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Centers, wingers, and defensemen have specific offensive and defensive assignments, depending on where the puck is, and what team is in possession of it. In normal play, the skaters will cycle through these two assignments. But, there are special assignments for certain cases (scoring a goal, winning the finals and holding the cup, receiving a pass, in a faceoff, on a breakaway, etc.). These are temporary assignments, and once complete, will switch the player back to the offense/defense cycle. It should be noted that a joypad controlled skater does not get assignments. assnearest - Player closest to the puck One such assignment is labeled "assnearest", which in the 92 source code is described as " a special assignment used for the player who is nearest the puck but doesn't have it". - Team playing defense will always have a player in the assnearest assignment. - Team playing offense (puck carrier's team) will not have one. (Technically, the puck carrier gets this assignment for breakaway testing and exits it before doing anything). - When the puck is loose (including during a pass or shot), both teams will have a player with the assignment. What's special about this assignment? - The only AI controlled players that can check in the game are defensemen in their defense assignment (assdefd) and players in the assnearest assignment - The assignment uses Offensive Awareness as a timer. And since part of the assignment is determining who is the closest to the puck, the Awareness timer will affect other players on their team (Low awareness = more time before switching the assignment to a player who is closer to the puck) - When the puck is located in the "slot", there are special effects: the OfA timer is divided in half, the player will have a chance to get a +6 or +8 to their Spd value (which is equivalent to a +1.2 or +1.6 to their Spd attribute, not to exceed max 6 attribute), and the player may also get their Chk value doubled (not exceeding the max) - There is another timer that is set based on certain conditions (player location to the puck, PP/PK, Chk rating and RNG) - The assignment is also used to jump off to others (breakaway, puck carrier). The player will stay in this assignment until it exits it by jumping out, or if it switches it to another player who is closer to the puck. Reminder, the game considers the slot the shaded area below: The assignment routine will take a few different paths depending on conditions. The beginning is always the same. This mostly is for making changes if the assnearest player is currently the puck carrier. It will check conditions for a breakaway, and will change the assignment to assbreakaway if needed (which is just used to check if the breakaway is still good). It will make the changes needed for breakaway (set the flags, add 1 to the team's breakaway attempts, boost the crowd level). Side note - There is no longer a breakaway if the breakaway player loses the puck, their Y velocity is 0 (they've stopped skating), or their Y velocity is less than their Y position (meaning they are not moving forward towards the net). Shoutout to @kingraph for finding this. If this is a new assignment (player was just assigned this, first run through), there are 2 timers that are set to 0 (Awareness timer and a temporary timer). If the player is the puck carrier: The player will switch to the puck carrier assignment (asspuckc). The puck carrier will actually switch between the asspuckc and assnearest assignments until something else changes, as assnearest tests for breakaways. If the player is not the puck carrier: The number of frames that passed since last time through (usually 1 frame) is subtracted from the OfA timer (if this is a "new" assignment, the timer is set to 0 before this step). If the OfA timer is 0 or less: Reset the timer: Awareness attributes are between 0-6 Assuming no bonuses: 0 OfA = 15 frame timer 1 OfA = 14 frame timer 2 OfA = 12 frame timer 3 OfA = 11 frame timer 4 OfA = 10 frame timer 5 OfA = 9 frame timer 6 OfA = 7 frame timer If the goalie on the player's team is pulled, or if the crowd meter is currently broken, 1 is subtracted from the timer Check if the puckc slot flag is set. This is set when the puck carrier is in the offensive slot area. If they are not, or if there is no puck carrier, the flag is not set If the flag is set, divide the timer by 2 Check if the puck carrier is on the same team as the player. If so, it will assign assnearest to the puck carrier, and end assnearest for the current player. If the puck is loose, or opposite team possession, continue Check if the current player is still the closest to the puck. If not, change the assignment of the player who is to assnearest, and end this assignment for the current player. Note, it will ignore a player who is assigned to receive a pass After this, there is a timer that is set that will be used later (this timer is initially set to 0 if a new assignment). Let's call it the decision timer. This gets a little complicated: - There's a multiplier used for this calc. It starts with a value of 2. - First, it checks if the player is within a 20 pixel radius of the puck. - If inside the radius, subtract 2 from the multiplier (would be 0 now). If the player is a D, and is inside the 20 pixel radius, it skips the rest of the timer calc. - If outside the radius, the multiplier stays at 2, regardless