2on2, 20th Anniversary Edtion

[clockwise]

This spring marks 20 years since the 1st, 2on2 tournament.

To help commemorate those 20 years, I’m considering making an 20th-anniversary-ROM. Would like some feedback on:

• Which franchises to add / remove?
• Which staters for each franchise?
• All-Star, 2on2-Legends-team. USA and Canada (coaches would have to submit their handedness and jersey #)?
• If starting lines have equalized ratings, should the rest of the rosters be clones or different forwards with career-high / peak ratings?
• Wide-screen?
• Updated sprites for more accurate unis.
• Removing icing for fewer stoppages (suggested by Icestorm)
• Crash bug fixes for editing lines and other things.
• New splash screens / logos and other wrinkles.
  Edit / Added
• Logos for each franchise / which ones?
• Uniforms / which ones
  • Could do a particular era
  • Could do home unis one era and away team another

Any other suggestions are welcome.

[77]

6 minutes ago, clockwise said:

Any other suggestions are welcome.

fighting

[RT1977]

Just some general feelings for the Rom....

 

But First a question?

How many different players per team do you plan or would be willing to add to this Rom?

And a Second question?

Is a 20th anniversary Rom mean exactly the last 20 years of different  players for each team?

I myself would prefer to see a fairly large quantity of players per team to chose from (basically a near full roster), though still if it's only a 2 vs 2 Rom than obviously only 2 players can be  selected and used at one time. 

For the ratings of players I prefer different non cloned ratings of players. At least a relatively accurate skill level and traits of each included player would be nice to see.

Prefer most players be each franchises best or the more typically most significant contributing players.

I prefer all of the major orignial teams be included except some of the expansion teams?

For skaters of each franchise just pick some good to best ones, but keep the quantity of different players on a more higher level than only a sparse amount if that's possible?

 

For me wide-screen is fine but is not a necessity.

 

The newly added Fighting feature  can be a Option for this Rom, though personally I don't care much for it (in fact haven't even tried it yet) and if omitted I personally wouldn't  care! Though many may disagree with me on that! LOL!

That's about all.

Except only one other thing I would want to see someday is this same future 2 vs 2 Rom also have a seperate regular 5 on 5 version as well! 

That's too much to ask as it's beyond your plan  but that's because I just  play alone against the Cpu and not ever in any 2 player versus  tournaments! 

Last question?

Is this strictly a 2026 based season Rom, or based on the last 20 years since your original released 2 vs 2 Rom? 

Edited Friday at 11:04 PM by RT1977

[clockwise]

3 hours ago, RT1977 said:

Just some general feelings for the Rom....

Thanks for the thoughtful response — I’ll try to answer everything clearly.

Frame of reference first:
This ROM is based on the original 2on2 league ROM that started 20 years ago. It is not built around current-season rosters. The teams are all-time franchise greats.

The goal is to keep teams iconic, recognizable, and balanced for competitive 2-on-2 play.

---

Player ratings / clone ratings

Ratings are intentionally cloned.

This is by design. In a four-player league, the goal is to let skill decide outcomes, not AI advantages or wildly different attributes. When everyone is relatively equal, games come down to positioning, passing, timing, and execution — which has always been the spirit of the league.

So while individual players are historically great, ratings are kept even to preserve competitive integrity. 

---

Player selection philosophy

Yes — the intent is exactly what you described:

• Best or most significant players per franchise

• Some subjectivity is unavoidable, especially for players who split careers across teams

• Focus on iconic franchise identities, not depth or role players.

---

Teams included / expansion teams

The new ROM will be based on the 32-team structure:

• All major original teams are included

• Some expansion teams may be excluded

• Atlanta is likely to be removed

• Nashville and Columbus are not currently planned (no strong reason to add them at this stage)

Two additional teams will be:

• USA 

• Canada

These will feature top online 2on2 coaches from the past 20 years that have played online, rather than NHL / International players.

---

Widescreen

Widescreen has not been used previously in this league. It’s not ruled out, but it would require testing and isn’t guaranteed.

There are also legacy bugs to address first (for example, line editing crashes — a known issue from the original ROM dating back to 2008).

---

Fighting

Fighting is an incredible addition by chaos and may be added, but if included it will likely be disabled during exhibition play. It’s not a core focus of the project and would slow games down.

