Top 10 NHL game

[Tad Mikowsky]

I’m just going to go down a list of ones that stood out for me the most, it’ll be in order.


NHL 96: it was my first ever NHL game on the Sega Genesis.

NHL Faceoff 2001 PS1. Man, loved this game. 989 sports made some good alternates for games.

NHL 2k5 has to be up there. Buying it for 30 bucks Canadian, amazing. Great presentation, with ESPN integrated, historic teams, awesome sim mode. I switched to 2k for NHL for a couple years after this.

NHL 2009: EASHL is here. Awesome soundtrack with Avenged Sevenfolds Afterlife.

NHL 14: The last “good” NHL game IMO. Sure, from 20 onwards seemed to get better, but 15-19 were dark. Especially 15 and 18.

You still had connected GM, even if it was very slow. Franchise oh, how I miss the stupid blackberries at times.

 

[UFO]

NHL 99 was my first NHL ever and I played the heck out of it. That center ice bug was hilarious. However my fav has to be NHL 02. tons of cool features and I couldn't stop playing. Also that particular 2002 year was one of the best in my life and NHL 02 brings on pure nostalgia.

2004 also stood out. If I remember correctly pretty much all releases between 99 and 2006 were lots of fun.

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

NHL Faceoff 2001 PS1. Man, loved this game. 989 sports made some good alternates for games

Faceoff always played better. EA was just too 'arcade'-y back in the day for me.

NHL Championship 2000 PC version...hope for a modded version one day.

My favorite NHL title ever

I don't know if it holds any merit, but I swore there were rumors about the game being redone in the early 2010s.

With PC mods, you can give it an updated look. I stumbled upon this video a month ago, and realized all the player faces are the same, with the same 'Radical' equipment

 

[Ruggs225]

Nhl 94 & 95
Ice hockey
nhl 2k5

And i want to say nhl 04 and 14 but i really dont remember… those years i think they did big changes to franchise mode

 

[behemolari]

The one that melted our xbox, I think it was 2004

 

[Hatfield]

I’ve had every EA game since the original, except for a few in the early/mid 2000s. Ranked in order of how much fun I had with them / how much I played:

NHLPA 93
NHL 96
NHL 10
NHL 09
NHL 08
NHL 11
NHL 94
NHL 95
NHL Hockey

After that they all kinda run together…

 

[CasusBelli]

NHL ‘99 on the PS1 was my jam

That intro video …

2004
—————————
2000
—————————
2001
2010
—————————

 

[HaNotsri]

I'm going for a hockey list:

1. NHL Legacy Edition
I rate this as peak skill stick era, not much different from 2009-2014
2. Super Blood Hockey
I wish he could patch it/add an expansion.
3. EHM
4. NHL 2004 for the dumb quotes
5. Blades of steel

HM Ice Hockey is replaced by Super Blood Hockey

 

[CutOnDime97]

NHL 09 for introducing the greatest game mode in any sports game, EASHL

 

[FinProspects]

04
09
08
13
10

Cant recall much from 90's NHL's. But I loved most of the games, maybe 98 would be in top5 therefore.

That said, 2004 is head and shoulders above of any NHL game.

 

[mattihp]

09 where everything changed and the skill stick was introduced along with Be A Pro
05 was imo the worst in that lockout

I remember 09, due to it being pretty much a beta one could do (or in my case watch my cousin do) just amazing things with the skill stick.

 

[CutOnDime97]

09 where everything changed and the skill stick was introduced along with Be A Pro
05 was imo the worst in that lockout

Skill stick came in NHL 07

 

[Arthur Morgan]

I remember 09, due to it being pretty much a beta one could do (or in my case watch my cousin do) just amazing things with the skill stick.

I also think it was the first year they brought in Be A Pro. was alot of fun the first year or so. now most the game modes lost their magic

 

[Arthur Morgan]

Skill stick came in NHL 07

yeah but you couldn't shoot without pressing a button if I remember correctly. would just let you go left or right

 

[CutOnDime97]

yeah but you couldn't shoot without pressing a button if I remember correctly. would just let you go left or right

I think that was 06? Or 04 maybe.

