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Puck Culture - 10 Fun Facts About NHL '94 - March. 25, 2024 – Sal Barry

RELEASED 30 YEARS AGO, NHL ’94 remains one of the most popular hockey video games of all-time. Here are 10 interesting facts about one of the best games from the classic gaming era.

1. NAME THAT GAME

Electronic Arts’ series of hockey video games started in 1991 with NHL Hockey for the Sega Genesis. It had NHL team names and logos – and fighting! – but did not use names of NHL players. For its next game, EA secured licensing from the NHL Players’ Association, but the NHL pulled its licensing because it objected to the fighting. Thus, EA’s second game was called NHLPA Hockey ’93 and was released for Genesis and Super Nintendo. While it used names of real NHL players, it did not have NHL team names or logos. The third game in the series was originally going to be called NHLPA Hockey ’94 but was changed to NHL ’94. Why? Read on.

2. THE FIGHT OVER FIGHTING

NHLPA Hockey ’94 was going to expand the fighting mechanic that made EA’s first two hockey games so popular. “We had fighting in there, and it was fairly sophisticated for the time,” said Michael Brook, the producer of NHL ’94. “You had control if you were throwing a hook or an uppercut or a jab. You could cover up. You could turtle.” NHLPA Hockey ’94 was even going to have a “Tension Meter” that would keep track of late hits or targeting a team’s top players – with the opposing team’s “tough guy” much more likely to start a fight. As great as that would have been, EA decided that it was more important to have full-motion video for the Sega CD version of the game, and the NHL controlled the rights to its video footage. So, a last-minute deal was struck: if the NHL reinstated its license and allowed EA to use video footage, EA would remove fighting from the game. With the NHL back on board, the game’s name was briefly changed to NHL Hockey ’94 and then finally NHL ’94. However, the title screens for the Sega Genesis and Sega CD versions of the game still refer to it as NHL Hockey ’94.

3. BY THE BOOK

Strategy guides were becoming more common in the 1990s for fighting games and adventure games – but not so much for sports video games. That started to change in the mid-1990s, and NHL ’94 is one of the first sports video games to have its own strategy guide. Inside NHL ’94 by Corey Sandler, published in 1993, is a 284-page guide that gives advice and game-winning strategies for the Sega Genesis, Super NES and PC versions of the game. Prophetically, the cover of the book pictures goalie Mike Richter, who went on to lead the Rangers to the Stanley Cup in 1994.

4. TIES TO THE HOCKEY NEWS

Longtime Boston-area sports photographer Steve Babineau took the famous photo of Andy Moog that adorns the NHL ’94 box cover. ‘Babs’ started as a freelance photographer for The Hockey News when he was contracted to photograph WHA games in the 1970s.

5. HOCKEY HINTS

Popular video games from the era – like Super Mario Bros. and Street Fighter II – had trading cards. So did NHL ’94. Sega Genesis cartridges included two random “NHL Hint Cards,” and the entire set could be purchased directly from EA for $19.95 plus $4.00 shipping. Players from each team’s starting lineup were included, and card backs displayed their in-game ratings, giving gamers a fun way to compare how the players stack up against each other. The set also had “Special Skills” cards, “New Feature” cards and “Designer Tip” cards, named after the creative minds behind the game.

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6. SPECIAL SWEATERS

Those who worked for EA on creating NHL ’94 received their own special jerseys from the publisher. The jerseys resembled white Blackhawks uniforms, with “NHL94” on the front and the creator’s name on the back. Mark Lesser, who programmed the Sega Genesis version of the game, was given jersey No. 01. Fitting, since the Genesis version of NHL ’94 was developed first.

7. NHL ’94 ALMOST HAD A TWIN

EA’s first two hockey games – NHL Hockey and NHLPA Hockey ’93 – were developed by Park Place Productions, which skyrocketed to fame a few years earlier for its work on the original John Madden Football game for Sega Genesis. EA developed NHL ’94 in-house, so Park Place collaborated with another company called Electro-Brain to create its own hockey game, called Road to the Cup Hockey ’94. “It was definitely designed to be essentially an NHL clone,” said Noah Stein, a former Park Place employee who programmed the Sega Genesis version of Road to the Cup. “Maybe it played a little bit differently, but for the most part, it would feel somewhat similar to it.” According to Stein, Road to the Cup would have used the same top-down view as NHLPA Hockey ’93 and possibly re-use some of the graphics from that game, too. A demo of Road to the Cup was shown at the June 1993 Consumer Electronics Show, but Park Place repeatedly missed deadlines, a prototype was never finished, and the game was eventually cancelled.

8. DOUBLE AGENTS

There are some roster inconsistencies between the different versions of NHL ’94. Most notably, many players on the Florida Panthers and Anaheim Ducks who were selected in the 1993 expansion draft also appear with their prior teams from the 1992-93 season in the Sega Genesis version of the game. For example, if you play as the New York Rangers against the Panthers, you can have that dream goaltending duel between John Vanbiesbrouck and… John Vanbiesbrouck!

9. THE WEIGHT BUG

A programming mistake in the Genesis version of the game – affectionately called “the weight bug” by fans – made lighter players in NHL ’94 hit harder than heavier players when controlling them. “There was a physics model in the game, and apparently we got weight reversed,” Brook said. “The lighter guys got swapped with the heavier guys, so a guy who was 150 pounds might play more like a guy who was 240 pounds.” Thus, players such as Jeremy Roenick and Theo Fleury – who were light and fast – were absolute wrecking balls on the ice, easily able to knock opponents down and steal the puck.

10. NHL ’94 IS STILL PLAYED TODAY

Thirty years later, NHL ’94 still has a community of dedicated gamers who compete in online leagues and an annual in-person “King of ’94” tournament in Toronto. Roughly 40 different leagues play throughout the year, with “seasons” lasting about 10 weeks. Some leagues use a fantasy-draft format with players from the 1992-93 season, while other leagues use modified versions of NHL ’94 with modern players. If you’re itching to play some retro ‘Chel’ with others, visit nhl94online.com or kingof94.ca.

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