EA Sports NHL 94...ah, the good ol' days - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Kev · 09-18-2006, 07:09 PM

So last night after getting home from the game, and reminiscing about old times after seeing Nieuwy playing again, I dug up my old Sega, and of course, NHL94. In about 3 min., everything was hooked up and the familiar theme song began to echo throughout the living room. (My wife actually cringed.

)

It took a couple of periods, but then everything started to come back to, like riding a bike. Played 4 games because you just have to play with the old teams again. Calgary with Theo, Niuewy, Roberts, "Big Al", LA with Gretzky and Kurri, Winnipeg With Selanne and Housely.....(sorry, need to get a tissue, a bit misty there) and Wancouver with their speed line form hell - Bure, Courtnall and Ronning.

My wife giggled when she looked a at the screen for the first time, "look how funny it looks", geesh, women.

Yeah, you can see the difference in graphics, sounds, etc., but to me this game will always have a timeless quality about it. When we played this game, it was true competition, everyone knew how to score, and you had to outplay your opponent both offensively and defensively to win. If the game ended 1-0 it was because both players played incredibly well defensively, not because the computer goalies were impossible to score on.

Anyways, just had to share some thoughts and possibly spark some memories for some other "old schoolers".

Anyone else still have their Sega and NHL94, and still play it at all?

Here's a very cool site I found a while ago that I revisited today if anyone wants to reminisce. http://www.nhl94.com

CaramonLS · 09-18-2006, 07:47 PM

I remember playing NHL 98 a lot with my friends. The goalies had some holes, but if you made a truce where you couldn't shoot the puck from outside your opponent's blueline, it was decent (you were allowed to dump it in), but for some reason there was a bug where wrist shots from anywhere on the ice had about a 15% chance to go in. It was funny when auto-control goalies because you knew what was coming.

Me and my friend got so good at the hipcheck, and the power hipcheck respectively (also in 98 if you pressed accellerate and hipcheck at the same time repeatedly, you'd fly at your opponent at superspeed, it was almost uncontrollable).

The bugs and quirks made a game like that really fun.

Knut · 09-18-2006, 07:57 PM

Loved the super-deke in 94. ..... cut in off the boards, skate by the goalie and shoot..... scores were like 22-21...... rediculous.

Flames in 07 · 09-18-2006, 08:02 PM

I loved those early years. THe only problem was that it was way to easy to score on the wrap around.

The only old time sport game better is Tecmo Bowl.

VANFLAMESFAN · 09-18-2006, 08:04 PM

Not a fan of the so called "nostalgic" video games. Once in awhile, my buddies and I will set it up and play old school Blades of Steel(Nintendo) or NHL 04(Sega) and frankly, after about 1 or 2 games tops.....I'm bored out of my mind. Sure, it's kinda cool to re-hash some memories of when you were young, but the game itself is boring as hell.

just my take

theJuice · 09-18-2006, 08:06 PM

Ugh, the dreaded dipsy doodle, when you cut right across the crease and always seemed to score. Dirty, dirty tactics, and was normally the cause of much scorn and ridicule at our home games for whomever chose to use it. That aside, easily the most fun I ever had playing video game hockey, tons of hours spent with buddies playing, great times.

gottabekd · 09-18-2006, 08:08 PM

Isn't that the game that if you dumped it from the blueline, goal every time?

CaramonLS · 09-18-2006, 08:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gottabekd

Isn't that the game that if you dumped it from the blueline, goal every time?

No, I think this was called NHL stanley cup or something, I remember they made a huge deal about it being all '3D'.

You could dump the puck in at a specific point before the blueline and it would fly in the net every time, or you could get in deeper, press the dump in button, and bounce it off boards above the goalie behind the net, goalie goes back, puck bounces right back to you and you score on the open net.

I-Hate-Hulse · 09-18-2006, 08:57 PM

Nothing seems to beat the fun value I recall as a kid playing Nintendo "Ice Hockey". Fat guy (Chris Simon), Average Guy (Conroy), and Skinny Guy (Donovan).

Newer games may boast a gajillion polygons, but there's something to be said for simplicity.

