NHL '95 (Genesis)

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lynchie137
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Joined: November 15th, 2016, 6:46 pm

NHL '95 (Genesis)

Postby lynchie137 » December 29th, 2022, 3:48 am

A funny thing happened to me while I was recently playing through a full season. I was playing as my favorite team the Montreal Canadiens, and I found myself with the best overall record, with the best goals for and goals against averages, and also led the league in shots per game and shots allowed per game. But when I went to check the overall standings just to get an idea on who my 1st round opponent would be, I found to my surprise that my team, despite having the best overall won/loss record in the entire league, were in last place in the Northeast (now Atlantic) Division, resulting in my team missing the playoffs. I've been playing this game on and off since my high school days in the mid 90's and that was the first time something like that has ever happened. So I'm wondering if anybody else out there has had a similar experience. Is this some sort of weird bug in the game that just happens every so often? Or was it just one of those random, once in a blue moon, once in a lifetime deals?

Now, I should also point out that I've been playing this through an emulator on my PC. So it could very well be that the ROM of the game I'm using got corrupted in some way, causing this little glitch to happen. But again, I'm not sure.

As for the game itself? It's not God awful by any means. In fact, I did have a good bit of fun with it. And still am, by the way. But it is by far the worst of the EA hockey games for the Genesis, as it definitely has it's fair share of issues. Here are a few of them:

1) The passing game really sucks. This is a flaw that The Critic pointed out in his review, and after playing through a full season I definitely have to agree with him. it really is a job and a half to get your pass to the right man. Especially if you want to make a cross ice pass to one of your teammates. It'll either go miles away from him, or get picked off. And don't even think about making a short pass to a team mate directly in front of you, as more often than not it'll bounce off the back of his skate. The best course of action to take to progress up the ice and into the offensive zone is to just keep it simple and just make one or two passes up ice. It kinda sucks you have to do that because I like to pass the puck and make fancy plays. But that just dosen't work very well here.

2) the computer is a decent opponent. But at times it can be really dumb. For example, one thing I noticed recently is that if it steals the puck from you anywhere in the neutral zone (the area between the two blue lines) and takes a shot on goal, more often that not that shot will either miss the net entirely or go out over the glass and into the crowd. Granted, this happens in real life as well sometimes. You'll hardly see a goal scored from a shot from way out. But you also won't see shots going out into the stands as often as they do here. Which can get annoying because the computer does this move quite a lot, slowing down the play

3) It is really hard to score in this game unless you learn to figure out all the little exploits. Now, all the EA hockey games are like this to a certain degree. But here, it is absolutely necessary if you want to get anywhere. In my first few games, I was having all sorts of trouble scoring goals, ending up with a lot of 1-0. 2-1 games and the occasional scoreless tie mixed in here and there. I was getting a lot of shots on goal, but nothing was going in, and it eventually got to the point where I had to go online to see if I can find a walkthrough just to see if that would help with my goal scoring woes. Luckily, I did happen to find one that helped. But you know things are grim when you have to resort to such desperate measures just to put some pucks in the back of the net. In every other EA hockey game I managed to figure things out for myself. But for this one I had to get help. And once I did, things got a little better and a bit more fun.

Some of the better exploits are pressing Down and B (or Up and B) while on a breakaway, a one time pass initiated from just behind the net to your centre ice man, cutting across the net from the wing, a wraparound shot from just behind the goal, and the triple deke move while on a breakaway. That's where you go from your forehand to backhand and back again really quickly. That, and the wraparound are my two favorites to use because the triple deke seems to pull the goalie off his post a little bit, giving you a side of the net to shoot at for an easy goal. And with the wraparound, it seems like the A.I opponent will more often than not accidentally run into it's own goalie, giving you the whole net to shoot at. Now, these won't work all the time to the point where it breaks the game, But they work just enough to give you an advantage.

Of course, there's other ways to score as well besides those. But I find that they don't work as well. And don't even bother with shooting from the wings or from outside the bluelines unless you're hoping for a second chance shot from a rebound. I think I may have scored a grand total of one goal from those areas just from a clean shot on net.

Now for some things I really like about this game. I like that they keep track of your team's statistics as mentioned before. Which is something I wish they would have kept on doing for later editions in the NHL series. And I also like the fact that there's an actual awards ceremony at the end of the playoffs. That's really cool and again, I wish they kept on doing that. Though when you have guys like Mark Lamb winning the scoring title, you just know things are a little off. That happened to me and my buddies one time when we rented the game for a weekend back in high school. We simulated a whole season, played through the playoffs, and when we got to the awards ceremony, the aforementioned Mark Lamb, who was a career 4th line player who sored only 46 goals and 146 total points in his NHL career, would up winning the Art Ross as leading scorer and the Hart Trophy as most valuable player. Just about fell out of collective seats with laughter over that one. Now, nothing against him as a player. After all, he was good enough to play in the NHL for a decade. That alone deserves a ton of respect. But it just struck us a little funny that the game, for some reason while simulating the games, decided to make him the leading scorer. Guess one of the programmers must have been a fan of his..

