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Edge of '94 Midwest

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  1. I'm happy to announce that we've reached the halfway point of our goal of 32 players. If you're a Genesis player and are interested, we'd love to have you join us!
  2. Buds, signups are live! https://forms.gle/ystLLPMhcGd4bYiB7 Let's get the word out and get to 32 players!
  3. Gameplay: The standard NHL94 rom(non playoffs) will be used for each game. Before each game there will be a coin toss. The winner of the toss chooses to be P1(home) or P2(away). The player who is P2 then decides which player will select their team first. Players may select any team from the ROM that they have not previously used. Available teams for all players will be viewable on a shared Google Doc. If the available teams on the Google Doc has not been updated prior to a game starting, the players must notify their opponent of any discrepancies (e.g. “The Doc says I have CHI available but I just used them in a game so I cannot use them”). Games are 5 minute periods, no line changes, penalties on no offsides (no intentional stalling always trying to advance the puck and score, must possess the puck to pull the goalie, all in game glitches permitted, home team gets final adjustment if away team makes a substitution). A game ending in a tie is allowed. For the finals a coin toss will take place before the first game only. After that, the “coin toss winner” will alternate each game. Tournament Theme / Rationale: There are some major deviations here from a standard tournament. The first is that goal differential is the deciding factor in advancing, NOT YOUR RECORD! This means you have to play every possession with your goal differential in mind. If you’re up at the end of a game then trying to score still makes sense. If you get down big, keep fighting! If you get up big, sweep the leg! The other major deviation is that matchups are not called, but each player gets to choose their team. When picking your team first you have the option of taking any team at your disposal. When picking second you know what team you’ll be facing, so you get to decide whether to go with an even matchup or perhaps use a lesser team and try to save your better teams for later (or go with a much better team if your opponent has selected a more mediocre team). It may work to your advantage sometimes to go with an imbalanced matchup, but you can’t exactly tank a game (like choosing FLA going up against DET), as if you get blown out your goal differential may not recover. If you wind up in an imbalanced matchup then scoring as fast as possible or “eating out the clock”(grotesque Toolie quote) could be a key strategy. This format requires a little more planning and strategy than “just win baby!” We do require use of a wired ethernet connection for this tournament for all players.
  4. Edge of 94 Midwest is proud to present the third qualifier tournament, "The Hustler"! All credit given to Toolie/Luckytool for having a very successful Tecmo Super Bowl tournament with this format. He has given us his blessing to use this format for NHL94. It has some tweaks to account for a different number of teams within NHL94. Cost of entry is $15 is paid via PayPal to Trojan1979@gmail.com. You MUST use the friends and family method so no fee is applied to us. 50% of the fees collected will be added our eventual live event prize pool. The other 50% goes to the winner of the tournament. The winner of this online tournament also wins free entry to said live event. Previous Edge of 94 Midwest NHL94 Genesis qualifier winners are ineligible to enter. Tournament Goal is to start April 1st and be completed sometime around the first week of May. Games will be played on the Retroarch Genesis emulator found on www.nhl94online.com The Official signup link his here: https://forms.gle/ystLLPMhcGd4bYiB7 Format(based on 32 entrants, number of players and games played will be adjusted if we do not have 32 players): 32 players will be randomly drawn into four pools of eight players. They will play a round robin with the top four players advancing to the next round. Players will be ranked, not by record, but by point differential. For the duration of the tournament each player may use each team on the ROM only once. The two players that advance to the finals will use every team on the ROM exactly once. Below rounds are based on 32 players, will modify if we do not have 32 players: Round 1 (Round of 32): Four pools of eight, the top four in each pool advance. Round 2 (Round of 16): Two pools of eight, the top four in each pool advance. Round 3 (Round of 8): One pool of eight, the top two advance to the finals. Finals: Five-game series (winner determined by point-differential). Pool Play: Each pool play round will last a maximum of 10 days (each player will have 7 games to complete in 10 days). Tie breakers in the standings will be the H2H result followed by performance vs. the highest finisher in the group (and then the highest after that, etc.). Finals: If the point differential is tied after the five game series, then the H2H record will be the tie breaker.