Kev · 09-18-2006, 10:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

The bugs and quirks made a game like that really fun.

Yeah, there was a "real" element in it because of the strange bounces pucks would take sometimes, off players' heads, bodies, etc. That's missing in the new games.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hesla

Loved the super-deke in 94. ..... cut in off the boards, skate by the goalie and shoot..... scores were like 22-21...... rediculous.

I remember we used to have a city wide league (14 teams at one time), tracked player, team stats, etc. Every player learned how to control their goalies to take away the easy goals. And new players were forced to do the same or they became the league's sacrificial lamb when it came to player points padding. My wife would hate weekends, 10-12 guys piled into our small 2 bedroom appt (at the time) playing sega in all three rooms.

Quote:

Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse

Newer games may boast a gajillion polygons, but there's something to be said for simplicity.

For sure, it was like the TV version of bubble/table hockey, but it tracked scoring for you and the goalies moved by themselves (if you trusted them to).

phaneuf_train · 09-18-2006, 11:52 PM

Im sorry to say but it's all about nhl07
________
Iolite butane

V · 09-19-2006, 12:27 AM

I miss those old games, although for me it was NHL 93, I think. Blades of Steel too. I downloaded an emulator a while ago, and I just had a blast with that game.

My brother was soo good at NHL 98. He would trade away his whole team and pick up all the worst players out there. Then he'd form a team of all the best players. He'd set the skill level at the highest setting and his crappy team would beat the all-star team 14-0 at least every time. It was scary.

MagicallyAdept · 09-19-2006, 04:11 AM

Wow, the days of NHL on the Sega Mega Drive as it was called in Europe. I think i had every single one of EA's games through the Sega days.

But there is no need to dust of the old Genesis/MD and plug it in to the tv to experience the nostalgia. Download an emulator and the rom image and play it on your computer! So much easier and so much fun. Of course you legally have to own the actual cartridge to download the rom

I play NHL '94, Madden '91, Jungle Strike and Sensible soccer every lunch when i don't go to the pub. You can find all your old classics to download and pretend it was the early 90's all over again! You can even play online with the correct software. You guys can play NHL '94 against each other in between posting on the boards

Magic

badnarik · 09-19-2006, 05:39 AM

interestingly, i run an NHL94 online league here http://65.36.133.56/nhl94/

getting ready to start up season 2. features fully updated rosters, and i even wrote a script to parse all team and player stats from the saved state files on the gens emulator

simply upload your saved file when you're done playing to update the league.

also i still need a calgary owner for season 2. send me a pm if interested

Kev · 09-19-2006, 07:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by badnarik

interestingly, i run an NHL94 online league here http://65.36.133.56/nhl94/

lol, very cool. Nice work getting the stats out. Are you in Calgary?

Scorponok · 09-19-2006, 09:45 AM

Yeah, NHL 94 was definitly the best. It was an ARCADE game, where your skill was important, not really the players on your team as much.

Kev · 09-19-2006, 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scorponok

Yeah, NHL 94 was definitly the best. It was an ARCADE game, where your skill was important, not really the players on your team as much.

Obviously there are more out there that thought so too...
http://www.boston.com/sports/lighter...rts_videogame/

And South of the border yet, but it is Boston, and they do love their hockey.

sclitheroe · 09-19-2006, 12:07 PM

Suprised nobody has mentioned it yet, but NHL04 is also on the NHL 2006 disc...I might just have to put down 07 for a few minutes and check it out again...

badnarik · 09-19-2006, 12:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kev

lol, very cool. Nice work getting the stats out. Are you in Calgary?

i'm actually in florida until next summer.

Igottago · 09-19-2006, 01:13 PM

Its all about nostalgia..in reality, when you go back and play these games they are pretty weak. Definitely great for the time, but no way I could play NHL 94 for very long right now. I remember being at a friends house once, we were playing FIFA 2004 or something..and for kicks we set up his PS1 with Fifa 98, thinking it would be so classic and fun to play. It was an unplayable POS..as was NHL 98. So yeah, they were fun and amazing once, but can't compare to the newer technology.