Top 25 NHL Players of All-Time - Controlled by You

IGN has the Top 25 Cyber Athletes of All-Time: Hockey:

It’s nearly impossible to find a videogame hockey fan who doesn’t look back fondly at the days of EA Sports’ early offerings on the Genesis. Those titles, beginning with NHL Hockey heralded in the golden age of console hockey. Like Tecmo Bowl on the NES, EA’s NHL series was the ultimate sports sim of its time, and it bred a slew of supermen on the ice. Who can forget the finesse of Gretzky, the viciousness of Stephens, the impenetrability of Patrick Roy?

As the games have developed, with new brands emerging as dominant, so too have the players. These days, it’s Iginla and St. Louis bullying the pixilated realm. With over 20 years of hockey videogames in the can, we felt it was time to elect the best cyber athletes ever to grace a dorm room or den.

I have to admit I’m rather shocked Fat Guy was ranked at 15, he’s a top 10 guy easy.  After all, he’s fat.  Flying Omelette has a good NES Ice Hockey review.

I don’t want to give any spoilers, but have to admit I agree with a good amount of the rankings, although they’re a little Dreamcast-heavy, and that’s the one version of the games I can’t say I’ve ever touched.

Thanks to Jamie for the pointer.

Posted by David M Singer on Mar 23, 2006 at 03:46 PM
Media • NHL

Comments:

  1. Awesome. I’ve still got a working Genesis and NHL ‘96 and Mutant League. This list makes me want to break ‘em out.

    Someone should simply take the Genesis version of 96, update the rosters and put it on XBOX. I’d buy that.

    Posted by James Mirtle on Mar 24, 2006 at 06:44 AM

  2. As a Canucks fan, I remember Jiri Slegr from the early EA NHL game (94 or 95, I forget). He was unstoppable… end to end rushes galore. It was quite amusing to see Jiri Slegr lead the league in scoring every year smile

    Posted by Jes G?lbez Uršul'ák on Mar 24, 2006 at 11:21 AM

  3. I still have fond memories of the original Ice Hockey game for the NES. I spent countless hours skating around with the Fat guy mowing down the entire opposing team. Reading that list makes me want to break out my old NES and play some good old fasioned hockey.

    Posted by Russian Pro on Mar 24, 2006 at 12:59 PM

  4. I popped NHL 97 into SNES and sure enough, Roenick was a monster…

    Posted by John Chandler on Mar 28, 2006 at 04:07 AM
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