Super Nintendo
Released in 1993 by EA Sports
Grade: B-
You’re like, “NHL ‘94?! B minus?! Whaaat?!”
You’re probably thinking of the Sega Genesis version of NHL ‘94, which is like, the best game ever.
This SNES version is sorely missing the secret sauce. The controls aren’t as responsive, which makes you feel like quite the clumsy hockey player, always a hair late on the perfect play. The puck and players often slow down and get jumpy, like you’re on a bad WiFi connection. Players don’t even collide the same, often sticking to each other weirdly.
This game might be the best hockey on SNES, but I imagine that anyone who likes retro sports games owns a Genesis and can find NHL ‘94 for about $5. It’s foolish to suffer this inferior version.
Even if you don’t have a Genesis, maybe you have a PS2 or Xbox and you can play an emulated version on NHL 06, which I’d recommend over the SNES version.