aqualizard

Geeze, this topic should be generating a lot more interest! I definitely have a wish list of guys that I wish were there. I could name 20 dudes... @IceStorm70 - We needed more top guys to fight for the prize money! On the GENs side, we might as well have handed Angry Jay and Raph our entry fees from the get-go? (I kid, but more top guys would have made it sweet. Although aside from talent, it would have been cool to meet the man behind the handle.) @Brutus - His big personality would have been a great asset. Kinda feel like I know him cuz of his vids, but imagine what this guy would be like unchained in Vegas! Would have been fun as hell! @Plabax - That`s right! I would love to see the kid from Ottawa come out and play! I know he is a keyboard guy, but let's face it, he is one of the best ever. Also just the social dynamic of having Plabs there would be interesting. He may be the sweetest guy in the world in person? @AtomicRaven - My good buddy from Toronto. Would have been sweet to share the adventure with a good friend, and also share hotel expenses!! I could add more, but that is my Top 4. Bottom line, we needed more high caliber talent!

Ok I fixed some links... I don't want to drive people crazy... taking a break for now...

Ok, I started the Guide For New Members I was talking about...

March 18, 2018 - Updated Gamepads and Controllers section

This document was last updated March, 18, 2018 Getting Started This guide is meant to help people that are new to this site or our community. I just really got involved a couple years ago, and there was so much information in so many different places, it was overwhelming. Yes, it was mostly all here on the forums, or on another sister website, but finding clear, fresh info was very difficult. I aim to change that, with this guide, and other guides to come in this "Latest Info" section. I plan on keeping it "fresh" as things change and people tell me what they need to know, or want me to expand on I have organized it by headings. If a heading doesn't apply, just jump to the next one. You do not need to read this entire, lengthy, article from start to finish. If you just want to quickly see what events are coming up, both live and online, check out "Upcoming Events". Who We Are? We are guys like you! We all have one thing in common: a love of NHL'94! That is why we are here, and what is important. And we want you to be part of our community. That said, there are many facets to the community. Some people just want to share stories or get information on an ancient game that they love. Cool! That is why I came, originally. Some people play locally with a friend or two, or God forbid, against the CPU. And they are fine with that. We are fine with that, too! Other folks want to play in live events, which are happening with increased frequency these days. Many come here to play online -- yes, you can do that! -- against others that share their love of the game. (I think we have the best players in the world playing online here, doing things I did not know were possible before I joined. I myself am a middle-of-the pack player, and there are many like me here, too.) Some may want play customized ROMS, with the latest NHL players, or with little hacks and modifications ("mods") that fix or enhance the original ROM. (If you don't know what a "ROM" is, it gets explained a little further down.) Maybe they *only* want to mod the game, and not play or hardly play at all? Ok, cool! Some guys are Genesis ("GENs") dudes only, or SNES only, and some people here have done what seems impossible to me, and are competitive on both systems! Welcome! Welcome to everyone! (I say "guys" and "dudes", but really it is "people". There are a few females here as well.) Bottom line is, whatever your interest is in NHL'94, this is the place to be. We are the mecca of this world of NHL'94, and this forum is the heart of it all. There are other relevant websites, but the forum on NHL94.com is the *most* relevant. Look around. Ask questions. And please stay awhile. And please say hello in the "The Official 'I'm New/Introduction' Thread" thread! Genesis vs SNES This has been a hot debate since the 90s. Which console is better? Which plays NHL'94 better? Which looks better? Which has sold more, or has a bigger following? Most people prefer one over the other, and some weirdoes even like both! But this community is for -- you guessed it! -- everyone! At this moment, it is safe to say that there is more online activity on the Genesis side of things. There are more online leagues, and more forum posts, and more modifactions ("mods") and hacks related to Genesis ("GENs") ROMs. But! When it comes to live tournaments, the SNES is represented equally well; maybe better? And who knows what is going on out in the real world? Enough guys come out for live tournaments that are masters on SNES that indicates there is a huge offline community out there. Maybe offline SNES is played even more these days than GENs? Plus, when it comes to playing this game on your home computer -- yes it can be done! -- the SNES software is rock solid, eating the GENs equivalent for breakfast and spitting it out. Whether you are a GENs guy, or an SNES, we are happy you found this site. Playing the ROMs This applies to both playing online, and playing on your own computer. Originally, the ROM was the cartridge that you plugged into your system, be it Genesis or SNES. And if plugging in, "old school" style is what you want to do, that is fine. BUT! If you only play on a real console, know that you are missing out on a whole universe of opportunity. You see, you can use software on your computer, called