History VideoGame / NHLHockey

Zig zagged with Goalie Masks, some goalies in game have a generic mask provided by the team, others, like Martin Brodur, have their signature touches and even names on their masks due to working with the actual equipment provider to have their Signature designs. (Examples being Brodur's wings on the Jaw line, Jonathen Quick having his name on the jaw guard and the silver designs, Carter Hart's Orange Flyers mask and Rask's Bear Mouth mask.)

-->The game boasts an improved AI system that will allow the computer to adapt to your tendencies, meaning it will take three shifts for it to realize you've been using the same "swoop down the wing, spin around in the corner and then blindly throw it out front for a one-timer" move since NHL 94.

* ChooseYourOwnAdventure: The expanded version of Be a Pro in NHL 14, call "Live the Life" which factors off-ice decisions such as post-game interviews and endorsement deals into your overall stats using [[KarmaMeter Karma Meters]] that rate the quality of your relationship with your teammates, the coaching staff, family, and the fans. You can be a self-obsessed superstar who's hated by the rest of the team, a wise, respected leader who won't say two words to the media, and everything in between.

* MaddenCurse: Not a recurring problem for the series, but ''NHL 2004'' had it in spades. Its original cover-athlete, Joe Thornton was replaced by Dany Heatley after Thornton had been accused of assault. However, Heatley himself was pulled from the cover after he had gotten into an accident that killed fellow Atlanta Thrashers teammate Dan Snyder, leaving Colorado Avalanche captain Joe Sakic to be ultimately the cover athlete for ''NHL 2004''. [[FridgeBrilliance Which makes sense]], considering that was the year of the NHL Lockout
** The inversion of this trope is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxHBTQiOxa4 this trailer]] for ''NHL [='=]13'', which points out the career successes of the most recent NHL cover athletes.
** This makes it all the more ironic that the trope is played incredibly straight with 13's Claude Giroux. First and foremost being on the cover in a year where there was only half a season, then being a SoOkItsAverage bright spot in the Flyers' otherwise mediocre shortened season. It [[FromBadToWorse has gotten worse]] with the 2013-14 season being the lowest point of his career, scoring only 4 goals in the first two months.

* LongRunner: Started in 1991 with ''NHL Hockey'', and still going strong, with ''NHL [='=]17'' being the most current title.

* ShownTheirWork: The more recent games have presentation that make it feel like you're watching an NHL game, with announcers discussing how a player's doing in a game, or pointing out what a team is doing right or what they're messing up with. ''NHL [='=]15'' and its sequels even feature Doc Emerick and Eddie Olczyk in recorded cutscenes discussing the prewview of the game as though it were a live performance.

* MyFriendsAndZoidberg: While the game has often been the most critically acclaimed amongst EA Sports' offerings, it gets much less attention from EA than its contemporaries like [[VideoGame/MaddenNFL Madden]] and [[VideoGame/FIFASoccer FIFA]], and ''NHL [='=]14'' even got snubbed from a [[TheEighthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames next-gen]] release[[note]]with a completely new engine[[/note]] in favor of a revival of ''NBA Live''.

* GuestFighter: ''NHL [='=]12'' features an All-Legend Team, made up of NHL greats like Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Gordie Howe, Ray Bourque, among others. You can even put them on your favourite teams, presenting interesting situations all around.

* LoudnessWar: An example of this trope hamstringing a game's feature: recent games have allowed players to upload their own custom soundtracks. Unfortunately, the dynamic range compression applied to the pre-existing in-game audio means that imported audio is much quieter. You can urn the volume up to hear your imported tracks, but run the risk of the pre-existing audio ending up stupidly loud.

* ShownTheirWork: The more recent games have presentation that make it feel like you're watching an NHL game, with announcers discussing how a player's doing in a game, or pointing out what a team is doing right or what they're messing up with.

* DarkerAndEdgier: ''NHL '99'', where the menus had a grittier feel to them. However, this didn't change the content of the game.

* LongRunner: Started in 1991 with ''NHL Hockey'', and still going strong, with ''NHL [='=]15'' being the most current title.