07 had the full skill stick.

 

[M88K]

yeah but you couldn't shoot without pressing a button if I remember correctly. would just let you go left or right

You're thinking of 2K8, which had the button press to shoot, (it was a better implementation as you had the entire range of controls with the right stick)
EA's since 07 has been done entirely with the stick only

 

[Arthur Morgan]

You're thinking of 2K8, which had the button press to shoot, (it was a better implementation as you had the entire range of controls with the right stick)
EA's since 07 has been done entirely with the stick only

never liked the 2K hockey games. but no at first in the EA NHL games when you could deke left or right with the analog pressing forwards didnt shoot the puck. had to press a button if I remember correctly 09 is where they fully unlocked the skill stick allowing users to press forward to release their shots

 

[KrugAvoy]

1. NHL 2004
2. Gretzky NHL Hockey 06
3. NHL 2014
4. NHL 2005
5. NHL 07

 

[Brodeur]

This was my unnecessary purchase for the day. My dad's birthday is coming up and I've been giving him games/toys/etc that meant a lot to me growing up.

I started a new school in 1993 and all the cool kids were into hockey. I was only familiar with the Kings roster, so I had no clue about this Pavel Bure guy that everybody was into. At the time, ESPN2 had a ton of NHL programming but I don't think it was a standard offering for basic cable in my area yet. I wouldn't get dial up Internet for a few more years.

So in order to learn the rosters, I begged for NHLPA '93. If I recall correctly, NHL '94 might have already been released, so '93 was discounted.

I probably spent the most time with NHL '95 for PC. I got to be OCD with having updated rosters and correcting errors in the game (namely Joe Juneau being incorrectly RH). I played a decent amount of 2001 and 2002 with college roommates, but I guess I always just enjoyed the simplicity of '95. By the 2010s I just never got back into console gaming. Every year I'll have an itch to fire up an emulator to play '95, but the OCD wants updated rosters. I used to have a third party roster editor but it stopped working after Windows XP.

Recently played that NHL Rewind '94 with my cousin and that was fun.

 

[Darcy Tucker]

I'm going for a hockey list:

1. NHL Legacy Edition
I rate this as peak skill stick era, not much different from 2009-2014
2. Super Blood Hockey
I wish he could patch it/add an expansion.
3. EHM
4. NHL 2004 for the dumb quotes
5. Blades of steel

HM Ice Hockey is replaced by Super Blood Hockey

Legacy was my favorite old gen game. It felt and looked amazing and still had a large player base despite it being on 360. Miss those days.

 

[Anisimovs AK]

If by best, you mean ability to play like an actual game of hockey, then NHL 2k3-2k5 take the cake.

NHL 2004 was amazing. Great gameplay and GM mode.

NHL Rock the Rink and NHL Hitz 20-02 were and still are non stop fun.

You had to mess with the sliders a decent amount, but once I found a balance NhL 18 was super dope too

 

[Anisimovs AK]

It's been mentioned around here before, but the lack of competition really has made EA a 'stale' brand. I'm saying this as someone who is behind on playing titles. I'm currently finishing an NHL 18 Franchise run after not playing for six months.

Growing up on the PS1, I actually never enjoyed the EA style of game. It was too 'back and forth, one timer in the slot' type of game-play that was constant even on a more difficult setting. Their 'only' competition at the time was 989 Sports (Faceoff Series), and the random one-off games (Konami - Blades of Steel 2000, Fox Sports - NHL Championship 2000, Virgin - NHL Powerplay series)

I don't know the 'politics' of it - if that's even the right word, but are licensing fees that expensive where only one game company can afford it?

No. But after the switch to the next gen consoles it was only EA and 2K sports.

EASHL and HUT killed off the 2K series after 2K10.


EA sports did, however, pay for exclusive rights for two sports series in order to kill off the competition.

Madden and Nascar.

 

[Faceboner]

Nhl 14 was great

 

[The Crypto Guy]

NHL 07, when they introduced the skill stick. That was a gamechanger.

 

[Bridges31]

Wayne Gretzky’s 3D hockey N64 1998