an "emulator", that is the software equivalent of a real console. There are different emulators, of different quality, for both GENs and SNES. The beauty is, if you use an emulator, not only can you play on your regular, modern computer, which is super-convenient, but you can play all of the amazing ROMs that exist, including modified ones made by members of this community! And you can even play online against other people, which is not possible with the original consoles. Obviously the ROMs used by emulators are not cartridges, but rather files that represent the code that made the cartridges run. So an emulator is just a piece of software (like Microsoft Word) and a ROM is a single data file (like any document used by Microsoft Word, previously written, that you load into Word). They go together to make this all possible. There are soooo many ROMs here. As mentioned earlier, the Mod community is much busier on the GENs side. But there are some for SNES, too. You can play with modern NHL rosters, you can play with fixes and enhancements to the original ROM, and you can even play a ball hockey ROM. Two of my favorite ROMs are a 2v2 Rom (located in Master List link below), that eliminates 1 forward and both d-men, for non-stop action, and the just released "NHL 2018", which has 32 teams. This last mod has for some time been the holy grail of ROM hacks, and it just happened, after 25 years! The imagination and genius of our Mod community knows no bounds. And there are many people that are only interested in modding these ROMs and hardly playing them, and that is fine and cool. (I think so, anyway.) Click here to see the "Master List of GENS '94 ROMS". Computer Requirements While you may want to buy a controller to play this game (see below), you definitely do not need a new computer. In fact, many think older computers running Window 7 or even XP work best. However, you can use a Mac or Linux, too. Though the methods are different for GENs versus SNES. We have a whole subforum devoted to Mac Users: Check out: "Mac Users". Anyway, the bottom line is the hardware requirements to run the programs needed are low. Any computer that is less than 10 years old should work fine. And your operating system is not a deal breaker, although running Windows gives more options. If you are going to play online, there are some recommendations regarding your internet connection in the "Playing Online" section below. (Spoiler alert: Your internet connection is probably fine!) Gamepads and Controllers Here is an interesting thing: some of the most talented players to ever play online use the keyboard! And if you are brand new, and don't already have a compatible controller, you may have to try your hand with a keyboard, at least initially. But in my opinion, the learning curve is very steep. Many of us much prefer to get a proper controller. You can buy one that is USB compatible, and plug it right into your computer, for as cheap as $15 from Amazon. Or you can use an original controller, with a USB adapter. Fact is, many experts here prefer to use the original controllers that came with the game, or the small 6-button official controller. This is possible because these controllers were such high quality, they are still going strong. When these nearly indestructible controllers finally do wear down, it is usually the rubber molding inside the controller, between the buttons and the sensors, that goes first. Luckily you can buy little replacer pads cheaply online, too. With the replacer pads, these original controllers could last forever! Finally, another great thing about using original equipment is if you play in live tournaments, you will be good-to-go. Not the case with keyboarders or people using Logitech or other 3rd party controllers. Click here for a "$15 iBuffalo controller" from Amazon. Click here to go to "www.retrousb.com and see available adapters". Click here for a gamepad comparison: "6-button Controller Round-up". Click here to see "GENs Contollers Used Here" from a small sampling of players. Click here for 3 button GENs replacer pads: https://www.mortoffgames.com/controller-repair-parts215/sega-genesis-3-button-controller-conductive-pad-set Click here for 6 button GENs replacer pads: https://www.mortoffgames.com/controller-repair-parts215/sega-genesis-6-button-controller-conductive-pad-set Playing Online If you want to see what leagues are currently running, jump to the "Upcoming Events" thread. There is usually something going on, or about to go on, online and in person. I am not going to lie, playing this game online is not like playing Xbox online. It is not plug-and-play. But! It is very doable. I am confident I could show my 75 year old mom how to do it, though I am also confident she is not interested presently. But here is the thing: Once you figure out any snags and get up and running, you will be playing NHL'94 against other people over the internet in 2018!!!! -- how cool is that? And whether you want to just play the odd pickup game here and there, or you want to play in a competitive league, we are here to help you. We *want* to help you! There are two links below that have step-by-step instructions on getting up and running, so look at this section of this article as just an overview. To communicate, we use a chat app called Discord. This applies to both GENs and SNES. It has a lot of bells and whistles, but for our purposes we just have a bunch of "channels" and use it to chat, like MSN Messenger or any other old school chat application. Channels are just categories, like "classic-genesis", "classic-snes", or "nhl", among others. You start Discord, choose a channel and