if F or D. - Check if there is currently a PP (doesn't matter which team) - If not, move to next step (Timer Calculation). - If there is, check if the player is on a PK. - If so, subtract 2 from the multiplier. - If they are on the PP, add 2 to the multiplier. Timer Calculation: - 40 decmial to start - Subtract player's Chk value (0-30) - Use the multiplier as a shift of the result (2 would be mult. by 4, 4 would be mult. by 16, -2 would be divide by 4) - RNG the result - Compare it to 2. If higher than 2, do not change the timer. If 2 or less, set the timer to 240. The decision timer works like this - If the timer is not zero, or if there is no puck carrier, the player will skate to the puck, and along the way, look for checking opportunities (high Chk = more likely to check players). If the timer is zero, they will skate to a spot and get some attribute boosts depending on where the puck is. I'll give a brief explanation down below. If the OfA timer is not zero (or if it was just reset): Puck is loose (no puck carrier): Skate to the puck, look for checking opportunities along the way There is a puck carrier (player is playing defense): Subtract # of frames passed since last time checked (usually 1 frame) from the decision timer. If the Decision Timer is not 0: the player will just skate to the puck carrier and look for checking opportunities. Decision timer is 0: The player will skate to a location keeping themselves halfway between their crease and the puck in Y, and halfway between the puck and center ice in X. If the puck carrier is in the slot area: The player will get a boost in Spd (a +6 to their Spd value, equal to +1.2 on their Spd attribute), and can also get an extra +2 to their Spd value (+0.4 to their Spd attribute) if the crowd meter is currently broken. This is checked to make sure it doesn't exceed 30 Spd value (6 attribute), if it does, set to max. Boost is only if puck carrier is in the slot. It's a way to "catch up" to the play if they are farther away. If the player is out of the play (the puck carrier is between them and the back of their defensive zone in Y, or they are in between the puck carrier and the back of the zone in Y, but farther than 15 pixels away in X), they will just continue to skate to their spot If they are "in the play" (between the puck carrier and back of zone in Y, within 15 pixels in X), the player gets a double Chk value boost and will look to check If the puck carrier is not in the slot: The player doesn't get the Spd and Chk boosts, but they will still look for checking opportunities while skating to their spot. Recap The only AI-controlled players who can check are those players who have the assdefd or the assnearest assignment The team that has puck possession will not have a player with the assnearest assignment (other than when checking if there is a breakaway, and switching to the asspuckc assignment) If the puck is loose, both teams will have a player with the assnearest assignment Offensive Awareness is used as the timer The assignment will check and see if it needs to switch to a different player, depending on who is closest to the puck Higher Chk value = more likely to initiate a check When the puck is loose, both players will skate to the puck, looking for checking opportunities along the way Decision timer is used by a player playing defense (other team has puck) When the timer is reset, it is set for 240 frames (4 real-time seconds), and it decrements every frame If the timer is not 0, the player will skate to the puck If the timer is 0, the player will skate to a spot, halfway between the crease and the puck carrier in Y, and halfway between the puck and center ice in X If the puck carrier is in the slot: The player will get a huge boost in Spd (a +6 bonus, equivalent to a +1.2 to their Spd attribute, not to exceed max) If the player is "out of the play" (the puck carrier is closer to the net than they are), they will just continue skating to their spot, not looking to check If the player is "in the play" (between net and the puck carrier), the player will get a double Chk bonus (not to exceed the max) and look to check If the puck carrier is outside the slot: They will skate to their spot, and look to check along the way The timer is checked to see if it will reset every time the OfA timer is up. The odds of a reset: If the player has high Chk rating, they have a greater chance of a reset If the player is on the PK, they have a greater chance of a reset If the player is a defensemen, and close to the puck carrier (within 20 pixels), they will not reset The timer never resets by itself. So it can count down to 0 and stay there until it is reset, unlike the other timers like the awareness ones Examples The puck is deep in the offensive player's zone here. The 2 wingers playing defense (for Ottawa), are close to the puck carrier. Watch the RW of Ottawa. He gets switched to assnearest as the LW skates back into the neutral zone. At first, he does a stutter. When he originally switches to assnearest, his Decision timer is 0. , So he acts as if he is going to skate back to a halfway spot between the puck carrier and the crease. Then, he turns around, and skates to the puck to throw a check. His Decision timer got reset, so now he is getting aggressive with the puck carrier. (no bonuses since puck is outside the slot). The LW is doing his asswingd assignment, where he is skating to the same Y