Well that's not the quote. Trent and Sue were playing, Mike couldn't make anyone's head bleed. "There it is, Mikey, check it out! His head's bleeding. Mikey, check it out, his legs, little Wayne's legs are shaking all over the place." - guy who's seen Swingers 100 times
NHLPA 93 didn’t get a fair slice here. When you played playoffs, during your intermissions you would get to watch highlights from the other games. Some of them were really exciting. It was one of the few games that had blood for injuries. It also had glass breaking from slap shots. You’d actually get a Stanley Cup celebration in your season/playoffs. It was the best one.
@94champs Same here friend! As a kid my father had both NHL Hockey 91 and NHLPA 93 for Sega Genesis. I liked NHLPA 93 the most for the reasons you and I both said - features and gameplay was absolutely superior. But the original ‘91 game had the team logos and the music was awesome!! Sometimes I would just plug in ‘91 to hear the theme song and then switch to 93 to actually play 😂 good times.
Mutant League Hockey felt good to play, and the setting and quirky humor put it over the top. Most importantly, you just wanted to play it and play it some more. Let's go Pens
@@SquarePegs well, congrats to Geno becoming #2 on the list of Russian-born goal scorers last night, passing Federov, who was an absolute beast of a player.
I used to tell myself nhlpa 93 was better than nhl 94. Realistically though, not having one timers in 93 is, a huge bummer. Once I got used to 94 and 95, i never could go back to 93.
NHL Hockey , NHLPA 93 and NHL 94 are the three best hockey games ever made! If NHL 94 ever had a season mode , it could be the best sports game ever created. Those games just felt right plus loved the highlights from other games. The same went for the Madden’s 92 and 93 which in my opinion are the best football games developed. It is a shame that neither NHL 94 or early Maddens had season modes.
I'm actually kinda glad they DIDN'T have season mode - I spent enough time on that as it was! I'd have never stopped playing! Thanks so much for checking the video out!
@@southbeachtalent I barely remember the season mode. Probably because it couldn't actually save anything, was it just a code to enter? What I do remember though is while the game was OK I couldn't help but constantly be thinking hey this game is just like Madden except Madden is a little better in almost everything which made Montana not really useful.
So, thing about ESPN National Hockey Night that I don't know if too many have picked up on, a company called Park Place Productions was the subcontractor for EA producing and programming the original NHL and NHLPA '93 (as well as the first 2-3 Genesis Madden games, presumably after their ABC Monday Night Football computer game impressed EA in comparison with their OG computer Madden). After EA sniped I think at least one or two of Park Place's programmers after Madden/NHL were a huge success, Park Place split with EA but reportedly got to retain rights to their sports games' source code, and they wound up producing ESPN National Hockey Night for Sony Imagesoft after NHLPA '93. There's even a mode where you can flip from the horizontal Blades of Steel-style camera to a vertical EA NHL-style overhead camera (and you can even switch out camera styles between periods of the same game). I'm no Genesis hockey expert, but the feel especially in overhead mode seems similar to me on ESPN to at least the early NHL games, the player sprites are just bigger than they are in the NHL series, so the camera is "zoomed in" versus EA and you can kind of feel like you're not seeing enough at once. As I understand it, once Park Place, fresh from their EA success, started doing a lot of contract work and WAY overextended themselves, the company started to implode and Sony hired away a lot of their staff to work on sports games, some of whom would wind up working on the NHL Faceoff series on PS1 (which personally, I had a pretty great time with). So ESPN National Hockey Night is this interesting transitional middle ground between the the early Genesis NHL games and the PS1 NHL Faceoff games.
You should play the NHL 2001 for the GBA, it's a port of NHL 96 for the SNES (with updated rosters of course). Only it plays about four times faster than 96.
I picked up NHL '95 earlier today for $10.00. Other than Blades of Steel on NES, NHLPA Hockey '93 was my first into Electronic Arts Hockey game's. I actually recommend NHL 2002 on Game Boy Advance
1. Mutant League Hockey 2. NHL 94 3. NHL 96 4. Wayne Gretzky and the NHLPA All-Stars 5. Mario Lemieux Hockey IMO, no reason to play any other hockey game on the Genesis.
That’s funny, the Penguins are my favorite team. And I loved using them in NHL ‘94, which is my favorite team sports game of all time. I still play it to this day. The combination of Mario Lemieux & Jaromir Jagr is to this day my favorite in any hockey game. Great video!
@@SquarePegs Yeah, I just discovered your channel last night and was binge watching a bunch of your videos. Great stuff! Also, he’s my favorite player of all time too. I guess he did land on your favorite team for a short stint. He played for so many teams after he left the Pens.
hit the ice on the SNES was awesome. used to be one of my fav sports games to play back in the day, me and buddies would have a blast playing against each other.
Can't remember if it was NHL '96 or "97 that let you input a TON of letters for your customized character name, but that's what I really enjoyed-- and of course, they were dirty names. But they put me in stitches when a big marquee would show them as PLAYERS OF THE GAME for the entire arena to see. And also, one-timers were crazy fun. My brother and I lived for them.
Mario lemieux Hockey was a by far and away my best hockey game on sega that I have ever played. As u said the faceoff is the best ever and the controls are on point. The gameplay is fun and accurate and the difficulty levels challenging as u improve which always brought me back to playing it again and again. Underrated this game for sure. Loved your reviews and really glad that u bumped it up to an A rating.
I always had the most fun with the Mario Lemiux Hockey game growing up. I always played with my dad. So many memories with it. Still play it today. 25 yrs later.
I spent countless hours playing NHL 95 with my Japanese counterparts guarding a forlorn ordnance compound in Southern Japan. I remember specifically appreciating the speed pickup from 94 at the time, but now I agree with you so I do think player age might be a factor when comparing these two (18yr old me loved the speed .... you can't go back all the way).
I'm very much the same! I remember loving it when I was younger, but now it's something where it just feels a bit off. Still an absolutely spectacular game!
I've been playin EA's NHL '21 career mode and franchise. Yeah I know they have newer ones but until they fix some issues I won't buy new ones. In the career mode you HAVE to pick 2 positions and you play your second choice for at least a full year. Second, you can't see your full roster or any other teams. You get no notices of league info like trades, which I don't think even happen or injuries. It's just so annoyingly basic for a game in 2021. I played these games on this list but spent more time trying to hit folks than score goals, they were really fun so thanks for bringing back some memories.
The best reviews for games especially when it comes to sports is getting the review from someone who truly loves that particular sport! I’m not a true hockey fan I only played nhl 1995 and 1996 but your reviews allowed me to make a good choice to play some retro hockey games mutant league and Mario lemieux is the choices for me
Thank you so much for those kind words! And those two games will do you just fine - Mutant League is a masterpiece, and Mario Lemieux is an honest to god surprise of quality!
You ranked NHL 96-97-98 all different rankings. They are the exact same games with maybe the signature moves that are in 97 & 98. Gameplay wise it's totally the same game.
@@SquarePegs Yeah back then when you couldn't look up TH-cam vids & hoping the games were good. I pretty much like all of the nhl games on the Genesis.
Great video!!!! I love the NHL series on the Genesis, with NHLPA 93 and NHL 94 being my favorites. I also really like Wayne Gretzky and the NHLPA All-Stars!!
NHL All-Star Hockey 95 does have one-timers. I wouldn't rank it as bad as you did as well. It's probably a C- for me. Also neat little trick - if you take any left-handed shooter that has a decent shot to the center ice area right up against the player boards to the right and take a shot... it will ALWAYS go in, bouncing off the back boards and hitting the goalie and in.
