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NHL '94 release date


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According to Wikipedia, NHL '94 was released for the Sega Genesis on March 15, 1993. A lot of other websites also cite this as NHL '94's release date.

However, I don't think this can be true. The Genesis version of NHL '94 has the Panthers and Ducks -- and the expansion draft took place on June 24, 1993.

So, how can a game that came out in March have rosters that reflect the June expansion draft?

Sal

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they guessed. check the game rosters versus the real rosters. they even forgot to remove the "claimed" players from their old teams in the Genesis version.

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they guessed. check the game rosters versus the real rosters. they even forgot to remove the "claimed" players from their old teams in the Genesis version.

True, they did not remove the claimed players. For example, Stu Grimson is on rosters for the Ducks and the Blackhawks, while John Vanbeisbrouck is on the rosters for the Panthers and the Rangers.

But I don't buy that explanation. There is no way EA would have "guessed" so many players, and on what teams. I mean, if the Ducks picked first in the expansion draft, they would have taken Vanbeisbrouck.

Thus, I still don't believe that NHL '94 for Genesis was released on March 15, 1993.

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Ya, there's just no way it was released in March.

I remember playing it the first week it came out for SNES, but what time of year was that? No idea.. I feel like it was Summer or early Fall. I believe I was wearing shorts and there was no snow on the ground.

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SNES version was released in the fall. I'm wondering if the game was originally released for Genesis in March, but an updated version was released after.

My belief is that the SNES and Genesis version were released around the same time in the Fall.

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Very good catch!

The only idea I can come up with is that they finished the game development at that time (march 93), then just came back and added the updated rosters before actually releasing it.

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I'm glad someone else is pointing this out. Ever since that NHL.com promotion in March, I keep seeing this March 93 release date and I felt like I was taking crazy pills as that made no sense to me.

-The internet says NHLPA 93 came out in December 92. You're telling me NHL 94 came out 4 months later?

-The expansion draft occurred in June 93, as pointed out above. There is no way EA could've "guessed" Anaheim would take Lonnie Loach with the 42nd pick, for instance.

-No way EA could've known stanley cup finalists (also pointed out above)

-Lastly, I distinctly remember being in 7th grade at the time in the fall of 93, and I was on a week long field trip for school. I was dying to get NHL 94, and I remember being pissed the game came out that week and I was stuck at this field trip/nature school thing. I wanted this game so much I bought a Genesis just for this game because the SNES of version of NHLPA 93 was crap and I wanted the best version of 94. Next time I'm at my parents' house I am going to dig out my old stacks of videogame magazines and find the summer/fall issues that preview this game for a fall release that I must've re-read 1000x times.

A March 93 release date is inexplicable. There's just no way.

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good points, all. sleuth it up. find that magazine! there have to be trade release lists, too. fewer months separating the Genesis and SNES cartridges make it even more baffling that they didn't remove the duplicate players and identify the weight "bug" in the one that I had previously believed was a half of a year older. July?

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Well, unfortunately my old magazine collections was very spotty before 1995. The best I can do was issues of EGM from July 1993 and January 1994.

Either way, this ad appears in the July 93 issue;

Also, if you are old to remember those days, in the back of these magazines was several pages of mail order game companies. None of those companies listed NHL 94 as available for order in the July 1993 issue. One example;
By January 1994, NHL94 was listed as available, but still had the asterisk meaning it still might not be released yet!
So with only 2 issues to work with, I didn't get the smoking gun of a mag or ad plainly stating a release date, but it's pretty clear the game was NOT available in July 1993.
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Well, unfortunately my old magazine collections was very spotty before 1995. The best I can do was issues of EGM from July 1993 and January 1994.

Either way, this ad appears in the July 93 issue;

Also, if you are old to remember those days, in the back of these magazines was several pages of mail order game companies. None of those companies listed NHL 94 as available for order in the July 1993 issue. One example;
By January 1994, NHL94 was listed as available, but still had the asterisk meaning it still might not be released yet!
So with only 2 issues to work with, I didn't get the smoking gun of a mag or ad plainly stating a release date, but it's pretty clear the game was NOT available in July 1993.

AWESOME job dude! I was googling "EGM scans", etc looking for this very thing.

Love the fact that in Jun'93 issue, NHLPA '93 is $59 (tied for highest costing game, from what I saw), and in the Jan'94 issue, '94 is $50, again, looks to be top price! Shining Force 2 for $48! :).

Thanks you for scanning these and getting us some more insight into when this may have come out!

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Not to be defeated, I found scans of the September 1993 issue of EGM!!

Pages 40-41, "Games of September"

http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/1796/apzg.jpg

http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/6914/k6gp.jpg

Pages 122-123, EA advertisement, "Electronic Arts unveils NHL '94."

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/9043/bhnj.jpg

http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/8779/jcal.jpg

As far as I am concerned, this is CONFIRMED. NHL 94 came out in September 1993. I have no idea why everyone is saying March 15 release date.

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Not to be defeated, I found scans of the September 1993 issue of EGM!!

Pages 40-41, "Games of September"

http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/1796/apzg.jpg

http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/6914/k6gp.jpg

Pages 122-123, EA advertisement, "Electronic Arts unveils NHL '94."

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/9043/bhnj.jpg

http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/8779/jcal.jpg

As far as I am concerned, this is CONFIRMED. NHL 94 came out in September 1993. I have no idea why everyone is saying March 15 release date.

Oh man, I am having problems viewing the 2nd and 4th images. Any chance you could email those to me: sjb AT puckjunk DOT com

:)

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Check that, the game may have come out in October rather than September. I found the October 93 issue of EGM as well.

The game was reviewed and listed an October release date;

http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/228/aa9p.jpg

And just for fun, an ad from that issue;

http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/185/6vqz.jpg

http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/8524/9l8m.jpg

PuckJunk; Emailing you all those scans now...

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how much later was the release of the SNES version? a month or so?

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In the old days (I don't know about now), the NHL games were always released in the fall.

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I don't know, but they did it right away and used this thread as the source. good work, team!

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  • 2 years later...

Really old thread, but trying to nail the 94 release date down is worthwhile.

Here are some more old mag scans, with even more conflicting info.

September 93 GamePro. A preview of NHL 94'. Says both gen and snes versions coming in November. And keeping in mind, the issue probably came out in the middle of July (as they did/do).

http://i.imgur.com/UCPt0Xp.jpg

Now, the next issue of GamePro. October 93 (probably came out in middle of August) A review of both versions. In the "score" window, the Genesis version is listed as being available in September. The snes version, November.

http://i.imgur.com/F8e5YFR.jpg

Interestingly, also in the October 93 GamePro, there is a preview of Madden 94. In the preview, an exact release date is given for it. November 19th. Is that what wound up happening I wonder? If it is, is it possible the NHL's were released on the same date?

http://i.imgur.com/8YAplCA.jpg

Here's a review in the November 93 issue of Game Players of the Genesis version. No dates given in it, but might be interesting to some:

http://i.imgur.com/yaGU7uQ.jpg

And here's the review (in the Sega Visions sense of the word) in the Oct/Nov 93' Sega Visions. Same deal. No mention of dates.

http://i.imgur.com/BSRpRcI.jpg

Edited by hnfoo
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When you load the genesis rom into IDA Pro, one of the things you see is:

seg000:0100 0000008F C SEGA GENESIS ©T-50 1993.JULNHL Hockey '94

July 93? Is that what this is saying? If yes, that's when the game was maybe finalized and sent off to be manufactured?

You're involved in the hacking side of things, Tru, yes? Can you shed light?

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