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Released in March 1988 by Nintendo and developed by Nintendo R&D4
and Pax Softnica, Ice Hockey presents the titular sport from an
8-bit, overhead perspective
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The NES is home to many storied games, including three incredible Mario
entries, two Zelda adventures, a Castlevania trilogy, two Contra games, a Ninja
Gaiden trilogy,
Punch-Out!!...but there was one game I just couldn't stop
coming back to...
Ice Hockey. Yes, for all of the incredible 8-bit games
on Nintendo's claim to console fame, their attempt at ice hockey always brought
me back to my NES...until my NES when into storage for a few decades. Now that I am playing my NES again, bringing out
Ice Hockey was a no brainer.
But does Nintendo's foray into the ring hold up, or has time melted its charms
away?
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| 1988 was QUITE a year for the NES! |
Like most games from the glorious NES era,
Ice Hockey starts
right up and gets to the gameplay. After selecting either single or two-player,
the player selects a team from one of six available nations, as those nations
were in 1988. The teams include USA, Sweden, Poland, Canada, the Soviet Union,
and Czechoslovakia.
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| The older I get, the less capable I am of picking a team other than the old stars and stripes |
Next, the player selects their team, their opponent's team (if they're playing a CPU), the speed
of the game (which essentially doubles for difficulty), and the time of the
quarters (the time runs more quickly than real time). Once these decisions are
made, the player is allowed to select the body type for each of their four
players (their fifth player, the goalie, comes in a standard goalie size). There
are three player body types from which to choose: skinny, who are fast and good at faceoffs, but who have a weak
shot and are tackled easily, medium, who skate, shoot, faceoff, and tackle adequately,
and the fats, who tackle and shoot hard, but skate slowly and faceoff poorly. I
guess today you'd call them "small, medium, and big" players, but that's not
what we called them back in the day. Each player will have to find the balance
of body types that works best for the them, but after a few hours, I remembered how
I like to play this game: with four great big fatties who can smash the other
team and score easily.
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| Well, Czechoslovakia, I guess it's my fatties against yours! |
The game apparently agrees with me, as the two toughest teams here are the
Soviet Union with two fats and the ultimate challenge, Czechoslovakia, whose
team contains a whopping three fats. However, it's up to the player to decide
which combination they like best, as different strategies work with different
team makeups. As far as gameplay,
Ice Hockey features an arcade style
spin on the classic cold-weather sport. The control scheme is simple: A to pass,
B to shoot. Hold B, then release, and shoot harder. On defense, A checks the
opposing player and steals the puck, while B alternates player control to a
different player, ideally to the one closest to the puck. Use the directional
pad to move. That's pretty much it...and it's brilliant.
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| Recreating the Miracle on Ice, except transforming it from a nailbiter into an absolute commie beatdown is one of my favorite things |
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| You damn commies never learn |
As in most of their early, yet lasting successes, Nintendo takes a simple
concept, yet fine tunely executes it to the degree that
Ice Hockey is as fun as
possible for as long as possible. That's how I've been able to continuously
return to it so much over the last 37 years. The gameplay here just works. At
first, the rhythm of the game takes some getting used to. It's advisable to play
at the lower speeds first to get your skates under you, as the CPU team body
checks your whole team to the ground and passes the puck around like the Harlem
Globetrotters on ice. However, after a little while, the game seems to slow down, and
the player can start to dominate the CPU. At that point, it's time to try
playing at a higher speed. Again, the game will feel too fast and
difficult...but after several tries, the game will seem to slow down again.
Eventually, even the fastest speed of gameplay will feel normal, and
Czechoslovakia's highspeed team of fatties will become beatable. At that point,
it's time to take on a friend in two-player mode.
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| You damn commies want to fight?! |
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| Accept your beating and get in the penalty box! |
It's fun to master
Ice Hockey, take some time away from the game and get
a little rusty, then tackle it again. It's just fun. Sure the game is simple and
may pale compared to the myriad amount of modes in later hockey games, but
the simple gameplay here always works. There are some nice touches too, like
fights, where the player must rapidly tap A to win. The loser goes in the
penalty box for several minutes, giving the other team a power play and an
easier chance to score. Tapping A is also the way to win faceoffs, which come at
the start of each game's three periods, after goals, and after icing, the only
other penalty called beyond losing a fight. The goalie is also easy to
control...he just moves constantly up and down based on when the player moves
the directional pad up and down, so he is always in play.
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| Hey, commies, not sure if you knew this, but the goal is to NOT let me score |
There are plenty more great touches here, including the fun sound effects, great
NES music, fun graphical style, Zambonis cleaning the ice between the second and
third period, a Mario-esque design with the fat players.
Ice Hockey may not be the
greatest hockey game ever made, but 37 years later, it has stood the test of time.
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| If it ain't got Zambonis, don't play it! |
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| 12-5, just as it should be! Let me guess, your game plan would have worked, it's just that no one has tried it the right way yet? |
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