@@thediesel387 Dude the game is from nearly 30 years ago. Not sure why the lack of a wrist shot would bring that much more depth to a top down hockey game. Like I said: C- rating for me, especially for that time. It's below average still.
NHLPA '93 & the NHL Series of games are the reason I am a rabid hockey fan to this day. I was at a party and my best friend enticed me to play with him. "I know nothing about hockey", I said. "Don't worry", he said. I'll give you the best team in the game. The best team that year?...the one that had Mario & Jaromir! Still a rabid PENGUINS fan! Go Pens! 🐧
I'm by no means a Pens fan. I'll never forgive Samuelsson for ending Cam Neely's career early. But Jagr? I had a Jagr poster on my wall as a kid. One of my absolute favorite hockey memories is him suiting up for the Bruins as a playoff rental in 2012-13. Thank you so much for watching!
Your initial rankings were much better. I hold the exact opposite view on the Genesis NHL games. I loved '95 and '96 as a kid, but I think they're completely unplayable in 2022. The gameplay is comically fast, I greatly prefer the pace of NHLPA '93, which is the best in the series, but I understand why anyone prefer '94.
@94champs Absolutely. '94 is a masterpiece, and I understand why anyone ranks it number one. '92 is the most underrated in the series, and the third best of the Genesis era. NHL 96-98 are so damn fast that you have to play '98 on the slow speed setting for it to be even playable. It's the only NHL genesis game in the series with a speed setting. NHL '95 is definitely better than '96, but it plays way too damn fast, and I think it aged terribly and it ultimately ruined the classic series imo. I don't understand why EA didn't take NHL '94's gameplay and just nerfed the one timers and the hot spots where slap shots usually go in, and then added a season mode and maybe some classic teams. In the 90's EA was almost too ambitious. Madden '95 ruined the amazing '94 by adding an entire new engine. It's so funny how much EA has changed throughout the years.
@94champs I was a dumb little kid back then so I liked 95 & 96 at the time, but now I'm just like...ugh. I dream for a time in the late 90's where EA didn't worry about polygons and made a more sim like NHL '94 and NBA Live '95 for the original Playstation. Imagine a Genesis Live game but with post ups, slower and less arcade game play. Would have been amazing haha. Only NFL GameDay really made a smooth transition to polygon graphics.
You missed EA hockey. It came out the first year as NHL Hockey in 1992. BUT! It had countries, not NHL teams. and you talk about the slow speed of NHL hockey, EA hockey was much faster in terms of skating and shot speed. Great game. Please do a review of it when you find a cartridge
Loved Graves as well! Man, watching Theo Fleury play was like watching the physical embodiment of the Tasmanian Devil from the Looney Tunes on the ice. Dude was SO incredibly gifted.
Great video! NHL All-Star hockey 95 is what I’ve been warming up to. It’s playable, I wouldn’t rank it quite as bad. The players do really seem to move like they’re on a track, and it does feel like a cheap imitation of the EA NHL games. I also found it really hard to score without doing a one timer.
Well thought out rankings. I didn't play all of them, but to this day I still play NHLPA 93 (really nice touch playing that game's theme song during the rank showings), NHL 95 and NHL 97. '95 is definitely my favorite out of those 3 play wise, and NHLPA 93 still holds up really well to this day. What I enjoy about NHL 97 is mostly the music in it lol...awesome main theme and team selection theme. Also, you can create players in '95 which they removed from '97 and I don't understand why, but yeah that was a thing too.
Thanks for watching, and for this excellent comment! You're legit the first person to notice or at least call out the NHLPA theme on the ranking breakdowns. :)
I will say the one game that had the ice rink at an angle was much more visually appealing than the others which were straight on. I did have to laugh when I saw that there was one with a fighting minigame. That was awesome! The other one with the skill challenges did look interesting. I would probably have more fun doing those than playing hockey. Keep up the good work sir.
I love NHL 94 on Genesis but Ice Hockey on 8-Bit NES is still my all-time favorite. While it's not a 100% faithful translation of the sport, it's fast, exciting, and wildly addicting, especially in 2-player mode. Sorry, I realize this is a Genesis discussion but the hockey genre isn't exactly a behemoth.
This is a hockey safe space and ANY discussion on my favorite sport is welcome and endorsed, even when it's divergent from the topic at hand. :) Love Ice Hockey. Absolutely one of my favorites of all time and still the best pure arcade experience in a two player setting. Have you tried Super Blood Hockey on modern consoles? It's very much the descendent of NES Ice Hockey and is a fantastically fun game.
I only ever played the EA sports games as a kid and then my friend lent me Mario Lemieux hockey and got into a fight and loved it. I’m glad you enjoyed it as I was shocked it was low on your first rating. Great video
Mutant League Hockey is criminally underrated and is def the most fun of all the 16-bit hockey games. In terms of traditional hockey games, most people will say NHL 94 (with the Sega CD version in particular), but NHL 95 is my favorite. P.S. If NHL 95 had the fighting that they added in NHL 96, then it'd be perfect.
The only hockey games I have on the Mega Drive (Eurooean here) are NHLPA '93, NHL 95 and NHL 97. Love them all, but I prefer 95 out of these three. I'm always on the lookout for other titles, but hockey is pretty much non-existent in my country so it's very uncommon to see hockey games 'out in the wild'. I saw 'Elitserien 95' on the Mega Drive, which is the Swedish league. Regret passing on it, that would have been an awesome obscure gem to have (I assume it's just a reskin of NHL 95) Thanks for helping me with deciding which ones to keep an eye out for and which ones to pass on. You're not that bad for a Bruins fan 😄 Also, awesome jersey collection. And LET'S GO PENS!
While I can never forgive you for being a Penguins fan, you've brought to my attention the absolutely insane fact that there's a Swedish Elite League game out there, *and I must own it*. The Swedish and Finnish leagues were so influential in the evolution of the NHL back in the 90's. Thanks so much for watching!
@@SquarePegs After a quick Google search it seems that there were only Elitserien 95 and 96 made on the Mega Drive and 2001 PC only. I think I'm officially on the hunt for them now 😄 Also, hope the Bs kick some Long Island butt tonight, I'm still bitter about that first round loss 😂
Mutant league hockey deserves a sequel the way mutant league football got one. As a fan of the dungeons and dragons theme and hockey I think the game would be perfect if there was a create a team and create a player feature similar to NHL hitz franchise mode
The NES version of Hit the Ice is way better, not the best but the concept is interesting. There's a complete version just laying around in the Gigaleak's email attatchments, and it's worth digging up because it is completely unlike the original arcade source.
Oh wow, that looks really interesting! I'll see if I can't track that ROM down and give it a go - thanks for letting me know, and for checking the video out!
I had written a response to this video not realizing you were strictly talking about sega genesis with that being said I agree with everything you said. Also from mass myself, go bruins !!