  5. Here's a bump on this before the weekend. We plan on starting Monday, so don't wait to get those signups in! https://tinyurl.com/EdgeIceHockey2021
  6. We are just under 1 week away from our intended start date of January 25th. We're a handful of players short from where we'd like to be at, so I'd like to put out another ping/request and encourage folks to join us for this. What are the benefits to you? 1) All the work is done for you. This means you'll be setup to play literally anything you want to play on NES against/with other buds, be it Ice Hockey, Blades of Steel, RBI Baseball, Tecmo Super Bowl, Contra etc, and any rom hacks for NES. If you're already setup to play NHL94 online, then the effort required to get you going will be minimal. 2) The Nestopia emulator has been around a lot longer than Retroarch, and thus has an overall much smoother gameplay experience vs what many experience with RA. 3) The game is simply fun. While not as deep as our favorite hockey game, it still holds up today. There's a reason why it came back to the Switch online service There's still time! Let's get you on board! https://tinyurl.com/EdgeIceHockey2021
  7. I wanted to provide an update as we're getting close to the start of this tournament. In order to have enough time to help everyone get situated with the technical end of things, I'm asking that you get signed up ASAP. Our goal is 16 players, and we're not there yet, so please help us spread the word, and if you're on the fence, I promise you'll have a good time! You can sign up here : https://tinyurl.com/EdgeIceHockey2021
  8. Here are the rules for the tournament : 1) Period Length 7 Minutes, Game Speed: 3 We feel these settings keep the games at a proper length to limit risk of "NES Thumb", while at the same time allow for proper reaction time for the heavy shots in an online environment, where the potential of latency has to be adjusted for. 2) Game Restrictions : You must always attempt to score goals by advancing the puck into the attacking zone. A missed pass or a blue line reset is acceptable, granted that it is not for the purposes of stalling. No use of controller physical or virtual turbo or intentional introduction of latency/lag is permitted. Intentionally stalling may result in a goal being taken away. 3) Roster Building : Player 2 sets his player configuration first, then Player 1. If Player 2 wants to make a change, Player 1 has the right to make an additional adjustment before the game begins. 4) Mercy Rule : There is a 10 goal mercy rule in effect. No need in extending the potential humiliation of getting beat down this bad. If you're losing/winning by 10 goals, the game is over. 5) Player/Team Selection: A best of 3 series(first to two wins advances) will be played. A virtual coin flip will happen to decide who is Player 1 by Trojan(that's me) your humble tournament organizer. Player 2 will always have first choice of their favorite team, per game played. A Player 1/2 swap will commence for game 2. If a deciding game 3 is to take place, whoever has the highest goal differential will be Player 1 in the 3rd game. In the event of a tied goal differential, the person who was Player 1 in game 1 will be Player 1 again. 6) Emulator/Rom Access: Once signup/payment has been confirmed, you will be contacted about getting access to the emulator. It is recommended that you port forward UDP/TCP to port 6996 from your home router, to your PC. You must be running a native Windows environment(Recommend Windows 7 or higher), and be using Ethernet for your connection method to your home/office router. While the NEStopia emulator netplay experience can be better for a number of people for casual wifi usage, history has shown us that wifi usage can and does greatly diminish the experience for users by creating slowdowns, and greater risk of being disconnected. Assistance with configuring the emulator and router can be given by Trojan(That's Me) upon appointment. 7) Streaming/Game Recording: Players are permitted to stream their own tournament games on their personal stream channels, IE Twitch, YouTube, Facebook, etc. We only ask that you allow us to stream the Semifinals and Finals(last two series in winners bracket and final series in loser bracket). The process for recording games is different vs the RA process, and instructions will be provided. 8) Payout: Exactly 50% of collected funds will be paid out to the winner. The remaining 50% will be added to an eventual live NHL94 tournament event prize pool for Edge of 94 Midwest. Winning this tournament does not prevent participation from a future Edge online tournament in 2021, nor does winning a previous tournament prevent access, as this is not a NHL94 experience, just a retro video game hockey one. 9) Communication with your opponent/gameplay window/score reporting: On average we will give a 48 hour window to complete your series with your opponent. We're all adults here with different responsibilities and schedules. That being said, please commit to a time that works for both parties, and get ALL of your series games in during one sitting. In the event a real world situation(IE get delayed at work, traffic, home situations with family) happen, simply send a message to your opponent to let them know your situation so they aren't waiting around to play a game that won't be happening. Scores will be reported directly via direct message to Trojan-Full Nelson Tecmo#1343 on Discord, along with a screenshot of your score. Both players are required to send this to confirm the results. 10) Tournament start/finish date : Our goal is to start the week of January 25th, with getting the bulk of games/series played over the pro bowl weekend. Our goal is to be complete prior to the Super Bowl February 7th. A live stream of the championship will take place on the Edge of 94 Midwest Facebook Page. www.facebook.com/gbnhl94 11) Dealing With Disputes: Sometimes competition leads to disputes, or technical difficulties. Trojan(again that's me) reserves the right to make any judgement calls or modifications as needed to ensure a fair experience for all involved. Any and all disputes should be first attempted to be sorted one privately with your opponent. In the event a satisfactory outcome is not agreed upon, then please bring the concerns to me. Historically the online/local tournaments run over the past 4 + years have been free of any significant issues. Thank you for your consideration, and if you have questions about the rules, or need something answered that isn't covered here, please ask in the thread below, or directly message "Trojan-Full Nelson Tecmo#1343" on Discord.