---

CPU vs human play / 5-on-5

This ROM is still built first and foremost for 2on2 human play, including weekly exhibitions like “2on2uesdays” with players from Discord. (video here

Playing vs CPU is still fun, but the ROM is not designed for that experience. A separate 5-on-5 version would be interesting someday, but that’s outside the scope of this project.

---

Final clarification

• A 20-year anniversary ROM of the 2on2 league

• Built around all-time franchise greats

• Focused on skill-based, balanced multiplayer gameplay

• Not a modern-season or stat-accurate simulation ROM.

Hope that clears everything up — appreciate the interest and the detailed feedback.

I've attached the last big update rom so you can check it out yourself.

*Keep in mind, a lot has changed in the community and in the NHL since 2008 or so when this rom was last updated.*

2on2_update.bin

[clockwise]

Teams as they were from 2008 - looking back, having Fedorov over Howe on Detroit was a mistake. But if we have roster depth and can edit lines (the old game crashes due to a bug that is now fixed) we could still have Feds / Datsyuk / Lidstrom etc. on the roster.

[RT1977]

35 minutes ago, clockwise said:

Thanks for the thoughtful response — I’ll try to answer everything clearly.

Frame of reference first:
This ROM is based on the original 2on2 league ROM that started 20 years ago. It is not built around current-season rosters. The teams are all-time franchise greats.

The goal is to keep teams iconic, recognizable, and balanced for competitive 2-on-2 play.

---

Player ratings / clone ratings

Ratings are intentionally cloned.

This is by design. In a four-player league, the goal is to let skill decide outcomes, not AI advantages or wildly different attributes. When everyone is relatively equal, games come down to positioning, passing, timing, and execution — which has always been the spirit of the league.

So while individual players are historically great, ratings are kept even to preserve competitive integrity. 

---

Player selection philosophy

Yes — the intent is exactly what you described:

• Best or most significant players per franchise

• Some subjectivity is unavoidable, especially for players who split careers across teams

• Focus on iconic franchise identities, not depth or role players.

---

Teams included / expansion teams

The new ROM will be based on the 32-team structure:

• All major original teams are included

• Some expansion teams may be excluded

• Atlanta is likely to be removed

• Nashville and Columbus are not currently planned (no strong reason to add them at this stage)

Two additional teams will be:

• USA 

• Canada

These will feature top online 2on2 coaches from the past 20 years that have played online, rather than NHL / International players.

---

Widescreen

Widescreen has not been used previously in this league. It’s not ruled out, but it would require testing and isn’t guaranteed.

There are also legacy bugs to address first (for example, line editing crashes — a known issue from the original ROM dating back to 2008).

---

Fighting

Fighting is an incredible addition by chaos and may be added, but if included it will likely be disabled during exhibition play. It’s not a core focus of the project and would slow games down.

---

CPU vs human play / 5-on-5

This ROM is still built first and foremost for 2on2 human play, including weekly exhibitions like “2on2uesdays” with players from Discord. (video here

Playing vs CPU is still fun, but the ROM is not designed for that experience. A separate 5-on-5 version would be interesting someday, but that’s outside the scope of this project.

---

Final clarification

• A 20-year anniversary ROM of the 2on2 league

• Built around all-time franchise greats

• Focused on skill-based, balanced multiplayer gameplay

• Not a modern-season or stat-accurate simulation ROM.

Hope that clears everything up — appreciate the interest and the detailed feedback.

I've attached the last big update rom so you can check it out yourself.

*Keep in mind, a lot has changed in the community and in the NHL since 2008 or so when this rom was last updated.*

2on2_update.bin 2 MB · 1 download

Thanks Man for all those details! That was alot of info you shared and pretty thoroughly answered my questions. 

[Lazz]

Fake shots?

[Prince of WALES]

Could you put Messier and Leetch as the top 2? I love Graves, but Leetch (along with Messier) is considered the greatest Ranger of all time. 

