The NHL video game title franchise has churned out games year after year beginning in 1991. However, the game the team at EA Sports put together in 1994, NHL ’94, is arguably the best one they’ve ever made. While sports games made on today’s next-generation and current-generation consoles are more focused on providing a “simulation” experience, the games that were made in the late 2000s were much more “arcade-like.”
This is where NHL ’94 was ahead of its time. While other sports franchises such as NBA Jam (1993) and Tecmo Bowl (1987) had gameplay mechanics that allowed for crazy and unrealistic jukes, dunks, and change of direction, NHL ’94 was as close to a simulation of real hockey as one could expect from a game made in that era.
One of the mechanics worth exploring in NHL ’94 is the deke mechanic. For those who are not well-versed in hockey lingo, a deke is basically when a player moves the puck from one side of their body to the other using their stick. It is a way to make defenders whiff at the puck while they attempt to steal it, allowing for an offensive player to create space. I appreciated that I could not simply weave from one end of the ice to the other simply by spamming the joystick or button mashing. It seems that most sports arcade games rewarded button mashing and I never got that impression from NHL ’94 while playing it.
The aspect of NHL ’94 I found most jarring was the lack of customization, specifically in regard to controls and camera angles. In NHL 22, the most recent edition of the game, there are over 10 camera angles. MLB The Show 21 has over 20. Madden NFL Football has five. NHL ’94 has one. The same goes for controls. In NHL 22, there are three control presets. This is the case for almost every sports game. Why, then, did this shift occur from simple controls to advanced controls?
The answer to that is the growing pressure for sports games to expand to the world of competitive gaming. When this shift occurs, it implies that there needs to be a shift from basic controls to significantly more advanced controls that would provide a “skill gap.” As I mentioned earlier, NHL ’94 lets you perform a basic deke using your joystick. On the other hand, NHL 22 has a wide array of dekes that can be performed using a button that acts as a “deke modifier” in combination with very specific combinations of joystick movements. The seemingly endless possibilities for deke moves relates closely to the idea of combos that you can perform in Mortal Kombat games. Until you put to memory and master every single deke combination, you will likely not be near the top of the leaderboards of NHL 22.
It can be argued that, while it makes gaming more fun for the top players, the game becomes much less enjoyable for the average player. I found my first play of NHL ’94 to be much more enjoyable than my first play of NHL 22 because I never felt outclassed. I always felt like I had a fighting chance. Whether that’s realistic or not is an entirely different question, but while some play video games to compete, others play them as a form of leisure or to escape reality for a bit. The shift from basic controls in retro games like NHL ’94 to advanced controls in current generation games such as NHL 22 has made the experience of gaming much more competitive. Whether that is for the better or the worse is up to every individual player, though there is a reason why multiple sports game franchises are releasing throwbacks of their own game.
This brings to the forefront the issue of competitiveness. Do we as people need to be competitive in every aspect of our lives? While there is certainly value in competition, perhaps there is also value in sitting back and playing a game for the sole purpose of relaxing. While NHL ’94 doesn’t directly speak to this issue of competitiveness, it can certainly be argued that there is a reason why the NHL franchise and other sports game franchises (MLB The Show) have released retro versions of their game in the last three years. We, as a population, might be in need of a little more leisure. If one is looking to kick back, relax, and take a break from the fast-paced, competitive world, I would suggest looking no further than NHL ’94.
