NHL series

Electronic Arts' (published under the EA Sports label) NHL Series is the most popular video game series based on ice hockey. The first version was released for the Sega Genesis in 1992, and since then it's available on most major gaming platforms. Currently, it is available for the PC, PlayStation 2, GameCube and the Xbox.

Contents

1 The series 2 Game Covers 3 NHL Series in mainstream media 3.1 Swingers 3.2 Chasing Amy 4 External links

The series

The first version of the game, titled NHL Hockey, released in 1992 for Sega Genesis was considered the most realistic hockey game of its time. This game used a vertical view, which was unique at the time since most previous hockey games used horizontal or top-down views. It also featured an NHL license but not a license from the NHLPA, the players association. Therefore the team names and logos were all present, but no players names were mentioned. Instead, all players were referred to by their numbers. The Mega Drive version was released soon after, called EA Hockey and featured international teams. However, this change was merely cosmetic, as most team colours could be tracked to NHL teams. Although the game had all NHL teams, the only competition present were the playoffs, either decided on one or seven matches.

The next release was titled NHLPA Hockey '93. Since there was no NHL license, it had all player names and numbers but did not have real team names or logos. Instead teams were identified by their city and colors. This meant that the New York Islanders were referred to as the Long Island team, even though the official name does not designate the team as such. Also introduced were Tampa Bay and Ottawa to the 22 teams of NHL Hockey. It was also one of the first non-RPGs featuring EEPROM battery saving, which allowed to save lines and the ongoing playoff, rather than use passwords.

The game also started some dispute between EA and the ice hockey ruling bodies over what could be included on the licensed game. Injured players often bled when injured, mis-aimed shots could break the glass behind the net and the instruction manual made references to injuring opposing key players deliberately; Neither NHL or the NHLPA approved this, and both features plus fighting, although much more rare on NHLPA '93 than on EA Hockey (that could have up to ten fights on one match) were removed in the next version, NHL Hockey 94, since were considered harmful to the sports image. With this version, EA managed both NHL and NHLPA licenses. This was also the first version available for the PC and Sega CD, alongside the already existing Genesis/Mega Drive and SNES. It also included two new teams, the Anaheim Mighty Ducks and the Florida Panthers, before the team had ever played a game in the NHL, which created a new anomaly. The team had just acquired goalie John Vanbiesbrouck from the New York Rangers, in the expansion draft, yet since all other team rosters were based on the previous season, Vanbiesbrouck, among other players, could be set against himself in a playoff game between the Panthers and the Rangers (although the likeliness of the Panthers making the playoffs in the game was slim, even though the real team ended up doing surprisingly well and just missed the cutoff). The Mega CD version of the game had Vanbiesbrouck removed from the Rangers, but with no added substitute, which left Richter as the only goalkeeper. The game added one-timers, goalie control and penalty shots, and a shootout mode was also added. The series, however, gave a huge leap with NHL'95. For the first time, a complete season could be played, players could be created and traded, and gameplay also had improvements with the inclusion of fake shots, drop passes and laying on the ice to block shots.

NHL 96 for the PC was the first game in the series to have multiple cameras, using EAs Virtual Stadium techonology, which used 2D sprites on a 3D environment. Fighting was reintroduced, as well major and double minor penalties. Steve Yzerman and Scott Stevens were featured in the cover, and NHL's theme song, (Get Ready For This by 2 Unlimited) was also used as the games' main theme. NHL 97 took the graphics even ahead, using a full 3D engine, with motion-captured poligonal players. Each goaltender had his own custom painted mask (and the original artwork could be seen inside the game) and for the first time since EA Hockey, national teams were added, although only Canada, the United States and Russia had their own team, the other two a selection of best European players. Along with the PC, Mega Drive/Genesis and SNES versions, both Sega Saturn and PlayStation version made their debut. NHL 98 took the series little ahead, but introducing full national teams, as EA was not able to capture the Nagano Olympic Tournament license (acquired by Gremlin Interactive). Between NHL 99 and NHL 2003 there were no large improvements; a career mode (later developed into a Franchise mode) with retirement, drafting and player trade was added, created players could have a face textured with any photo and on-line leagues became more organized in-game. It was also the worst period in the series, with many long-time fans either leaving after gameplay decread in quality or suffering from a massive community attack, where sites where hacked and fan-made modifications corrupted or packed with virus, and they are still struggling to return to the better times before NHL 2000 was released.

