From 1987-1989, Freddy Krueger, a deformed child murderer turned teen dream killer was an unstoppable commercial force. Everyone knew who Freddy was and were big fans. So, aside from the movies and television, there was other things to market as well. We're going to take a look at them really quick here in this article.
A Nightmare On Elm Street - The NES Game
In 1989, both Jason and Freddy were adapted to the most popular homing gaming counsel, Nintendo. The games were kind of difficult and crappy, but HEY! It's Freddy and Jason! I personally preferred the impossible Friday the 13th game (it also had music that was scary as shit when played late at night and you're 7-8 years old). The Freddy game felt sort of in line with Dream Warriors, but then again off on its own tangent.
Your goal was to collect artifacts of Freddy to inevitably throw them into the furnace and do away with him once and for all. Along the way, you were going through buildings that the interiors looked like rejected levels from Castlevania. You also fought against weird things like spiders and stuff while collecting bones. One of the big attractions for this game was that it was one of the first to offer a 4-player mode. I never played it like that, but I have a hard time seeing how it would have been enjoyable.
The legacy of the two horror games has been honored in the past couple years, with the Freddy and Jason likeness from them begin turned into super cool collector's item action figures. I think Jason was only available at SDCC one year and Freddy's was a limited edition for online purchasing. While nobody was a fan of these games, this is the perfect way to feed a nostalgia for them insteaded of plunking down for worn down, used cartridge and stressing yourself out trying to remember your "fondness" of being frustrated at it again. Plus, I'm pretty sure as an adult some of these games are way more difficult than they were when we were younger.
A Nightmare On Elm Street - The Pinball Machine
Freddy also was given a super badass pinball machine for arcades in the late 80s early 90s. I loved this one. It might just be my favorite pinball machine of all time and yes that's my Elm Street fandom bias speaking. I have no shame in admitting that. I'm sure most of our favorite pinball machines had something to do with our fandom of whatever their theme is. I also loved loved loved a Star Wars one from back in the day.
If I could own a pinball machine, this would be it. But, damn, these things are freakin' expensive! Having this would be a dream come true, but a pricey one. Naptown Nerd fans, I write whatever you request for anyone that makes a Kickstarter that lands me a good, clean, fully functional A Nightmare On Elm Street pinball machine :) I think this isn't the first time I've mentioned this either.
A Nightmare On Elm Street - The Board Games
I'm not surprised, but also never knew of these games' existence either until a few years ago when my friend Cullen showed me his. He later do what friends do and picked me up my own copy at GenCon a few years ago for $3. Still haven't played it, but I more or less wanted it as a collector item. Its got some really cool artwork as a part of it too and a playing board that looks like it could be a part of any number of games.
I then found out there's another board game, but I've not come across it in person yet. This game is one of those 3 dimensional looking boards with pop up stuff. I'm not sure too much what the goal is, but its "The Freddy Game". If I find this one sometime, I find it, but I display the former board game in my living room and a lot of that has to do with the fact it features some really cool and original artwork. This is just random press shots in a generic box.
The Talking Freddy Krueger Doll
This is how extreme it got. Yes, cuz every child wants a Freddy doll. We had a weird time in the 80s where R-Rated adult movies were aiming products at kids from some crazy reason. Kids could see 1 Rambo movie, but they were ok to buy action figures and watch the cartoon. And of all things, a TALKING Freddy. Considering all the kid friendly things Freddy says like "Where's the bourbon, bitch" and "Help yourself, fucker" that this wouldn't be a problem. But you know what? Parents didn't really protest this. Weird, huh? We live in an age where one parent tries to ban Frozen shirts because of an unlikely intended hand position that kids probably wouldn't know of anyway, but we're ok for Freddy dolls.
Anywho, I just wanted to touch upon some of the merchandising Freddy had gong for him during his reign. There was still more than this, but these are more of the key players.
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