NHL 96 Game Boy Developer: Black Pearl Publisher: EA Sports By: GammaBetaAlpha ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~- Table of Contents -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ How to Play [HOWT] Donations/Amazon [DONT] Contact Info [CONT] ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~- How to Play -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ [HOWT] This guide assumes you are generally familiar with the basic rules of ice hockey, and so know what offsides would be, how teams score, the number of periods in a game, and so on. It is instead concerned more with game controls. NHL 96 is a hockey game based off the 1995-1996 NHL season rules. This being prior to the 2004-2005 lockout, the big anachronism you may note is the lack of a shootout at the end of a game - instead, if two teams are tied at the end of three periods, a ten-minute sudden death overtime occurs. If neither side scores during this period, it is marked off as a tie. Playoff games do not end in ties, so they will go through an indeterminate number of overtimes until one team scores. The game has the real names and logos of the NHL team at the time, but does not have the names of the players themselves, instead resulting in generic names such as 'Bill Thompson' and 'James John'. Stats are 'presumedly' based on the strength of the NHL teams following the end of the 1995 Stanley Cup Playoffs, which the New York Devils won with a sweep of the Detroit Red Wings. NHL 96 also has enhanced graphics when played with a Super Game Boy. In the real world, the Colorado Avalanche made their first Stanley Cup appearance, the first year after relocating from Quebec City, and swept the Florida Panthers for the Stanley Cup. Game Options ------------ Regular Season allows you to play a _single_ game between two teams using their roster following the end of the 1993-1994 season. Home team is the team you play as. New Playoffs starts you off in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. You choose the team you play as as the home team. The remaining fifteen teams are chosen at random and a bracket is formed. In New Playoffs, you need to only win one game to continue on to the next round. Sevens is much the same option as New Playoffs, except you need to win four games per round before you can continue on (following the 4-wins format for playoff series). Shootouts lets you play a shootout with a goalie from a specific team. Continue Playoffs lets you resume a Stanley Cup playoffs from where you may have earlier left off, using a password system. Other options that the game gives you are to alter the time length of each period (between 5 minutes, 10 minutes, and 20 minutes each), and to toggle penalties on and off. Miscellaneous items on the menu are League Standings, which allows you to check up on the wins, losses and points standings of all the teams; Calendar, which shows you the list of games and dates against other teams that you have remaining; and Play Until, where the computer automatically plays the games against other teams until the date you specified (for a Season). Controls -------- B - Slapshot (Press and Hold before releasing, Must have puck) Wristshot (Tap, Must have puck) A - Switch control to your player closest to the puck (when puck is not in your possession) Pass the puck (when puck is in your possession) D-Pad - Move your player around on the ice in the four cardinal directions Start - Pause/Unpause the game The A and B buttons are inversed from NHL Hockey '95, where A controlled shooting and B controlled passing. Face-Off -------- Prior to a ref actually dropping a puck, you can make one of two decisions. If you want to capture the puck for yourself with the centre, then press B to grab the puck when the ref drops it. If you want to pass it to one of the other players, press your control pad in the direction of the other player, then press the A button once the ref drops the puck to pass it over. Skating ------- The active player on your team is indicated by a star under his on- screen avatar, with an arrow pointing to his location if he is off-screen. You can tap the A button to switch over to the player closest to the puck, but be careful - once you gain control, he will not move at all except in response to your commands, so an off-screen player will remain idle and not chase the puck unless you move him yourself. Scoring ------- To shoot at the net, press the B button when you have the puck. Note that this will work from anywhere on the rink, so if you tap the B button while you possess the puck and are on your own end zone, you will basically clear the puck out, but with minimal chance of pulling a goal like Rob Davison on Vesa Toskala. There are two different types of puck shots by game mechanics: wrist shots and slapshots. To perform a wrist shot, which is heavier but slower, quickly tap the B button. This is best done when close to the net. To do a slapshot, press and hold the B button for a couple of seconds before releasing for a faster shot. This is better to use the further away from the net you are. You can also control the shot direction when taking your shot by use of the control pad when pressing the B button. Pressing Up will give you a higher shot, Down will give you a lower shot, and Left and Right will aim for those corners. Passing ------- To pass the puck, you need to tap the A button. The passing motion is rather sluggish, however. You must press the control pad to face the direction you wish to pass - if you are not actively moving your player, then the puck will go in the direction he is facing. To smoothly catch the puck off a pass, quickly tap A after passing the puck to switch control over to the player who you intend to get the pass. If you intend to pass to a player next to the opposing team's net, you can attempt a One-Timer shot. Once you have passed the shot, press and hold the B button and release once the puck is in the second player's stick to shoot. You can also do a drop pass, where the active puckholder basically brings the puck to a dead stop where he is at the moment for someone to come up behind him and grab. To do this, press either Up or Down, specifically the button that is your _back_ side, and then the B button (NOT the A button). Penalties --------- Penalties can be toggled on and off in the options menu. A penalty shot will be awarded to a team if a penalty is committed against a player that makes a breakaway. Icing and offsides are on even when penalties are toggled off. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~- Donations/Amazon -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ [DONT] I don't really care too much about donations, but if you are feeling generous, feel free to send one via PayPal to gammabetaalphafaqs AT gmail DOT com Alternatively, if you ever order any items from Amazon.com, go to the link below. You do not have to buy anything right away, but (if you do not clear browser cookies often) any items you buy within the next 90 days will count as a 'referral order' to me, meaning I get anywhere from 4-6% as a referral/affiliate payment of what you ordered (ie. order $100 worth of stuff, I get $4-6 from Amazon.com) www.amazon.com/?&camp=212361&linkCode=wsw&tag=raofavigafa-20&creative=391881 Other than that, considering this FAQ is for an obscure old game, if you have any other obscure old games that you do not play anymore, consider sending them to me (I will even pay the shipping cost!). I write FAQs for plenty of obscure old games with no FAQs, and having a physical copy of the game (and even better, a manual) is superior to not. You can email me if interested at gammabetaalphafaqs AT gmail DOT com ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~- Contact Info -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ [CONT] Although I believe I have found everything there is to find in this game, there is occasionally the possibility of some super secret level in an obscure game that was never found because it was too obscure, or the like. If you have anything that you feel needs to be includes, feel free to email me at gammabetaalphafaqs AT gmail DOT com If you have any other information to contribute or notice any errors, again, shoot me a notice at gammabetaalphafaqs AT gmail DOT com If you wish to host this guide, or use information from it, consider the FAQ semi-public domain: you can host it without asking and derive information from it word-for-word if you wish, but keep the document unchanged if hosting it and give credit where due if using information ________________________________________________________________________________ ©2013 GammaBetaAlpha FAQs