axe, and his armament after that is pretty
much random, although he usually sticks with the axe.
Day 2
After being alerted that although you defeated him, he
isn't dead and in fact is stronger than ever, all your
surviving counselors will be rejuvenated along with him,
and a new day will dawn. Any counselors or children
lost in the struggle will not be returned, however, so
be extra-careful if you have any with low energy, and
be sure to send Mark or Crissy into the woods if that
happens, to gather medicine and go heal them.
Jason isn't a nice person, or very fair, so he will
always pick on the weakest counselors and the ones with
the lowest hit points. Expect for him to make a beeline
for a wounded counselor and try to pound them until
they're history...so make sure that doesn't happen.
First, do the same as you did last time, and light all
the fireplaces again. This will sometimes make more
items appear, and in any case it will give you the
flashlight, so you can see hidden doorways in the cave,
if you choose to go there.
One of the most advisable things is to keep exploring
the cabins around the lake, because eventually at least
one will yield the torch, which is the most powerful
weapon in the entire game. If you have it equipped on
Mark or Crissy, you can actually seek Jason out without
having to worry about beating him, because if you're
quick and alert enough, you will.
On the second day, expect Jason to concentrate a bit
less on the children, but still occasionally menace them
between attacks on the counselors. Make sure that
everyone has a knife, or equip Mark or Crissy with the
torch or machete and designate them as the Rescuer. The
other should be the Healer, who goes into the woods with
the other powerful weapon and gathers medicine.
Also, make sure that the person designated as the rower/
Rescuer of the children is at least equipped with a
knife. It's not going to do them any good at all if the
person who comes to rescue them only does so at the cost
of their own life. Laura is probably the best choice
for this, but make absolutely sure that she's up to the
challenge, and arm her for it. You might want to equip
her with the sweater if you decide to get it, and to do
this, you're going to have to have her beat Jason's
mother on day two...not altogether an easy task, but
worth it if she fights Jason a lot.
Remember, today is the last day you have to prepare
yourself for Jason's strongest and most fearsome attack
on the third and final day. Make it a good one.
Boss Strategies:
Jason's Mother
More of the same. She's almost impossible to avoid
altogether today, but the prize she yields is probably
one of the more useful items in the game, as it defends
you from the full brunt of Jason's forceful blows. If
you go to beat her at all in the game, today is probably
the best day to do so, and probably the most worth your
time and life doing. Just remember after you beat her
to get another counselor to cure the one you used to do
it, or else you'll end up with a dead counselor wearing
a pretty sweater.
Jason
Today he goes between regular Jason and turbo Jason.
When he goes turbo, you can pretty much guarantee he's
going to double-strike, so double-dodge accordingly. If
you know the game well enough, you might be able to hit
the dodge at the very last minute and dodge through both
attacks, but it takes pinpoint accuracy in timing and
incredible precision. I also usually am attacking at
the same time, so that may have something to do with it.
Just make sure you take it slow and, if you're not ready
for him, don't seek him out. Just take things as they
come and try to prepare as much as you can for the third
day, stocking up on medicine and making sure everyone is
armed to the teeth, inasmuch as they can be.
Day 3
This is d-day, the day you've been waiting to see, or
dreading, depending on how well you've readied yourself.
If you've all got at least knives, you should be all
right, but if any of your counselors are still using
rocks, make a concerted effort to try and get them a
knife. Rocks aren't all that great, and speed and power
are essential today.
If you want to, go around and investigate the cabins,
and light the fires in the larger ones. Whoever is in
the sweater should be relatively safe on the trails
unless they happen to wander out of a cabin right after
fighting Jason, but that should be common sense by now.
So use your better judgement when walking around and
getting things...but this is why you should have stocked
up on everything before now. It's honestly easier on
the first two days, rather than waiting until the last.
There isn't all that much to do today, since Jason's
attacks are almost constant, and the children aren't in
all that much danger anymore. You should still leave
Laura near the lake, to fend off any chance attacks,
should Jason feel particularly malicious; just because
the attacks are fewer and farther between doesn't mean
they're gone for good.
Be prepared...he could strike at any time, and at any
place. Just make sure you're ready for him, no matter
what.
Boss Strategies:
Jason's Mother
She's exactly the same as the other two days, except now
she almost constantly dives at you. It's incredibly
difficult to beat her today without help from a Game
Genie or a turbo button, and all things considered, her
prize isn't worth it. A pitchfork, the second-most-
powerful weapon in the game, may be okay, but it's not
essential, and it's certainly not worth risking the loss
of a counselor to get.
Jason
He's always going to be in turbo mode now, so prepare
for the onslaught of the double-attack. I hope you've
practiced your double-dodge up until now, but something
else that I've found works better (and helps you attack
him and wear him down) is to wait until the absolute
last minute before he hits you, then dodge once and
attack. You should miss both hits and then hit him
instead, and make short work of him. Keep in mind that
you'll have to be pretty exact with this, though, and if
you have the game on an emulator, you might want to
practice it by using the save/load state capability.
