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Electronic Arts’ NHL series is highly revered by gamers, and given the longevity it has seen (rivaled only by that of EA’s other juggernaut, the Madden games), something is obviously right with the series. Nowhere was this more apparent than in the 1994 edition of the franchise, which turned out to be the only game in the series to receive a Sega CD version. In 1994, Sports fans needed no other reason to reconsider a purchase of the add-on once this baby was released.
The thing I remember most about Mario Lemieux Hockey is that it came with a real hockey puck. The oversized box protruding from the store shelf is an image that I’ll never forget. Unfortunately, that might be about the only thing this game has that makes it stand out, and Sega more or less only succeeded in simply filling a hole in the Genesis library by releasing it. Like many of the early sports titles on the console, it wasn’t anything to write home about – except for that cool hockey puck.
Electronic Arts set a benchmark with the debut of its stellar hockey series NHL Hockey. So successful has it been that the franchise still continues strong to this day, almost twenty years after its debut. You have to start somewhere though, and that’s why we have a full review of the game that started it all. Read on and see where NHL Hockey got its start!
Electronic Arts has a reputation for being at the top of the hockey heap, but there have been some serious contenders over the years. One that sat particularly well with fans was Sony Imagesoft’s ESPN National Hockey Night. Offering great graphics, solid gameplay and multiple views, it was a great alternative to those who chose not to play the NHL series.
NHL fans might not know it, but there’s another ice hockey league out there that has just as big a fan base. The Swedish Ice Hockey Association has a long and storied history of delivering the best of the sport to European fans, and this did not go unnoticed by game publishers. Electronic Arts, for one, published a modified version of its NHL ’96 with Swedish teams and players. How did it compare to the U.S. version?