So what would be the final grade for this one from me? Hmmmm.. Like I mentioned, it does have it's share of flaws. But I also don't think it warrants a D grade that The Critic gave it in his review, as there's far worse hockey titles out there. Instead, i think I'll give it a C. Plus, I'm currently playing through another season. So it definitely ain't all bad. Hopefully, I won't encounter any weird little glitches at the end of this current campaign....

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Matchstick
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Re: NHL '95 (Genesis)

Postby Matchstick » December 29th, 2022, 12:27 pm

Ah, a wall of hockey-related text - one of my favorite things in life 8-)

While I have never had the glitch you mentioned regarding your standings and playoff positioning, I do remember NHL '95 feeling very buggy. I had been playing the series since the first NHL Hockey title, and was pleased at the progress it was making as it advanced. But '95 seemed like it was just trying to do too much.

I remember playing the game at a friend's house, and he managed to score from behind the net, without even shooting. As in, he skated behind the new with the puck, stopped directly behind and center of the net, then pushed forward. Poof, the puck went in!

It only seemed to work with certain players, but I remember Pavel Bure, in particular, could pull this off seemingly whenever he wanted. Maybe try playing a game with the Canucks and seeing if you can do this, too?

I think the stats in NHL '95 were so complex that, behind the scenes, they were constantly conflicting with each other. That might also explain how Mark Lamb won the MVP in your game. One of his stat lines might have "overflowed" into a different digit that, somehow, only manifested itself when simulating a season.

I've only dabbled in programming, namely 6502 back in the day. But I remember how remarkably easy it was to have unintended consequences when making seemingly minor changes. Maybe all the behind-the-scenes number crunching got an overhaul in NHL '95, but didn't have time to be properly tested?

Nowadays, I mostly play NHL '96, myself. It has its own quirks, but nothing nearly as egregious as I remember with '95. Stats tend to dominate again in weird ways. I mostly play with the Blackhawks, and if Chris Chelios or Jeremy Roenick get the puck near the blue line and fire off a slap shot at just the right angle, it's going in, and there's nothing the goalie can do. I once played an entire season, and won most games by double-digits.

I remember either making a trade for Bob Probert (whom I believe was on Detroit's roster be default) or elevating him to my starting line to replace Joe Murphy. Man, you absolutely could not steal the puck from that guy! Lousy shooter, slow skater, but he was an absolute tank if you just wanted to position for a pass.

I guess the quirks are part of what make these old games so fun. That, and the fragility of the tech involved. While I've never had the game ignore my standings and force me out of the playoffs - as you have - I have had my saved game and user data erased because I carelessly reset the console too soon after turning it on, or mistakenly didn't push the cartridge all the way in before powering it up. Oh, well - time to do it all over again!

lynchie137
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Re: NHL '95 (Genesis)

Postby lynchie137 » December 30th, 2022, 8:05 pm

Well, I'm planning on firing up NHL'95 later on tonight. So I think I'll definitely have to play a game or two as the Canucks just to see if that little trick you mentioned about Pavel Bure scoring from directly behind the net actually does work. It sounds intriguing, to say the least. Thanks for the heads up.

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Matchstick
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Re: NHL '95 (Genesis)

Postby Matchstick » December 31st, 2022, 4:37 pm

Do it!! I'm really curious if you're able to replicate it consistently.

Myself, I could never pull it off, but I remember seeing my buddy do it several times in games we played head-to-head. I think it was one of those things where he didn't want me to learn "the secret," or something.

He was also one of those guys that would pummel me in Mortal Kombat, but never tell me any of the special moves. So... take that as you will. I remember seeing the goal trick done at the North goal, if that helps.

I actually did a bit of a YouTube search to see if anyone else had recorded the glitch. There were plenty of other videos, but this one, from NHLPA '93, seems to be the closest thing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaaphGC2NzM

Really, it just looks like the puck physics and net collision boundaries get messed up from time to time.

I know I mentioned the slapshot "feature" in NHL '96, but that's not the only trick I've noticed in hockey games over the years. I loved the 2K series up to a point, and spent a lot of time with NHL 2K8 on the PS2, especially.