EA Sports' '''''NHL''''' hockey series of video games are an ultra-popular line of games created by [[Creator/ElectronicArts EA Sports]], and since 1991 (under the title ''NHL Hockey'') have been popular with fans of [[CanadaEh Canada's]] national winter sport. The games are notable for their realism in capturing the fast-paced action of the ''UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague'', fights included. While there are newer editions of the NHL games, one game has garnered popularity even over 20 years after its initial release: ''NHL '94''. The game's so popular, that in fact, there are [[GameMod ROM hacks]] for ''NHL '94'' that update it to reflect the current NHL rosters and teams. ''NHL '14'' in particular featured an [[MilestoneCelebration Anniversary Mode]] which used [='=]''94''[='=]s controls, physics, and soundtrack, but modern graphics with various effects such as blue ice and star-shaped player markers.

-->The game boasts an improved AI system that will allow the computer to adapt to your tendencies, meaning it will take three shifts for it to realize you've been [[ComplacentGamingSyndrome using the same]] [[GameBreaker "swoop down the wing, spin around in the corner and then blindly throw it out front for a one-timer"]] move since NHL 94.

* MultiPlatform: For recent games, {{Xbox 360}} and [[PlayStation3 PS3]] at least. EA has snubbed [[{{Wii}} both]] [[WiiU generations]] of Wii for as long has either has been around. Also, they have elected not to release ''NHL [='=]14'' on XboxOne and [[PlayStation4 PS4]]; ''NHL [='=]15'' marks the series' debut on those two consoles.

* ShoutOut: The premade custom teams in the NHL titles from the late 90s to the early 2000s, the EA Blades & EA Storm, have jerseys lifted straight from the Charlestown Chiefs from SlapShot.

EA Sports' '''''NHL''''' hockey series of video games are an ultra-popular line of games created by [[Creator/ElectronicArts EA Sports]], and since 1991 (under the title ''NHL Hockey'') have been popular with fans of [[CanadaEh Canada's]] national winter sport. The games are notable for their realism in capturing the fast-paced action of the ''UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague'', fights included. While there are newer editions of the NHL games, one game has garnered popularity even over 20 years after its initial release: ''NHL '94''. The game's so popular, that in fact, there are [[GameMod ROM hacks]] for ''NHL '94'' that update it to reflect the current NHL rosters and teams. ''NHL '14'' in particular featured an [[MilestoneCelebration Anniversary Mode]] which used ''[='=]94''[='=]s controls, physics, and soundtrack, but modern graphics with various effects such as blue ice and star-shaped player markers.

* MyFriendsAndZoidberg: While the game has always been the most critically acclaimed amongst EA Sports' offerings, it gets much less attention from EA than its contemporaries like [[MaddenNFL Madden]] and [[FIFASoccer FIFA]], and ''NHL [='=]14'' even got snubbed from a [[TheEighthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames next-gen]] release[[note]]with a completely new engine[[/note]] in favor of a revival of ''NBA Live''.

* YouAllLookFamiliar: Given the game's nature to reuse player faces for non-prominent NHL players and various others, this trope is a definite likelihood in recent games.

* [[GuestFighter Guest Players]]: ''NHL [='=]12'' features an All-Legend Team, made up of NHL greats like Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Gordie Howe, Ray Bourque, among others. You can even put them on your favourite teams, presenting interesting situations all around.

* [[LastOfHisKind Last of Their Kind]]: With the retirement of Niklas Lidstrom, ''NHL [='=]13'' will only have three players: Jaromir Jagr, Teemu Selanne, and Roman Hamrlik remaining from the roster of ''NHL [='=]94'' which is widely considered the greatest entry in the series, if not the greatest sports game ever.

* [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters Loads and Loads of Teams]]: The Xbox 360/[=PlayStation=] 3 games have a lot more teams than just the NHL, even adding European league teams to the mix.

* MilestoneCelebration: ''NHL [='=]14'' features an anniversary mode to commemorate twenty years since the release of the legendary ''NHL [='=]94''.

