NHL '94 (Sega Genesis) - The Greatest NHL Video Game of All Time?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ก.พ. 2024
- When hell freezes over, we’ll play NHL '94 there, too. An in-depth look at my favorite Sega Genesis game, ever! In late 1993, this game had it all when it got released. Hard checks into the boards, the classic cheap wrap around goal as the goalie stacks his pads like Curtis Joseph in overtime, goalies skating out of the crease to pass it like Ron Hextall and Marty Brodeur, 4-way player support to play with or against your buddies like a long night of Goldeneye on the N64, penalty shots when you had the penalties turned on (with offside turned off of course), shattering the glass boards after a hard slapshot from the blue line, battery back-up to save your individual performance, new expansion teams, and of course, the biggest game changer of them all… the one-timer! Yes… the one-timer! If you never played this masterpiece before, what are you waiting for? Afterall, you miss 100% of the shots you never take...
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Seriously great video! By far the best video on this channel. You knocked it out of the park with this one!!
Thanks, bro! Glad you liked it! I should do NHL Hitz ‘02 soon for the OG Xbox. Maybe you can help me with some gameplay capture? I’ll give you a 3-0 lead to start each game… don’t want the scores to be too lopsided
Bro next time you come over we’ll record footage for NHL Hitz 03
Man we played the crap out of NHL 93 thru 95 on Sega Genesis back in the day!!
Same! Such good memories
"To some, It might be the game that brought them closer to their sibling..."
Fucking right, dude! Every Christmas for about 4 years, I had a kind of pseudo tradition with my twin brother, where I would "gift" him the latest NHL game for our Genesis (as in I would pick it out, and my parents would be the ones to buy it for him). Back then, my brother actually played hockey, where as I was more to martial arts, and didn't really give a damn about the sport. Still, it was one hell of a good time firing up our system, and going one-on-one with him. He would usually kick my ass of course, but as you said, it served as one hell of a bonding experience. We're 40 now, and to this day, I consider him one of my best friends.
Dude that’s awesome! Love hearing that stuff cause I experienced the same. My brother and I didn’t have much in common (7.5 years apart) but it was always a tradition to play this. Even when he went to college, he would come home for winter break or something and we would always boot this up. Such a great times/memories. I’m 39 now and he’s 46 and we still play this once in a blue moon.
My first genesis games were NHLPA '93 & the first FIFA. NHL '94 was sick!! When the extended family got together at someone's house for the holidays back in the mid '90's, there'd be a line for "next game" with a 10 year difference in ages.
That’s awesome! Love how these older sports games were so simple enough that anyone could have played them.
I played NHL94 on the MD, usually 5 minute matches each day until something happened and the screen went green and everything got reset. Before that, I had played over 3000 matches.
Wow! Haha you wore out the cartridge. Impressive lol
I'm from the UK where ice hockey is not popular at all, but many of my mega drive friends has a NHL Hockey game or two.
Nice! I’m not surprised though lol. These are the best sports games on the console, in my opinion
Goalies showing anger after getting scored on needs make a come back to the series.
100% haha. Made scoring a goal that much more satisfying
Nice tribute! Glad you mentioned 95 and the many upgrades they added to that. Clearly that one was for me a similar kind of formative experience as 94 was for you (first game: brother with Kings, me with Jets. First goal: Teemu Selänne, but it was an own goal by my bro). I've only played 94 as an adult and it always feels like it's lacking a ton of important features and the controls are pretty difficult as they feel much more slippery. Nonetheless 94 is a massively important game, I just prefer the next one that kept building on its foundation.
Thanks, man!
Haha Teemu was so nasty back then. But yea, I love NHL ‘95 so much. Nowadays, I play it a lot more than ‘94 cause it’s a better single player experience than ‘94. I just have so much history with ‘94 that I will always put it as my #1, but I can never argue with someone when they say they prefer ‘95. Plus it also has my ‘94 Devils, who lost in heartbreaking fashion to the Rangers in the ECF
I play this on an emulator thats been modded for current 2024 NHL rosters. It's awesome!
That’s awesome. Love how this is still being modded. Just goes to show how awesome the game was/is
Had the Sega CD version of this one. Can't remember the differences but it was one of the go to games for my friends and I.
Oh nice. That’s definitely the best version out there. It’s pretty much the same game as the Sega Genesis version but it has cd quality music and FMV highlights, nothing crazy.
My favorite NHL game on the Genesis and my favorite Genesis game of all time. I always played as the Detroit Red Wings (my favorite team) or the Western All Stars!
