First was winning the Stanley Cup playoffs without a goalie.  This proved to limit my exposure to several teams, since there are only a few teams that I might be able to use to accomplish this feat.  Probably could do it with VAN, QUE, CAL, and maybe LAK or WSH, which leaves the rest of the teams unused.  I like to play with an assortment of teams, so I needed to find another challenge...

I decided to play with just backup players.  That worked fine for the elite to middle tier teams, but left the bottom teams a barren wasteland of talent.  (Playing with an all backup version of the Florida Panthers would make a grown man cry)  The idea was good, it just needed some adjustments.  I wrote up a blog entry about it:

http://coalm.blogspot.com/2017/08/handicapping-nhl94.html

Bottom Line:
-No players rated over 75 overall
-Every team must bench their best forward and their best defenseman
-No dominant goal scorers even if the player's overall rating is below 75.  Call this the Kamensky Rule
-If a player scored a hat trick, the player must be substituted for the remainder of that game.  Removal from the rest of the playoffs is optional, but encouraged.
-Only removed Roy and Belfour at goalie. All other goalies remained.  Might change this in the future. 

Let me know what you guys think of my results, or go try it yourself.

Game Knowledge (pre-game)

• Player attributes/players
• How to score in various ways
  • Understanding angles, distance and probability of success
• Different ways to defend
• Different ways to check
• Breakouts & Zone Entries

Execution / Mechanics / Mental Focus (in-game)

• Execution of game tactics
  • Reducing mistakes
• Overall Reaction time
• Manual goalie control
• Anticipating opponent's play
  • Adapting
• Choosing the most effective option at a given situation considering players, game status and opponent
  • Creating more high percentage plays than low
  • Passive vs Aggressive defense
• Ice vision/awareness
• Awareness of game momentum, team cohesiveness, "hot/cold"

GAME/CPU VARIABLES (Non-controllable / Random)

All of these examples highlight behavior that is considered above or below reasonable expectations

• AI controlled players defensive effectiveness
  • Stifling, shadowing defense
  • "Parting of seas" defensemen
• AI players set up properly on offense, or not
  • Center ready for one timer
  • Wingers behind net
• AI players picking up loose pucks, rebounds
• AI players skating in right/wrong way more often when switching
• AI players organized vs getting in your own way
• Checks more successful or solid checks being unsuccessful
• Shots hitting open net, directly at goalie, or wide
• Goalie making extra saves or letting in easy goals
• Passes connecting
• Passes going to target player
• One timers executing
• Player holding onto puck or having tipped away
• AI penalties away from play
• Penalty frequency
   

It can get you up the ice much faster than checking or just speed bursting by itself. Basically, you cancel the speed burst a few frames into the animation with the poke check, then you speed burst again, and cancel that burst again with the poke check. Rinse repeat, all the way up the ice.

Easiest way to pull this off, for me, is to have your thumb on (B) & (C) at the same time.  This way it's easy to press one part of your thumb on (B) to poke check and cancel the animation, then, the other part of your thumb can burst again with (C).

Made the video, like, 10 minutes ago in a hurry. I could have done a better demonstration of how to get up the ice faster if you do it more smoothly, but I just wanted to get the video up for now

I wanted to make a video to narrate and demonstrate exactly what I'm referring to, but I don't have a decent mic so I'll just post a few videos and try to explain.

Flip pass origins

The Fins, namely @swos and @Mahavishnu, were the first to use the flip pass or "keg toss," that I'm aware of. A keg toss being Nordic strongman-parlance for an event when a keg is hurled backwards over a bar. The puck is flipped with the (A) button behind the net in an attempt to get an odd bounce or setup a forward for an easy goal. 

Seeing videos of the Fins scoring these goals with frequency led me to experiment with how the puck behaves when it's 'flipped' or rolling. 

One thing I noticed is that it's easier to score goals in some respects when the puck is like this and you can get some wild bounces in your favor that make it a dangerous play. Here's an old video with some self passes and two flip pass goals:

The play is more of a parlor trick but does have a place in a 5on5 game, even in match-play once you learn that you can 'poke-stab' a rolling puck out of mid-air with your skater and shoot it in one motion.