location as the puck, but on his side of the rink. Bob Kudelski's Chk rating is low (2 Chk), but he must have gotten a bad (or good, however you want to look at it) RNG roll on his Decision timer. In this second example, Jamie Baker is considered the closest to the puck. The puck carrier (Cam Neely) is in the slot area, and Baker is between Neely and the back of the zone. Baker is at his position, which is why he isn't skating (halfway between puck carrier and top of crease). So here, if his Decision timer is zero, he would get double Chk rating and the Spd boost. But, notice how long it takes for him to react, and he's not trying to check, he's skating to the puck carrier and poking at the puck (which is what a player will do when they are "skating to the puck"). It looks like although he had the extra Chk boost (which would give him 4 Chk attribute!), he got some bad RNG rolls, and would not try to check, then the Decision timer got reset, and he decided to skate to the puck. Also, there's a rare moment here. Watch Juneau (LW) move from his zone spot to a new spot. This usually doesn't happen, unless the puck passed over a line (blue line, goal line). There's a small chance of this happening, where the first 7 bits of the frame counter have to equal zero, at the same time the player's awareness timer hits zero (mentioned in the asswingo assignment post). In this one, both Neely and Turgeon are skating towards the loose puck, both with assnearest assignment. You'll notice how Turgeon tries to check Neely a few times (but fails). Neely does not try to check because there is no good checking opportunity (he is not facing anyone to check). Here, let's look at Brad Shaw (#4). He is a 2 Spd skater. When Juneau enters the zone on a breakaway, he enters in the slot. Shaw is the nearest defending player. With the puck in the slot, and his Decision timer at 0, he gets a +1.2 to his 2 Spd, useful to catch up to Juneau on this play (he still has 3 Agl which doesn't help him get to speed that quick).

great work!

Alright. We're breaking a weird one out of its cage today. Cage match that is. The basis of this one is a big what if. What if the folks who made this classic, tag teamed up with the folks who made this... classic?, then play into a tie-in with a tournament format and you get this classic. Now to frame this as a retro review, We'll have to start with the obvious. Returning to the developer role after 1989's WWF Superstars and 1991's WWF WrestleFest arcade games, Technōs Japan Corp and their subsidiary American Technōs were looking for a win and hoped that returning to the only well that had been commercially successful for them, outside of their Kunio-kun and Double Dragon franchises, would help the failing company. Apparently also taking a page out of the Kunio-kun book where Technōs combined fighting characters with contact sports, Vince McMahon decided that it would be a good idea to license his WWF brand to a non-arcade-wrestling game this time around. It is probably just a coincidence, but it is too bad that Technōs filed for bankruptcy protection less than a year after completing this game. Not that I'm saying that this game did them in, but the timing leads one to believe otherwise. Not getting off on the right foot here... Never mind all that. Now that the stage, or ring, is set up, it's time to look at the game. I'm not sure if the "winners" campaign was still in swing by this time, but that splash screen brings back some memories. Being a North American release, the game is localized with the American Technos distribution label. Titan Sports is of course the parent company of the WWF at the time. Getting right into it, while listening to the chuggy music, the branding is right out of the Superstars era, with many references to previous games, tv shows and events. The text is flavoured with references as well and a player can mark out in different types of events from a Single Match, an Ironman Single Elimination Tournament or a full Best-of-7 Survivor Series and matches varying in length of nine, 15, 24 or take on Ric Flair in a full 60 minute match. Tagging between lines can be turned off if you just want to play with your top five favourites, or set to Player or Manager [computer] controlled. The goalie can be controlled by the player as well, or locked out of player control. Macho Man approves of penalties. Getting into a game, one is treated to a pre-match introduction by the legendary Mean Gene Okerlund as he runs down the teams and who is hot or cold. I should probably note here that the RNG variance on the Hot and Cold streaking is quite high. This makes things a bit interesting as you will never really know who is popping versus who is probably hiding a bad injury. On to the game menu screen, it starts to become obvious that the arena is not your typical hockey rink. The boards are replaced with ropes, the plexiglass with steel cage bars and the Zamboni with a runaway cart from Wrestlemania 2 and 3. The banners and jumbotron also callback to previous WWF games. Evidently, the Ultimate Warrior and Bret are feeling really good today. And a familiar pair is seated ring rink side providing commentary. Once in a game, more features are visible. The referee is sporting a gold WWF logo on his shirt and the game clock advertises the Technōs America Sports Network, which unfortunately didn't become a thing. While The Rock wasn't a thing