A revolutionary debut that was quickly topped
Sega Genesis
Released in 1991 by Electronic Arts
Grade: B-
This game is easy-to-grasp and immediately fun, with the same gorgeous flow and simple controls of its revered successors. The big gameplay issue that is that it’s far too easy to score, often by unrealistic means.
Where it falls in the series
It’s EA’s first attempt at hockey, followed by six yearly releases concluding with NHL 98. The standout edition is NHL ’94.
For some reason, I’ve seen some wrong ass people online saying that NHL 96 is the first with fighting. This game has fighting, and the fights happen all the time, and they’re thrilling the first 5 to 300 times, depending on your age.
Also notable is that this version has real NHL teams but no player names.
Praises and gripes
It’s simply a revolutionary game. The effective top down view, how easy it is to play, how much it feels like you’re controlling real players in a real sporting environment, the vibrant graphics, the precise sounds, the satisfaction of a big hit and the mad scramble for a loose puck — everything comes together so much better than any hockey game before it.
The puck acts like a real hockey puck. It slides, flutters, bounces, squirts, flies, and rides the boards in a realistic and pleasing way.
It’s too easy to score, and scoring happens in odd ways constantly. Almost any slapshot from anywhere around the “slot” will go in. Or you can just skate the puck anywhere near the goalie and somehow it will sneak by him.
Goalies get knocked far out of position by shots, as if it’s a bowling ball being flung at them and not a 6-ounce hockey puck. This never happens in actual hockey, not even when dumb little kids play hockey. This curious quirk continued through the series, but was later drastically toned down to where it’s hardly an issue.
Fights are quite frequent, which will get annoying if you actually play for a while, which you likely won’t if you have a copy of any of the others.
If, for some reason, you end up wanting to play another NHL game with your dear old aunt or a dumb young child, and they get frustrated because they can’t score, you can switch over to this game and fun will ensue. This also works for drunk 35-year-olds in the middle of the night.