Every Freddy Krueger game: from the NES and C64 to Dead by Daylight and Fortnite

Freddy Krueger has been in seven official video games. Two came out in 1989 and 1990, while the Nightmare on Elm Street films were still in cinemas. Then nothing for 21 years, followed by Mortal Kombat, two mobile games, Dead by Daylight and, since October 1, 2026, Fortnite. Two more games were cancelled, and one of them would have let you play as Freddy himself. This is the full list in order: who made each game, which Freddy you get, and what you can still play today.

Most lists online get the details wrong. They date the NES game to 1989, when it shipped in October 1990. They put Freddy in Call of Duty and MultiVersus, where he never appeared. They say his Dead by Daylight chapter was pulled, when the chapter that left the store was Halloween and Freddy is still on sale. Dates and roles here are checked against Wikipedia, the PlayStation Blog, Steam and Epic's own news posts. Scores are from Metacritic, reviews and prices from Steam as of October 4, 2026. The full table is near the end.

C64 and DOS, 1989: five Dream Warriors against Freddy

The first game was published by Monarch Software and built by Westwood Associates. Yes, that Westwood, a few years before Dune II and Command & Conquer. In 1989 it was still doing licensed work like this one: a top-down Elm Street, houses to search, keys, vending machines with useful items, and Freddy as the final boss.

You pick one of five teenagers from the third film, Dream Warriors: Kincaid, Kristen, Will, Nancy or Taryn. Each has a dream power (Kincaid's is simply a big punch). The sixth, Joey, is being held prisoner and needs rescuing. At the end Freddy turns into a snake, just like in the movie.

The DOS version shipped for IBM PC and Tandy machines. Nobody seems to have an exact release date, only the year. You can't buy it anywhere today, there is no Steam or GOG release.

NES, October 1990: Rare, four players and the version where you were Freddy

The second game was published by LJN and developed by Rare, years before Donkey Kong Country and GoldenEye. David Wise wrote the music. Lots of lists give it a 1989 date, but that was the announcement year: LJN said back then it was aiming for fall 1989. It actually reached North American shelves in October 1990, and it never came out in Japan or Europe.

The goal is to collect Freddy's bones from the houses on Elm Street and burn them in the high school furnace. The catch is the sleep meter. It keeps draining, coffee tops it up, and when it runs out the whole group drops into the Dream World, where the enemies change and Freddy hits harder. A radio wakes you up. In the dream you can turn into one of three Dream Warriors: a ninja with shuriken, an acrobat with javelins or a wizard with fireballs.

The big selling point in 1990 was four-player co-op through the NES Four Score or NES Satellite. Rare artist Kevin Bayliss told Time Extension (July 25, 2026) that this was non-negotiable: it had to be four-player and it had to use the new peripheral. Freddy shows up as the boss at the end of each house and as the final boss in the boiler room.

Issue 2 of Nintendo Power (September/October 1989) previewed a very different game: "YOU are Freddy Kruger", terrorizing the neighborhood. According to Kill Screen, Freddy could travel through power lines, pipes and mirrors to ambush teens. That version never shipped. Bayliss confirmed in the same interview that there was an earlier version and it "was canned", without saying why. The idea that Nintendo refused a game where you play the killer comes from journalists, not the developers, and no prototype has ever surfaced.

Critics weren't kind to the NES game. EGM scored it 6, 4, 4 and 5 out of 10. It has no Metacritic page and no digital re-release, just the original cartridges.

The 1994 pinball and Freddy vs. Jason: Englund's voice and a game that never happened

Pinball isn't a video game, but this one matters. In October 1994 Gottlieb released "Freddy: A Nightmare on Elm Street", and according to pinball databases Robert Englund recorded Freddy's lines for it himself. That makes it the first Freddy machine to talk with the actor's own voice.

Then came a long silence. For the Freddy vs. Jason film, David Bergantino pitched Freddy vs. Jason: Hell Unbound, with both killers stuck in hell, up to four players, and a choice of Freddy or Jason. It was planned for Dreamcast and PS2, later Xbox, but the film kept slipping, and there wasn't enough time to ship alongside the 2003 release. Dustin McNeill tells the story in his 2017 book "Slash of the Titans". In 2010 Warner put out Keep Her Awake, a Flash promo for the remake where you had to stop a girl from falling asleep. I'm not counting a browser ad as a game.

