A Nightmare on Elm Street (1989 Video Game) User Reviews

Great Game For The NES

[gangstahippie · 7/10 · 27 July 2006]

Rated E(Contains Violence)

Nightmare On Elm Street is an NES game based on the popular horror film series.This and the Friday the 13th game were both released on the same year and both were based on popular horror films.However Nightmare On Elm Street is miles ahead of Friday the 13th.Friday the 13th had bad graphics.Some of it was cool for its time like how you can drive boats and how enemies just pop up but after playing both Nightmare On Elm Street is definitely the better video game.The graphics are way better compared to Friday the 13th.The graphics are actually pretty good for the NES.The gameplay is fun and the story is interesting.You must go through haunted houses finding Freddy Krugers bones while battling Freddy and his minions.His minions are bats and other small creatures and you kill them by throwing rocks at them.After some time you will have to battle Freddy in his many different and interesting forms.My only problem with this game is you cant save and unless you play the game for a really long time you will never beat it.Anyway Nightmare On Elm Street is a fun and classic NES game.

8/10

Generic but pretty dull at some points.

[insomniac_rod · 6/10 · 21 November 2009]

I remember renting this video game very often during the early 90's. The reason? I'm a huge fan Freddy Krueger fan and that's it.

To be honest, this game doesn't offer any interesting plot details, nor decent game play, or even good graphics. Well, it gets pretty dull at some points damn it! I enjoyed it because I had to! But the truth is that I didn't think it's a good game.

The Krueger oriented situations are limited and he's just an excuse for having some chuckles.

Oh well, overall, this game should be played by fans of the genre. Otherwise, please avoid it!

Great game, kicks butt!

[kubakijoe · 8 April 2003]

This game was for the original Nintendo, known to many of you as the NES. This game wasn't bad, just hard. You had to go through a lot of houses and kill the bosses and enimies along the way. If you fell asleep you would have to fight Freddy himself! But he was easy to beat up. I spent 16 hours listening to DMX and Eminem to beat this game. I died so easily it wasn't funny. But this games gets **1/2 out of ***.

For an LJN game, it's pretty decent.

[valvedotboy · 8/10 · 27 July 2017]

Out of all of the LJN games I've played, this one is the best so far. It kind of reminds me about Ninja Gaiden, re-spawning enemies and very hard. Of course I don't think it's as good as Ninja Gaiden because that game has a better story line.

The music is pretty good. I could listen to it all day if I could, not the best NES soundtrack but definitely in my top 100's.

The graphics could've been better, but they're still good enough. Again like I mentioned enemies will re-spawn.

The controls are okay, but can easily lead to deaths. It can feel very slippery trying to jump. The real flaw with this game is the fact that you don't know how much hit-points you have left. Making a game over quicker. Not to mention you only get 3 continues, and that's pretty little for a game this long.

The game-play, unlike most LJN games, actually isn't monotonous. Okay, technically it is monotonous, but in comparison to ones like Friday the 13th (which you have to beat 3 times) then wouldn't you prefer this?

A Nightmare on Elm Street for the NES is a cut above the rest.

[aidan_phantom · 8/10 · 7 February 2011]

Horror franchises branching out into gaming may not sound like the best idea and only a handful have actually tried this and when they have they are either too difficult (Friday the 13th NES) or too underwhelming (Halloween for Atari). The Nightmare on Elm Street game is a special game for fans of the franchise and it's neither too difficult nor underwhelming, it's a fun and addictive game that even has a multi-player mode! Story 4/10 The story is very linear; you (and others if you're playing multi-player) are trying to take down Freddy by collecting his bones which are hidden in various areas in Springwood. The game isn't exactly about plot it's more about the gameplay aspects.

Gameplay 8/10 Your character must travel to different locations (the opening of each location depends on randomisation) to collect Freddy's bones but along the way you have to avoid or attack a variety of obstacles which are mainly bats and rats. At the end of each location there is boss to defeat which not exactly too taxing if you know the pattern of the boss, this may not sound all too special if anything it sounds far too basic but that's because I haven't talked about the use of the sleep meter yet.

The sleep meter depletes if you stand still too long or get hurt by the obstacles (you can regain it by collecting coffee or whilst in the dream world find a radio) when it depletes all the way you are taken to the dream world, which is the same world but with a higher difficulty, but instead of just expecting you to deal with the harder obstacles you have dream warrior abilities these are; Necromancer, Acrobat and the Shadow Warrior. Your default ability is the acrobat but if you collect certain items you can access the other abilities, this makes the gameplay a whole lot more fun by a mile.

The use of alternating worlds make for fun gameplay but it does get a little too tedious when you're travelling from one location to the other.

Graphics 7/10 The graphics are your usual NES graphics and not especially worthy of noting suffice to say they don't distract from the addictive gameplay aspect although sometimes when an enemy approach you there is a moment where you question what exactly it's supposed to be.

Sound/Music 7/10 The music and sounds after a while may drive you a little crazy but for the most part it's enjoyable and there is a variety of music used that will keep fans of older game music amused.

Longevity/Replayability 7.5/10 If played cautiously the game is relatively short and definitely a game you'll want to replay especially if you own a multi-tap and want to play with friends.

Conclusion 8.3/10 A Nightmare on Elm Street for the Nintendo Entertainment System is a fun little game albeit not for impatient gamers.

I loved it!

[shakemystro · 7 April 2005]

I may be the only person that likes this game but still...I love it. It's so dumb and idiotic, I'll agree, but it's just so damn cool. It brings a certain quality that can only be given by the NES. Somebody needs to create an updated version of this for the XBOX. I know that I would buy it! It would just make an awesome game. There would need to be some obvious changes like letting the player be Freddy. I think that it would be great for anyone that likes to kill in games. I am a huge fan of the first movie (the rest sucked big ones) and this game may have been absurd, but it still was freakin sweet. Please somebody get a hold of the rights and create a new game...do it for me.