Gamings best Jason Masks

NO!

We’re not talking about frigging hockey masks! Nobody has ever strapped on this mouthless, empty-eyed, bone-colored facial façade with the intent of instilling a victim with the fear and intimidation that comes with facing down a goaltender. No, virtually every game character not playing for the NHL who’s ever put on a hockey mask is doing it for one reason, and one reason only: to crib from Jason Voorhees. And that’s our incredibly loose criteria here… or perhaps you’d prefer a quickie feature cluttered with insipid images like this?

With that in mind, we tried to find as many instances of characters dressing up as Friday the 13th’s hero (yes, he is the hero) in honor of Halloween. So turn out your lights and put the lawyers to bed... it’s time for Jason Masks. Let’s start with the obvious:

Friday the 13th

Back before the ESRB was looking over anyone’s shoulder, the LJN toy company struck while the horrific iron was hot and promoted the slasher genre’s biggest character directly to children. It was quite possibly the most colorful marketing Jason’s ever seen.

Not sure how you’d explain Jason’s Teletubby color scheme, but we’ll assume that they went light on the scares and gore due to Nintendo’s archaic censorship policies of yore. Either way, other platforms had no such scruples and painted a far grislier picture.

Shyguy

Go ahead and attribute this Mario mainstay’s origination to any game you want, because the Shyguy’s been appearing in appearing in Nintendo games for over 20 years.

No one knows what lies beneath the mask (other than the occasional mouth cannon), but if we had to guess, it’s probably a Koopa Troopa, which he was basically a sprite-swapped stand-in for once Japan reskinned a promotional game as Super Mario Bros. 2. Speaking of Mario…

Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins

In a far more blatant homage to Friday the 13th, Mario’s second outing on the Game Boy featured his most ghastly enemy to date!

Mario Land 2’s spine-tingling Pumpkin Zone didn’t just contain the traditional Boos, but also the only appearance of the floating ga-ga-ga-ghost Goombas, wayward spirits forced to forever roam and taunt Mario for the needless murders he’s committed throughout the Mushroom Kingdom. Stands to reason these are horrifically themed Shyguys, albeit WITH KNIVES EMBEDDED IN THEIR FACES.

Splatterhouse

Perhaps the only reason Namco didn’t get slapped with a New Line lawsuit is because they went so far as to give Rick’s Jason Mask special powers.

Known as the Terror or Hell Mask, this here mugshield is actually the only thing keeping Splatterhouse’s very dead Rick alive. It’s claimed the mask is a Mayan artifact endowed with spooooky regenerative strength abilities, but it’s a safe bet it still packs plenty of puck-stopping power when worn in Canada.

Final Fantasy VI

When Edgar unleashes his Chainsaw Attack on an enemy, roughly 25 percent of the time it can result in an instant death.

You’ll know when it happens because he’ll momentarily look just like the guy from Splatterhouse.