Great video, great walk down memory lane. I still play many of these games today and love 16 bit hockey! Thanks for sharing this video. NHL 98 gets a DQ from me simply because of the 2 line rule. NHL 95 is amazing, the only setbacks are the season mode has a horrible save glitch and the passing is atrocious. NHL 94 is pound for pound the greatest playing game of hockey of all time when it comes to the multiplayer aspect. It was a proven formula that wouldve only been better if it had a season mode. 93 was great for its time but it was obviously the stepping stone for 94. NHL 97 was horrible end of the day, if it was the only one you played back then, youd love it, but comparatively speaking, it was the most inferior on the ice, due to weak shots and passes and wonky animation, the devs treated 97 like a red headed step child. For me though, whether its nostalgia or playing these games almost 3 decades later, NHL 96 is IMO the best one ever made. The AI is tough on the mid and high difficulty levels compared to any other 16 bit hockey game and thats a good thing, goals arent always so easy to come by and cheap goals are almost non existent, which is also great for longevity. The speed of the game is just right and you still have the ability to set up plays and passes, you just have to be really good at the game and put in the time and if you do that it has the best payoff. NHL 96 is easy to pick up but takes time to master, its gameplay is deep and intertwined with the games movement. As far as the season mode with stat tracking, it is the 16 bit game with the greatest longevity when combined with its other pros, as unlike 95 there is no season breaking save glitch. NHL 96 was the last hoorah, coming from 94 and 95, 96 took the series to its pinnacle and the devs did it without using their resources on 32 bit consoles, 96 had their full attention and it shows still to this day!
I agree with you 96 is my favorite on the Sega Genesis as well To see all post season awards Byng Selke Hart Vezina Stanley Cup team photos Create a player, best fighting mechanics too! Only reason I have 98 is because im a Detroit Red Wings fan an that was the break through year!
Just started watching and love your content! I was saddened that NHL All Star Hockey 95 was in the F tier! Played it all the time as a kid, but was the only hockey game I owned!
The thing of utmost importance in this regard is that this is completely an opinion piece, which doesn't make it any more right or any more valid than your opinion. What you love is important to you, and far be it for me to say that's wrong. :) It's not - it's just different than what I think. Thank you so much for checking the channel out and giving it a shot. I hope I can continue to entertain in some small way and earn your time and views. I appreciate you being here!
Great video, I just picked up Mutant league hockey, it's over the top and comical and fun, from the fights to the coach flipping out about the team's not scoring goals and letting the other team score a lot, I've never been huge for hockey games aside from on NES but mutant league hockey is good, I'll probably try some others on your list too.
Hit The Ice me gusta mucho... (una pena q solo obtuviera una "F") pero admito q es por nostalgia, desconozco el resto de juegos de Hockey 🏒 pero luego de ver este top, intentaré conseguir alguno de los mejores nombrados aquí. Thanks for this video ^^
God… I can’t remember which game it was but I do remember around the early 90s myself and a friend were playing a hockey game on the Genesis and it got to a point where his player got into a fist fight with another player. I think it went into a side view and while he was fighting I was futzing around with my controller. In the background of the fight I saw my player zip past in the direction I was pushing. Suddenly I realized that I could control my player. We then spent the next 30 minutes trying to get to where I or he could interfere with the fight. The tough part was the limited view ya had to quickly and blind for the most part get your player into the right position. All of that in the quick amount of time the fights usually took before they ended. Finally it happened, he got into a fight and I luckily got my guy behind the opponent and I pressed to swing and he did hitting the opponent. I can’t remember what happened next because him and I were losing our minds we did it but most likely both his player and mine were benched in the penalty box. God I wish I could remember what game it was.
I was always a Madden fan, but Joe Montana Sportstalk Football is a true gem of a game that I absolutely love. I'll look into this for a series down the road!
Just watched this vid again. great job. My rankings of EA games: 95 the Peak with season play, trades, create a player, you could play a full season as every team at once, controls are so tight, they changed the angle on ice that is jarring at first compared to the first 3 gams. No fighting 94 is the Populist pick, so much charm, the apex of that game engine with one-timers, but no season mode, trades etc hurt it. First time removed fighting 93 is the Hollywood Darling in Swingers, the blood and fighting, but no onetimers or manual goalie 92 Originator of this wonderful series, 96 Jockjams music as intro! was so pumped but game lost all it's charm from the following 4 iterations. Also could only play as one team in season mode and they had that 2 line pass 97 no jockjams not charm 98 cashgrab for kids who didn't get a ps1. but the mini games were cool. I think this one had special moves you could do like a lindros check with puck.
I put so many hours into Mutant League Football as a youngin'. The best strategy was to just kill all the opposing players and they would lose by lack of substitutions. I wish they made a good modern version of it.
I think NHL 97 and 98 were the first instances (in hockey at least, Madden had these as well) of the "roster update" release, where it's basically the same game as NHL 96 (or even 95 really, which included the season mode) but with updated rosters, for full price. I enjoy them, but I still pull down NHL 95 instead of 96, 97, or 98.
ESPN Hockey Night; I have it, its fun, great game but I REALLY REALLY REALLY wish the camera was zoomed out, like in Mario Lemuix. I LOVE SIDE camera angles.... However... it really bums me that Mario has only a tournament mode, and no cumulative tournament stats. I'm very curious about Gretzky.. any season mode, stats? Good stuff.. btw my alltime EA fav is NHL 97. Love all the record keeping and stats. For sideway cam, my goto is ESPN but look an Gretzky or Mario for now. BTW.. one thing I like about ESPN; one-timers are not so easy, like in many others.
I had no idea that Mario Lemieux game for early Sega Genesis was so good. I vaguely remember playing it maybe around...1992. But by then I was enthralled with EA and probably didn't give it a fair shake. Then it just kind of faded from my memory bank. But watching the gameplay you posted here it was pretty darn good. I remember what Ulf did too and that injury led to a degenerative condition I believe where Cam could only play maybe every other game. But whenever he played he scored. 1994...scored 50 in less than 50 games. Sadly he was on borrowed time in terms of his career.
NHL 96, NHL 94, NHL 98... but SNES are my reference, BUT I will take a look since I'm getting the games on GENESIS !!! Will get back on here Super Blood Hockey is now in my top 5
I didn’t like the Mario game because of the penalties for fighting made no sense, I’m still trying to figure out what they were thinking with losing fighter gets a 3 minute penalty and then you had another fight and other side got a penalty, then a goal scored with 2 guys in box and a guy got out ? This doesn’t happen in hockey , it’s crazy. I love the old nhl games, what changed with me was in 94 one timers were introduced and that ability to preload made the action and control perfect and then in 95 they added more then sadly from 96 they lost it . I have 97 and 98 on Saturn and ps1 but controller of choice was Saturn and I loved 97 and 98 on Saturn when I was younger over ps1 but I have grown to learn that it was just a better series to play on ps1. Playing 1 game of a series and comparing I get what you are saying with speed, I think you need to play about 5-10 games to adapt and adjust to the speed. My scores would be close to yours but not exactly the same opinions on a lot of these, historically and game play wise
You are correct! Thanks for letting me know - I'll make sure to add it to the 'I screwed up and forgot these games' ranking video that I'm doing in a couple months. :)
Thank you so very much! I'll definitely get around to doing a Football one eventually. I think Baseball is next on the list just because opening day is supposedly happening soon (hooray lockouts!) - so look for Football towards the start of the season in September. :)
NHL 94 is my favorite hockey game from this era which probably makes it my favorite hockey game of all time because of the roster. I still love modern hockey but the guys just aren't as cool as guys like Cam Neely, Adam Oates and Ray Bourque. I really wish there were 1970s NHL games because that would be awesome if you could play as Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito, Derek Sanderson (my favorite), Terry O'Reilly, Stan Jonathan and so many more guys from back then that I could list off the top of my head. My only problems with NHL 94 are that my team's goaltender is always a complete idiot that lets in almost every shot whereas the other team's goaltender is always Ken Dryden in 1971 and I have to turn offsides off or my teammates will almost always skate like madmen so they can cross the blue line half a second before I do. Also, what evil spirit possessed you and made you play as the Canadiens? And yeah, I hate the Penguins too. They're my second least favorite hockey team. They've always been full of pansy little crybabies like Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby and scumbags that take cheap shots like Ulf Samuelsson and Brooks Orpik. They're an affront to the greatest sport in the world. I hate the Penguins so much.