Same! It’s my all-time favorite too. Your Red Wings of the 90’s were such a powerhouse. I’m a Devils fan so I’m glad we won that ‘95 matchup 😁 I’m still stunned they won that year. Love hearing that this game is your favorite on the console, it’s so epic
@VicariouslyRetro Very true with the 95 season! Your team had Scott Stevens and Martin Brodeur and mine had Steve Yzerman and Chris Osgood (ironic i mentioned Stevens and Yzerman since they were on the cover for NHL 96 cover) and I'm glad we took the cup later in 97 and 98! Thanks for the response! Love your reviews, and you earned a subscriber!
@@steveulinski98 yup! I always played NHL ‘96 just cause it has the ‘95 Devils. But yea, those 97/98 red wings teams were soooo good. Thanks for watching and the sub!
I had this game. My cousin and I played it often 2 players on same team. What a classic! (No off-sides & lessen the penalties ) if I remember correctly
Nice! Such a good couch co-op/vs sports game. And yup, no offsides and no penalties was the way to go
As 80's/90's kids, endless memories with this. My cousin and I lost our sh*t the first time we broke the glass. The replays were great! Love from Detroit. The Red Wings were amazing...
P.S. I believe our greatest devastation was 64-2 against Buffalo. That's just not right
Love hearing stories like this. Yea my brother and I replayed the glass breaking on the instant replay like 20 times the first time we saw it. At first, we thought it was a glitch lol.
Yea the Red Wings were SOOO nasty back then. As a Devils fan, I’m still stunned we won the ‘95 cup, but you guys made up for it in ‘97, ‘98 and ‘02.
64-2?? Haha Jesus
@@VicariouslyRetro We had the newspapers from the Stanley Cup wins and fights with the Avalanche taped on our walls. Honestly I think I still have a video saved on my phone of the famous glass. But we played everything together. Mario 3, DOOM, Wolfenstein Zelda, Contra and on and on. Appreciate sharing the memories brother.
@@krisfrederick5001 god those fights were so epic, especially with Patrick Roy. Miss that period of hockey and gaming with my brother so much. Classic memories. Thanks for sharing as well 🤙🏻
I have the Sega CD version of NHL '94. This one was more challenging than the versions that came afterwards. (Later versions had cheap goals that could be had by shooting from the blue line by the boards and aiming for the feet of the goalie on the near side.)
I gotta get a Sega CD, mainly for the NHL ‘94 version. I never played it before but I heard it’s the best version.
And yes! I remember scoring those type of goals in NHL ‘97. A slap shot from the blue line from a left winger. It was like almost a bug in the game.
@@VicariouslyRetro NHL '95 and '96 had the slap shot from the blue line as well. Go down the left side with a lefty player, or down the right side with a righty player. Slap shot right after crossing the blue line next to the boards, aim for the low corner of the near side of the net.
@@Dulcimerist I never noticed it in 95, just 96/97. I’ll pop it back back in and try it with 95 🤙🏻
@@VicariouslyRetro There's a chance that I loved '94 so much that I never bought '95, so I might be wrong about '95.
I think all of my Sega games are within 10 feet of where I'm sitting right now, but barricaded behind a bunch of stuff. If I could get to them, I'd check to see what I have.
@@Dulcimerist I've religiously played 95 since Christmas '94 and in all these years have scored maybe once on a slap shot from the distance. It just flat out doesn't work. My favorite thing about 97 when I got it two Christmases later was that finally I had the chance to do that, even if otherwise I still preferred 95.
NHL hockey aka 92 is still my all-time favorite. I own two complete copies. Also love 93 and 94. 95 and 96 were also fun.
I’ll have to pick it up. Like I said in the video, it’s the only one I don’t own. I might as well pick it up and complete the whole set lol. Was ‘92 the one you grew up or did you just happen to like it after playing another one first? Just curious
3:45 Bravo good sir, Bravo 👏
😆
Great game and a great video about it to. Good work sir. I rebought this game for the genesis after watching this video ^^
Thanks, bro! Glad this video brought this amazing game back in your life 🤘🏻
5:20 apparently I never needed a bathroom break because this is news to me.
Haha yea some people have told me that they never this was a feature. Always loved watching them
Yep, an absolute masterpiece. I had NHLPA 93 first and I thought that game was fantastic but outside of losing the fights (which was a bummer) NHL 94 just took everything that next level with of course the one timer being such a tremendous part of the fun.
Absolutely!
Greatest game of all time. Most fun I've had with people in a game ever.
Absolutely, bro! It’s my all-time favorite on the Sega Genesis. I def spent the most hours playing this. It never gets old
I can't remember which one it was, quite possibly NHL '96, but I once hit an NPC so hard it said he was out for his career... only happened once in my years of playing 16 bit NHL games by EA.