Mortal Kombat, August 2011: $4.99 and Robert Englund's voice

NetherRealm brought Freddy back. He was revealed at Comic-Con in July 2011 as the fourth and final DLC fighter for Mortal Kombat, after Skarlet, Kenshi and Rain. He hit the North American PlayStation Network on August 9, 2011 for $4.99, and cost 400 Microsoft Points on Xbox Live. He got his own arcade ladder ending and two fatalities.

His voice was argued about for years, and fan wikis credited Patrick Seitz. Ed Boon settled it on April 19, 2017: Robert Englund voiced Freddy in MK9, and Scarecrow in Injustice 2 too. The look is a blend. Boon told the PlayStation Blog it was "Freddy in general" rather than one version, although the face leans toward the 2010 remake.

Playing it now is awkward. Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition, which includes Freddy, was pulled from Steam back in 2020, even though its page still shows 91.6% positive out of 18,868 reviews. Freddy didn't return in Mortal Kombat X, 11 or 1 on consoles.

While waiting for his next big role, he dropped into two mobile games. For Halloween 2014 you could unlock him in Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff through the "Nightmare on Spooner Street" quest, which ended on November 7, 2014. In December 2016 he joined mobile Mortal Kombat X in update 1.11, this time with the remake look.

Dead by Daylight, October 2017: remake Freddy and two reworks

The A Nightmare on Elm Street chapter launched on Steam on October 26, 2017, and on PS4 and Xbox One on November 9. It added Freddy Krueger as a killer (The Nightmare in game), survivor Quentin Smith and the Badham Preschool map from Springwood. This Freddy is based on the 2010 remake with Jackie Earle Haley, which is also why Quentin, a remake-only character, came along. There's no Englund voice and no classic 1984 outfit: Freddy has just his three prestige outfits, fewer cosmetics than any other killer.

He was considered weak almost from day one, and Behaviour has reworked him twice. Patch 3.1.0 in August 2019 gave him Dream Snares, Dream Pallets and teleporting to generators. Patch 8.5.0 on January 28, 2025 let him use snares and pallets in the same match and made the snares faster. His power and every other killer are covered in our Dead by Daylight killer guide.

On Steam the chapter sits at Mixed, 65.1% positive out of 2,089 reviews, while Dead by Daylight itself holds 78.3% from 937,000. The chapter is still on sale: $7.99, or $3.99 in the sale running until October 8. The chapter that actually left the game in January 2026 was Halloween, with Michael Myers, which we covered in every John Carpenter game.

Fortnite, October 2026: a boss, a glove and a 1,600 V-Bucks skin

Fortnitemares 2026 went live on October 1 with update 42.30, and Freddy is in it twice. The free version is a boss in the new Nightmare Neighborhood location. Epic says he can hide behind a friendly face, then vanish and reappear close enough to strike. Beat him and he drops Freddy's Nightmare, a weapon that teleports you into range and slashes your next opponent.

The paid version is the outfit, which reached the Item Shop on the evening of October 2, US time. According to fortnite-api data, the outfit with the glove pickaxe costs 1,600 V-Bucks, the full eight-item bundle is 2,300, and it stays in the shop until October 16. The set has two pickaxes, two back blings, the "Freddy's Coming" emote, a wrap and shoes. This Freddy is the classic Wes Craven one: red and green sweater, brown fedora. After Dead by Daylight the difference is obvious, especially side by side.

Whether Englund voices him in Fortnite is still open. The claim started with a leak; CBR noted on October 3 that Epic hasn't announced it, and Englund shared the trailer on his own Instagram. Epic's post doesn't mention him. Here is the official video, and then the skin in an actual match:

Games Freddy was never in

These show up in roundups, but I couldn't find anything to back them. If you were hunting for Freddy in one of these, he isn't there:

Every Freddy Krueger game: the full table

Scores and reviews

Metacritic scores the whole game, not Freddy, so Mortal Kombat wins on the strength of its entire roster. The NES and C64 games have no score at all, and neither does Fortnite.

Steam reviews say more about Freddy himself, because his Dead by Daylight chapter has its own page. Players are lukewarm on him: 65% against 78% for the base game.

Where to play as Freddy, or against him, in 2026

Of the seven games, two are officially available today; everything else needs old hardware. Depending on what you want:

My pick is easy: Fortnite this week. Classic Englund-era Freddy has never been in a game this big, and there's no telling when he'll be back.

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