start chatting. Click here to see "How to Get Up and Running with Discord". Click here to see the "Online Ettiquette Guide". Besides Discord, things are a little different playing GENs online versus SNES. The emulators are different and the ROMs are not compatible. As mentioned above, the SNES emulator is less buggy and in general more solid that the GENs one. And also requires less steps to get up and running. Similar to not needing modern hardware to play this game, you also do not need cutting edge internet connections. In a nuthshell, anything faster than dialup should work. Once that low threshold is met, the most important things are: Ping rate, latency and proximity. Being in close proximity to others helps, and you will feel it if someone from Europe plays someone in the USA -- lag is inevitable -- but almost any internet package will give you similar results, as long as you are not on dialup. A wired connection definitely helps, but some people play on wifi and seem to get by ok. (But if you have the option, plug that sucker in! Check out Best Connections for Online Play for the nitty gritty.) When you are playing, ideally your wife won't be steaming Netflix, and you will have the connection to yourself. If you are plugged in, turning wifi off, even though you are plugged in, can also help for a laggy connection. Click here to "Get up and Running Online with GENs and SNES". (link to external site) Playing in Leagues and nhl94online.com When I first got involved, this caused a lot of confusion for me. First of all, I was blown away that I could even play online against other people, but I didn't know where to begin. This is also an area where the GENs presence outshines the SNES. There are more online leagues, and more online participants on the GENs side of things. But for both systems, there are online leagues, and of course, pickup games outside of the leagues. The mainstay of online play is the "Classic" league. There is usually a "Fall Classic" (starting in October or November) and a "Spring Classic" (starting in February or March). Anyone of any level can join. But to participate, you have to have had successfully played a game or two online, to make sure you have things sorted out. To join "Classic", you have to register at nhl94online.com. Some leagues you just say "I am in" on the forum, but for Classic, there is this extra step. The site -- nhl94online.com -- is sort of a sister site to nhl94.com, but it serves a totally different purpose. For most leagues, you use nhl94online.com to see your schedule, to upload the results of your games, and to keep track of stats. When I first saw this, I was completely amazed. It keeps all the running stats of you as a player, as well as each team you play, as well as the players on your team, and where you are in the standings for each league! It is really cool to take Chicago in "Fall Classic" say, and to track how Jeremy Roenick is doing as your season progresses. (Hint: If JR has less than 3 PPG you better change something up! ) It is a phenomenal site that makes playing that much more fun, especially if you are a stats guy. Anyway, the "Classic" league has been around from the beginning of this forum, and just uses the unmodified ROM. Pretty simple. But historically there have been other leagues, and in fact anyone who wants to start a league can do so, although to get hosted on nhl94online.com it usually has to be mid-sized or bigger, and run by a well known forum member. Online Play Tips (for GENs) When I first played online, I was surprised how good people were. For GENs there are two tiers: A and B (and sometimes C). The A tier is the highest skill. It is very rare for someone who just joins up to already be at the A level. Usually you have to work your way up, playing against better guys. Some guys go quite a few games before they notch their first win. My first season I joined Fall Classic and was en route to 3 or 4 wins in 40 games. Frustrated, I started a thread asking people how to improve. It got some great responses. Check out "Tip for Genesis Rookies". Two big things that separate the As and the Bs are: pass shots and countering the Weight Bug. If you don't know about the Weight Bug, do a search on the forum and get ready to have an "Aha!" moment. Countering the Weight Bug amounts to "CB Checking", which is a real skill usually reserved for the pros in A. The pass shots are just that, shooting -- and often scoring! -- through a pass instead of a shot. 25 years ago I had the occasional accidental pass goal, and that is not what I mean. There are many ways to score intentionally from pass shooting, and most A guys can do so. Click here for an "Explanation of the Weight Bug and CB Checking". Click here to see the "Idea Behind CB Checking Revealed for the First Time". Still to come... This guide is a living, growing document. I have a lot of ideas of what else to write. If you want to give me feedback, that may help the shape of what is to come. On my radar is: The many small utility programs out there (like ROM extractor); short history of the game (starting with first version, NHL '92 or whatever it was); some comments on other related ROMs ('92, '93, '95); some links to sister sites (Raph's guide, nhl94rocks); small write-up about Mikey's documentary; more commentary of different ROMs and leagues; explanation of weight bug and CB checking and advances in game play; perhaps a "Best Of" for amazing articles/threads here... Most of all, I just see this as a Guide, that *points* to the meatier articles. I don't want to re-invent the wheel, and I know there is great stuff out there. I just want to shine a light on it.

