Between Outlast 2, Visage, Allison Road and more, horror gaming fans will be spoiled for choice as 2017 continues on. Add those titles to the likes of the recently-released Resident Evil 7 and Until Dawn: Rush of Blood, and the video games industry has arguably never been more frightening for players. However, just as cult classic horror films such as The Evil Dead (1981), Friday the 13th (1980) and A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) have an enduring – almost timeless – appeal to fans of the genre, so do classic horror video games. With that in mind, today we’re taking a look at what may be the greatest retro title still more than capable of providing a few scares.
One of the first – and finest – adaptations of the 1984 Wes Craven slasher flick came in the form of the NES release A Nightmare on Elm Street. Developed by legendary British developer Rare, the studio later responsible for seminal titles such as GoldenEye 007 and Donkey Kong Country, the title was a side-scrolling platformer with a twist. While for the most part, A Nightmare on Elm Street plays out as a serviceable, conventional game of its type, it also had a novel concept inspired by the original film: when the player’s sleep meter reached zero, they would be transported to an alternate reality where franchise lead villain Freddy Kreuger would be able to control their dreams to harm them.
A Nightmare on Elm Street’s enemies were challenging enough, with zombies, skeletons and minotaurs all standing in the way of the player’s quest to collect and dispose of the chief antagonist’s bones, but the aforementioned “Dream World” took the game’s fear factor into a different dimension. Players were constantly left on edge as they struggled to find caffeine-laden coffee cups to stay awake and avoid falling prey to Kreuger’s mind games, making the title a truly memorable horror game – and one well worth revisiting.
The legacy of the franchise continues to live on today. 2010 saw the original film being remade under the directorship of Samuel Bayer, while it’s also inspired other projects including 888casino’s A Nightmare on Elm Street slot game, which features a spooky UI, blood-splattered symbols, and even full video sequences from the original motion picture. Freddy Krueger has also inspired his own comic book series, the most recent of which was published by Wildstorms Productions, an imprint of DC Comics.
Intriguingly, the prototype version of the NES adaptation had a very different concept. Instead of playing as the teenagers of the final version who attempt to collect and destroy Kreuger’s bones, early iterations of the title instead saw users assume the role of the villain himself, using his razored fingers, and their dreams, as a weapon as he sought to stop them from doing so. Most likely in order to avoid courting controversy, publisher LJN eventually decided to flip this premise to the version that eventually saw a retail release.
While this year, as we previously mentioned, is set to play host to a veritable array of new horror releases, they’ll have to be truly innovative with their scares in order to challenge A Nightmare on Elm Street for horror game supremacy.