I really feel like I've found a person who just gets me based on your comments, Jim. If you're looking for an old school hockey game, while it won't give you the players you're looking for (and really, I don't think we have the processing power to create the buzzsaw excellence that is Terry O'Reilly in digital form), check out Bush Hockey League - I know it's on the Switch, and it might be on other platforms as well. It's a 70's set game with made up teams, but the gameplay is really solid and reminded me a lot of '94 and '95.
Not a Genesis game and not incredibly authentic, but the game play on NES Ice Hockey is actually legit incredible to this day. It's aged better than most 16 bit sports games. Talking just "Ice Hockey" not Blades of Steel which I think has not aged well.
Have your ever played the European version of the original NHL Hockey on a Genesis. It's PAL optimized so it plays 20% faster on a NTSC console. My main gripe with that is actually the fighting (which everyone seems to love for some reason), it seems two fights (or more) break out every minute.
I haven't! It's definitely one of my grails to find - we sadly get so few PAL release games appearing over here that it's kind of a pipe dream. But I've got a Europe trip planned next year to Ireland and the UK, so hopefully I can get lucky and find one! :)
If you could pick, which sport would you want to see done? I'm thinking about doing a Basketball on the Genesis video for the start of the new season in October, but I'd love to hear what people would want to see! Thanks for watching!
Well, I have to admit that I don't disagree with a lot on this tier list. I feel like the NHL series from 1996 to 1998 became interchangeable and really lacked a lot of sound ground improvement i.e. from NHL93 to NHL94 and from NHL94 to NHL95 when EA cared enough about the 16-bit games on both SNES and Genesis. One of my hidden gems was the ESPN National Hockey Night and you're right, it had no right to be as good as it was with the ESPN branding on it. My favorite thing about the game was the ability to flatten everyone, from the opposing winger, defenseman, and goalie to your own teammates lol. Fun stuff, and a fantastic video of the best sport and the games that graced the Genesis. BTW, a little interesting tidbit, "Mario Lemeiux Hockey" was entirely renamed as "Super Slapshot" on the SNES. I remember seeing the game known as Mario Hockey on Genesis and thinking this one looked similar to it, except in "Super Slapshot" you got to play as international and vague city named teams. Have to tell you, nothing better than working Team Egypt to a win over the mighty Team Canada! 😂😂🤣🤣
I think nhl 95 got everything just right with game play. It was a little bit better than 94 with graphics and speed only thing the game lacked was a big one fighting was taken out..kinda ruined an otherwise perfect game
Idk about 97 but on 98 you can in the options change the game speed. My favorite is 95, cause it has the season mode finally. Although I concede 94 has the best gameplay.
"Mikey make his head bleed. Mikey! Mikey make his head bleed!" -Swingers
It's taken TWO YEARS to get this comment. You win the day, Second Stage.
@@SquarePegs glad to have been of help! One of my favorite movies!
Well that's not the quote. Trent and Sue were playing, Mike couldn't make anyone's head bleed.
"There it is, Mikey, check it out! His head's bleeding. Mikey, check it out, his legs, little Wayne's legs are shaking all over the place."
- guy who's seen Swingers 100 times
NHLPA 93 didn’t get a fair slice here.
When you played playoffs, during your intermissions you would get to watch highlights from the other games. Some of them were really exciting.
It was one of the few games that had blood for injuries. It also had glass breaking from slap shots.
You’d actually get a Stanley Cup celebration in your season/playoffs.
It was the best one.
@94champs Same here friend! As a kid my father had both NHL Hockey 91 and NHLPA 93 for Sega Genesis. I liked NHLPA 93 the most for the reasons you and I both said - features and gameplay was absolutely superior. But the original ‘91 game had the team logos and the music was awesome!! Sometimes I would just plug in ‘91 to hear the theme song and then switch to 93 to actually play 😂 good times.
Aside from the nes hockey games. NHLPA 93 was the first 16 bit hockey game I owned and the theme song is still in my head
NHL 93 still led to one of the funniest scenes in the flick Swingers, "I'm gonna make Gretzky's head bleed for super fan 99 over here."
+1,000,000 style points for the Swingers reference. You are so money, and you don't even know it.
Sega is my childhood. Nhl by ea is the reason I bought sega back in 91
NHLPA 93 is my fav on sega mega drive spent many a hour playing it I still play it to this day classic
Same here... and definitely not slow and clunky like the next few games... it was fast, HUGE hits and just all around chaos! haha
Mutant League Hockey felt good to play, and the setting and quirky humor put it over the top. Most importantly, you just wanted to play it and play it some more.
Let's go Pens
I agree with everything here except that last sentence. 😉
@@SquarePegs well, congrats to Geno becoming #2 on the list of Russian-born goal scorers last night, passing Federov, who was an absolute beast of a player.
My personal favorite is NHLPA 93
Nice and I Love How U Can Make a Guys Head Bleed in The Game!
I used to tell myself nhlpa 93 was better than nhl 94. Realistically though, not having one timers in 93 is, a huge bummer. Once I got used to 94 and 95, i never could go back to 93.
S: NHL 94, NHL 95,
A: NHL 96, NHL 97, NHL 98
Wayne Gretzky game looks good, I need to try it.
Breakfasts come and go, Jay, but Hartford, "the Whale," they only beat Vancouver once, maybe twice in a lifetime.
I will forever upvote a Brodie Bruce quote.
@@SquarePegs Damn Right Steve-Dave!
NHL Hockey , NHLPA 93 and NHL 94 are the three best hockey games ever made! If NHL 94 ever had a season mode , it could be the best sports game ever created. Those games just felt right plus loved the highlights from other games. The same went for the Madden’s 92 and 93 which in my opinion are the best football games developed. It is a shame that neither NHL 94 or early Maddens had season modes.
I'm actually kinda glad they DIDN'T have season mode - I spent enough time on that as it was! I'd have never stopped playing!
Thanks so much for checking the video out!
Joe Montanas 94 was a real fun one too. It’s been like 25 years but I believe it had a season mode.
NHL94 would have been better with fighting which IIRC 93 had but the NHL vetoed in the 94 game. Agree re Madden92, I still play that.
Joe Montana def had a season mode, which was fascinating at the time. I just didn't think it was as playable as Madden was
@@southbeachtalent I barely remember the season mode. Probably because it couldn't actually save anything, was it just a code to enter? What I do remember though is while the game was OK I couldn't help but constantly be thinking hey this game is just like Madden except Madden is a little better in almost everything which made Montana not really useful.
Nice video! Love playing some Hockey games on the Genesis! Mutant League Hockey for me or NHL 94.
So, thing about ESPN National Hockey Night that I don't know if too many have picked up on, a company called Park Place Productions was the subcontractor for EA producing and programming the original NHL and NHLPA '93 (as well as the first 2-3 Genesis Madden games, presumably after their ABC Monday Night Football computer game impressed EA in comparison with their OG computer Madden). After EA sniped I think at least one or two of Park Place's programmers after Madden/NHL were a huge success, Park Place split with EA but reportedly got to retain rights to their sports games' source code, and they wound up producing ESPN National Hockey Night for Sony Imagesoft after NHLPA '93.
