Due to the limitations of the hardware, NES games had a ceiling on how intense and unsettling they could be. There's a reason the horror genre really took off during the PS1 era: 3D provides so many more opportunities to freak players out. Still, while it was far from common, a few NES games tried to push the envelope, embracing the darkness through their environments, enemy designs, and sheer atmosphere.

Even if not all these games hold up today, they all deserve praise for taking substantial risks, and they arguably set the stage for later masterpieces like Resident Evil. Therefore, let's not waste any more time: time to get dark.

Welcome to Camp Crystal, and by god, you aren't alone. During the absolute height of Friday the 13th mania, Atlus put together an ambitious love letter to Jason Voorhees. Cast as all the counselors, your goal is to simply defeat the iconic slasher villain, ideally before he wipes out all the children. While not necessarily scary, the game is consistently stressful and surprisingly bleak, making it pretty effective.

The NES and SNES have plenty of games based on horror movies , but the majority are just action-platformers that don't really attempt to capture the spirit of the source material. Friday the 13th does that by actually casting you as an outmatched victim who needs to rely on your wits and quick thinking to survive the ordeal. Also, the game blurs out an alarm whenever Jason is about to slaughter a kid, which is neat.

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