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Evaluating 92 Compared to 94


CoachMac

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As we finish up a successful season 2 of NHL '92, I am interested in getting some feedback on the differences between the 2 games and how they compare especially when speaking of cheats and or bugs.

Here is what I know:

'92 does not have the Weight Bug. (why? how did it happen in 93 and again in 94?)

Pass Shots do not work in '92.

Some things I would like to know:

What about the b-check, c-check, b/c check is the same or different in 92?

Could it help to know what is going on '94 like to help with latest hack smoz is trying?

What attributes do you think matter most in 92 as compared to 94. (Same? Different?)

Any other feedback about things you liked better or not as much about 92 as compared to 94.

Other differences between the games.

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A few comments upon elimination from the S2 play-offs.

1. Going back and forth between 92-94 is tough, especially with 3 leagues going at the same time. I'm sure I gave up goals in both formats either expecting goalie control or the opposite.

2. Home-ice advantage in 92 is real.

3. As far as I can tell, the "A" button functions solely as "holding" - it doesn't serve any purpose if you have the puck (flip-pass).

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There is no b-check in 92, and I'm not even sure weight is the sole determinant of checking ability. Haven't looked into it though.

Without the ability to use your goalie or b-check, and the fact that all goalies are useless (the posts save more), I feel weight is key in 92. While it's a factor in '94, it's not nearly as important.

I think the rest of the offensive attributes are probably just the same as '94. Speed and agility, then shot power. Accuracy maybe not so important, I don't know. In '92, when the CPU doesn't want you to score, you WILL hit the post every time, even from point blank, so not sure it matters.

I agree with jer, home ice in '92 for the most part is real. You'll find away teams unable to do anything sometimes.

I love the fact that pass shots are NOT a thing in '92.

However, too much of a '92 victory/loss will come down to luck/CPU swaying as compared to '94.

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I never notice any home ice advantage in NHL92, and I prefer to play on the road most of the time. The goalies make a big difference. The bad goalies will get pushed away by their own players far away from the goal, and take their sweet time to return to goal. The bad goalies let in all above average shots, and even medium and some very weak shots. The bad goalies will lose the puck and give up a goal on collisions. The good goalies stop bad shots, and many above average shots.

NHL92 is slower and more physical, and NHL94 is faster and more finess. Manual goalie is a nice luxury to have in NHL94, but not having it does not ruin NHL92.

Edited by deadmeow
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NHL92 is slower and more physical, and NHL94 is faster and more finess. Manual goalie is a nice luxury to have in NHL94, but not having it does not ruin NHL92.

^^^ This pretty much sums it up.

As for checking, Fleury is an interesting player to examine. He can still check some, he's incredibly tough to knock off the puck, and he's a good fighter.

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HOLDING!!!!!!!!!

I f**king hate it in 92, it makes a slow game even slower, and is the main reason why I am retiring from the 92 league after this season. I can deal with sucking, but the holding is far to frustrating, and to big a part of slowing down the game, and for me taking the fun out of it.

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The best players in '92, cannot be hooked or knocked down - your only option in close is to hold them.

..even then, a guy like Jagr can just drag your guy to the net while holding down C and probably still get the goal on your useless goalie.

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Love all of these comments

I f**king hate it in 92, it makes a slow game even slower, and is the main reason why I am retiring from the 92 league after this season. I can deal with sucking, but the holding is far to frustrating, and to big a part of slowing down the game, and for me taking the fun out of it.

We will miss you. Great Bud. Your fighting PIM records may stand for a long time.

What you hate is what I love.

Hopefully will bump i nto you when I play just a little 94.

I never notice any home ice advantage in NHL92, and I prefer to play on the road most of the time. The goalies make a big difference. The bad goalies will get pushed away by their own players far away from the goal, and take their sweet time to return to goal. The bad goalies let in all above average shots, and even medium and some very weak shots. The bad goalies will lose the puck and give up a goal on collisions. The good goalies stop bad shots, and many above average shots.

Home Ice is huge I think.