There's even a mode where you can flip from the horizontal Blades of Steel-style camera to a vertical EA NHL-style overhead camera (and you can even switch out camera styles between periods of the same game). I'm no Genesis hockey expert, but the feel especially in overhead mode seems similar to me on ESPN to at least the early NHL games, the player sprites are just bigger than they are in the NHL series, so the camera is "zoomed in" versus EA and you can kind of feel like you're not seeing enough at once.
As I understand it, once Park Place, fresh from their EA success, started doing a lot of contract work and WAY overextended themselves, the company started to implode and Sony hired away a lot of their staff to work on sports games, some of whom would wind up working on the NHL Faceoff series on PS1 (which personally, I had a pretty great time with). So ESPN National Hockey Night is this interesting transitional middle ground between the the early Genesis NHL games and the PS1 NHL Faceoff games.
I always felt that '94 and '96 were the two best of the NHL franchise. I would have them as S tier with '95 at A. Great video!
Agreed. 94 set the foundation and IMO 96 perfected it.
nhl 96 on snes with the spinorama shoulder buttons and insanely fast clock speed is almost unplayable to me after nhl94
You should play the NHL 2001 for the GBA, it's a port of NHL 96 for the SNES (with updated rosters of course). Only it plays about four times faster than 96.
I picked up NHL '95 earlier today for $10.00. Other than Blades of Steel on NES, NHLPA Hockey '93 was my first into Electronic Arts Hockey game's. I actually recommend NHL 2002 on Game Boy Advance
Trades!!! Create a.player nhl 95 was flawless for a kid
NHL ‘02 on the GBA is exceptional!
Try NHL Hitz 20-03 on the GBA. Crazy fun
1. Mutant League Hockey
2. NHL 94
3. NHL 96
4. Wayne Gretzky and the NHLPA All-Stars
5. Mario Lemieux Hockey
IMO, no reason to play any other hockey game on the Genesis.
Solid list!
That’s funny, the Penguins are my favorite team. And I loved using them in NHL ‘94, which is my favorite team sports game of all time. I still play it to this day. The combination of Mario Lemieux & Jaromir Jagr is to this day my favorite in any hockey game. Great video!
Jagr is my all time favorite player, so my dislike of the Pens is begrudging at best. :) Thanks for watching!!
@@SquarePegs Yeah, I just discovered your channel last night and was binge watching a bunch of your videos. Great stuff! Also, he’s my favorite player of all time too. I guess he did land on your favorite team for a short stint. He played for so many teams after he left the Pens.
hit the ice on the SNES was awesome. used to be one of my fav sports games to play back in the day, me and buddies would have a blast playing against each other.
Can't remember if it was NHL '96 or "97 that let you input a TON of letters for your customized character name, but that's what I really enjoyed-- and of course, they were dirty names. But they put me in stitches when a big marquee would show them as PLAYERS OF THE GAME for the entire arena to see. And also, one-timers were crazy fun. My brother and I lived for them.
Can't put a price or a ranking grade on memories like that. :) Thanks for sharing those memories!
@@SquarePegs You bet!
Mario lemieux Hockey was a by far and away my best hockey game on sega that I have ever played. As u said the faceoff is the best ever and the controls are on point. The gameplay is fun and accurate and the difficulty levels challenging as u improve which always brought me back to playing it again and again. Underrated this game for sure. Loved your reviews and really glad that u bumped it up to an A rating.
Thank you, Titus!
@@SquarePegs I’m Remember Playing That Game Back in The Day and I Plan To Get That Game For My Mini Sega Someday!
I always had the most fun with the Mario Lemiux Hockey game growing up. I always played with my dad. So many memories with it. Still play it today. 25 yrs later.
I do actually remember playing Hit the Ice in the arcades and it was much better than it looks on the Genesis
I spent countless hours playing NHL 95 with my Japanese counterparts guarding a forlorn ordnance compound in Southern Japan. I remember specifically appreciating the speed pickup from 94 at the time, but now I agree with you so I do think player age might be a factor when comparing these two (18yr old me loved the speed .... you can't go back all the way).
I'm very much the same! I remember loving it when I was younger, but now it's something where it just feels a bit off. Still an absolutely spectacular game!
I've been playin EA's NHL '21 career mode and franchise. Yeah I know they have newer ones but until they fix some issues I won't buy new ones. In the career mode you HAVE to pick 2 positions and you play your second choice for at least a full year. Second, you can't see your full roster or any other teams. You get no notices of league info like trades, which I don't think even happen or injuries. It's just so annoyingly basic for a game in 2021. I played these games on this list but spent more time trying to hit folks than score goals, they were really fun so thanks for bringing back some memories.
The best reviews for games especially when it comes to sports is getting the review from someone who truly loves that particular sport! I’m not a true hockey fan I only played nhl 1995 and 1996 but your reviews allowed me to make a good choice to play some retro hockey games mutant league and Mario lemieux is the choices for me
Thank you so much for those kind words! And those two games will do you just fine - Mutant League is a masterpiece, and Mario Lemieux is an honest to god surprise of quality!
You ranked NHL 96-97-98 all different rankings. They are the exact same games with maybe the signature moves that are in 97 & 98. Gameplay wise it's totally the same game.
Either way, that's how I felt when I played them.
@@SquarePegs Yeah back then when you couldn't look up TH-cam vids & hoping the games were good. I pretty much like all of the nhl games on the Genesis.
Great video!!!! I love the NHL series on the Genesis, with NHLPA 93 and NHL 94 being my favorites. I also really like Wayne Gretzky and the NHLPA All-Stars!!
You, sir, have impeccable taste in games! :) Thanks so much for checking the video out!
@@SquarePegswhere is tecmo hockey
@@thinkingwisedawg2508 Eh, I forgot it. 🤷♂️ It happens.
@@SquarePegs it's cool
NHL All-Star Hockey 95 does have one-timers. I wouldn't rank it as bad as you did as well. It's probably a C- for me. Also neat little trick - if you take any left-handed shooter that has a decent shot to the center ice area right up against the player boards to the right and take a shot... it will ALWAYS go in, bouncing off the back boards and hitting the goalie and in.
Good to know! I'll take another look at it - thanks for checking the video out, I appreciate it!
The game looks bad. Only slap shots? LOL, cmon dog.
@@thediesel387 Dude the game is from nearly 30 years ago. Not sure why the lack of a wrist shot would bring that much more depth to a top down hockey game. Like I said: C- rating for me, especially for that time. It's below average still.
NHLPA '93 & the NHL Series of games are the reason I am a rabid hockey fan to this day. I was at a party and my best friend enticed me to play with him. "I know nothing about hockey", I said. "Don't worry", he said. I'll give you the best team in the game. The best team that year?...the one that had Mario & Jaromir!
Still a rabid PENGUINS fan! Go Pens! 🐧
I'm by no means a Pens fan. I'll never forgive Samuelsson for ending Cam Neely's career early. But Jagr?
I had a Jagr poster on my wall as a kid. One of my absolute favorite hockey memories is him suiting up for the Bruins as a playoff rental in 2012-13.
Thank you so much for watching!
Wish the Sega CD version of NHL 94 was in here! I found it to be even better then the Cart Version! :)
I've honestly never played it, but I need to correct that immeditely! Thank you for letting me know of its existence!!
@@SquarePegs Adds in a bit of multimedia, and stuff being the early CD days. (also think the gameplay my have a crowd mechanic added in... )
Your initial rankings were much better. I hold the exact opposite view on the Genesis NHL games.