NHL 2004, developed by the EA Black Box studios, added 3 European Elite leagues - Germany's Deutsche Eishockey Liga, Sweden's Elitserien and Finland's SM-Liiga (however, not for the first time, EA released both Elitserien 95 and Elitserien 96 for the Mega Drive in Sweden only and Elitserien and SM-liiga 2001 as a expansion pack for PC in Sweden and Finland), and thanks to its many improvements on gameplay and game modes such as a completely reworked franchise mode (renamed to Dynasty), more realistic puck and rebound control and better checking, it was praised as one of the best in the series.

NHL 2005 features Open Ice Control, which according to EA allows better control, including moving players without the puck and also a complete World Cup mode where each team can be created from scratch.

In these two versions, fighting was up to the player themselves. When two players' names flashed onto the bottom of the screen, accompanied by the word "Fight!" and a boxing bell sounding, the person playing the game could push a button to begin a fight, or hold off until a later time. Also for the first time, goalies could fight.

NHL 06 will be released in the fall, and creators of the game have revealed a surprise for PlayStation 2 owners only: playing NHL '94 will be an option, and will look the same as it was when it was originally released. [1] (http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/sports/nhl06/preview_6127280.html?part=rss&tag=gs_previews&subj=6127280)

Game Covers

As traditional with EA Sports, their boxes featured live action photos instead of drawings.

As it lacked the NHLPA license, The early titles had staged photos without real players. NHLPA Hockey 93, on the other hand, had the rights to use player image, but not of the teams. In this cover, the staged photo is surrounded by eight small portraits of players (Steve Yzerman, Andy Moog, Pat LaFontaine, Brian Leetch, Ray Bourque, Patrick Roy, Jeremy Roenick and Rick Tocchet). This changed with NHL 94, which featured a goal situation for LA Kings against Boston. NHL 95, considered to be the best cover in this period, featured an in-goal camera during a goal situation in Vancouver. NHL 96 featured New Jersey player Scott Stevens and Detroit Steve Yzerman.

Since NHL 97, each cover features only one player, with John Vanbiesbrouck (Panthers) being the first. He was followed by Peter Forsberg (Colorado, NHL'98), Eric Lindros, (Flyers, NHL'99), Chris Pronger, (St. Louis Blues, NHL 2000), Owen Nolan, (Sharks, NHL 2001), Mario Lemieux, (Penguins, NHL 2002), Jarome Iginla, (Calgary, NHL 2003), Dany Heatley and Joe Sakic, (Atlanta Thrashers and Colorado, respectively, in NHL 2004) and finally Markus Naslund, (Vancouver) in NHL 2005.

The cover for NHL 2006 is set to be Tampa Bay's Vincent Lecavalier.

NHL Series in mainstream media

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Given the popularity of both sport and the series themselves, it comes to no surprise it made appearances on mainstream media, usually as a prop.

Swingers

The removal of fightings in NHL Hockey 94 was adressed in the movie Swingers:

Trent: I wish they still had fights in this game so I could bitch-slap Wayne.

Mike: What? They don't have fighting anymore?

Trent: Doesn't that suck?

Mike: Why'd they get rid of the fighting? It was the best part of the old version.

Sue: I think kids were hittin' each other or somethin', man.

Trent: Yeah but you know what, Mike? You can make their heads bleed in this one.

Mike: Make somebody's head bleed.

Sue: No man, were in the playoffs.

Trent: I'm making Gretzky's head bleed for super-fan #99 over here.

However, this is not completely accurate, as bleeding players were also removed.

Chasing Amy

Kevin Smith's 1997 movie Chasing Amy featured the characters playing one version of NHL Hockey, but it was not the first time Kevin Smith used an ice hockey video game: Sega's All Star Hockey featured on Mallrats.

External links

• free playable NHL 97 (http://www.easports.com/free/games/nhl/home.jsp)
• EA Sports NHL 2005 Official Website (http://www.easports.com/games/nhl2005/home.jsp) (Latest version of the NHL series)
• MobyGames page on the series (http://www.mobygames.com/game_group/sheet/gameGroupId,42/)
• NHL94.com (http://www.nhl94.com/) (frequently updated NHL 94 resource)