What makes a goalie good in your opinion. Overall or a certain attribute?

As for checking, Fleury is an interesting player to examine. He can still check some, he's incredibly tough to knock off the puck, and he's a good fighter.

Agree. Weight is not the only factor. Important yes but something else is going on in 92. Gretzky can not check that well but you cant get him either. I agree with this totally.

NHL92 is slower and more physical, and NHL94 is faster and more finess. Manual goalie is a nice luxury to have in NHL94, but not having it does not ruin NHL92.

Better for the old timers like me and you.

There is no b-check in 92, and I'm not even sure weight is the sole determinant of checking ability. Haven't looked into it though

YES! I agree some magical other factor is in play. See Fleury and Gretzky.

However, too much of a '92 victory/loss will come down to luck/CPU swaying as compared to '94.

And I thought it was because you are good King. Glad to know that you are just Lucky. Very Lucky! :)

Is the reason people hold because they can't use the B-check (to automatically knock a guy over)? Maybe I'll have to re-think my current hack... or also disable holding!

I don't see holding as problem.

What would you guys think of 92 with Penalties turned off?

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I never notice any home ice advantage in NHL92, and I prefer to play on the road most of the time. The goalies make a big difference. The bad goalies will get pushed away by their own players far away from the goal, and take their sweet time to return to goal. The bad goalies let in all above average shots, and even medium and some very weak shots. The bad goalies will lose the puck and give up a goal on collisions. The good goalies stop bad shots, and many above average shots.

NHL92 is slower and more physical, and NHL94 is faster and more finess. Manual goalie is a nice luxury to have in NHL94, but not having it does not ruin NHL92.

Couldn't disagree more here. On a breakaway, NO goalie ever makes a save. It's either in the net, or hits a post. 100% of the time. Roy and Belfour seem to have around .700 save % the last two seasons, league average is about .650. That's a 1 goal swing every 20 shots, and it's more likely a post than a save.

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The best players in '92, cannot be hooked or knocked down - your only option in close is to hold them.

..even then, a guy like Jagr can just drag your guy to the net while holding down C and probably still get the goal on your useless goalie.

Holding is definitely what you have to do when your opponent gets close, but I find shadowing him around with your player to tip the puck away works well too. You're like 80% chance to get a holding penalty too, lol.

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Couldn't disagree more here. On a breakaway, NO goalie ever makes a save. It's either in the net, or hits a post. 100% of the time. Roy and Belfour seem to have around .700 save % the last two seasons, league average is about .650. That's a 1 goal swing every 20 shots, and it's more likely a post than a save.

Anyway you can see to make goalies better?

Rate all 100?

Lower attributes of skaters?

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Bouncing between is not easy.

The obvious goalie control is one thing, but it's the concept of no one-timer that changes things. When you play Plabax, you feel him scanning your defense, constantly looking for the uncontested angle to a one-timer at your net. He's probably the best at this game. In playing '92, you rarely pass once the puck is in your scorer's possession, but instead try to wiggle around to get a clean shot at the goalie. I believe after playing '92 long enough, you start to lose that focus, and pattern of looking for one-timers.

B check in '92 is just a poke check that can some times dislodge the puck. Obviously, this is a complete opposite of '94 where you knock the guy down & take the puck instantly.

There is no weight bug, so no c/b check to use.

As for the c check, it doesn't seem to follow a consistent pattern to me on who can knock who down, and until that is figured out, I'm not 100% what the real rules of engagement are. I picked Philly thinking I'd have the fattest of the fat bastards in Kjell Samuelson to stop anyone from reaching my uncontrollable goalie this season, but he bounced off of 90% of the guys he checked.

To me, the home ice advantage and the true "unknown" checking rules for '92 made it less enjoyable than a straight game of '94.

That said, I still enjoy my Coach Mac leagues. They run, they complete, they end. Can't beat it even if the format is something I like less.

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Just need to make the goalies wider. lol.

One other note, game time for 5 min periods feels A LOT longer than in '94.