I loved '95 and '96 as a kid, but I think they're completely unplayable in 2022. The gameplay is comically fast, I greatly prefer the pace of NHLPA '93, which is the best in the series, but I understand why anyone prefer '94.
@94champs Absolutely. '94 is a masterpiece, and I understand why anyone ranks it number one. '92 is the most underrated in the series, and the third best of the Genesis era. NHL 96-98 are so damn fast that you have to play '98 on the slow speed setting for it to be even playable. It's the only NHL genesis game in the series with a speed setting.
NHL '95 is definitely better than '96, but it plays way too damn fast, and I think it aged terribly and it ultimately ruined the classic series imo. I don't understand why EA didn't take NHL '94's gameplay and just nerfed the one timers and the hot spots where slap shots usually go in, and then added a season mode and maybe some classic teams.
In the 90's EA was almost too ambitious. Madden '95 ruined the amazing '94 by adding an entire new engine. It's so funny how much EA has changed throughout the years.
@94champs I was a dumb little kid back then so I liked 95 & 96 at the time, but now I'm just like...ugh.
I dream for a time in the late 90's where EA didn't worry about polygons and made a more sim like NHL '94 and NBA Live '95 for the original Playstation. Imagine a Genesis Live game but with post ups, slower and less arcade game play. Would have been amazing haha.
Only NFL GameDay really made a smooth transition to polygon graphics.
Hit the ice was cool in the arcade
I wish what we'd gotten on home consoles was 1/3 as much fun as the arcade version.
I'm curious if any other GOOD hockey games came out on SNES that didn't make it to Sega Genesis
Still have my NHL 96 sega copy. I loved how fast it was as a kid. It was kid crack for me in the 90's.
dope video, outside of sega genesis I think 2 on 2 NHL Open Ice & NHL Hitz 2002 are my favorites
Hitz 2002 is legit, great choice!
Love the nhl series! NHL 94 to me and nostalgic its 92❤️
Mutant League hockey and football are both so awesome!
You can put the speed in 98 to low. Way better
I'll try that out!!
You missed EA hockey. It came out the first year as NHL Hockey in 1992. BUT! It had countries, not NHL teams. and you talk about the slow speed of NHL hockey, EA hockey was much faster in terms of skating and shot speed. Great game. Please do a review of it when you find a cartridge
I'll keep an eye out when I'm at my next gaming expo! Thanks for the heads up!
Man! I was also a HUGE Cam Neely fan back in the day!! Him and Adam Graves of the Rangers were my favorite players. (And Theo Fleury.)
Loved Graves as well! Man, watching Theo Fleury play was like watching the physical embodiment of the Tasmanian Devil from the Looney Tunes on the ice. Dude was SO incredibly gifted.
Great video! NHL All-Star hockey 95 is what I’ve been warming up to. It’s playable, I wouldn’t rank it quite as bad. The players do really seem to move like they’re on a track, and it does feel like a cheap imitation of the EA NHL games. I also found it really hard to score without doing a one timer.
Thanks so much, Charlie! I appreciate you watching!
If you pass the puck at the net in NHL All-Star hockey 95, it can be effective as an alternative to the slap shot.
NHLPA '93 best hockey game ever. Period. 😏
Your first ranking is very decent although I’d probably rank 97 over 95 but 95 has that fantastic score at the menu screen and in-between periods.
I appreciate you watching!
Well thought out rankings. I didn't play all of them, but to this day I still play NHLPA 93 (really nice touch playing that game's theme song during the rank showings), NHL 95 and NHL 97. '95 is definitely my favorite out of those 3 play wise, and NHLPA 93 still holds up really well to this day. What I enjoy about NHL 97 is mostly the music in it lol...awesome main theme and team selection theme. Also, you can create players in '95 which they removed from '97 and I don't understand why, but yeah that was a thing too.
Thanks for watching, and for this excellent comment! You're legit the first person to notice or at least call out the NHLPA theme on the ranking breakdowns. :)
@@SquarePegs hahaha dude no way! Love that game's music as well as NHL 97's. I have them both in a playlist that plays various game themes
I will say the one game that had the ice rink at an angle was much more visually appealing than the others which were straight on. I did have to laugh when I saw that there was one with a fighting minigame. That was awesome! The other one with the skill challenges did look interesting. I would probably have more fun doing those than playing hockey. Keep up the good work sir.
I’m sure 97 had the Skills as well.
NHL 94,95,96, and Mutant League Hockey are some of the best hockey games ever made. Some other really fun hockey games were the Gretzkey's for N64.
Mutant league hockey is the holy grail of a sega hockey game. Loved playing this game with my cousin and also nhl 94 both very much great memories :)
I love NHL 94 on Genesis but Ice Hockey on 8-Bit NES is still my all-time favorite. While it's not a 100% faithful translation of the sport, it's fast, exciting, and wildly addicting, especially in 2-player mode. Sorry, I realize this is a Genesis discussion but the hockey genre isn't exactly a behemoth.
This is a hockey safe space and ANY discussion on my favorite sport is welcome and endorsed, even when it's divergent from the topic at hand. :)
Love Ice Hockey. Absolutely one of my favorites of all time and still the best pure arcade experience in a two player setting. Have you tried Super Blood Hockey on modern consoles? It's very much the descendent of NES Ice Hockey and is a fantastically fun game.
Really enjoyed this video. Well done.
Its still thinking 🌀
NHL '96 for Genesis is the best 16 bit hockey game.
I have strong opinions about this, and while I personally disagree, it's not because '96 is a bad game. :)
Here in QC, NHL 94 on Sega Genesis was the killer app. Anyone had a Genesis had the game.
I only ever played the EA sports games as a kid and then my friend lent me Mario Lemieux hockey and got into a fight and loved it. I’m glad you enjoyed it as I was shocked it was low on your first rating. Great video
You hated Mario Lemieux for the same reason us 80's-90's Knicks fans hated Michael Jordan.
Yes sir. I can attest to that.
For me:
1. NHL 94
2. Mario Lemieux
3. Mutant League
Great vid!
Mutant League Hockey is criminally underrated and is def the most fun of all the 16-bit hockey games. In terms of traditional hockey games, most people will say NHL 94 (with the Sega CD version in particular), but NHL 95 is my favorite.
P.S. If NHL 95 had the fighting that they added in NHL 96, then it'd be perfect.
Thanks for watching, Marc!
The only hockey games I have on the Mega Drive (Eurooean here) are NHLPA '93, NHL 95 and NHL 97. Love them all, but I prefer 95 out of these three. I'm always on the lookout for other titles, but hockey is pretty much non-existent in my country so it's very uncommon to see hockey games 'out in the wild'. I saw 'Elitserien 95' on the Mega Drive, which is the Swedish league. Regret passing on it, that would have been an awesome obscure gem to have (I assume it's just a reskin of NHL 95)
Thanks for helping me with deciding which ones to keep an eye out for and which ones to pass on. You're not that bad for a Bruins fan 😄
Also, awesome jersey collection. And LET'S GO PENS!
While I can never forgive you for being a Penguins fan, you've brought to my attention the absolutely insane fact that there's a Swedish Elite League game out there, *and I must own it*. The Swedish and Finnish leagues were so influential in the evolution of the NHL back in the 90's.
Thanks so much for watching!