Tru, I am glad you are back. (But people let's not derail what is a constructive thread here! Lots of good ideas - which is the point of this thread -- let's stay on track!)

Agree 1000%. Don't waste your time arguing. (That is more for Brutus than Plabs... I do not think Plabax has a functioning off switch.) GDL idea sounds great, too.

Come to think of it, the first link in "Join Us" should be a thread that is an overview of this site and the community, and the online events that spring up, as of RIGHT NOW. And it must be kept up-to-date. I remember when I first started getting into things here, after the Toronto tourney, and being overwhelmed. I had an idea that there was online play possible, but the league info wasn't clear. I knew that some people made ROMs, but to what extent, and for what systems, I wasn't sure. I kept hearing about weight bugs and some new kind of checking, but it was all fuzzy. I did ask a lot of questions, and did get a lot of help, but I also got responses like "It's all here", and "do a search". Well, I did! And in a year I wrapped my head around things! IN A YEAR, lol! But a guide that explained the lay of the land right off the bat, one that was up to date, that would have been very handy. It was like finding needles in haystacks, with many dead ends and out of date info. It didn't help that there were a few couple argumentative contrarians that seemed like they wanted to sabotage the newbie experience from the get-go. I will write that guide. Hopefully this weekend. It can be the first link in the "Join Us", and I am sure some people would find it useful. Other people just like to jump in, and can bypass it, and that is ok. But if I write the overview that I wish I had had, that will go a long way for some newbies, I am sure.

I like the way you are thinking, Jer! Some good ideas, including outside-the-box stuff! The newsletter was a good idea. It could be sort of a blog, and be available online at nhl94.com/newsletter. But everytime there is an update (monthly? quarterly?) an email could be sent out to those that have signed up. One concern is it sounds like a lot of work, lol! Never heard of a Challeng-Your-Buddy link, but that is a cool idea? (Is it original, or you heard of it somewhere?) A small form that takes your email, your buddies email, and mails out a formatted email with instructions/links should be *relatively* easy to do... I can't comment on the NHL94 server? Maybe a Networking guy or someoone with experience guy can give there thoughts? An over arching Retro sport website seems like shooting for the moon, lol! (I like it, but it would be more work than I think anyone would be willing to do.) My own feeling is we need to revamp this site -- ntl94.com -- and make it more user friendly, especially the forum. Organize the forum groups better, merge redundancies, etc. I also think some stuff on NHL94online should be on this site (like the instructions and download packages) so that nhl94online is strictly for uploading games and keeping statistics.

Plabax, if you still find it fun, and you ran a successful league (following your own tight deadlines and no mercy) then why don't you keep running your league? Everyone who participated (that didn't get booted, lol) thought it was a success, myself included? Quit complaining about how other leagues are doing it wrong and lead by example.

That is a great idea. I joined the forum in 2005, and did not realize there was a functioning site that kept track of stats -- nhl94online.com -- until 2015! When I did I was blown away!