A 4 game series of '92 takes a long time.

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Plenty of differences in '92 a lot of them have been touched on already. I used a team with all light guys so I think I saw things a bit differently.

I feel like speed and agility is a good counter to pure brawn. I have two 100/100 skaters and an 80/100 and they actually did a decent job of withstanding body checks.

Passing feels much slower and floaty. Hard to be precise with but still very rewarding to do so as most people who play this game tend to get caught smashing C button.

Holding is a necessary evil. My team would be powerless to get the puck back if I never used it. I feel like it has a wider effective range in 92 than it does in 94. Then again I dont really hold in 94 because poke checking and CB check are options.

Goalies dont protect their posts as well, but this is somewhat balanced by the fact that posts happen more frequently.

Home ice is real, here are my splits.

Home: 16W-0L 147 goals for, 44 against

Away: 12 W-4L 127 goals for, 78 against

I also felt like I hit a lot more posts on the road, hence the closer results.

The offensive AI is amazingly similar to the 94 AI. I noticed guys setting up in perfect spots for one-timers but using that tactic is very difficult without a one-timer feature built into the game.

On special teams I feel like the offensive AI for the PP gets pumped way up as they are super strong on offense but incredibly vulnerable to a shorthanded goal.

The game can glitch out on multiple holds in a row. If a shot is attempted sometimes the shot will just fly backwards into the crowd.

Checking along the boards isn't a money play anymore. In 94, regardless of weight, a player can smash another into the boards with regularity. Not so in 92.

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On special teams I feel like the offensive AI for the PP gets pumped way up as they are super strong on offense but incredibly vulnerable to a shorthanded goal.

Yes, especially the Kings. Skeletor was amazing on the PP. And the aggressiveness of D-men on the PP made the Shorty a common occurence.

I feel like speed and agility is a good counter to pure brawn. I have two 100/100 skaters and an 80/100 and they actually did a decent job of withstanding body checks.

You were amazing with this totally blew up the theory that only brawn could win.

To me, the home ice advantage and the true "unknown" checking rules for '92 made it less enjoyable than a straight game of '94.

I like the unknown factors and Home Ice.

They run, they complete, they end

Thanks. Thinking of doing a small Original 6 94 league using handicaps for how good a player is with the value of his team.

We have a great group of buds in this League.

Edited by CoachMac
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I think speed is not the real factor in '92. In '93, once you get on a break away, you are gone. C Check isn't catching up. In '92, you can catch almost everyone w/ the defensemen pounding C.

To me, it's shot power. If you have it, you can score. Speed gets you to the spots to get the great shots, but w/out the power, it won't go past the goalie. The better the power, the farther back you can be.

I did notice defensemen with the low accuracy often missed on crease cuts even, hitting posts more than goals.

That said, Philly had a guy, #24 I promoted to Line 1. He had low accuracy and not a hard enough shot. He single handily could get 10 shots a period due to his size and speed, but he rarely scored, unless the crowd was going!

That said, I prefer knowing what makes a guy able to check another guy. I think a good game of chess can have lots of factors put into it, but it should still have a known set of rules. I differ with Mac on the Home Ice part, but it's Ok. His league, his rules.

Glad to be invited.

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I'd also point out that my record was fairly strong when you factor in the teams I played with. I DID NOT use the hold option. I felt it queer on so many levels. The B check did poke the puck free enough, and standing in front of your guy or C checking at the puck could also loosen the puck, similar to when playing 2v2.

Holding usually resulted in a lot of penalties for my opponents and I found the only time I lost on the whole was when their shot power/range was too great for me to stop. But again, you can play w/out holding and still have very similar results that you would have if you cheapen yourselves like the whores you are :) !!!

I also completely disagree with Deadmenow, and agree w/ Raph on the entire discussion about goalies. 1000% they seem useless and I don't see a difference no matter who I face, minus the 1 out of 20 shots, for real. I think if Deadmenow took a better team and gave up his 12 goals vs Raph's Rangers, he'd not blame his goalie any more.