E.G.

1. flip to self
2. poke-stab rolling puck to gain possession
3.  
   • flick a wrister with the rolling puck
   • half-slap the rolling puck
   • flick a pass for a one-timer while the puck is rolling

@HABS doesn't demonstrate the poke-stab here, but he does show a good example of a flip pass goal:

It's also, basically, a giant neon middle finger to your opponent who would love nothing more than to bury you into the boards and shove that puck back into your net for showboating. 

Self pass usefulness

It actually does have a place in 5on5 for a few reasons, but first for anyone who doesn't understand how to do it:

1. Get close to the boards
2. pass the puck by holding the d-pad directly left or right
   • right side is more effective going 'up' ice, or home.
   • left side is more effective gong 'down' ice, or away. 
3. Try to angle your skater to retrieve the puck in stride. You can also do it at a standstill in the attacking zone. 
4. As a general rule, never ever do this in your own zone, unless you want to get burned badly or light a fire under your opponents ass.

Disregarding the goal, here's a quick example of how to do it in stride. When the pass is made the skaters stick is pointing directly, to the right, at the boards. This is the most consistent way to pass the puck to yourself while moving up ice:

So what, right? How is this anything more than hot-dogging, and what would ever be the point of trying this type of stunt when you can just try to capitalize on quality scoring chances? Well, it has a bit to do with how the CPU AI behaves in the game. I'll try my best to explain without a video or commentary.

Computer controlled skaters behave as if offsides are enabled even if they're not. When you enter the attacking zone, if you have to drop the pass back to your D because you have no options or are about to get nailed, and the puck goes out to the neutral zone, then the rest of your team that is setup in the offensive zone will leave the zone to get onsides again. 

Once your team is setup in the attacking zone, and all 10 skaters are on that side of the ice, the computer controlled skaters, yours and the oppositions, will get into their "spots," for lack of a better term.  They will basically stay here unless the puck comes near them by the puck carrier, whereby their attributes will basically determine how they will behave. If you want to try it out, play keep away in the attacking zone with a skater and just skate around and observe the behavior of the computer controlled skaters.

Passing the puck to yourself plays a roll because when you release it for half a second to yourself, the computer controlled skaters behave as if there's a loose puck, and will get out of position by beginning to move. They "reset," so to speak. This may be all the space you need to generate a chance if your opponent had you locked down and has taken away the primary passing lane, or that one-timer lane that is most likely to result in a goal. 

This fraction-of-a-second, personal-pan-pizza-pass can open up clogged lanes. It can also let you sacrifice your forward by doing this quickly and then getting rid of a hot potato before getting crunched that can result in a fast goal. 

I plan to make a detailed video later, at some point, but I hope some of that made sense. 

Defense....from a defenseman!?! What’s that mean. It doesn’t matter if both of my defenders are 99 overall, they will not play tight defense. They skate all over the place. They’re always across center ice when they shouldn’t be. They usually just skate right passed the cpu as he’s moving the puck. No one can check on 94, body checks I mean. They don’t exist. Just a bunch of guys running into each other. I’ve made them heavy and fast, light and fast, slow and fat, skinny and slow etc etc and no one can check.  That’s not my issue it’s the AI for my defenders. They literally don’t do anything to help. I get one timed to death but against the cpu I can’t get a pass through because all their guys clog up the lines while my guys are in Disney on Ice mode. It’s killing me.

What is the perfect model, attribute wise for a lockdown defensemen??? Weight,speed, everything. Please tell me. Of course when I play the cpu, their whole team camps out in front of the net so I never get a one timer off. I don’t understand the way these rosters work. A good defenseman is just a number on a screen to me. 

How do I build a real team? Attribute wise. because having a team full of 93 to 95’s doesn’t make me win.

So, any good tips? The best way isn't propably to just try to run over anything that moves.