Here is text that I propose, from the mockup above:

Here is version one of a very simple "nhl94.com/joinus" page. The idea is to have a simple URL that will have some handy links to get a new recruit up and running as easy as possible. The "meat" would still be on the forum, where up-to-date pinned threads will exist that can be managed by me or a Mod or Admin. This is the mockup, of how is would look on a 700 pixel wide screen.

You may not see the need, and if it is no fun for you, I totally get that you don't want to do it. But please know that your diminished presence has a huge impact on the community. You have been sorely missed, and that is reflected on the forum as well as at that Vegas event. (Not meaning to guilt you. Just want to make sure you know your efforts were always appreciated. My own participation here goes up and down as real life allows. I get it.) For the record, I would play in any league you ran, big or small, and Et Tu Brute was a lot of fun for many of us.

This is true. We have an awesome community, and there is a lot for everyone, no matter your interest. I want guys to play online, but I know some people just like playing the custom ROMs (solo or with a local buddy), or want to learn to hack the ROMs themselves, and don't even care about online play. I will come up with what I think the nhl94.com/joinus page should say. I envision a very simple page, that has links to "living" threads on the forum. So the "joinus" page is kind of like a table of contents. Then the forum links can just be updated. (And the "joinus" URL landing page is a heckuva lot friendlier than something like http://forum.nhl94.com/index.php?/topic/18169-recruitment-ideas-for-getting-tourney-players-to-join-forum-and-play-online/ -- for instance.) I am thinking maybe the business card angle is a good one. Print 1000 of generic business cards, and have them on hand for every tournament, and each of us have some in our wallets! They could just have the nhl94.com logo and one URL: nhl94.com/joinus A flyer is a good idea, but maybe that should be done custom for each tournament. Just make sure they feature the nhl94.com/joinus URL somewhere obvious. If tournament organizers don't get them done, they can use the generic business cards. Anyway, I will work on a "joinus" page over the weekend... I think perhaps the nhl94.com/events page should just be a redirect to a forum thread that is pinned, which I would be happy to manage. (If you agree, Smozoma, I can just make a thread over the weekend, and you can pin it? Then we can figure out how to do the redirect, which will be pretty easy in PHP.) I picture the events page just having the most pertinent details for upcoming events, and then a link to the more detailed writeups on each one.

I don't agree. We are here, in spite of those facts. I just think more people need to know about us, and we need to do a better job recruiting. As well as nurturing people when they do join. I see a two tiered approach: 1. vanity URL like nhl94.com/joinus 2. flyer to hand out at events, with that URL on it Of course we can do much more (demos at events, make videos, walk people through forum signup, etc.), but those two things are simple and a lot of bang for the buck. Coincidentally, I just PMed Chaos last night to ask if he could make me 2 URL pages (nhl94.com/joinus, and nhl94.com/events) which I would like to manage (If a mod or admin prefers to manage them that is fine, but I am really hoping to personally step up and be more involved.). The "joinus" will have the latest, and most simple info on joining our community. The "events" will have a 50,000 foot overview of upcoming events (not sure if both online and live, or only live), with only pertinent details, plus links for more details. Yes, you can find these things in various places, in various threads, in various websites, but having 2 simple URLs like this -- which I would love to personally update -- would go a long way in simplifying things. These URLs are off of the main site, not forum threads. I think I can make a much more presentable page than a forum message allows. (Although having links to forum messages would be ok.) In the future, maybe even have a video or two explaining things would be even more valuable than text. As for the flyer, I think one side with an event graphic and the URL above in big print, and the other side with some paragraphs explaining whatever info we think they should have (maybe "Who we are?", or "History of NHL94"?). Heck even business cards with the event graphic and above URL would be good (or better?) and no write-up whatsoever? They could be put right into your wallet at the event... Anyway, we've talked about a flyer and a URL before, it is time to make it happen. This is very doable and could even be in place before the Hartford tourney....

Hmm... Never received this email, or maybe it went to my junk mail? Either way, any important info should go in an obvious place on the event's main website.