@@SquarePegs After a quick Google search it seems that there were only Elitserien 95 and 96 made on the Mega Drive and 2001 PC only. I think I'm officially on the hunt for them now 😄
Also, hope the Bs kick some Long Island butt tonight, I'm still bitter about that first round loss 😂
I love how back in the day the guy who loses the fight gets the penalty.
Mutant league hockey deserves a sequel the way mutant league football got one. As a fan of the dungeons and dragons theme and hockey I think the game would be perfect if there was a create a team and create a player feature similar to NHL hitz franchise mode
Jersey changes were amazing btw
Thanks, Chief! :)
The NES version of Hit the Ice is way better, not the best but the concept is interesting. There's a complete version just laying around in the Gigaleak's email attatchments, and it's worth digging up because it is completely unlike the original arcade source.
Oh wow, that looks really interesting! I'll see if I can't track that ROM down and give it a go - thanks for letting me know, and for checking the video out!
I had written a response to this video not realizing you were strictly talking about sega genesis with that being said I agree with everything you said. Also from mass myself, go bruins !!
Go Bruins!! Hoping St. Patrice is back and we can put a solid team around him!
I liked the comment about NHL 93, I hate it when something doesn’t pull it off all the way. I get grumpy all day then
I wish there were field hockey games too, as that sport is a lot more popular here.
Great video, great walk down memory lane. I still play many of these games today and love 16 bit hockey! Thanks for sharing this video.
NHL 98 gets a DQ from me simply because of the 2 line rule. NHL 95 is amazing, the only setbacks are the season mode has a horrible save glitch and the passing is atrocious. NHL 94 is pound for pound the greatest playing game of hockey of all time when it comes to the multiplayer aspect. It was a proven formula that wouldve only been better if it had a season mode. 93 was great for its time but it was obviously the stepping stone for 94. NHL 97 was horrible end of the day, if it was the only one you played back then, youd love it, but comparatively speaking, it was the most inferior on the ice, due to weak shots and passes and wonky animation, the devs treated 97 like a red headed step child.
For me though, whether its nostalgia or playing these games almost 3 decades later, NHL 96 is IMO the best one ever made. The AI is tough on the mid and high difficulty levels compared to any other 16 bit hockey game and thats a good thing, goals arent always so easy to come by and cheap goals are almost non existent, which is also great for longevity. The speed of the game is just right and you still have the ability to set up plays and passes, you just have to be really good at the game and put in the time and if you do that it has the best payoff. NHL 96 is easy to pick up but takes time to master, its gameplay is deep and intertwined with the games movement. As far as the season mode with stat tracking, it is the 16 bit game with the greatest longevity when combined with its other pros, as unlike 95 there is no season breaking save glitch. NHL 96 was the last hoorah, coming from 94 and 95, 96 took the series to its pinnacle and the devs did it without using their resources on 32 bit consoles, 96 had their full attention and it shows still to this day!
I agree with you 96 is my favorite on the Sega Genesis as well
To see all post season awards
Byng Selke Hart Vezina Stanley Cup team photos
Create a player, best fighting mechanics too!
Only reason I have 98 is because im a Detroit Red Wings fan an that was the break through year!
Just started watching and love your content! I was saddened that NHL All Star Hockey 95 was in the F tier! Played it all the time as a kid, but was the only hockey game I owned!
The thing of utmost importance in this regard is that this is completely an opinion piece, which doesn't make it any more right or any more valid than your opinion. What you love is important to you, and far be it for me to say that's wrong. :) It's not - it's just different than what I think.
Thank you so much for checking the channel out and giving it a shot. I hope I can continue to entertain in some small way and earn your time and views. I appreciate you being here!
Great video, I just picked up Mutant league hockey, it's over the top and comical and fun, from the fights to the coach flipping out about the team's not scoring goals and letting the other team score a lot, I've never been huge for hockey games aside from on NES but mutant league hockey is good, I'll probably try some others on your list too.
Hit The Ice me gusta mucho... (una pena q solo obtuviera una "F") pero admito q es por nostalgia, desconozco el resto de juegos de Hockey 🏒 pero luego de ver este top, intentaré conseguir alguno de los mejores nombrados aquí.
Thanks for this video ^^
God… I can’t remember which game it was but I do remember around the early 90s myself and a friend were playing a hockey game on the Genesis and it got to a point where his player got into a fist fight with another player. I think it went into a side view and while he was fighting I was futzing around with my controller. In the background of the fight I saw my player zip past in the direction I was pushing. Suddenly I realized that I could control my player.
We then spent the next 30 minutes trying to get to where I or he could interfere with the fight. The tough part was the limited view ya had to quickly and blind for the most part get your player into the right position. All of that in the quick amount of time the fights usually took before they ended. Finally it happened, he got into a fight and I luckily got my guy behind the opponent and I pressed to swing and he did hitting the opponent. I can’t remember what happened next because him and I were losing our minds we did it but most likely both his player and mine were benched in the penalty box.
God I wish I could remember what game it was.
Ooooh...I need to do research. At first though, I believe that's Mario Lemieux Hockey, but I could be crossing that with another game.
A football list for the Genesis would be cool. Madden is what everyone talks about but back in the day I preferred the Sega football games over EA's.
I was always a Madden fan, but Joe Montana Sportstalk Football is a true gem of a game that I absolutely love. I'll look into this for a series down the road!
Just watched this vid again. great job.
My rankings of EA games:
95 the Peak with season play, trades, create a player, you could play a full season as every team at once, controls are so tight, they changed the angle on ice that is jarring at first compared to the first 3 gams. No fighting
94 is the Populist pick, so much charm, the apex of that game engine with one-timers, but no season mode, trades etc hurt it. First time removed fighting
93 is the Hollywood Darling in Swingers, the blood and fighting, but no onetimers or manual goalie
92 Originator of this wonderful series,
96 Jockjams music as intro! was so pumped but game lost all it's charm from the following 4 iterations. Also could only play as one team in season mode and they had that 2 line pass
97 no jockjams not charm
98 cashgrab for kids who didn't get a ps1. but the mini games were cool. I think this one had special moves you could do like a lindros check with puck.
I put so many hours into Mutant League Football as a youngin'. The best strategy was to just kill all the opposing players and they would lose by lack of substitutions. I wish they made a good modern version of it.
NHL 95 really made you work to fool the goaltender. The forehand or backhand dekes physics were spot on. I agree, it was just a little too fast.
Nhlpa 93 is the best
One of the first 32-bit versions of hockey I played was Power Play Hockey on the Sega Saturn. Maybe rank the 32-bit hockey games next?
I think NHL 97 and 98 were the first instances (in hockey at least, Madden had these as well) of the "roster update" release, where it's basically the same game as NHL 96 (or even 95 really, which included the season mode) but with updated rosters, for full price. I enjoy them, but I still pull down NHL 95 instead of 96, 97, or 98.
The gameplay and balance of NHL95 is the best, superior even to NHL94.
A lot of people lean that way! I personally prefer 94, but I can totally see why folks would prefer 95. Thanks for watching!
My brother and I thought the same thing growing up. 95 is our preference
I loved starting fights
ngl I played Hit The Ice for months, seemed like an awesome game back in the day
ESPN National Hockey Night reminded me of Tecmo Super Hockey which was an OK game. Bit harder to score in that one
Tecmo Super Hockey?
Yup, completely missed it.