I could be wrong. Haven't played as much as others.

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I do not give up 12 goals when I am using a good team versus anyone.

The more you are able to check, the less holding is necessary. The stronger teams have the option to check players into the ice, the weaker teams have the option to hold or let the offensive player repeatedly walk in front of the goalie.

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Not to be contentious, but you gave up close to 8-10 a game vs Mon & NYR w/ Hartford. 12 is the exaggeration because he popped some 12's this year on a few guys. Even if you don't downgrade yourself to Hartford, I'm saying you are giving up those numbers. Your goal scoring is down cause Hartford can't shoot like them.

Raph/AJ/(good coach w/ great shooters) are going to put a minimum of 7 goals a game unless you play keep away & skate behind the goalie the whole game, as long as they have a Montreal/Chicago/NYR/Pitt/Bost, etc.

Those shooters can almost score from the blue line & you can't control the goalie, and who is the goalie doesn't matter, so to me, I don't see how in a 5 minute period they don't score at least 7, and some games 10 plus. You were saying in the forum post for our Season 2 that after giving up 7-8 goals vs Jer w/ Calgary it was on the goalie of Hartford playing like total dogcrap. I haven't seen a goalie do anything but that, and I had Belfour down to the bottom teams.

To me, it was on you no matter who you had in net because in '92 with those shooters, it's going in. Where the expectation of the hard shooter's shot getting stopped in '92 comes from, I'm not sure because I haven't seen it even when I shot against the good or the bad. The only non-goals I see are if the shooter is too weak on the shot power or if he misses his shot (hits the post or the middle of the goalie), and on those "misses", even Hull doesn't score.

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I think speed is not the real factor in '92. In '93, once you get on a break away, you are gone. C Check isn't catching up. In '92, you can catch almost everyone w/ the defensemen pounding C.

To me, it's shot power. If you have it, you can score. Speed gets you to the spots to get the great shots, but w/out the power, it won't go past the goalie. The better the power, the farther back you can be.

I did notice defensemen with the low accuracy often missed on crease cuts even, hitting posts more than goals.

That said, Philly had a guy, #24 I promoted to Line 1. He had low accuracy and not a hard enough shot. He single handily could get 10 shots a period due to his size and speed, but he rarely scored, unless the crowd was going!

That said, I prefer knowing what makes a guy able to check another guy. I think a good game of chess can have lots of factors put into it, but it should still have a known set of rules. I differ with Mac on the Home Ice part, but it's Ok. His league, his rules.

Glad to be invited.

I would put speed on par with shot power. I lost a ton of games due to giving up breakaways. Even spamming the C button, I usually can't catch up. I thought that subbing the faster Robinson in for Blake would help, but that made things worse. I think the player ai has a lot to do with it as well, as my defensemen seem to like to pinch in a lot.

I would also put weight/checking up there with speed and shot power. Gretzky has been a big liability for me with his non-existing checking. Sandstrom is the real star of the team.

Outside of the players themselves, a couple things that I prefer in this version are the puck physics and passing. It seems to me that they handled the way the puck bounces off the boards and glass better in 92. I'm going to disagree with AJ on the passing. Seems to me that the passes are more accurate (at least the lateral ones), and the receiving player is able to hold on to the puck more often following a short pass. In 94, my short passes usually just bounce of the receiving player. I've only played with the Kings, so maybe they are just good passers.

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I tend to agree with the assertion that goalies don't differ too much, especially at a higher level of play. Guys who know how to score will typically score. Looking over Kings tracked stats from the course of the year, I don't see too much reason to pile on the Hartford goalie. He was nearly league average in sv%. In some respect it can be argued that he outplayed his rating.

The issue with Hartford is their lineup, there's a couple of glaring issues with it and when playing the upper echelon of teams, it makes it very tricky to stay competitive. Hartford was nearly out shot 2:1 this season, that's the real issue. Give Deadmeow a better team and I would bet a lot of money that his shot ratio would get much closer to 1:1 and his win% would soar without a significant change in goalie performance.

