If you guys remember playing Hit the Ice on the arcade or the console ports of the said game, you might know what I am going to talk about here.
But, what you may or may not know that there was going to be an NES port for the game and what makes it different is that it would have been the first hockey game to have RPG elements to it and be a hockey/RPG hybrid driven game. Now what I mean by this is that there is a mode called Quest Mode, Quest puts the player in the overworld with what you expect from an RPG game, walks around an overworld map, exploring houses and stadiums and facing random encounters, building up the team and playing all the other teams on the World Map. Throughout the game, money is earned, and items and powerups (even the iconic/infamous, Power drink) can be purchased from the shop that can be used to help the player along the Quest campaign or Matches. Visting citizens in the overworld map by entering houses would vary between giving you money, taking money, or giving you hints for either traveling the overworld or playing a match. Matches start when you enter the opposing team's stadium or when an opposing team appears in a random encounter fashion(random encounters are short 1 minute 1-period matches while the standards other are 2 or 4 minutes 3 period matches). gameplay is still the same as the arcade game 2 on 2 with a goalie on each side but the rink is size is big and not small. Winning a match provide experience and money for your team.
Certainly an original unique concept, but sadly quest mode and the NES version of Hit the Ice was abandoned altogether and hasn't been in the other console port releases. with some polish, it would have been something. you can get your hands on this game either by buying the reproduction prototype cartridge by Gorilla Games or by finding the rom and playing it on the emulator.