EDIT: Other suggestions for top 2 players: Clarke and Lindros (Philadelphia) Stevens and Elias (New Jersey) Gretzky and Coffey (Edmonton) Sittler and Sundin (Toronto) Bossy and Potvin (Long Island) Hull and Federko (St. Louis) Fleury and MacInnis (Calgary) Selanne and Hawerchuk (Winnipeg) Peter Statsny and Goulet (Nordiques) Gordie Howe and Francis (Hartford) Dione and Robitaille (Los Angeles) and as previously mentioned, Messier and Leetch (New York).

Edited Saturday at 09:00 AM by Prince of WALES

[smozoma]

I recall (or imagined) there being a 2on2 ROM with the Center and Winger having slightly different ratings. I always thought that had some NES Ice Hockey potential, for composing your team for your play style. At the time, there was no Edit Lines Crash fix, so making everyone the same made sense. But with edit lines working, I think it would be neat to have some different player templates.

• All players should be roughly equal in total skill, but have different "personalities" - speedster, playmaker, sniper, banger... It could take some playtesting iterations to get the right balance down.
• Different personalities would/could mean disparate weights. This makes it important to consider: Will a Weight Bug Fix be added? Will the CB check be disabled?
• Recommend leaving the B-check disabled (the usual when penalties are disabled. There's now a hack to enable B-check while penalties are off...)
• I think you already took care to have the handednesses right, continue that. Righties have a minor advantage due to quicker spinorama, don't know if that needs to be balanced somehow with a minor nerf to some attribute...
• Add Sundin, Gilmour, and Clark to the Leafs if they weren't on there before. Matthews if current players are also included. Kessel? Kaberle? Rielly?
• Sundin should be a starter. 
• Can the widescreen patch be used on an everdrive and CRT? If not, I wouldn't do it, or would have 2 versions of the ROM. I might also not like it if it "works" on a CRT but is horizontally squished.
• Instant goalie button? Reduced goalie control b-button timer? Expanded goalie roaming areas?

Put me down for Team Canada goalie, #40, Lefty glove, and I'll take a nice 6 rating on that glove if you don't mind

[clockwise]

8 hours ago, Lazz said:

Fake shots?

Would be great but it's outside the scope of this project.

2 hours ago, Prince of WALES said:

Could you put Messier and Leetch as the top 2? I love Graves, but Leetch (along with Messier) is considered the greatest Ranger of all time. 

EDIT: Other suggestions for top 2 players: Clarke and Lindros (Philadelphia) Stevens and Elias (New Jersey) Gretzky and Coffey (Edmonton) Sittler and Sundin (Toronto) Bossy and Potvin (Long Island) Hull and Federko (St. Louis) Fleury and MacInnis (Calgary) Selanne and Hawerchuk (Winnipeg) Peter Statsny and Goulet (Nordiques) Gordie Howe and Francis (Hartford) Dione and Robitaille (Los Angeles) and as previously mentioned, Messier and Leetch (New York).

Yes, this makes sense.
Leetch would normally be at LW since putting a skater at a different position other than LW or C would be something that's never been done. Maybe we can have D-men at their natural position. Would def change how face-offs work for teams like Boston and New York R.

And thanks for sharing input about staters for those teams.
If you notice, at the time I decided not to mix players from different era's, but that will probably change as well.
However, if ratings aren't equalized, it will be interesting to see how things play out because players from earlier eras, especially pre-1990's, aren't considered to have the same foot speed / skill etc.

Some great suggestions, though.

1 hour ago, smozoma said:

I recall (or imagined) there being a 2on2 ROM with the Center and Winger having slightly different ratings. I always thought that had some NES Ice Hockey potential, for composing your team for your play style. At the time, there was no Edit Lines Crash fix, so making everyone the same made sense. But with edit lines working, I think it would be neat to have some different player templates.

• All players should be roughly equal in total skill, but have different "personalities" - speedster, playmaker, sniper, banger... It could take some playtesting iterations to get the right balance down.
• Different personalities would/could mean disparate weights. This makes it important to consider: Will a Weight Bug Fix be added? Will the CB check be disabled?
• Recommend leaving the B-check disabled (the usual when penalties are disabled. There's now a hack to enable B-check while penalties are off...)
• I think you already took care to have the handednesses right, continue that. Righties have a minor advantage due to quicker spinorama, don't know if that needs to be balanced somehow with a minor nerf to some attribute...
• Add Sundin, Gilmour, and Clark to the Leafs if they weren't on there before. Matthews if current players are also included. Kessel? Kaberle? Rielly?
• Sundin should be a starter. 
• Can the widescreen patch be used on an everdrive and CRT? If not, I wouldn't do it, or would have 2 versions of the ROM. I might also not like it if it "works" on a CRT but is horizontally squished.
• Instant goalie button? Reduced goalie control b-button timer? Expanded goalie roaming areas?