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A couple of more notes. Do you guys think it would be hard to hack the goalies to improve their likelihood of making a save? I assume that the game just uses a probability??? I've never gotten into Rom hacking, so I have no idea how hard this would be.

Regarding the home ice advantage. Against some guys, I prefer to be away, as I can let go a slapper without letting go of the down button. The half second that it takes to aim the puck low when going upscreen might be enough delay to get checked.

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Some goalies are better than others, if you want to dispute this, then open up nose and look and see if they are all rated the same and get back to me.

Is there a programed home ice advantage? Hard to say, but someone could compile the stats from Mac's league or my league and see if home teams have a higher winning percentage. I think I actually do better on the road, but who knows.

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Some goalies are better than others, if you want to dispute this, then open up nose and look and see if they are all rated the same and get back to me.

Is there a programed home ice advantage? Hard to say, but someone could compile the stats from Mac's league or my league and see if home teams have a higher winning percentage. I think I actually do better on the road, but who knows.

What does Nose have to do with anything? Ratings are super misleading. It's like how in 94 people think Roy is a godsend, when really he doesn't play very different than any average goalie. Ratings for players are misleading enough, with goalies they are even less impactful.

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I know Deadmenow would play better with a better team, but his GOALIE wouldn't.

That's my point.

Those 7 plus goals vs teams that can shoot, you can put them on the board. It's done.

And I had Belfour, and he played no different than the other clods I had in net. My goals against vs SJ is better than Chicago because I'm skating slow and controlling the puck. But, 7-10 hard shots on Eddy will lead to at least 7 goals.

Maybe you weren't playing vs high enough quality opponents in the past that knew how to beat an auto goalie into submission.

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Some goalies are better than others, if you want to dispute this, then open up nose and look and see if they are all rated the same and get back to me.

What they are saying is the goalies all stink regardless of the rating. The stats do seem to support this. Same applys in 93. Hard to tell a 95 goalie from a 35 goalie.

Is there a programed home ice advantage? Hard to say, but someone could compile the stats from Mac's league or my league and see if home teams have a higher winning percentage. I think I actually do better on the road, but who knows.

I think there certainly is. I love it. Brutus hates it. It is a huge part of Hockey and was more so in the olden days when each barn was different and travelling was tougher and they weren't all millionaires.

That said direction matters also some like to go up some like to go down. Ones pref for that may overide the Home Ice advantage. Applys in 94 also. But it is i n the program of 93 and 94 so I gotta believe it is in 92. AJ showed his stats above. Also some teams have a higher home ice advantage than others.

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To be honest, that's what it sounds like to me. Giving an opinion w/out having played a Raph/AJ type guy w/ a high powered shooting team about what a goalie can/cannot stop is not the same as giving the comments after that moment.

Anyhow, goalies for anyone else who wants to listen do not matter much in '92. They don't stop anything that doesn't HIT them, and they don't move much, so not much you aim hits them.

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For me Coach, on the home ice advantage, I think if it's a LONG season and you then get to the playoffs, and earned that home ice, I love the idea.

If you are playing a video game and somebody already has a better team so he default gets home ice in the playoffs, and now also has that home ice in game bonus, it's too much, imo.

If it were a draft league type thing were everything was equal, I love the home ice because it's earned come playoff time/GM drafting.

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I like to play defense, and if my goalie gives up 0.5 less goals per game than another goalie, I will take it. There is a difference between bad goalies and good goalies, this is a fact. How big of a difference is the only debate.

My game is defensive oriented. If I cannot check you into the ice with Pittsburgh or Edmonton, then I will be holding you with Toronto or Hartford. My GAA between Hartford and Toronto from Mac's league was 6.19 for Hartford, and 4.29 with Toronto in the previous season. Not everyone likes to use super-teams every season.

When you are using bad teams, every single goal makes a difference in a close game. As far as home ice advantage there is no way to say for sure that it even exists (although it may).

Edited by deadmeow
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