Ice Hockey is a truly
spectacular game for the
Nintendo Nintendo Entertainment System (
NES).
The game is Two Player, but can also has a One Player option, where you play against the computer. After the opening screen, you choose from among 6 countries:
USA - (The United States of America)
SWE - (Sweden)
POL - (Poland)
CAN - (Canada)
URS - (Soviet Union)
TCH - (Czechoslovakia)
On this same
screen, you also select the game speed. You choose from one to five, with 5 being the fastest and 1 being the slowest.
You also choose a
time for each
period; either 7, 10, or 15 minutes.
At the next screen, you decide your teams lineup. Each team has a default lineup (which the Computer always uses). However, you can change it. You have four players, and each one can be selected as either the skinny guy, the average guy, or the fat guy. Each has their own specific traits:
Traits | Thin guy | Average guy | Fat guy |
______________|___________|________________|___________|
Sticking | Fast | Average | Slow |
Shot strength | Weak | Average | Dynamite |
Checking | Feeble | Average | Strong |
Face-off | Good | Average | Poor |
At this point, you begin playing the actual game. The game starts with a face-off. You can select the formation you want for each face-off. Players 1 and 3 specialize
mainly in defense, and players 2 and 4 specialize in offense. Player 1 moves to the center spot for the face off. You can exchange players 2 and 4 by pressing the control pad up or down, and players 1 and 3 by pressing the control pad left or right.
You skate around using the control pad, but you only control the flashing player. However, anytime you move the control pad, you also move the goalie. The A Button is used to pass the puck, attack another player, or battle for the puck. The B Button is used to change the player that you control (it switches to the one closest to the puck) if you are on defense, and shoot the puck if you are on offense. The strength of the shot is determined by how long you hold down the B Button. You can also do a fake shot by tapping the B button. And, when on defense, you can gather your players in front of the goal by repeatedly tapping B.
When one player has the puck, you can attack him (using the A button). But if the fight takes too long,the other players crowd in and start fighting. When this happens, a player from one of the teams is given a penalty and put
in the penalty box for a set period of time. This results in a power play. The player who started the fight is usually the one who is penalized. The only other penalty in the game is for icing, when one team shoots the puck from the position behind the blue centerline
past the opposing team's goal line and an opposing player other than the goalkeeper is the first one to touch it.
After the game ends, the team with the most points wins (duh).
Another cool thing: after the second period ends, three zambonis come onto the ice.