either, yet, his dad was, lending his tag team's name to one of the teams. There are only sixteen teams featured in the game. Enough to hold a Survivor Series bracket, but given the limited number of Superstars in the featured era, that is plenty. It should also be mentioned at some point that each team only comprises of twelve players, enough for two full lines and two goalies, plus two managers that are only going to get involved when the goalie is pulled and they can run some interference. Or not at all, in the case of some managers who prefer to let others get their hands dirty. Despite the slight anachronism, the Mega Bucks are united as the brute squad blocks the net. While by today's standard, about half of the wrestlers featured in this game are dead now, it could be noted that a small handful in the game had already passed by the 1995 release date. But the game draws from notable wrestlers who were prominent between 1980 and 1995 just to fill every team so it works in universe. Also, why would anyone want to not play as Andre? The game features colour photos for at least 224 wrestles and managers. While not available to be put on a line by the player, the managers can be viewed in the profiles screen like every other player. Getting into the game finally, it soon becomes clear that there have been some tweaks to the rules from your typical hockey video game. Aggressive play is promoted, even if sometimes it is penalized and your entire top line has to take a seat on some folding chairs. Due to the small teams, minor penalties are only a minute long and a major, usually for injuring another player, is two minutes. But it should also be noted that since you are effectively only swapping between two lines, the player fatigue rate is slow, while a player on the bench recharges very quickly as they stomp the side ready to jump back in. Vince didn't even have time to react to the chaos in front of him. Another thing to keep in mind is that the opposing manger will try to push in the dying minutes while behind. If your computer controlled opponent is down by one, two or three goals with less than a minute to play, they will pull their goalie for an all out attack. But you can attack them first, such as throwing them into the concrete wall that is meant to separate the teams so they keep their transgressions to the ice. [it was probably too hard to animate the players getting up to yell at each other back in the 16-bit era anyway] Another notable difference is that the Match Superstars is rated based on who gets over with the crowd the most. And since hitting gets the crowd to their feet, Certain players will get the fans' vote, even if their team gets outscored. Note that the same RNG that causes the wild swings in Hot and Cold also boosts a players boost, so big hits can be plentiful if you're not afraid to dish them out. Winning the tournament will give you the prestige of raising a championship belt, but the losing team did get to take out their frustrations on the hapless jobronis. I think I featured all of the graphics in this one, but to recap the game play and highlight a few other bits I may not have mentioned yet: RNG is jacked up for cheap pops, dozy painkiller induced slumps and bit hits that your opponent will sell like a champ. With only two complete lines [plus a third "best of" hybrid] fatigue is programmed to facilitate long shifts and quick recoveries. Team names adopt a four letter format. Match length refers to total game length. 9 minutes [3x3], 15 minutes [5x3], 24 minutes [8x3] and 60 minute man. Three-Star calculator favours rough play. Penalties of one or two minutes in length. Players can be moved around to play any position but goal. Two non-player assigned managers are on each team. Of which one will usually jump in if the goalie is pulled. X-Button selects the goalie. Goalies don't wear masks as they fearlessly roam the entire rink. To save the player from themselves however, if the goalie crosses over center ice, the play is whistled dead. Because nothing is worse than goalie rushing the other end of the rink and then losing the puck or getting knocked down by the opposing goalie. But player controlled goalie can roam with the puck indefinitely, while the CPU cannot. Please use responsibly. Off-sides are optional, Icing is not. As in there are none. Use however you want. I lied, there is a 17th playable team, but that one is more of a "Be a Player" mode edition featuring You! and a few ringers to help you out. Number of teams has been increased to 21. Sixteen "main" teams, plus "Your" team, plus three additional "Enhancement teams", plus an unlocked bonus team. NEW!! 3.0 update with even more RNG for those days when the painkillers either work well, or don't. Cage [glass] might break a little easier Non-player controlled wrestlers are going to get a little more aggressive out there. Injuries are slightly less uncommon, but the aim of the name is to survive after all... Rather than end on a fake rating, I may as well note that this one has been in and out of development for quite a while but if anyone comes across something I missed, or hopefully if you just like it, let me know eh. Now updated with four more playable teams! "Wide screen" viewing. Things are heating up off the ice Definitive Version WWF-SSShoot-Out v3.0.bin Previous version with most notable difference being the non "wide-screen" view. WWF-SSShoot-Out v2.1.bin