  9. Here is a quick snapshot at the start of the bracket. I'll be posting links to stream videos of the series games that are interesting. This is a single elimination bracket, with each stage being a best 2/3 series. Here is a link to the only competitive group play series we had footage for, between myself and @DPShttps://fb.watch/2LyTWdHJ7s/ The remainder of the games we will broadcast will be for the playoffs. Thank you and we hope you'll enjoy them, as much as we did making them!
  10. I am releasing signup information for our next qualifier tournament, Ice Hockey for NES! Because this is not based on NHL94 directly, no one will be prohibited from signing up, even if you win NHL94 Heroes. I can directly assist anyone with getting the emulator package setup. Since most of you already have port forwarding setup on your PCs, it's just a matter of showing you how to get into a game. https://tinyurl.com/EdgeIceHockey2021 UPDATE!! : Rules can be found in this thread at the following link: Details are in the signup, but $15 to enter, everyone plays a 2/3 series in a double elimination format. Assistance with getting your emulator configured is available. Winner takes 50% of payout, remainder feeds the live event payout for the next live Edge of 94 Midwest tournament.
  11. NES TSB is the 2nd greatest sports game ever made. It's player base dwarfed this community when a particular website was still hosting forums and posting polished rom hacks annually. I'm a big fan of Madden 94 on SNES, and frankly all EA sports games back then were fun(cept for NHL95 and NHLPA93[SNES]). Are those games more "realistic"? Absolutely they are, but that's not the point. TSB on NES is just a perfect blend of depth, arcade mechanics, and just a balance on how things are supposed to work. In short, it's more fun, because it's made to be so. I probably played over 100 hours of Madden 94 the year it came out, and maybe 10 hours of it since I was an adult. I've easily logged 100+ hours of TSB in the past 5 years through online and tournament play.
  12. I did pick the game up. I'm not in love with it. Not because it's somehow bad, but it doesn't feel like it adds any sort of unique gameplay experience. Given the option of playing a game with a friend, I'd rather play NHL94, Ice Hockey, or Blades of Steel.
  13. The links to our main 2019 "Barry Melrose Place" Twitch feeds are no longer available. Since then the original broadcasts have been condensed and reuploaded to our Facebook page. The YouTube links are still valid, as we had a 2nd stream going on The Retro Sports Gamer YouTube channel. 2019 SNES : https://www.facebook.com/266393173699412/videos/522475815079656/ 2019 Genesis, unsure what happened, but the video is no longer showing up on our FB page, may have to go back to the old laptop and reupload.
  14. @jer_33 did a nice breakdown on our streams in Minneapolis from this year's Edge tournament. Here's the link for reference.
  15. I use this gem, which is a Sega 1st party option. There is a black only version as well. I use it for all my 16 bit emulation needs. Now if only it made me any better at this game. I need a button that makes me win more.
  16. Just think how blessed we are that we have to ponder these difficult decisions. Who would have thought that mr double fisting bulldog himself @danTML7 would enter the bathroom(the NHL94 cocoon if you will), get photoshopped into a group photo, and transform into the invaluable community multi-purpose asset that he has become. If NHL94 was a religion, Dan would be the one to wake your ass up on a Saturday to tell you about his lord and savior, Doug Gilmour. I wanted to love on a few other buds along the way here that definitely deserve recognition. While the impact may have been more localized, @LeifErikson made the Minneapolis tournament possible with his generosity. His company AV For You was instrumental in everything having a "wow factor" at our Edge tournament, as well as being the local eyes and ears of everything, which made the event memorable. Thanks again for everything this year for that. @TecmoJon is another individual I saw put a lot of time into helping people during Sochel, and he personally helped me with numerous game tests. Everyone listed is of course worthy of recognition.
  17. Windows, spying on you before it was cool.... on Dreamcast.
  18. We're at 14 players, only 2 away from our goal. I know there are dozens of active Genesis players, and I only need 2 more of you to get in on this fun.
  19. I clicked the website link, and that same Pearl Jam song was playing almost in sync in our shop at work.
  20. Online or in the living room, this looks to be a fun game. With it being on sale I think I will pick it up and give it a try. Also, not sure if you ever tried it, but Zealot Hockey on Starcraft 2 arcade is a fun quirky hockey experience.
  21. Just a quick update, I've been battling a cold(no not Rona), and have catching up from month end things at work. I should have a list of Heroes and draft positions, along with how the teams will be modified for this, hopefully by the weekend. There are still spots open.
