LA Robbie

Haha. You know, I thought of great games I loved like Sonic 2, Road Rash 2, Streets of Rage. They were awesome and helped me waste large portions of my youth, but they've been and gone for me. I loved them at the time, but wouldn't be interested in going back to them. There's lots of others like that, that I remember fondly, but I just kept the list to those ones that will never be old for me. I've got the project 64 emulator and have Ocarina of time about half complete on there. Have to find time to get back to that soon..........but Sonic, Road Rash, or Toejam and Earl I think i'm leaving as a memory. lol Oh, have a look for "Heavyweight Boxing Manager" on Spectrum or Commodore 64. So basic, but great fun somehow!

P.S. I can't get NHL 94 CD to work on GENS! I've got the correct Bios and Snatcher & Final Fight work great, but 94 just loads up to the "SEGA screen" with Sonic on it, but then goes blank and the intro video never starts. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. It's my favourite version of the game!

Well, my baby daughter has woken me up at 4:30am, and I can't get back to sleep. The old grey matter is buzzing away, so the computer's been turned on. I posted on a thread the other day "coming this fall", about the NHL11 rom that everyone's been going crazy over. A true masterpiece. I made the observation that although other games are remembered fondly from my youth, and played a big part in it, none quite had the effect of NHL94. Lets face it, there aren't any websites i'm aware of dedicated to online play of Mortal Kombat, or Virtual racer.........or maybe there are, I actually don't know! So why is NHL94 so different? Why 17 or 18 years after the release of the game, when gaming has moved on to incredible levels, where people are playing Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, the latest Madden or FIFA soccer are hundreds still signing up to online leagues of a hockey game from an obsolete 16-bit console?! There's so much out there, and so many modern hockey games that should be a million times better than NHL94..........so why do we all choose this, and dedicate ourselves to it rather than moving on to the state of the art games that are out there? Why does 94 have this amazing hold over us?! When your brain kicks into gear at 5am completely pointless things start going through your head. I started thinking about all the wonderful games that played a major part in my childhood. There are some I still play today, others that are remembered fondly, and all that could be picked up now and easily played for hours every day for the next few months. But none of them mean the same as NHL94 for some reason. I've come to the conclusion that it's for a combination of reasons. There are many games that were just as good, or perhaps better than NHL in their own way. Of course, like anything deeply meaningful, a large part of it is largely unexplainable, but for what it's worth, here's my best try: * First of all, the game has wonderful playability. It just feels right. It's simplistic 3-button play disguises how complex the game can be - The tactical feel, the feel of the different players, the way you have to use those players to their different strengths. NHL94 wasn't like those other games where there was a set way to play the game, an exact way to score the goals. Every team felt different and the overall gameplay just feels perfect. Later versions of the franchise added new elements and attempted to "improve" on it's predecessors, but with each new incarnation something was actually lost from 94 in my opinion. Each new addition moved the gameplay away from that perfect feel 94 had managed to achieve. That's why still today 94 is the best hockey game i've played. The latest versions with their incredible graphics are just games, that feel like games, but 94 had a unique feel that made it something else completely in it's own right. * NHL brought friends together. One of the reasons this game means so much to me is that I can still to this day remember specific matches or tournaments, and the rivalries we had with each other. You were just a group of mates gathering together to play a computer game, but my god if each of those tournaments and leagues didn't mean something to you! If I didn't win the league I would be devastated, dying for the next one to start so I could get my revenge. Take my rightful place at the top again! After a few bad seasons you'd be desperately tinkering with your lines trying to change your fortunes, all so that your best mate/arch enemy wouldn't get the bragging rights over you again! Kelly Hrudey had several seasons on the bench on the back of his howlers, whilst for a couple of seasons The Great One (Who was 2nd in the all-time scorers list behind only Steve Yzerman) was moved onto the left so Jimmy Carson could move up into Sc1 for the benefit of his one-timers.........oh the ridiculous decisions I made in search of a change of fortunes! * Because of how meaningful each league with your friends was rivalries were formed in the game that you and your friends could still sit down and talk about for hours now - Who was better - Roenick or Yzerman? Chicago was always my team in NHLPA93, so for me it was always Roenick, but one of my friends always used Detroit, and was awesome with them, so for him it was always Yzerman. Chicago vs Detroit games always had that special bite to them because of it. Who would come out on top? In which minute would Bob Probert & Marty McSorley get into a fight in 93? McSorley was so slow he'd always lose, but my god he liked a dust-up! Porbert was hard as nails. I think Rob Brown was the only player I could ever beat him with. We've all got our favourite players: favourite goalies, favourite defenders, favourite attacking players, but what i've come to realise is it wasn't the rivalries in the game that existed - it was the rivalries we created between them as friends that made them important to us, and make us remember those players fondly. Although the players with those names did exist for real, it's our experiences of using them in the game that make us remember them - Roy, Belfour, Chelios, Coffey, Gartner, Messier, Gretzky, Oates, Roenick, Yzerman, Fedorov.........the list goes on, and i'll remember each name 'til the day I die, not because they were ice hockey players, but because they were NHL94 players. So, I realise i've banged on for an age about NHL94 here, but, like I said, it got me thinking. I thought of all the other games i've loved over the years, on all the different systems i've owned. Games that will always mean something to me, but just not in quite the same way as NHL94. Would be interested to know other people's memories and influences. I'm english, so there's a big football (soccer) influence in there, but these are some of the games that, like NHL94 I could easily sit down to play now and spend hours on, and in some cases have done only recently, despite the fact that modern gaming technology should have made them obsolete years ago. It's funny how our memories and experiences can compensate for all the visual perfection and advanced control systems of today's games..............god I feel old saying that! lol Most everyone will know, but perhaps there's one or two there you haven't seen before. All the ROMS or ISOs are easily available and really worth a play. Toca Touring Cars 2 on the Playstation is perhaps not too well known in the U.S., but is probably the best racing game i've ever played, and was an awesome 2 player game via the old link cable between 2 machines, as was command & conquer, resulting in many walks to my friends house carrying my Playstation and my portable TV! Of course i've enjoyed other games, but these are the timeless ones i'll always be able to play, and will never feel old to me. If anyone else has any other great ones they'd like others to know about put them on here so we can all look them up! ZX SPECTRUM 128K Tracksuit Manager Robocop The Last Ninja COMMODORE 64 Pitfall MEGADRIVE (GENESIS) NHLPA 93 NHL 94 Sensible Soccer PGA Tour Golf 2 Flashback (MEGA CD (SEGA CD) NHL 94 CD Sensible Soccer CD Snatcher Final Fight PLAYSTATION Resident Evil Toca Touring Cars 2 Final Fantasy 7 X-Com Command & Conquer Alien Trilogy Doom NINTENDO 64 Goldeneye International Superstar Soccer 64 Ocarina of Time Perfect Dark Rogue Squadron Thanks for reading. Hope I haven't bored you too much!

