top shelf

All the graphics for each game have an exact location so this will only work for 94 and probably a specifc rom version of 94 ( i have not read which version). If you apply this patch to a 97 rom it will be pointing to the wrong location so will break the game as it camnot find what it's looking for. From memory a lot of the versions have a different number of sprites which is what makes uniform sprite hacks for each version very difficult and time consuming.

So what with watching the play-offs and my spare time disappearing have not touched this in awhile but uploading files of how far I got (hopefully the right ones - let me know if not doing what they are supposed to). So I managed to get it to change the lines from the expanded space without breaking. So this should, after first face-off, load line 4 instead of line 1 on every line change (best selecting Pittsburgh as I changed Mario to LW so easier to tell): nhl92 sort of working selecting line 4.bin So, with the next download I was playing around with AI (not claiming to have done this myself 😀) and it managed to get it to random occasionally between line 1 and line 4 (a lot of things didn't work): nhl92 sort of working maybe randomn.bin This seems to work but I have not tested a lot so if anyone wants to beta test this to see if it consistently works? It will break on penalty call though. From what I remember (not recently read my notes which I should have done before posting so could be totally wrong), the game sets a flag when a PP/PK is called so whether that is breaking or something else is referenced I have not tested yet. Maybe someone can shed any light on this? One thing I noticed a few weeks ago when testing is that when making changes in the original code the game breaks on a penalty in the Gens versions (I think in both 92 and 94) but still runs on the SNES (in 93 anyway), which is interesting as wasn't expecting it.

I think you need at least 10 minutes, ideally 20 minute periods to make the 3rd line (and possibly 4th line) players have any chance of some ice time. There is certainly merit in having 3rd and 4th line. Just like in real life these would contain your best defensive players, high energy guys and fighters. So could be used to shut down the other teams top line or change momentum with a fight or a high energy shift to keep the opposition in their own end. Much more interesting than having line 1 v line 1 all the time.

The hack: I pushed the limit with this to see how realistic I could make the uniforms. I went as far as isolating the lower arms (I have a version without but have not found that yet) but that is as far as I could go with the palette. One of the drawbacks with this is you lose a bit of definition from the goalies around the masks. The teams (and differences from original sprites): Boston – removed shoulders for both home/away. Black colour added to home arm and legs. Buffalo – yellow band removed from away jersey shoulders. Arm/leg colours corrected on the home jersey. Calgary- removed white shoulder stripe for the away jersey and yellow shoulder stripe on the home jersey. Arm/leg colours now correct on both uniforms. Chicago - removed shoulder colours on home and away jersey. Helmet colour changed for away jersey to black. Needs another stripe along the bottom of the jersey to be totally realistic Detroit – thicker white stripes on arm and legs. Home (white) jersey needs upper arms isolating to be ultra realistic (I had to settle for the bottom of the arm). White shoulder band removed on away jersey. Edmonton – arm stripes on home jersey corrected. Hartford – blue stripe added to arms/legs on away jersey. Like Chicago needs another stripe along the bottom of the jersey to be totally realistic. LA – removed shoulder band for both home/away. Corrected stripes on arms and legs. Minnesota – North Stars colours so different to original rom. Montreal - removed shoulders for the away jersey and blue band on the shoulder for the home jersey and changed helmet colour for away jersey to blue. Lower arms changed on home jersey to red. New Jersey – shoulder colours corrected for home and away jersey. New York Islanders – home white jersey now has correct lower arms orange (although have lost orange on the legs), shoulders removed on away jersey New York Rangers - shoulders removed on away jersey home jersey (difficult to get shoulders exactly correct, probably another shoulder stripe needed) Philadelphia – more realistic shoulder colours for home and away. Away jersey now has correct helmet. Black added to lower arms on both jerseys. Pittsburgh –now has correct yellow on lower arms on both jerseys and correct shoulders on home jersey Quebec - more realistic shoulder colours St. Louis – removed shoulders for both home/away Toronto – removed shoulders from away jersey and now has correct arm and leg stripes Vancouver - removed shoulders for both home/away Washington - blue added to shoulder and leg stripes Winnipeg - removed shoulders for both home/away jersey

I am going to try to sort out some of my old creations and upload them in one place. Some I might have uploaded before but some I haven’t like this one. ROM Description: A new – (very old) SNES rom hack – The NHL 89-90 season with full sprite uniform/jersey hack. This uses the Smoz SNES 64 team ROM and is of the 89-90 season (which I think I copied from my Gens 93 version from memory). Created in 2010 (although I probably finished it in early 2011). I think I had planned to create a patch but there was zero interest in it at the time so never got around to it. Straight after creating it I disappeared for an extended period so never uploaded it (kids not prison). Even though there is probably less interest now I thought I would upload it for posterity. I managed to find what I think could be the final version (I was not very well organised when I was doing this!). I having been playing it last week to test and looks OK without errors as far as I can tell! Not sure why no one was interested as I think having realistic uniforms makes it a much better experience (maybe because it was 93? - it is the 94 forum after all!), so it never went any further. This was the first full sprite/uniform hack I believe, I think there had been the helmet/stick tape patch but nothing that touched the rest of the uniforms, which was why I decided to have a go at it. I don’t think anyone else has attempted it from the look of things until the 94-sprite hack that is soon coming (this looks amazing btw with crests, shoulder logos, numbers and 3rd jerseys and all without changing the sprites!). I can’t really remember if I got as far as the Gens 93 version (will need to have a look) and from what I remember the NHL 94 was much more time consuming which is why I started with the SNES 93 version. If anyone can use this for anything, please feel free (just give me a mention) although with the new jersey hack it’s probably redundant. 2026 top shelf NHLPA Hockey '93 (64 teams) v096.smc