And that should do it!
6.5 - Extra Strategy
The Forest
With the way this thing twists and turns, defying logic
left and right, it should be called The Maze instead.
However, there is a way to get through it!
If you enter the forest from above, go right and then
down the first path you can. Continue right and go up
the next path you can do so, and you'll arrive in the
cabin. If you're coming into it from below, first go
right and down at the first opportunity, then go left
and down, then press down again and go right after you
get there, and up the next path you're able to. Just
don't forget the key! It's crucial that you have it if
you go all that way, to get into the cabin. Just keep
in mind that there won't always be weapons there, even
with all the fireplaces burning, no matter what those
stupid notes say.
To get out of the forest, first go left until you can go
down, then repeatedly go up until the only way you can
go is down. Go left to the next road down, and go down,
and you should be at the lakeside. This only works if
you go in from above, though, as I always do. If anyone
knows of a sure-fire way to get out from below, let me
know.
Jason's Attack Pattern
Be careful of unintentionally following Jason if you're
not ready for him, because it happens a lot of times
when you're not ready or not thinking about it.
However, old though this game may be, it has a good
amount of logical movement for its antagonist.
For example, if you've just driven Jason off as Crissy
in Debbie's cabin, don't go outside! He'll be waiting
for you there, most likely, and you'll have to fight him
on the trail, which is much, much tougher than fighting
him in the cabins.
Also, if you run into him on the trail, try going in the
nearest cabin or taking the nearest road and switching
counselors as soon as you can. If he's in your area, he
will try to attack you as much as he can, because the
more counselors there are, the more threat exists to him
at the camp.
Another thing to watch out for is, after you've beaten
him across the lake and rescued the children, most of
the time he'll be found somewhere around the lake, so
either row to the opposite side where you've started, or
just take your time getting back. Be careful, because
sometimes you'll enter the first cabin you see and he'll
be waiting for you...you might actually want to stay on
the lake until the alarm sounds, then you can be sure
that he won't be awaiting your arrival, and at least you
can see exactly where he is.
One last note: if you enter a cabin and he's inside,
don't go outside! He will be waiting for you there, and
he's more difficult to defeat on the trail.
Battles on the Trail
If, by some unfortunate chance, you do run into him on
the trail, he will enter from the opposite side upon
which you are standing. You can tell he's coming by the
screen, because it stops scrolling when he's about to
attack, so just keep hurling your weapons in that
direction to get off a few hits before the battle's
really begun. However, when he rushes on, be prepared
to not only jump over the things he throws at you, but
also over him when he rushes at you.
Don't take him on while walking the trail unless you
have the sweater and the torch or the pitchfork. It's
needlessly difficult and very, very dangerous.
7 - The Bugs
Teleportation
It seems that both Jason and the counselors have an odd
teleportation ability. Jason's is more of a warning
than anything, because if you run into him on the trail
and beat him, he'll run off in the closest direction he
can. It doesn't necessarily mean he's actually gone in
that direction, though, because I've headed in the
opposite direction and run into him again. Apparently
there's just a fifty-fifty chance of you running away
from him, but I still usually opt for the opposite
direction he heads.
As for the counselors...sometimes if you're in a cabin
with another counselor, then switch to a different
counselor, you can end up teleporting the other
counselor there too. I haven't got an exact method for
this, or even proven that it works every time, but I've
seen it work enough times to know that it's a
certifiable bug with the program, and it does exist. It
is somewhat useful if you need to get a more powerful
counselor to a weaker one, far away, but you'll need to
test it before counting on it.
Jason, Speed Swimmer
This isn't really a bug in the game as much as an
oversight by the game's producers. Does anyone else
find it odd that an undead creature who originally died
by drowning due to his ineptitude at swimming, somehow
gains incredible powers of swimming and is now able to
buzz across the lake faster than a rowboat and attack
counselors in boats? It was a little strange to me.
Leaping to Get Things
This isn't really a bug either, but it's good advice to
keep in mind if you have, say, the machete or a stronger
weapon, and a knife appears where you've jumped. You
won't pick it up unless you jump, so just don't jump
around it. You can usually walk through things without
picking them up, as long as you don't jump...and you
won't want to downgrade your weapon, so just avoid
jumping near items that you don't want to pick up.
8 - Game Genie Codes
SZSLUEVK + IYKLSEAY Infinite children
IEVANTPA + YUNESVYA Start with 55 children
OTEIVISV Infinite energy for active counselor
ZZOUAGTE Medicine heals active counselor better
AZEVXLGE Medicine heals others better
INNLIZGY Autofire
SZVLGXOU + YPVLIXAV Turbo running
GAEUZIAE Everyone can jump high!
9 - Credits and Thanks
Thanks to gamefaqs.com for the Game Genie codes.
Thanks to Mark J. Popp for his original Friday the 13th
NES FAQ, and especially for the forest method contained
within it.
Thanks to LJN for putting out such an interesting game.
Thanks to you for reading this.