Hey, this is amazing. What an achievement! I'm new to the site, and have always loved this game, but to come on here & see people so dedicated to it, not just to organise leagues, but to keep updating rosters etc is just amazing. To see a whole new version of the game like this though is something unbelievable, and although i'm an Nhl94 and Nhlpa93 fan rather than a hockey fan, I am really looking forward to getting to know this version of the game. The guys that created NHL94 i'm sure wouldn't believe that it's still being played 17 years on, has a thriving fan community and is inspiring new versions of the original. The game is always going to be a big part of my youth, and although there's lots of others i've got great memories of, i've never seen another touch people in such a special, deep and personal way. Where that comes from I don't know, because it's from a deeper place than the code or graphics or anything like that. Incredible. Once again, congratulations on an amazing achievement. I'm looking forward to competing in many online leagues in the future with you guys, and to getting into this new version of the game, perhaps for the next 17 years!

Cool. Thanks for the help. Ive basically done that process but i've been disabling Hamachi when im not usin it, but obviously that'll be no good to me if im playing at the time of the problem, so i'll try this if it happens again.

Oh, and when it happened today I wasn't logged in to Hamachi & wasn't playin the game or anything, but it appears i'm connected to Hamachi regardless of whether i'm using it or not

OK, yeah, i'm using wireless so will hook up tonight direct through the cable & see if there's any more problems. If it's a case of playing my matches via a direct connection it's no big problem. Just don't understand why the Hamachi network should disrupt my internet connection at all?

Hi, i'm a newby to all this, and only computer literate on a basic level. I installed Hamachi a couple of days ago obviously for the purpose of joining the league, and had a number of successful test games without incident. Then last night during set up of a game I lost my internet connection completely and found I only had a local area connection to "network 4" (Hamachi) diagnostics suggested there were problems with the IP settings for the Hamachi network, but not being too computer savvy I presumed it was just a problem with my internet and cable service. After about an hour without internet & trying various diagnostic suggestions I turned off for the evening. I turned on the computer today & everything was fine again, until this afternoon it happened again, this time at work, so it's not a problem with my connection at home. I have disabled the Hamachi connection & everything seems fine. Like I said, i'm not the most computer literate guy in the world, so I thought i'd see if anyone else here has had similar problems or has any suggestions? Obviously I don't want to be in the middle of a league game with someone and lose my connection. Any help from someone more technically proficient than me is appreciated!

Great, i'll be around for the next hour or so tonight, and tomorrow from about 8pm onwards central time. After that I should be on fairly regularly throughout saturday & sunday. Look out for me

Hi all, As a new member i'm on the waiting list for GENS B. Before joining this site i've never been one for manual goaltending, so really want to have some regular matches to get used to it. If you're also on the waiting list for one of the leagues maybe you could put your information here and when you're available to play and we can schedule some games. Much appreciated, and look forward to playing!

Haha. Did u post this after our Hartford vs LA game?! ;-)

Hi, I'm stuck on the waiting list so want to try to get regular games until a place in the league comes up. I'll be on here regularly, so look out for me - LA Robbie

Damn! I played a test game & got confirmed, but I guess I was too low on the waiting list to make it in? Let me know if someone drops out please, I was all excited about playing the season!

Hi, I just signed up, so need to play the test game. I'll be online throughout the day from about 10am - 2pm central time, and then again after about 7:30pm onwards. Lookin forward to it!