Put me down for Team Canada goalie, #40, Lefty glove, and I'll take a nice 6 rating on that glove if you don't mind

• You're right. In the first season from 2006, LW had more goal scoring ability and was a little faster and C had better passing ability and had more agility.
   
• I think adding personalities would be a nice wrinkle. Such as:
  • power forward (Lindros)
  • pass-first center (Gretz)
  • sniper (Ovi)
  • speedsteer (Bure)
  • roving defensemen - if we add the position (Orr)
• If there are player archetypes, it would save me the effort of having to rate an enormous amount of players individually on a case-by-case basis 😬
   
• For the weight bug fix, I'm 100% in favor. Blitz was my favorite league to play in and it just feels natural to have bigger players hit harder.
   
• For the Leafs, will def change the starters. Went too historical last time around with guys like Armstrong. He might be a big part of the Leafs franchise history, but players like him have little relevance to anyone under 80 years old. 
   
• If we have full-franchise histories, then Kessel could be on the roster as well, but his player card will be a hot dog.
   
• Guys like Gilmour, who actually played more games for St. Louis, I think, are tricky. He did retire a Maple Leaf, though, and is a huge part of that era for them. Haven't decided if players can be on more than one team (ex: Gretz on EDM and LA). Would appreciate some feedback from the community on this.
   
• Far as wide-screen goes: I've not tested it on console but will probably just do two versions of the ROM.
   
• Y-button goalie control is a game changer but few leagues ever use it, so I'm not sure which way that will go. Thought it would be more widely adopted than it has been and that's a personal tragedy that I live with every day 😔
   
• Typically only accept bribes in the form of CRT's, but will make an exception: smoz, #40, lefty with a wicked glove, as starting net-minder for Canada. Done. 

[jer_33]

I think it would make the most sense to scrap the historical players and keep the players from the original rom (or added in expansion). 

[clockwise]

9 hours ago, jer_33 said:

I think it would make the most sense to scrap the historical players and keep the players from the original rom (or added in expansion). 

Could just Flex-Seal-guy-slap a 20th anniversary logo on the original 2on2 ROM from 2006 and call it a day, in that case.

I'm in favor bc it would make my life so much easier 😛

[clockwise]

On 1/9/2026 at 2:56 PM, RT1977 said:

How many different players per team do you plan or would be willing to add to this Rom?

Sorry I skipped this one. Thought I'd answer it since I am trying really hard to not work this morning... 

Either it will be only 2 skaters from a franchise's history - probably the two players with the most points, goals or games played - duplicated throughout the ROM in the event on an injury. Or each franchise will have the top (40?) players from the respective franchise's history.

Depending on feedback, it could go either way. If it goes to the latter, I will probably need some volunteers regarding ratings, etc. Will prob run into an issue where some players are sharing jersey #'s, which isn't that big of a deal.

[RT1977]

Though the decision is up to you I personally would far prefer the latter idea for franchise players and rosters. Meaning much more than only 2 named  selectable players per team!

 

 

Edited Sunday at 09:36 PM by RT1977

[clockwise]

I just want everyone to love 2on2. Platonically.

[RT1977]

 

26 minutes ago, clockwise said:

I just want everyone to love 2on2. Platonically.

HaHa, LMAO! Absolutely, always and just Platonically!

Never ever expected that  word to even be used  in the first place in a reply by the way! 

Here's a joke, perhaps  Fighting can therefore be included in the Rom!

We can all certainly therefore keep this 2v2 Rom and any love for it always  platonic "Non sexual and Non H-MO" of course! 😆 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[clockwise]

I mean, there's just a lot more controller ports with the 4-way-play adapter and I don't want anyone getting ideas. 

[RT1977]

31 minutes ago, clockwise said:

I mean, there's just a lot more controller ports with the 4-way-play adapter and I don't want anyone getting ideas. 