Hi, I came across this site via NHL.com when they had an article about the 25 years anniversary of the game. This was one of my absolutely favorite games for the Mega Drive (Genesis) when I grew up in Sweden. I´ve got the game 94 or 95 (I can’t remember) and probably played over 1000 games during the nineties, but even a lot last couples of years along with the other NHL 93-97 + Elitserien 95-96

I noticed the bug  #31 “12 Goalies”  and that it’s quite unusually. I have know exactly how to do this and it works every time. Also, you will play the reminder of the period without nets! I have known about this bug for 20+ years. I can tell you how to do if this isn’t common knowledge?

Cheers

Johan

Pretty much the only part of this game that I don't understand is the faceoffs.

How do they work? How much chance is involved, and how?

What is the best strategy?

So, without using CB, and for open ice C-checks:

1. if a 3 weighter C-Checks a 3-weighter, what is chance of a knock down?
2. If a 3 weighter C-checks a 4 weighter, how does % chance change?
3. do we know (or approximately know) how the % chance of success changes as weight margin increases?  (Even if we don't "know", I would love to see some guesses.)

I am not new, and I have done research.  The rule of thumb seems to be "2 or greater weight margin (with checker being light, receiver being heavy) success very likely.  But I am sure there is a nuance here.  I feel like a small percentage of the time, anyone can have success against anyone.  Is this just in my head?  (Or Lindros on Fleury literally *never* succeeds?) Also, does momentum and agility, angles of contact,  and some "unknown sauce" play a factor in flattening guys? (I saw Smozoma mention some unknown "magic" in a post).

Edit: I will add some related threads here.

The ones that stand out to me are:

1. offensive zone face-off, one-timer (C wins face-off to winger or defender, quick one-timer pass and score)
2. neutral zone face-off, break away (C wins face-off and quick passes ahead for a breakaway, deke score)

Any tips from the A/B players out there?

Any other set plays you've witnessed?

Any advice on how to defend against them?

Instructional videos @TomKabs93?

They have not "ruined the game". They are are the game in its highest form.

Among my friends in real life, back in the day, I was one of the better players. (And probably put more time into playing, which is usually related.) Then I started online play, and got my ass kicked. Seriously. I have played online for a year, and am now a mid-level B player. Maybe. I have done zero pass shots in a game, and rarely CB check. Though at least CB is on my radar now!

The A level guys, most of whom do pass shots and CB, are the best players in the world. I am glad that pass shooting and CBing exist, and that they are difficult skills to master. That is what gives this 25 year old game so much depth. Both of these "glitches" may be happy accidents that were not intended by design, but they make the game better, because they require real skill.

I look forward to the day when I can pull both off like the pros.

Note: And I know that neither is required to play well. Lately playing exis with Kingraph I requested he not pass shoot, just to see what happened, and he handed my ass to me all the same.

Getting to the point, I was having a discussion with plabax about whether or not you truly have a chance at winning EVERY single game if you played well enough. I believe that while in most games your play has a big influence on the outcome, occasionally there are games where it is actually impossible to win as long as your opponent is semi-competent. This is what im calling the BS factor.

He agreed with me that this exists, and i asked him how frequently he thinks it happens. We both agree that this happens far more frequently than 1/100 games.

My theory is that most games have SOME level of imbalance in regards to tilt/momentum/whatever, but most of the time it isnt heavily tilted 1 way. Like some games could be relatively 50/50, some 60/40, but every now and then you get an 80/20 or 90/10. Of course in most of those its possible to win if you outplay your opponent enough. 

This could explain why game 1 of a playoff series could be a 3-2 win and game 2 a 10-0 blowout loss. Of course theres more to it, but this is just a theory.

Anyway, do you guys agree that games of 94 do exist that are relatively impossible to win against a semi competent opponent? If so, how frequently do you think this happens?

what is it?

Sometimes when I pass the puck, it goes to completely wrong direction, wrong player.

A lot of times the receiver just can't get hold of the puck at all and one timers seem to fail at times, and at times I can shoot a laser quick one timer.

it's frustrating to lose your promising offensive scoring attempt just because the pass goes completely wrong when trying a one-timer for example.