Ok, I missed it. And even though I am a forum member, I didn't have a working cell phone, or know anyone's #, so my experience was probably like many people. We had no idea. The KingOf94.com website simply said: DATE AND TIME Sat, September 30, 2017 9:00 AM – 10:00 PM MST Which is what I (and I am sure many if not most) went on. Had the site said DATE AND TIME Fri: Pre-register blah,blah, blah Sat, September 30, 2017 9:00 AM – 10:00 PM MST That would have helped a lot!

This is a great idea! I think for the Vegas event, if we had a "Voluntary Registration" at 8pm the night before, it would have gone a long way to making people feel welcome, and familiarizing people with the event. I bet > 90% of people were in town the night before (Fri), and it would be very easy just to meet at a bar, and possibly the venue itself, or a hotel common room, very casually. The rules could be explained, people could be registered, and a nice meet and greet would happen. Then the next day for the official event we would be that much further ahead. (And you could say if you are not registered from the night before, show up at 9am. People that registered the night before don't need to show up until 10am.)

So one of the things that surprised me is (what appeared to be) Non Forum Members willing to fly out and get a hotel to participate. How did they even find out about it? Do we have any stats on how many participants were "Walk Ons" (what I call Non Forum guys)? Or were all or almost all Forum Guys, who received a form letter with the announcement, but guys that had joined ages ago and never posted or participated? (So they were Forum Guys, but just lurkers or guys that forgot about ever joining?) EricAnthony mentioned that he thought the caliber of play was higher because there were no local guys (ok, there was one), so anyone participating had to hop on a plane and get a hotel. I think this rings true. But it is surprising to me that so many Walk Ons were willing to do this! (And has been noted, we need to get better at recruiting these guys. If they are willing to make that much effort to play, many could be converted for sure.) Th silver lining is I think there is a demand to play live, and we can harness live play to grow the community. (Which seems backwards, but I think it is true.)

That is really great to hear. Big relief! (And thanks for doing that!)

I will feed this through Google translate, but an English version would come in handy! Or are anglophones excluded? (I hear no English signs are allowed in Montreal, right?) EDIT: So there is no NHL94 on GENs then, right?

One other quick thing: I think there should be a trophy, but no prize money. An entry fee is fine, to cover the cost of a venue and pay for small expenses to run the show, but having prize money kinda rubs me the wrong way. I think the community would turn out in the same numbers with no prize money -- or possibly in greater numbers, since many of us know we have no chance of winning, but just like the comraderie. I think one trophy for each winner -- GENS and SNES -- and leave it at that.

Welcome back, brother!

Great job, Halifax! I wish you had a twin that could do the hard work of running and preparing for these things, so the other one could fully enjoy himself like the rest of us get to. (Not just at the venue site, but all the prep beforehand, too.) It was awesome, again, and great to meet the faces behind the screen names! That alone made it worth the trip for me. It was well run, and much speedier than the Toronto one. (Smaller number of people probably helped that.) My biggest disappointments were the location, which I think contributed to the smaller participation, and that -- as Coach noted -- we dropped the ball regarding recruiting dudes THAT FLEW ACROSS THE COUNTRY TO PARTICIPATE!! These guys were obviously eager to be part of the community, and we had nothing prepared to recruit them. (I actually hold myself responsible for this. I see all the hard work that other guys do putting tournaments together, and helping run them. I have to get more involved. It would have been so easy just to have a single one page flyer -- and idea I have mentioned before!! -- to hand out to guys with this website and a vanity URL tailor made, like nhl94.com/joinus. The next tourney, I will absolutely step up in this regard, and try to help grow our community like so many others are.) Anyway, those are my two things: hold the tourney in more of a Hockey Town (like Toronto, NY, Chicago) and have something prepared geared towards recruitment. As far as running it, I think you got it figured out. (Especially knowing the lanyards/IDs were planned, but just forgotten. Those would have helped big time!) Oh yeah, one more small detail: on the small game report sheets, have a square for the group. (I was the 4th guy in group "D", so for Player number put "4D", but I think a square for the "D" would have been clearer.) Great work and thanks to everyone who put this together, or helped when it was happening!