The final stage of a great idea has to be when it becomes so ingrained in popular culture that it then belongs to everyone. For example, hardcore horror fans might be aware that the original Frankenstein’s Monster wasn’t green and didn’t have metal bolts sticking out of his neck, but the average person will always associate that imagery with the character even if they haven’t actually consumed any Frankenstein-related media.
In more recent years, you can observe the same phenomenon with Jason Voorhees. The Friday the 13th film franchise has been on ice for over 15 years, but the iconic killer still lives on in the public consciousness as the definitive vision of what a slasher villain looks like. Sure, the recent “Jason Universe” announcement promises to put Jason back on the map as a force to be reckoned with, but I’d argue that his reputation has never been in question – especially when it comes to video games.
If you need evidence of this, look no further than the developers that have dared to feature the Crystal Lake Slasher’s likeness in their games without seeking proper permission from the character’s owners. And with Jason joining the ranks of WB’s online brawler MultiVersus, I think this is the perfect time to look back on six memorable Jason Voorhees knock-offs in video games.
After all, the rights to the Friday the 13th franchise may be tangled in a legal web, but the idea of Jason belongs to fans all over the world. And while we won’t be including fan-games on this list, I’d also like to give a shout-out to the two playable Jasons in Huracan’s infamous horror fighter, Terrordrome: Rise of the Boogeymen!
With that out of the way, don’t forget to comment below with your own favorite slasher knock-offs in gaming.
Now, onto the list…
6. Chainsaw Maniac – Zombies Ate My Neighbors (1993)
A cartoony example of gateway horror gaming, LucasArts’ Zombies Ate My Neighbors may not be a traditionally scary experience, but the title’s sincere passion for horror cinema makes it a must-play for genre fans. Case in point, the game’s familiar enemies that pay homage to classic horror tropes – with the title even featuring an undead slasher obviously modeled after Jason Voorhees.
Also known as Stanley Decker, the Chainsaw Maniac can chase players through walls as he rampages through the neighborhood, with the game never making it clear if he’s a rogue experiment or a slasher villain who coincidentally decided to go on a rampage during a zombie outbreak.
5. Jason – Dead Island (2011)
Armed with a one-hit-kill machete and a stylish hockey mask (with eyes that continue to follow the player even after death), Dead Island’s Jason is a pleasant surprise for genre fans that only expected to see zombie movie references in Techland’s first-person zombie-slaying simulator.
While this version of the character is rather unassuming when compared to the lumbering killer that we all know and love – with “Jason” even boasting some bizarrely out-of-place dialogue during battle – he’s still one of the most intimidating enemies in the game. Brave players can also find a handy chainsaw inside his creepy shed, with his lair housing a collection of disembodied heads in a reference to the Pamela Voorhees shrine seen in the movies.
4. Maniaxe – Kid Chameleon (1992)
I’m a sucker for great puns, and Kid Chameleon’s take on Jason Voorhees already has a great name going for it. A relic from a time when brutal difficulty was a means of artificially extending playtime, Kid Chameleon is a legendarily difficult platformer about a kid uses iconic masks and helmets to transform into different characters in order to beat the final boss of a child-consuming arcade game.
Naturally, one of Kid’s alter egos is a hockey-mask-wearing axe-murderer designed in the likeness of the iconic Friday the 13th killer. He may not be very agile, but the “Maniaxe” makes quick work of the game’s enemies, with his familiar getup also serving as an homage to another entry on this very list.
3. Jiei-San – Yakuza: Like a Dragon (2020)
Like a Dragon may have been a strange addition to the Yakuza franchise, trading in real-time brawling for a JRPG-inspired turn-based combat system, but the title still managed to keep the series’ trademark brand of wacky humor intact. A great example of this is the Masked Murderer substory that introduces us to “Jiei-San.”
Another great pun, this hockey-mask-wearing enemy initially appears to be a vicious serial killer pulled right out of a slasher flick before the story humorously reveals that Jiei-San was merely a butcher with a speech impediment who wore a mask to keep blood off of his face while working.
2. Jimmy – AVGN Adventures (2013)
It’s no secret that celebrated internet personality James Rolfe (AKA The Angry Videogame Nerd) is a huge horror nut. That’s why it makes sense that, when it came time to develop a game based on his review show, indie developer FreakZone would fill the project with a plethora of homages to both horror gaming and cinema – my favorite of which has to be the double boss battle against “Bimmy and Jimmy.”
A reference to the classic AVGN gag about Double Dragon III, Bimmy (a giant Freddy Krueger hand) and Jimmy (a chainsaw-wielding Jason Voorhees, complete with his purple color palette from the NES game) make up one of the most memorable and legally questionable parts of the game.
1. Rick Taylor – Splatterhouse (1988)
You can’t discuss Jason Voorhees in gaming without bringing up the Splatterhouse franchise. While later entries made a bigger effort to distance themselves from their Friday-the-13th-inspired roots, the original 1988 arcade game was clearly counting on Jason’s marketability to boost their numbers.
Sure, the game sets up the action by explaining that you’re actually playing as the young Rick Taylor on a quest to save your girlfriend from the evil Dr. West (another homage) with the help of a cursed mask, but it’s rather obvious that this plot was just an excuse to have players step into the shoes of a Jason Voorhees lookalike and murder everything that stands in their way.
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