I wrote about it on another board before, but in that game, if you won the faceoff and began skating backwards with the puck, the other team would hang back and wait for you to make a move up the ice. If you kept skating backwards behind your own goal, and hung out in the trapezoid while gently skating left to right, the other team's defensemen would never advance on you, and let you totally run out the clock.

So, to recap - score a goal, win the next faceoff, then skate behind your net and run out the clock. Worked every time! Too bad such a simple AI gaffe got overlooked, as that series was pretty well-know for its realism.

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DialSforSam
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Re: NHL '95 (Genesis)

Postby DialSforSam » January 1st, 2023, 1:33 pm

Kinda makes me a little interested in trying out the PC version. Haven't played it in a long time; maybe I'll see if there are any weird bugs on there as well.

lynchie137
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Re: NHL '95 (Genesis)

Postby lynchie137 » January 2nd, 2023, 6:39 pm

[quote="Matchstick"]. I remember seeing the goal trick done at the North goal, if that helps.

I think that if the behind the net glitch goal is possible to pull of, it will be at the North Goal, as I've seen the puck "go" into the net when trying to get the glitch to work. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to pull it off just net. Perhaps my timing is a little off. Or maybe I haven't found the right player that can pull it off without a hitch. Either way, I'll keep plugging at it.

Now, there was another glitch I also happened to find online while I was doing my search to try and find the different ways to score. And apparently, it was only discovered in 2017!! The person who discovered it refers to it as "the Eephus", and it involves softly tapping your C button very softly while going towards the South end of the rink. If done correctly, your shot should go through the goalies legs. I haven't got this one to work yet, though...

https://twitter.com/segathon/status/839550075361759235

lynchie137
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Re: NHL '95 (Genesis)

Postby lynchie137 » January 12th, 2023, 3:26 pm

I just finished up my second season last night. And guess what? The same glitch that happened before in which the game put me in last place in the division had happened again!!! I had the best overall record and led the league in every team category. But yet when I took a look at the final standings, there I was in the basement again. I was quite surprised, and this has led me to think that there's one or two things causing this. The first could be that the ROM I have for this game has been corrupted in some way or another, causing the game to glitch out. Or the glitch itself is triggered by myself when I check the NHL standings at the end of regular season play. So I'm thinking that the next time I play through a full season, I won't check the overall standings at the end. Maybe that would help?

Another strange thing I've noticed on occasion when I player through my second season is that every so often when you have a face off at centre ice and you win the face off, instead of it going to one of your wingers or defencemen, the puck will often go straight back and reach the goalie unless you happen to manually move one of your skaters to chase after it and grab it first. Now, it dosen't happen every time and it's not a game breaker or anything. I just find that very weird that the puck will go to no one after I win a face off at centre, yet it never happens when the computer wins one. A head scratcher for sure.

The other strange thing I've noticed in my two season playthroughs is that the Leafs won the cup both times after I simulated through the entire playoffs. Which is downright bizarre, since in real life they haven't won Lord Stanley's mug since 1967. Guess the programmers were Leaf fans or something.... ;)

Breaker
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Re: NHL '95 (Genesis)

Postby Breaker » January 12th, 2023, 4:30 pm

lynchie137 wrote:Another strange thing I've noticed on occasion when I player through my second season is that every so often when you have a face off at centre ice and you win the face off, instead of it going to one of your wingers or defencemen, the puck will often go straight back and reach the goalie unless you happen to manually move one of your skaters to chase after it and grab it first.


I've definitely had this one happen to me. Never been able to pinpoint any triggers, but it will happen once in awhile.

Never seen the standings thing, but maybe I'll give it a go once I get all my systems hooked back up.

lynchie137
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Joined: November 15th, 2016, 6:46 pm

Re: NHL '95 (Genesis)

Postby lynchie137 » February 3rd, 2023, 11:55 pm

I'm starting to think that the ROM I've been using has been corrupted in some way. I recently started up another season as my Habs, and believe it or not, the game crashed as I was trying to play the next game in my season. The screen would go dark, but instead of instantly going to the game menu like it's supposed to, the screen would stay black. And stranger still, the music would still be playing!! At first, I thought it might have been some sort of fluke, so I tried to reset the game and reload the save file a few times just to see if it was merely a fluke occurrence. But no, the same exact thing happened again and again. That got me thinking the ROM (which is a BIN file) either gotten corrupted or was a bad file to begin with, so I wound up deleting it altogether and replacing it with a MD file which seems to be working just fine... For now.

I was also thinking of doing a review for all of the Electronic Arts/EA Sports hockey titles for the Genesis. From the very first game NHL Hockey up to the last one which would be NHL '98. Would anybody be interested in that? Thoughts and suggestions are always welcome...


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