Welcome to another edition of Playing With Power. The review article that looks at all things Nintendo Entertainment System. Well, after several long months of pain and suffering for my fellow Canadians (and like the 6 Americans that cared) the lockout is finally settled. The NHL is back on. And because of the long awaited return to the kingdom of ice awesomeness, it’s only fitting to dig back into the NES archives to pick out an ice hockey themed game. Which just so happens to be called Ice Hockey. Does this deliver a power play, or can it barely keep its stick on the ice?
YEAR OF RELEASE: 1988
PUBLISHER: Nintendo
GENRE: Hockey
The NES had a ton of sports games. Everything under the sun from baseball, football, and basketball, to the likes of golf, bowling, and even darts. But surprisingly not very many hockey titles came down the pike. Of course, there was the excellent Blades of Steel, as well as Wayne Gretzky Hockey (*shudders*), and there was the Nintendo Ice Hockey game.
Nothing to really report on it when it comes to development, other than it was first released on the Famicom Disk System prior to its NES release. It was released in March of 1988 to North America, over 9 months before Konami would release their NES port of Blades of Steel.
The game would prove to be a hit, especially in Canada where it sold well. It has also earned praise from the likes of IGN and Nintendo Power, as well as has earned the lasting distinction of being one of the more addicting and fun NES sports titles. But has that acclaim held true?
COVER STORY
I’m mixed on the cover. I like the color scheme, and it’s very unique in design in comparison to other games in Nintendo’s Sports Series at the time (which mainly shared the black box scheme of the early NES days). I’m not too fond of the generic hockey player up top, but he doesn’t ruin the box either. It’s still quite the eye catch cover.
GAMEPLAY
Ice Hockey is a 1-2 player hockey game (duh). You control a team of 4 players who must win against the other team in a competitive 3-period match. You move around the rink with the D-Pad, can pass the puck with the A button, and shoot with the B button. The longer the B button is held, the stronger your shot will be.
Since there’s no NHL involved with this game, you choose instead from six different world teams. These being Canada, USA, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Russia, and Sweden. There’s no major difference in statistics for what team you choose. The only difference is their outfit colors.
When you boot the game up, you can choose your options at the beginning of the game. These include selecting from the six playable teams, adjusting the speed of the A.I from 1-5 (essentially the difficulty mode of the game), and setting the amount of time per period from 7, 10, or 15 minutes. So if you need a quick game, or want to fight it out in a long battle, the choice is yours.
But what makes this game infamous, and in many ways better than Blades of Steel is the customization. You can actually make the team of your choice by swapping out certain players for one of three different types of players. These players being Skinny, Regular, and Fat. Skinny players can move faster on the ice, but have weak body checking abilities, and mediocre shooting. Fat players move slow, but have powerful checking and shots. And finally the regular player has average stats. This is a definite plus that Blades of Steel with its bland players sorely lacked.
Controls in the game are great, although the shooting system took some getting used to. If you want to fake out the opponents by tapping the B, you can do that. However, you will likely take some time to really get the hang of scoring goals. If you’re on the defensive, you can body check the opposition with the A button. You can also get into a scuffle that will sometimes get both teams involved. While it lacks the awesomeness of the fight system in Blades of Steel, it’s funny to see these little guys get into a massive donnybrook.
One thing I dislike, and this bugged me about Blades of Steel as well, was that if the opposition is near your goal, you will instantly switch control from players to goalie, which sometimes can trip you up.But like a lot of things in this game, it doesn’t take too long to get used to everything. It’s that classic “pick up and play” style that these games were naturals at.
GRAPHICS
The game’s graphics are excellent for the time. The rink looks really well done, and there’ s a crowd in full force. But what really sets this apart are the players and how neat and different they look. Each giving off just enough personality to make them memorable. Plus the fat guy looks a lot like Mario, but maybe I’m the only one who notices that. At the end of the 2nd period, you’re treated to a scene where the goalies clean up the rink with zambonis. It’s no Gradius mini-game from Blades of Steel, but it’s still neat.
MUSIC
Man, what a soundtrack. It’s so peppy and memorable. You get far more tracks in this game in comparison to Blades of Steel. Even having music play during the game. And it’s not distracting at all, it actually adds to the fun and action of the game. The Zamboni music and options songs are great as well. It’s definitely a solid sports game soundtrack that is unforgettable.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
Ice Hockey is a fun and simple hockey game on the NES. It has solid controls, a decent amount of customization options for the time, some solid graphics, as well as a great soundtrack. But in the end, many would wonder if I like this or Blades of Steel better. And in the end, it’s kind of hard to really choose. I think both are equally strong in their own ways. Blades has some cool additions like a tournament mode, and a superb fighting system, while Ice Hockey is still decent in its customization, and charming look. So, it’s hard to really say which would suit you more. I’d say be hardcore and take them both.
In the end of it all, Ice Hockey holds up superbly, and even in an age where hockey games are filled with far more options and things to do, I still feel that Ice hockey is still more fun to play for its simplicity and overall fun value. If you can find this piece of icy awesomeness, give it a play.
RATING: Thumbs Up