Out of Bounds: NHL 95/96 and the Trappings of Old

[RaychelSnr]

You would be hard pressed to find someone who knows anything about hockey who would also be willing to argue that we're not in a golden age of EA NHL games. By nearly universal accounts, we are enjoying a series that is technically innovative and superior to the efforts of old. NHL 11, which released last Tuesday, brings to the table a finely tuned physics engine and enough new features to keep the avid puck fan salivating.

To understand and fully appreciate how we got here though, one has to look back on the legacy of the NHL franchise.

My experience with video game hockey goes all the way back to the original Nintendo-era game Hockey. Any gamer worth his/her salt -- and over the age of 25 -- is no doubt fully aware of this game. It was clunky, a little strange, but all in all, surprisingly compelling. But, in the end, its version of virtual hockey was lacking as a whole.

Read More - Out of Bounds: NHL 95/96 and the Trappings of Old

[allstar3970]

Queue the same people complaining about minutia like jersey patches and sock length coming in and talking about how the mid-90's NHL games were the best. Always a fun contradiction

[johnprestonevans]

I was hooked on this game too. 94-96 was the "Golden Age" of EA NHL. Things like instant replays and game highlights took trash talking friend to a new level. The game played great (for sprites) and had all the bells and whistles you'd want in a hockey game of the era.

I also LOVED the "Out of Town" updates. Highlights and "live" scores from other games in my league was a nice bit of immersion that for whatever reason is still lacking in today's NHL games.

[swil]

Re: Out of Bounds: NHL 95/96 and the Trappings of Old

"It's not so much me, it's Roenick. He's good."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChtBbasZrjM

[superjew887]

I still remember first playing those games. Locked away in a cousins basement as he pounded me with the Los Angeles Kings in NHL 95. The first game I ever owned was NHL 96. With my hometown hero, Steve Yzerman on the cover. The 8-bit music of NHL 95 still rings in my head like a sweet lullaby. What I loved the most though, about NHL 95, was the personal feeling and attachment you got from viewing the player photos and the pregame analysis. A young Steve Yzerman never looked so good.

[JerseySuave4]

NHL 94 is one of my favorites. But it was sooo easy to score. You go down to one side, come straight across the ice in a line and shoot and it was a guaranteed goal.

[infinityBCRT]

Re: Out of Bounds: NHL 95/96 and the Trappings of Old

I hated NHL 95-98 on Genesis/SNES. They had a great look from NHL 92-94, and they didn't really need to change it, but they did and it was for the worse. 95 looked way too cartoony, and while 96-98 looked better, it still looked kinda dull and colour combinations of team's jerseys seemed to be less accurate than from 92-94. Also, there were so many bugs introduced when they scrapped the 94 Genesis engine in favour of the new one in 95. I remember scoring offside one-timers for example.

NHL 95 on the PC on the other hand was amazing. NHL 95 on PC basically stood up to any of the newer games that EA was coming out with for me until NHL99 when the next wave of expansion teams came into the NHL.

[GaryT531]

Remember the scene from the movie "Swingers" where they're playing NHL on Genesis and Vince Vaughn says "I'm gonna make Gretzky's head bleed for super fan # 99 here!" lol classic

[matt8204]

Crazy as it sounds, if they just updated NHL '94 every year with current players and teams and released it for PS3, I'd probably buy it. The game was that good. The primitive graphics and sounds wouldn't bother me for a minute.

[swil]

Re: Out of Bounds: NHL 95/96 and the Trappings of Old

Remember the scene from the movie "Swingers" where they're playing NHL on Genesis and Vince Vaughn says "I'm gonna make Gretzky's head bleed for super fan # 99 here!" lol classic

did you click my link dude?

[swil]

Re: Out of Bounds: NHL 95/96 and the Trappings of Old

Crazy as it sounds, if they just updated NHL '94 every year with current players and teams and released it for PS3, I'd probably buy it. The game was that good. The primitive graphics and sounds wouldn't bother me for a minute.

Actuallly... they do. Via mods.

www.nhl94.com

[russwg1970]

I think NHL 94 was the first hockey game I ever got. I remember that - it not having fighting was a let down.

[King10Sooted]

I remember playing NHL 94 -NHL 96 forever. I remember making a virtual Mighty Ducks team with all the kids from the movies and keeping stats and stuff on a piece of paper. I was probably like 12 at the time. Was one of the best games I have ever played.

[Ktulu]

Re: Out of Bounds: NHL 95/96 and the Trappings of Old

It's funny to look at how far the game has come and yet there are things which were actually done better 15 years ago.

The one thing that stands out to me is the old edit lines screen from the PC version around 95'ish. Every single player and every single line (1-4, pk & pp, & goalies) was visible on ONE screen! Nowadays you have to flip through 6 different "pages" to edit the lines, even the process of scratching/dressing players is more complicated.

[bruinsftw2k]

Re: Out of Bounds: NHL 95/96 and the Trappings of Old

NHL 94 is one of my favorites. But it was sooo easy to score. You go down to one side, come straight across the ice in a line and shoot and it was a guaranteed goal.

Yeah that is so true, just for the hell of it I wanted to see how many goals I could get using 20 min periods, and I got something like over 85 goals.

Basically you would just have to deke and you would score every time. (Deking back then was just skate to the left to draw the goalie to the left side then as you are moving to your right take the shot, it would go in 80% of the time).