Oh okay. Good,  I just took the word platonic  (platonically) and it's opposite meaning  way more literally. Also,  I mostly myself play the NHL Roms only single player anyway. HeHe.  LOL! 

[IAmFleury'sHipCheck]

For 20 year anniversary, I always loved the rom that you did with Community members. 
If you have top 2 players on each team that all have the same attributes (correct me if I'm wrong but I think that's how it's currently configured).

My 2 cents:
A. How about adding 2 more players per team that are community members?

B. 2 ways to go with my next suggestion --

1. Of the community member players, have an attribute mix that makes a team specialize in a particular skill.

•  For example, you could have a CB squad, Weight bugger duo, balanced, speed, stickhandling, snipers, etc
• Each player could have an indication of their skillset in their name, Last Name = Icestorm, First Name = Assist (profile = increased passing, agility, stickhandling)
  • Perhaps there would be a set number of profiles (around 5 or 6) so it doesn't get too refined

OR

      2. What if you made 3 community members per team but each one fit an attribute profile similar to original NES Ice Hockey in the vein of skinny, medium, fat guy.

C. Have 3 goalies with 3 skill profiles that fit a skillset similar to following: Hrudey - low, Cheveldae - mid, Belfour - high)...

• While default would always be medium tier, tournaments or online 2v2 Tuesdays, we could work in a system or flip to see what tier goalie is in net but both teams would have to play that tier for the game (just something to provide even further depth)

I would love to discuss more ideas, let me know what you think. I'm just kind of riffing on some things so no expectations that any of these would be actually implemented.

[I also understand that the goal is to have ALL players in league play be equally matched in terms of skill. My recommendations are more about lending itself to having options for future leagues and/or gameplay... basically, one rom to rule them all]

Edited 11 hours ago by IAmFleury'sHipCheck

[clockwise]

6 hours ago, IAmFleury'sHipCheck said:

For 20 year anniversary, I always loved the rom that you did with Community members. 
If you have top 2 players on each team that all have the same attributes (correct me if I'm wrong but I think that's how it's currently configured).

My 2 cents:
A. How about adding 2 more players per team that are community members?

B. 2 ways to go with my next suggestion --

1. Of the community member players, have an attribute mix that makes a team specialize in a particular skill.

•  For example, you could have a CB squad, Weight bugger duo, balanced, speed, stickhandling, snipers, etc
• Each player could have an indication of their skillset in their name, Last Name = Icestorm, First Name = Assist (profile = increased passing, agility, stickhandling)
  • Perhaps there would be a set number of profiles (around 5 or 6) so it doesn't get too refined

OR

      2. What if you made 3 community members per team but each one fit an attribute profile similar to original NES Ice Hockey in the vein of skinny, medium, fat guy.

C. Have 3 goalies with 3 skill profiles that fit a skillset similar to following: Hrudey - low, Cheveldae - mid, Belfour - high)...

• While default would always be medium tier, tournaments or online 2v2 Tuesdays, we could work in a system or flip to see what tier goalie is in net but both teams would have to play that tier for the game (just something to provide even further depth)

I would love to discuss more ideas, let me know what you think. I'm just kind of riffing on some things so no expectations that any of these would be actually implemented.

[I also understand that the goal is to have ALL players in league play be equally matched in terms of skill. My recommendations are more about lending itself to having options for future leagues and/or gameplay... basically, one rom to rule them all]

Lots of gold here. 

For community member player ratings, I think nailing down which attribute-ratings each class has (to use Battlefield parlance) is critical otherwise guys will just want to use whatever is most effective, or in current gamer language, what's OP. I will need help from whoever wants to chip in on this and other areas. 

The NES Ice Hockey archetypes is what I was going for, just different titles, like you said. Guys might want to edit lines to pick what class they want before the game starts, or whatever they feel in the moment. Don't think this would slow the game down too much.

Def do want to have a Canada and USA community teams for live events and stuff like that... Still have to find out what #'s and handedness for some guys, like @HABS, and others, who haven't popped in for a long time.

Lot to figure out but it should be a fun process, and I hope everyone see's this as a community project, because it takes 4 people to get a game going and I don't see why that can't be reflected in how the ROM is updated.

And let the record show that NES Ice Hockey was doing fat acceptance long before Lizzo ever showed up.