Beer League Hockey

von Ozbourme · September 18

This was a dumb idea.

But as it is my habit for doing weird and/or esoteric stuff, the question started off innocently enough.
"What if there was a game where you play in a beer league, that is sponsored by actual beer companies? I mean... Breweries used to have teams back in the day... granted then so did factories, offices and banks."
"Except instead of real company teams, you make it play like a typical beer league."
"Yeah this is already sounding silly."
"No, it's sounding funny and awesome and you have to do it."
"I *have* to eh? Ah what the hell..."

So with that mindset, we dive into:

The backstory on this one was that, while developing IIHF Hockey [1991] for the Genesis, a small section of Team 1920 was unwinding with a few brews after hours and thought it would be funny to use the game engine to make a beer league game. This breakaway group called themselves the "Twist Cap Division" and did the work in their free time, which they had some of since crunching wasn't as prevalent back in those days.

They took 22 of their favourite beers and named teams after them, subbing them in for the international teams. Bottle caps made for great logo references and a Beer League Hockey logo displaced the EA Hockey League logo because never mind them.

The idea was that these guys would never play in a big arena, so the smaller community centre look was used for the pre-game team preview screen.

Playoffs were divided up and Easter eggs were thrown around willy-nilly. Just assume that everything is an Easter egg.

Such as the black and white Elsinore brewery teams. If you've seen Strange Brew, you know exactly how well these guys play hockey. The kids today might be tempted to call this team the "Dark Souls of Hockey", but they aren't *that* bad.
Broadcast sponsorship was "provided" by local channel C-BRU - Channel 13.

Fittingly, the beer leaguers are playing for glory and a golden trophy. Based on a real trophy, which is just a regular keg painted glorious metallic yellow. The actual golden trophy was the stuff inside it.

This was a dumb idea.
Please enjoy responsibly.

Beer League Hockey 91.bin

Disclaimer: This game was based on the PAL port of EA Hockey [1991] as I am apparently obsessed with the extra speed and arcadey physics that it provides. For best results, set your device to 60hz NTSC.

Edited September 21 by von Ozbourme