The 30th anniversary of NHL 94 is around the corner, and fans should be excited for what's to come.

Released in October 1993, NHL 94 has stood the test of time. Played on the Genesis, Super NES, and SEGA CD consoles, the game became critically acclaimed and a fan favorite.

There are several reasons why NHL 94 is an all-time classic and a source of nostalgia. With Brazz Bonanza as its theme music, simple and improved gameplay (e.g., introducing one-timers and manual goalie control), and presentation appeals (e.g., glass breaking), NHL 94 brought innovation to the hockey gaming experience. Furthermore, users had access to fully licensed NHL teams and players for the first time ever!

To celebrate its 20th anniversary, EA Sports included NHL 94 Anniversary mode in NHL 14. In this mode, NHL 14's gameplay was changed to resemble NHL 94, and players could play the mode using the teams and rosters from the NHL 2013-2014 season. Currently, NHL 94 Rewind is widely available on Playstation and Xbox. 

It remains to be seen if EA will do anything special to celebrate the game’s 30th anniversary in a few months. If there is reason to be optimistic, every EA NHL video game developed by EA ending in the digit "4" has been great. That goes for NHL 94, 04, and 14. 

That said, fans of virtual hockey games do not have to wait long to celebrate NHL 94’s 30th anniversary. NHL94.com is a website dedicated to providing a community forum for passionate fans of the game. Most notably, organizers host the annual "King of 94" world championship tournament.

Darrell Sampson, one of the organizers, describes the tournament:

The King of 94 is the annual world championship tournament for the video game NHL'94. There are two separate tournaments: One tournament is played on the Sega Genesis console and the other is played on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Players have travelled from all across North America to compete. The winner of each tournament is crowned the "King of 94" and receives a trophy. The top three place finishers are awarded cash prizes.

The King of 94 world championship event is taking place on September 23-24 from 12 pm to 7 pm EDT at Free Play Toronto, located at 300 College Street. In addition to tournament prizes, one lucky winner will receive an NHL 94 arcade unit.

Finally, the festivities will include a demo of the new arcade sports adventure game, ODR Hockey Heroes, which will be released later this fall.

Visit here to learn more about all the details regarding the annual King of 94.