NHL '96

The siren, the roar of the crowd and the puck flying into the top corner of the net. Electronic Arts' NHL series was one of the flagships of sports games in the nineties, and NHL '96 brought this hockey merry-go-round to the Super Nintendo too. For many players it was their first real encounter with licensed hockey featuring genuine teams from the North American league.

NHL '96 built on the proven combination of brisk arcade action and rules realistic enough to make a match feel like real hockey. Passes, breakaways, hard body checks and the option to commit fouls and land in the penalty box all came together to create a lively, dynamic game. It was accessible enough for newcomers, yet at the same time offered plenty of room for those who wanted to polish their play to perfection.

A major strength of the series was the licence, thanks to which you could play with real clubs and pit your strengths against each other in matches as well as longer competitive modes. The feeling of leading a real team to victory added to the game's appeal and set it apart from generic hockey arcades. EA Sports was building its reputation as a brand that delivered sport as faithfully as possible, and NHL was one of its pillars.

As with most sports titles of the era, the most fun is to be had against a live opponent. A hockey derby with a friend at a single screen can push emotions to the maximum, whether it is a nail-biting duel down to the last second or a one-sided rout you keep bringing up long afterwards. It is precisely this couch rivalry that keeps retro sports games alive to this day.

NHL '96 is today part of a long and famous line that continues to this day and ranks among the longest-running sports series ever. As a sixteen-bit stop along this journey, it is a pleasant reminder of a time when hockey on consoles was only just getting established. For fans of retro sport and hockey alike it is a solid, playable classic.

Why play it: For licensed hockey with real teams and heated two-player derbies, which belong to the pillars of the famous NHL series.