Nerdicus NES HALLOWEEN Review Pt 1 : Nightmare on Elm Street (review #19)

Title : A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET

Publisher : LJN

Release Date : 1990

Estimated Value (as of today's date) : $20-$30

Well folks, tomorrow is Halloween and what better way to celebrate this "nightmare" of a holiday than by playing some horror film based games! Now of course there are two games that come to mind when thinking about Halloween and the Nintendo Entertainment System. And by now I'm sure you've guessed the first one. That's right - A Nightmare on Elm Street.

I'll admit here and now - these movies scared the crap out of me when I was a kid. Freddy to me WAS a nightmare. The fact that something could sneak into your dreams and kill you is so disturbing I don't even want to think about it now. Yeah, that's right. I'm 30 and this guy still freaks me out. At least I'm not afraid to admit it.

The question is - how scary is the game?

Alright, that's pretty damn scary.

Unfortunately, the game doesn't even come close to being frightening. In fact, I don't even think the game was meant to be horrifying at all. If it was, they certainly didn't do a good job of it. But what can you possibly expect from the very video game publishing company that haunts your nightmares, just like Freddy. L-J-N. That's right, folks. Prepare to die from horrible game play.

reminds me of Maniac Mansion

You're some random "joe" tasked with collecting all of Freddy Kruegers bone's scattered across levels so you can summon him in a fight to the death and kill him for good. Yeah, for good. Like that ever happens in horror movies. How many Nightmare on Elm street's have there been? 20? 

The problem is, if this game is supposed to be based on Nightmare on Elm Street, then you would think they would make the game terrifying. But no. Instead of fighting your way through hellish creatures, you're battling a Halloween gag gift store. Snakes, Spiders, Skeletons - that's it. Ooo. Scary

PURPLE WORLD!

Now the one thing this game has that relates in at least a small way to the movies is the "nightmare dream worlds". If your "Zzzz" (i'm assuming that means sleep) meter gets too low either from a depleted timer or getting hit too often, you enter the dream world where you have to find a stereo to wake yourself up and get out. 

And if you don't? Well, here comes Freddy.

Those bricks are making me dizzy

One thing I did enjoy about the game was the creepy music - it honestly wasn't that bad, and at least gave the game a spooky ambiance. It's no Castlevania that's for sure.

As you go from stage to stage, the environment changes up a bit, but you're still left with the same task. Collect the bones, and defeat that stages boss. At least the boss fights are somewhat entertaining. Not at all challenging, but still, good for a laugh.

Looks like an evil THING from Addams Family

So apparently, you can play with 4 players. I don't know about you, but I don't know 4 people who are willing to sit down and suffer through this game with me. Maybe after a few drinks, who knows. When I think about it though, the game really isn't THAT bad if you think of it as a standard platform game. Kind of reminds me of a really bad Castlevania knock off.

Looking it at as a game that's meant to tie into the NIGHTMARE ON ELM street films? Well, it doesn't even come close. Sorry LJN, you fail this time. Let's see you how you fare in our next halloween NES game coming up tomorrow. And this one, I'm sure you are ALL familiar with.

Final Score (out of 5) :

Until next time. Keep on gaming!