ESPN Hockey Night; I have it, its fun, great game but I REALLY REALLY REALLY wish the camera was zoomed out, like in Mario Lemuix. I LOVE SIDE camera angles.... However... it really bums me that Mario has only a tournament mode, and no cumulative tournament stats. I'm very curious about Gretzky.. any season mode, stats? Good stuff.. btw my alltime EA fav is NHL 97. Love all the record keeping and stats. For sideway cam, my goto is ESPN but look an Gretzky or Mario for now. BTW.. one thing I like about ESPN; one-timers are not so easy, like in many others.
I had no idea that Mario Lemieux game for early Sega Genesis was so good. I vaguely remember playing it maybe around...1992. But by then I was enthralled with EA and probably didn't give it a fair shake. Then it just kind of faded from my memory bank. But watching the gameplay you posted here it was pretty darn good.
I remember what Ulf did too and that injury led to a degenerative condition I believe where Cam could only play maybe every other game. But whenever he played he scored. 1994...scored 50 in less than 50 games. Sadly he was on borrowed time in terms of his career.
I was legit shocked at how much fun it was. Fully expected it to be a complete dud.
Hit the Ice was a blast on arcade. Home ports, not so much.
I think we just became best friends. Dead on!!!!!!! Nice job
NHL 96, NHL 94, NHL 98... but SNES
are my reference, BUT I will take a look since I'm getting the games on GENESIS !!! Will get back on here
Super Blood Hockey is now in my top 5
I didn’t like the Mario game because of the penalties for fighting made no sense, I’m still trying to figure out what they were thinking with losing fighter gets a 3 minute penalty and then you had another fight and other side got a penalty, then a goal scored with 2 guys in box and a guy got out ? This doesn’t happen in hockey , it’s crazy. I love the old nhl games, what changed with me was in 94 one timers were introduced and that ability to preload made the action and control perfect and then in 95 they added more then sadly from 96 they lost it . I have 97 and 98 on Saturn and ps1 but controller of choice was Saturn and I loved 97 and 98 on Saturn when I was younger over ps1 but I have grown to learn that it was just a better series to play on ps1. Playing 1 game of a series and comparing I get what you are saying with speed, I think you need to play about 5-10 games to adapt and adjust to the speed. My scores would be close to yours but not exactly the same opinions on a lot of these, historically and game play wise
You forgot tecmo super hockey
You are correct! Thanks for letting me know - I'll make sure to add it to the 'I screwed up and forgot these games' ranking video that I'm doing in a couple months. :)
Your rank vids are great man! If you would do the football games that would be fantastic!
Thank you so very much! I'll definitely get around to doing a Football one eventually. I think Baseball is next on the list just because opening day is supposedly happening soon (hooray lockouts!) - so look for Football towards the start of the season in September. :)
@@SquarePegs Since U Plan To Make a Football Sega Video in September Which NFL Team is Your Favorite? My Favorite NFL Team is The Philadelphia Eagles!
NHL 94 is my favorite hockey game from this era which probably makes it my favorite hockey game of all time because of the roster. I still love modern hockey but the guys just aren't as cool as guys like Cam Neely, Adam Oates and Ray Bourque. I really wish there were 1970s NHL games because that would be awesome if you could play as Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito, Derek Sanderson (my favorite), Terry O'Reilly, Stan Jonathan and so many more guys from back then that I could list off the top of my head. My only problems with NHL 94 are that my team's goaltender is always a complete idiot that lets in almost every shot whereas the other team's goaltender is always Ken Dryden in 1971 and I have to turn offsides off or my teammates will almost always skate like madmen so they can cross the blue line half a second before I do. Also, what evil spirit possessed you and made you play as the Canadiens?
And yeah, I hate the Penguins too. They're my second least favorite hockey team. They've always been full of pansy little crybabies like Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby and scumbags that take cheap shots like Ulf Samuelsson and Brooks Orpik. They're an affront to the greatest sport in the world. I hate the Penguins so much.
I really feel like I've found a person who just gets me based on your comments, Jim. If you're looking for an old school hockey game, while it won't give you the players you're looking for (and really, I don't think we have the processing power to create the buzzsaw excellence that is Terry O'Reilly in digital form), check out Bush Hockey League - I know it's on the Switch, and it might be on other platforms as well. It's a 70's set game with made up teams, but the gameplay is really solid and reminded me a lot of '94 and '95.
NHL 96 (EA Sports) BEST EVER 🔥🔥🔥
Still playing in 2021 🤘😎
For Some Reason That Game Does Not Work on My Mini Sega!
Not a Genesis game and not incredibly authentic, but the game play on NES Ice Hockey is actually legit incredible to this day. It's aged better than most 16 bit sports games. Talking just "Ice Hockey" not Blades of Steel which I think has not aged well.
Have your ever played the European version of the original NHL Hockey on a Genesis. It's PAL optimized so it plays 20% faster on a NTSC console. My main gripe with that is actually the fighting (which everyone seems to love for some reason), it seems two fights (or more) break out every minute.
I haven't! It's definitely one of my grails to find - we sadly get so few PAL release games appearing over here that it's kind of a pipe dream. But I've got a Europe trip planned next year to Ireland and the UK, so hopefully I can get lucky and find one! :)
This is so good! Now I'm hoping you do the same for other sports! : D
If you could pick, which sport would you want to see done? I'm thinking about doing a Basketball on the Genesis video for the start of the new season in October, but I'd love to hear what people would want to see! Thanks for watching!
@@SquarePegs Basketball would be excellent! There was no clear best until NBA Jam and NBA Live were released.
Well, I have to admit that I don't disagree with a lot on this tier list. I feel like the NHL series from 1996 to 1998 became interchangeable and really lacked a lot of sound ground improvement i.e. from NHL93 to NHL94 and from NHL94 to NHL95 when EA cared enough about the 16-bit games on both SNES and Genesis.
One of my hidden gems was the ESPN National Hockey Night and you're right, it had no right to be as good as it was with the ESPN branding on it. My favorite thing about the game was the ability to flatten everyone, from the opposing winger, defenseman, and goalie to your own teammates lol. Fun stuff, and a fantastic video of the best sport and the games that graced the Genesis.
BTW, a little interesting tidbit, "Mario Lemeiux Hockey" was entirely renamed as "Super Slapshot" on the SNES. I remember seeing the game known as Mario Hockey on Genesis and thinking this one looked similar to it, except in "Super Slapshot" you got to play as international and vague city named teams. Have to tell you, nothing better than working Team Egypt to a win over the mighty Team Canada! 😂😂🤣🤣
Hey, thank you so much for watching! I'm officially adding Super Slapshot to the wishlist - Team Egypt FTW! 🤣
@@SquarePegs Have you done a hockey games on the SNES video and I just missed it? If not that would be awesome!
@RE-vy4wn I have not - I'll put it on the list!
@@SquarePegs Why thank you, good sir!
NHL '98 also has a game speed option
I think nhl 95 got everything just right with game play. It was a little bit better than 94 with graphics and speed only thing the game lacked was a big one fighting was taken out..kinda ruined an otherwise perfect game
No fighting in 94 either
The fighting mecanic was in NHLPA 93
No mention of the wrap-around exploit in the old EA games.
Nah, the wrap-around exploit added to the fun of those early games. It's not nearly as egregious as the breakaway deke automatic goal.
@@SquarePegs I Have All Star Hockey 95 For The Mini Sega and I Like The Game Dispite The Players Standing Up So I Give The Game in My Mind a B+
NHLPA 93 & Mutant League Hockey for me. 94 being damn close
Can't find fault with any of those choices. :)
Idk about 97 but on 98 you can in the options change the game speed. My favorite is 95, cause it has the season mode finally. Although I concede 94 has the best gameplay.