Prerelease:Friday the 13th (NES)

This page details pre-release information and/or media for Friday the 13th (NES).

Press Kit

An LJN press kit from 1989 featured an advertisement of the game. Along with a synopsis of the gameplay, three screenshots were included.

Press Kit	Final

A map of Camp Crystal Lake.

• The cabins in the middle of the lake where the children are housed are completely missing.
• All the other cabins are denoted by numbers and letters, possibly indicating what kind of cabin they are (letters represent large cabins, numbers represent small?). Most are in the same location in the final game, but several others are in different locations or missing entirely.
• The cabins in the north and south forests are missing.
• The curved trail in the east was made straighter in the final.
• The southwest portion includes what appears to be a cemetery, surrounded by a circular trail with no cabins to be found. The final game replaces it with an unexplorable forest.
• The top and bottom of the map have tufts of trees, seemingly used for scenery. These would be removed in the final.
• The map screen HUD only displays three counselors. Paul's afro was made smaller in the final, and what is presumably Laura's portrait has a much more basic face design. All portraits have a blue frame instead of a white one in the final.
• The current counselor's health is not displayed.
• Where the other three counselor portraits would be are instead items the player would be able to collect: A walkie-talkie, a pair of binoculars, and an axe. Only the axe is retained in the final game, and would receive a redesigned icon.

Press Kit	Final

A counselor rowing in the lake. The HUD isn't shown, but it's possible the image is just zoomed in somewhat as the black borders are just barely visible.

• The counselor rowing sprite was reworked in the final.
• The cabin in the back was slightly redesigned with larger doors and square windows.
• The forest in the background is much smaller in the final and more details, such as the sky, mountains, and wooden fences, can be seen.
• What could be a child standing in front of the cabin can be seen. Children are never shown outside the lake cabin in the final.

Press Kit	Final

An image of Jason in one of the cabins. Judging from his overall appearance, it may be a mockup.

• The "CHILDREN" and "FRIENDS" tallies switched positions in the final. The latter would change the number tally to head icons denoting the number of counselors left. An "x" between the numbers would be removed in the final.
• The counselor and Jason's health bars are represented by large square blocks. These would be changed to sliver bars in the final.
• Jason's health bar is on the bottom-left in the final game. The space that it occupies in the press kit would later display the counselor's collected items in the final.
• George is named "Tommy". Whether or not this is meant to be Tommy Jarvis from the film series is unknown.
• The options are different. "HAND" was changed to "PASS" and "SET" was presumably renamed to "CHANGE" in the final. All actions would be rearranged in the final game as well.
• Jason's sprite is drastically different, looking much more like his movie counterparts and not sporting the final's infamous purple and teal color palette.
• The active counselor is not shown onscreen.