Hahahaha. Must’ve been playing the full season mode. I think it might be ‘96 cause I remember playing that a lot cause it had my ‘95 devils in it and I kinda recall seeing something ridiculous that like. ‘94/‘95 def didn’t have that
We certainly dont have Ice Hockey in Australia but i remember NHL 94 and 95 being insanely popular. I prefer 95, please dont send me death threats 😅
Haha that’s cool to know that it was popular down under. And trust me, I LOVE ‘95, I don’t blame you lol. It has more features
Besides the kid in the red sweater banging on the glass boards during a zone face-off, what is your favorite part of this game? What are your memories of this classic sports game?
Still making new memories :). But an old memory, laughing the first time my brother and I saw a guy get checked over the boards into the penalty box.
@@NHL94Community haha yea, that was so classic to see back then. Glad people are still playing this game to this day!
The crowd meter--even in the current gen the crowd doesn't always have the right energy at the right times.
Being rewarded for stringing together positive plays was kind of a chef's kiss.
And the scrolling intermission report with highlights gave it a true hockey broadcast feel.
NHL '97 is when the franchise went bad. That one was rushed, and had so many errors in it. For example, having Brett Hull be left handed.
Yea man, I can agree to that. I kinda felt the same way about NHL ‘96, honestly. I do love NHL ‘96 cause it has my ‘95 Devils in it, but the gameplay felt too fast and flat in my opinion. ‘97 too. I didn’t know that about Brett Hull, cool fact! As you and I both know, they were obviously focusing their attention on the PlayStation and Sega Saturn versions. I will say NHL ‘98 on the genesis wasn’t bad. They added game speed to the game which helped out the gameplay (slow was the way to go). Still, it wasn’t as good. I really feel NHL ‘95 was the last true 16-bit gem for the NHL series
@@VicariouslyRetro 1998 was when my friend who always came to my house to play NHL on Sega got a Playstation. We began playing NHL at his house after that.
@@Dulcimerist haha yea. I never enjoyed the ps1/saturn hockey games. Way too clunky. Wayne Gretzky hockey on the n64 was pretty good though
I thought the decline started with 96. Agree that 97 was bad too.
93-95 the best (with 94 being #1)
@@Paul-uo1vw yea I agree. Once ‘96 hit, it was obvious that the series had started to overstay its welcome. I always feel ‘95 was the last great 16-bit release
It was the time of my life that hockey was biggest in the mainstream, actually. That's why it was so awesome, everyone loved it, not just hockey fans. In fact I was one of only 2 people in our group that liked hockey at all. So it was like, "Finally! Hockey on the main stage, here we go!" and i was unstoppable in 94 tbh xD
You said it when you said, anyone who wasnt even a hockey fan could pick it up and have fun.
Hahaha yea. I’m a die hard NJ Devils fan so back then, they just started getting REALLY good. I remember watching the NHL on Fox and it had that puck tracker. So awesome. I feel like that’s when the sport really starting taking off and becoming mainstream like you said.
Yup. Even people who didn’t know the sport was able to learn the game after a single period of play. Sigh… the good old days lol
it's hilarious that I can still name every player on the ice by their number, I can't do this with any other era in hockey xD
Haha yup, same. The 90’s was such a golden era of hockey. Had all the up and coming stars of the late 90’s/early 2000’s and still had all the greats from the 80’s too like Jagr, Mario Lemieux, Patrick Roy, and of course, Wayne Gretzky.
Yes, it is. I ended up creating a podcast dedicated to the game :)
I’ll have to check it out. Love this game, as you can tell by the video lol
I think I have 96 bc I’d heard that’s the best. Whichever I have I barely played it. That being said, this is one hell of a good review!
I love NHL ‘96 too. As a NJ Devils fan, it helps that the ‘95 Stanley Cup team is in it too lol. NHL ‘96 is great but it’s almost “too fast” for my liking. Not saying that’s a bad thing cause it’s cool that the game is different than NHL ‘94, but I do think the speed of NHL ‘94 is perfect for overall best gameplay. Again, you’re comparing an A+ game to an A game.
And thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!
Definitely the silver age of gaming was 1990 on the Sega Genesis and the last of the NES. I am talking sports games of course.
Yea, such classic titles
In the end, the east-west goal is a good thing in the game, though there are so many counter-arguments and reasons why it isnt, It would take a fairly fleshed out thesis to cover it all but yea. Good.
I agree, man. I enjoy it. It adds more depth when playing against a human vs the computer. Haha and yea, a college essay could be the topic on it.