  22. Phil Spencer from Microsoft thoughts to say about console tribalism, and it made me think about the ridiculous back and forth about NHL94 SNES and Gens bickering that goes on day in and day out on stream chats, forum posts, Discord, and Facebook. Both of the mainstream versions(gens/snes) have passionate players attached to them, and thus we have this amazing community of individuals who continue to celebrate BOTH versions of the game. I personally play both, and have about a 60/40 preference of Gens over SNES. That being said, despite owning a SNES and not a Genesis, I didn't play the SNES version as a kid(I had a PC and played NHL Hockey on DOS). Because of the console tribalism, and the popularity of the Genesis as a great sports game platform, I started there. People I spoke with made it seem like SNES was somehow trash(spoiler, it isn't), and after taking horrible advice, wasted a couple of years not enjoying this great hockey game, instead focusing entirely on Genesis. I'm not telling people that they need to start playing the "other" version, but perhaps we can stop crapping all over something that obviously so many of us enjoy, just because it's different. Also, if you do take a moment and try the other version, it won't kill you. It's not a bad game, it's just different than the one you played, because it was developed by an entirely different company, released on a different timetable. For all you Genesis players, here' are some good reasons why the SNES version can be enjoyable : 1) The passing tends to be more accurate in no line change games. 2) There is no weight bug, so the big guys are harder to knock down. This would seem to mirror reality. 3) Goalie control is initiated instantly by a dedicated button, instead of the the delay on Genesis. 4) You can force control a defenseman of choice if you turn on the feature, in addition to the closest skater, giving you more flexibility in your defensive strategy. 5) It's a lot easier to score with dekes against CPU controlled goalies. 6) The goalie a team has isn't particularly important, so you won't get shut down offensively just because you face Belfour or Roy on CPU control. 7) Controller select is a nice feature when wanting to swap home/away ice in a local two player game.(yes I know RA allows you to swap this out on the fly on Gens) 8) There seems to be a wider skill gap between the bottom tier and top tier skaters, so if you're a line change guy, you can really feel the pain of trying to complete passes and scoring in the garbage tiers. 9) Gens players tend to pick up SNES and have some success much quicker than the other way around, as the game has fewer paper/rock/scissor approaches to goal scoring, and less things to worry about like the weight bug. Also, the gap between good players and really good players isn't as far apart as in Genesis, so it won't take long to put up a fight. For the SNES players, here are some reasons why Genesis may be a good diversion for you 1) Genesis is a deeper game strategically. There are more bread and butter/common ways of scoring besides dekes/wraparounds/one timers/crease cuts. Examples such as the slapshot, the pass shot, the EA special(quick shot mishandled by the goalie then put back), floaters, and goal crashing. Not all of these things are easy to do, but when mastered greatly improve the offensive chances of highly skilled players. This means that the top Genesis players tend to separate from the rest of the pack due to said mastery. The weight bug is what it is, but it does offer a different level of strategy to master with in the game. Balancing lighter/faster players with bigger options for CB checking is all something to consider when building your lineups to counter your opponents' lines. In addition, this means that you're not in a situation where it can be very difficult to overcome the size advantages of guys like Eric Lindros, if you don't have a big guy to counter with in the SNES version. Again, if you haven't figured how to manage this, you'll be on your heels in your own zone, or hearing your opponent's organ music playing, however, if you know about how to manage this, it gives you a leg up on the completion. 2) There are differences in the goalies, and there are only two elite ones, Roy and Belfour. That means you can't bring weak sauce slappers to these guys and expect to score. Likewise there are some real sieves at their tier, like Hrudey and Vernon at their tier, and of course, our all time favorite sieves, Don Beupre and Guy Hebert. 3) The gameplay is fluid, the sprite work is amazing, and the overall feel of the skating is very well done in the game. 5) Goaltender Interference penalties are not nearly as common, so drawing penalties through intentional contact initiated by the tendie isn't common. 6) Intentionally knocking off your own net from the marsh pegs on Genesis with your tendie really isn't a thing. There are players in SNES who use this tactic to get a whistle on a breakaway, and are reasonably successful at it. Because most tournaments use the "It's in the game" approach, this isn't banned, and can be an issue. In any event, I hope we can stop taking a verbal dump on a version of the game loved by so many. You don't have to like both. They're both great for their own reasons, but if you don't like one let it go. Here is the tweet regarding Phil Spencer's comments on the tribal mentality with console owners. https://twitter.com/verge/status/1331248466870333446?s=20
  23. Help a bud out, need 3 more buds to do this with us, so we can get things started. We'll take more of course, but the goal to start this was 16.
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