EA Sports' '''''NHL''''' hockey series of video games are an ultra-popular line of games created by [[Creator/ElectronicArts EA Sports]], and since 1991 (under the title ''NHL Hockey'') have been popular with fans of [[CanadaEh Canada's]] national winter sport. The games are notable for their realism in capturing the fast-paced action of the ''UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague'', fights included. While there are newer editions of the NHL games, one game has garnered popularity even 17 years after its initial release: ''NHL '94''. The game's so popular, that in fact, there are [[GameMod ROM hacks]] for ''NHL '94'' that update it to reflect the current NHL rosters and teams. ''NHL '14'' in particular featured an [[MilestoneCelebration Anniversary Mode]] which used ''[='=]94''[='=]s controls, physics, and soundtrack, but modern graphics with various effects such as blue ice and star-shaped player markers.

* LongRunner: Started in 1991 with ''NHL Hockey'', and still going strong, with ''NHL [='=]14'' being the most current title.

** This makes it all the more ironic that the trope is played incredibly straight with 13's Claude Giroux. First and foremost being on the cover in a year where there was only half a season, then being a SoOkItsAverage bright spot in the Flyers' otherwise mediocre shortened season. It [[FromBadToWorse has gotten worse]] with the current 2013-14 season being the lowest point of his career, scoring only 4 goals in the first two months.

* MultiPlatform: For recent games, {{Xbox 360}} and [[PlayStation3 PS3]] at least. EA has snubbed [[{{Wii}} both]] [[WiiU generations]] of Wii for as long has either has been around. Also, they have elected not to release ''NHL [='=]14'' on XboxOne and [[PlayStation4 PS4]].

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The first title in the series, ''NHL Hockey'', had players referred to by their jersey numbers, because they didn't have the NHLPA license for the game. The next game, ''NHLPA Hockey '93'', had the actual players, but not the teams they're on.

EA Sports' '''''NHL''''' hockey series of video games are an ultra-popular line of games created by [[Creator/ElectronicArts EA Sports]], and since 1991 (under the title ''NHL Hockey'') have been popular with fans of [[CanadaEh Canada's]] national sport. The games are notable for their realism in capturing the fast-paced action of the ''UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague'', fights included. While there are newer editions of the NHL games, one game has garnered popularity even 17 years after its initial release: ''NHL '94''. The game's so popular, that in fact, there are [[GameMod ROM hacks]] for ''NHL '94'' that update it to reflect the current NHL rosters and teams. ''NHL '14'' in particular featured an [[MilestoneCelebration Anniversary Mode]] which used ''[='=]94''[='=]s controls, physics, and soundtrack, but modern graphics with various effects such as blue ice and star-shaped player markers.

* ObviousBeta: ''NHL 15'', the first PS4/XB1 hockey game, did serious damage to the brand when it was revealed that a slew of content of modes and content were removed from the previous game, and standard features like Playoff mode, manual drafting in Be a GM, and even the ''Three Stars of the Game'' award had to be patched in later, making it really obvious that the game was very incomplete upon release. Despite the gameplay itself being lauded as quality ''NHL'', the gutting of many routine features pissed off a lot of fans.

''The EA Sports NHL'' hockey series of video games are an ultra-popular line of games created by EA Sports, and since 1991 (under the title ''NHL Hockey'') have been popular with fans of [[CanadaEh Canada's]] national sport. The games are notable for their realism in capturing the fast-paced action of the ''UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague'', fights included. While there are newer editions of the NHL games, one game has garnered popularity even 17 years after its initial release: ''NHL '94''. The game's so popular, that in fact, there are [[GameMod ROM hacks]] for ''NHL '94'' that update it to reflect the current NHL rosters and teams. The current release, ''NHL '14'', features an [[MilestoneCelebration Anniversary Mode]] which uses ''[='=]94''[='=]s controls, physics, and soundtrack but modern graphics with various effects such as blue ice and star shaped player markers.

* CashCowFranchise: The NHL series is one of the more popular games in EA's roster, behind the [[VideoGame/MaddenNFL Madden games]]. It's particularly popular with Canadians, with hockey being their national sport and all.

* DuelingGames: With the ''NHL 2K'' series of games, though 2K Sports haven't made a hockey game since ''NHL 2K11'', and that was a Wii-exclusive title, even.

* OneOfUs: Many NHL players themselves have confessed to playing the EA NHL games.

* StopHelpingMe: The "scouting report" during intermissions, which give out either obvious advice, or poorly-worded "advice", both of which aren't really necessary to win a game.