I still think '93 is the superior version, with fights, and blood!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hahaha I can’t blame you for liking ‘93 better. It’s an A+ plus game.
For me the games don't have the fun nowadays all they have is the graphics I think old school games is the best
100% There's something about those retro style hockey games that are so much more fun than the new ones. Obviously the new ones are amazing and realistic, but I always have way more fun playing the older ones with my friends. Such simple, fun arcade style
Sega Genesis was the shit. I still had mines put up. Might just blow the dust off it and play NHL.
You’re never too old to play some Sega genesis, my man! So many classics. For me, nothing beats playing on original hardware. But that’s just me. You still got a copy of NHL ‘94?
@@VicariouslyRetro Facts and yes I still have NHL 93-95 along with Madden and NBA Live. My brother and I used battle it out.
@@acedaatlien9214 nice! Yea same. My brother and I would battle it out with NHL ‘94, Madden ‘94, NBA Live ‘96 and MLBPA Baseball. Such great memories. Nothing beats old school sports games
@@VicariouslyRetro Absolutely nothing. Isn’t crazy that retro games didn’t have the best graphics but gameplay was everything. Fast forward to today. Excellent graphics but lacking in gameplay. Retro gaming still on top.
@@acedaatlien9214 bro, so true. I say this all the time to my buddies. I would rather play NHL '94 than NHL '24. Even the new Madden games. They're def fun and look amazing, but I still have more fun playing the old school simpler games. The gameplay is just so much better than the newer in-depth games. I agree, Retro gaming still on top!
It was good on the SNES as well
Haha for sure. But the Genesis version is definitely better from my experience
@@VicariouslyRetro sound and graphics better on SNES
@@MaverickMustaine for me, the gameplay is significantly better on the Genesis. I own both versions and the Genesis just has a better overall feel to it. If you grew up with the SNES version, I can see why you like it more. But the general consensus is that Sega has the better version overall. The Sega CD is def the best version.
@@MaverickMustaineNHL 94 on the SNES was just NHLPA 93 ported from the Genesis. They just updated the rosters. Sports games on the Genesis were much better.
@@VicariouslyRetroread my comment below.
Sega CD is the true superior version
So I’ve heard. Still never played that version, believe it or not lol. It’s on my bucket list. But owning a Sega cd is just so implausible these days
Great video, new subscriber. I thought NHL 95 was better.
Thanks, bro! Yea I can’t argue with you on that lol. I love NHL ‘95. I actually play it more than ‘94 through single player cause it’s more in-depth, has more options like a full season/trade and the AI is stronger. But when playing with buddies, it’s always ‘94. I always say ‘95 is a better single player experience and ‘94 is better for multiplayer
Remember when I beat you 12-0?
Hahaha, yea right!
Bro stop by soon. Gotta record a 20 min period game and upload it
NHL 98 is better imo
I hear ya! NHL ‘98 is my 3rd fav behind ‘95 and ‘94. I love the fact that you can change the game speed in ‘98. Playing it on the slow mode is the way to go imo.
The only thing that blows me away is people that think this is better than the newer versions. I mean, I get it.... its hip to shit on anything modern, but their is no real strategy in NHL 94 and the players vs rink ratio is way off. Great for the time, but the game just kept getting better.
I hear ya, man! For me, I wouldn’t say these older games are “better”, cause they’re totally different. I would just say that they’re obviously more simplistic, which equates to more of an arcade style like game, which a lot of people prefer, cause it’s so pick up n play, easy, which you said before.
For example, I LOVED NHL ‘09 on the Xbox 360. I played it religiously online. I never really compared it to the 16-bit games cause they’re so different. It’s like comparing a Link to the Past to Breath of the Wild.
But as I said in the video, I feel like modern sports games have lost their “magic” that older sports games had like NHL ‘94/‘95, NBA Jam, NFL Blitz, Ken Griffey Junior baseball, etc. The modern games are amazing games, for sure. But you almost have to dedicate so much time to get good at them. Idk, it’s hard to describe, the older games just hit different. And I’m not really saying that because of nostalgia, cause there’s so many games that I loved as a kid that I hate now lol. Regardless, it’s a great discussion. Thanks for the comments, bro! Love talking about this stuff.
@@VicariouslyRetro That's the second year where they went to the RS to control the hockey stick instead of using the ABXY buttons. '08 is where I truly fell in love with the series on the 360.
@@whataboutrob442 ahh ok, didn’t know. ‘09 was the first NHL game that I picked up on the 360 so that was my first experience for the 7th generation. I picked up NHL ‘11 years later and didn’t like it as much as ‘09, which left a sour taste in my mouth. I actually stopped playing it after a few months and went back to ‘09 lol