Developer: Rare Publisher: LJN Released: October 1990 Genre: Action
I don’t envy the developers of A Nightmare on Elm Street. The flicks were known for being gory slash fests and Freddy Krueger carried them due to his personality. How do you transfer that into a video game? Apparently you don’t. The NES version of A Nightmare on Elm Street is your standard platformer with a few unique hooks. It makes for an interesting game that is better than most of LJN’s licensed titles. But it is let down by its execution and is not as good as it could have been.
Which brings up an interesting point. The game we did end up with is radically different from what it was initially. Early previews in Nintendo Power had you play as Freddy as you stalked and killed the teenagers trying to kill you by disposing of your bones. Anyone familiar with Nintendo of America in the 80s knows there was no way in hell that game would have seen the light of day. Instead the premise was flipped. It is interesting to think what could have been.
A Nightmare on Elm Street is not based on any particular movie in the series. It takes the character and general premise and tells its own tale. You play as a teenager who must explore various parts of the neighborhood to find Freddy Krueger’s bones and ultimately burn them in a furnace. Oddly enough Nightmare on Elm Street is one of the few games to support the four-player adapter. Four-player coop in a platformer was original so it gets credit for that. But due to the game’s mechanics it is a giant clusterf*ck.
When in your default form you can punch enemies. Throughout each level you will focus power-ups that let you change into one of three dream warriors: an acrobat, necromancer or shadow warrior (ninja). These forms are incredibly versatile; each has long range attacks and jump higher. The ninja will kick once you leap, making it perfect for airborne enemies Other power-ups are coffee and a radio, both to help you deal with the sleep meter.
As you walk around the sleep meter depletes. If you stay still it drops faster. Once the meter is empty you are taken to a dream version of the current area. Like Castlevania II enemies are stronger making things more difficult. In multiplayer once any players sleep meter is empty everyone goes to the dream world. Generally the Dream World is an annoyance that can’t be avoided. You’ll want to find a radio quickly as the longer you stay you will eventually have to fight Freddy. This battle is short yet frustrating if you don’t have any of the other forms.
Nightmare on Elm Street has seven locations that serve as its levels. The goal of each one is to find a set number of bones to unlock the end level battle against Freddy. The deeper you progress the more bones needed and unfortunately they blend into the background. The order of the starting level is random which presents its own problems. After each boss battle you gain a key. But the game does not tell you which level it opens. This leads to tedious backtracking on the overworld map full of cheap enemies.
There are plenty of other problems. You do not have a visible health bar. As far as I can tell you can take four hits before death. But the game does not indicate how many you have left. The hit detection is not the greatest which is a huge problem. You spend the majority of the game as a teen with short stumpy arms. This leads to many cheap hits. It also affects the necromancer sadly as his attacks tend to miss frequently. Were these flaws fixed Nightmare on Elm Street would not be overly difficult. The game gives you a generous five lives and three continues which even with its issues is more than enough to reach its conclusion.
Speaking of conclusions, Freddy himself is the biggest disappointment in the game. You fight several battles against him, or I should say pieces of his body. It is incredibly anti-climactic to reach the end of a long, harrowing cemetery to fight a god damn glove. The final battle is the worst. It is exactly the same as in the Dream World with little difference. Considering how much of a character Freddy is you get none of that in the game. Not that I was expecting him to run around calling everyone a b**ch but still. They could have done more with him in game.
In Closing
Nightmare on Elm Street is better than LJN’s other licensed NES titles. But that is faint praise and does not make it worth buying. The game still has issues that cause it to lag behind the NES greats and is nothing more than novelty at this point.