I think this is something to try first just to see if it can actually be done. If we can do something like the 'Extra button for goalie control hack' that I mentioned above. I had a quick look at it and I got it to work on the 30 team wboy rom (although doesn't load the original rom but that might be a me thing). Unfortunately it's more written what he was doing rather than a tutorial of how to do it. However, it will need something similar using the expanded rom. Another option I was thinking was if a combo option could be used e.g. A+C or to random a 3rd/4th line to avoid not losing the line change menu using Y, but that is getting ahead of myself. I don't even remember how to use the expanded rom in the gens version so need to look at that first (although have got it to work in the SNES). I have found quite a bit of the button stuff in both games but still not sure i can get this to work having not done this in such a long time. Need to do some more testing then can hopefully upload my findings.

This is not something I had thought of. I can change the buttons so they all select the same line which is pretty useless but to get one button to select different lines would be difficult and would need someone with a great understanding of how the game works and how to code it.

Not sure how easy it is to add the extra button. There is the following post but not sure if anyone has done anything with it (other hacks) or whether it works on expanded roms which is why I'm asking if anyone has experience of doing it.

Yes, you can read about it here

Yes that would be it, totally forgot it had only 3 buttons unlike the SNES! 🙂

After finding out that fighting was back in the game, I just wondered what else thought impossible is possible. With fighting now in both games 93 and 94 having an extra line of tough guys would be great (thinking Washington Caps Simon-Hunter-Berube line). Not sure why they originally went with 3 lines – space maybe? Only just found out we had the 92 source code! Unfortunately, have not touched this stuff in 15 years so have lost all the knowledge I used to have. I had a go at the ‘Finding RAM Values’ tutorial last month (highly recommended btw) to see if it would bring back any memories and thought I would have a look to see what I could find without really any hope of finding anything at all as have no clue what I was doing. Not sure if anyone has looked at this before or is looking at this but I managed to get it to select the Pw1 instead of the Sc1 line in the 92 Sega/Genesis version, see image. I have also managed to get it to select the Pw1 in SNES 93 version although it is harder as I don’t have the code to cross reference, PIT Pw1 line against NY 5 players. I guess I’m asking (from those with a much better idea than I have) is a full hack possible? I think this would involve requiring another button to select the fourth line and changing the menu graphic from A SC1, B SC2, C CHK to display A SC1, B SC2, C CHK, (new button) 4th LINE. We would then need to add in an extra line in expanded rom (or as an easier alternative we could perhaps use Pw1 as the fourth line or Sc1 as fourth line and Pw1 as the top line). I’m guessing adding the graphics shouldn’t be a problem as assuming something similar was done for the fighting in 94 but the extra button is. I believe some 6-button hack was done ages ago for the Gens version but not sure if anyone understands how it works or if it works on an expanded ROM? Can this be done on the SNES versions?

Great tutorial! Not touched this stuff for 15 years but thought I'd have a go and was able to follow along and found for SNES NHLPA93 (the 64 team version) 13F2 (home) and 13F4 (away). Was pretty cool to see the value change as scrolling through. Although I'm not sure what to do with this new found information!! 🤔 @McMarkis is there any next steps tutorials/examples about how to a apply it in the code? Is it possible to do anything with 93 versions anyway at the moment? I think I read about someone working on 93 disassembly but I could not find anything (although I have had a quick look at the 92 and Gens 94 code).

@bcrt2000 If you are looking into SNES '93 I did this strip hack years ago (2010 - crazy!). See link below to original post. strip hack 93 SNES There wasn't much interest at the time because it was the SNES version but I did finish it from what I remember. I'm not sure if it's any use to you? (please ignore if not as not sure if someone else is doing this sort of stuff as not been on the forum for awhile), but I can see if I can find it if of any use as I should still have it somewhere or at least some version of it.

I came across a video of someone playing '93 on YouTube so thought I would give it a watch and they mentioned that fighting was now on 94. Thought there were mistaken as was impossible! (not been on this forum much lately - things have really moved on). Amazing work! @chaos Quick question. In the Making of NHL 94 - 30th documentary the creators mentioned more new animations had been created for fighting in 94 such as pulling jerseys over heads (not sure if these were added into the game or just something they were developing), before fighting had to be ripped out. Would it be possible to add in extra animations like this one now or in the future? I guess would need another button or something to trigger the new animation?

Shame it's not NHL24!