Can you gurus provide some kind of a quick list of things to keep in mind when trying to make that perfect pass?

I will be fleshing out this site over the next few weeks/months/years and wanted to share with you all here. I'll tackle the sections on the site in piecemeal as I get to them, but if anyone requests one part sooner than others, I will be more motivated to finish that section! And if you want to contribute to any section, go for it! A lot of this stuff is just organizing some of the knowledge already housed on these forums and crediting the appropriate folks! They key for me is to support examples with video and pictures. That makes it 100x more powerful, but also requires more time to create that content!

This is Genesis-based for now, as that is what I feel comfortable writing about, but would be completely open to a collaboration for SNES. PM me if interested.

Well, that's it...just wanted to get this on the board to give me some motivation/momentum (I finally feel comfortable making a basic website!). Feel free to leave comments, suggestions, whatever.

Basic outline/Current Thoughts:

1. Players

• Understanding Attribute Values (done)
• Attributes for Forwards and Defensemen (done)
• Attributes for Goalies (done)
• The Weight Bug & CB Check (done)
• Hot/Cold Effect (done)
• Classic Player Ratings

2. Teams

• Starting Lineup Options (AJ Guide) (WIP)
• Home & Road Ice Advantage
• Team Rankings

3. Scoring Techniques

• Slapshots (done)
• Dekes
• One-Timers (done)
• Pass Shots
• Miscellaneous

4. Offensive Strategy

• Understanding Team Strengths / Weaknesses
• Faceoff Strategy
• Rush Options
• Passing Frequency
• Dump & Chase
• Creating breakaway passes
• Breakaway strategy
• Penalty Shots
• Understanding Your Opponent's Defense

5. Defensive Strategy

• The Art of Checking
• Understanding Team Strengths / Weaknesses
• Manual Goalie Control
• Losing Faceoff Options
• Defensive Tactics

6. Miscellaneous

• Game Bugs
• Momentum

I'm new to this awesome forum of this timeless and great game.

Finally posting because I couldn't find a topic on this.

B checking aka poke checking seems to be effective, especially if you're not familiar with the weight of your and the opponent's players.

However, you change the controlled player with the same button, so there's a problem.

I've had so many goals scored against me because I've tried to poke check with the last line of defense

and I've managed only to change the player I control to someone ten feet away from the puck and the opponent has a free ride to deke and score a goal.

I like the poke check when it works, so here's the question:

Is there anything that can be done to make sure your player will poke check and NOT switch to another player when pressing B?

I've tried a lot of things but can't for the life of me figure this out. Should I press D-pad to some direction at the same time, or should the player be facing the puck

or should I be at a certain distance?

Thank you.

When the BODY CHECKER is controlled by a user, the weight bug is applied.

When the BODY CHECKER is controlled by a computer, the weight bug is never applied.

Here are some examples (weight in brackets) :

Standard NHL '94 Scenarios (User Controlled)

Mike Modano (7) is on offense, Pavel Bure (5) is on defense. A body check from Pavel Bure will knock Modano down.

Mike Modano (7) is on offense, Mario Lemieux (10) is on defense. A body check from Lemieux won't knock Modano down.

Special NHL '94 Scenarios (Computer controlled)

Mike Modano (7) is on offense, Pavel Bure (5) is on defense. A body check from Bure won't knock Modano Down.

Mike Modano (7) is on offense, Mario Lemieux (10) is on defense. A body check from Lemieux will knock Modano down.

This means, that one can make heavy players check light players by pressing the "B" button right after pressing the "C" button, to ensure that the COMPUTER makes contact with the player instead of the USER.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

I discovered this yesterday, and tried it out in a couple of my GDL games and sure enough, it works! Although it did come at the cost of Freydey beating me (since I am terrible with the C check, taking nothing away from Freydey tho), it's still a pretty neat trick!

gretzkyonacold (4:39:03 PM):how come mario can knock down cam russell?

Cheers!