Blades Of Steel FAQ
Copyrighted 1988 by Konami
Written By: Brian P. Sulpher
E-Mail:
[email protected]
Version 1.8
Date Written: July 23 through July 24, 2002
I dedicate this FAQ to my old buddy Joey Baconavic. You first introduced me
to this game, and when I beat you at it, you took it well. I miss you bud,
and maybe I will see you around again sometime.
Also, for Cougar. I miss you, and I hope you are living it up in the
afterlife as you did in this world. You will always be in my memories, and
you will never be forgotten.
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Version 1.0
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-Submitted guide on July 24th, 2002
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Version 1.1
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-Submitted guide on February 13th, 2003
-Removed UNICODE markers so all people can view FAQ
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Version 1.5
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-Submitted guide on January 21st, 2004
-Altered format
-Fixed up a few errors
-Changes the Tournament Tree slightly
-Next update will likely be the final one, so please send in any advice,
tips, tricks, or oddities soon!
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Version 1.6
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-Submitted guide on May 6th, 2004
-Altered format
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Version 1.7
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-Submitted guide on March 24th, 2005
-I added in Honestgamers as a site allowed to use my FAQs
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Version 1.8
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-Submitted guide on June 22nd, 2005
-I added in Retronintendo as a site allowed to use my FAQs
-Altered the format to make it easier on the eyes of the reader
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------------------------------Table Of Contents-----------------------------
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1) Introduction
2) Controls
3) Options
4) Teams
5) Face-Offs
6) Goalie Behaviour
7) Penalty Shots
8) Goaltending
9) FIGHT!!!
10)Tournament Set-Up
11)Tricks
12)2nd Intermission
13)Final Word
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-------------------------------Introduction---------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) This has to be the most popular hockey game for NES system (with the
possible exception of Ice Hockey). This game has excellent graphics for
a 1988 game, and it boasts multiple challenge levels. Also, being a
KONAMI game, it just seems to have that magic that their games always
seem to contain. Boot up your old NES, and take a trip to the rink to
try and win the championship!
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---------------------------------Controls-----------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2) This section will look at the controls for offense, defense, penalty
shots, and of course for everybody’s favourite in hockey, fighting.
o---------o
| Offense |
o---------o
D-Pad : Moves your player in the corresponding direction.
SELECT : No apparent use.
START : Pauses and unpauses the game.
B Button: Passes the puck.
A Button: Shoots the puck.
o---------o
| Defense |
o---------o
D-Pad : Moves your player in the corresponding direction.
SELECT : No apparent use.
START : Pauses and unpauses the game.
B Button: Changes defender.
A Button: No apparent use.
o---------------o
| Penalty Shots |
o---------------o
Note that the controls will be discussed in more detail later in a section
entitled "Penalty Shots".
D-Pad : Used to aim your shots.
A Button: Shoots the puck.
o-------o
| Fight |
o-------o
B Button: Throws punch.
A Button: Blocks when held.
DOWN : when held in conjunction with a button listed above, it will cause
a body blow punch or a low block of a punch respectively.
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-------------------------------Options--------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3) This section will look at the options available to be selected before you
get down to some good old fashioned hockey.
a) On the title screen, you have to choose between one player/two players.
b) Two Players option will then go to a choice of what team player 1 wishes
to choose, then player two can choose their team. Then the game begins
c) One player opens up two choices: Exhibition and Tournament. Both open up
a choice of difficulty level you would like to play on: Junior, College,
and Pro.
d) Choose whichever difficulty will give you the challenge you desire. This
will take you to the select team menu. After you pick, you are taken to
a screen with the tournament brackets.
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----------------------------------Teams-------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
4) This section is going to list the team available to choose from, and what
colours they wear on the rink.
o----------o
| New York |
o----------o
They wear orange pants, helmets, and skates, as well as blue sweaters, and
socks.
o---------o
| Chicago |
o---------o
They wear grey pants, helmets, and skates, as well as red sweaters, and
socks.
o------------o
| Los Angles |
o------------o
They wear purple pants, helmets, and skates, as well as gold sweaters, and
socks.
o----------o
| Montreal |
o----------o
They wear red pants helmets, and skates, as well as yellow sweaters, and
socks.
o---------o
| Toronto |
o---------o
They wear light blue pants, helmets, and skates, as well as teal sweaters,
and socks.
o----------o
| Edmonton |
o----------o
They wear gold pants, helmets, and skates, as well as green sweaters, and
socks.
o-----------o
| Vancouver |
o-----------o
They wear dark green pants, helmets, and skates, as well as dark orange
sweaters, and socks.
o-----------o
| Minnesota |
o-----------o
They wear light purple pants, helmets, and skates, as well as light yellow
sweaters, and socks.
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--------------------------------Face-Offs-----------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
5) These are won by pressing the B Button at the correct time. Most people
just repeatedly press the B Button in hopes of luck winning the draw.
However, this is not a very good strategy the higher the difficulty is
set at because the COM gets better and better. This means you get less
face-offs in your favour, which means you start the majority of the plays
at a severe disadvantage (on defense).
There is a more accurate way to win the draw. Watch the puck, and just
as it hits the ground press the B Button. This will win the draw to your
side. This takes practice, but it will serve you well (especially on PRO
difficulty).
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----------------------------Goalie Behaviour--------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
6) This section will review how the COM goalie, and your goalie behave.
a) The COM goalies behaviour is fairly decent, but it tends to get confused
if your player is getting a lot of easy shots in the middle of the
face-off circles.
b) Your goalie is directly tied in to your d-pad at all times.
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----------------------------Penalty Shots-----------------------------------
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7) As the CONTROLS section stated, the d-pad aims your shot, and the A
Button shoots. This section will list the nine areas of the net you can
shoot at.
_________
|a b c|
|d e f|
|g h i|
|_________|
a) This is the top left of the net. Hold UP and LEFT to shoot there.
b) This is the top middle of the net. Hold UP to shoot there.
c) This is the top right of the net. Hold UP and RIGHT to shoot there.
d) This is the middle left of the net. Hold LEFT to shoot there.
e) This is the middle of the net. Just press SHOOT to shoot there.
f) This is the middle right of the net. Hold RIGHT to shoot there.
g) This is the bottom left of the net. Hold DOWN and LEFT to shoot there.
h) This is the bottom middle of the net. Hold DOWN to shoot there.
i) This is the bottom right of the net. Hold DOWN and RIGHT to shoot there.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------Goaltending---------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
8) This section will go over how goaltending works, and strategies for both
regular goaltending, as well as penalty shots goaltending.
The goaltending is dependent upon the moving red arrow in the crease. It
is the aimer for your shot, and if the goalie is in the way, he saves it,
if he is not, then a goal is scored. Sometimes being partially on the
arrow will not be enough, and the puck will still trickle in.
a) Regular goaltending is not too tough. You should always start paying
attention exclusively to your goalie, as opposed to your defensemen.
This will assure your goalie is not out of position when the opponent
unleashes a shot. This will give the computer more shots since you are
playing a "soft" defense, but your goaltending will turn most shots away.
b) Penalty shot goaltending is a simple matter of reflexes, and knowing what
directional save to use. You must press the A Button to send your goalie
in the direction you are pressing.
x = save, o = goal
Top Left Save - Press UP and LEFT. It will save the following areas.
_________
|x o o|
|x o o|
|o o o|
|_________|
Top Middle Save - Press UP. It will save the following areas.
_________
|o x o|
|o x o|
|o o o|
|_________|
Top Right Save - Press UP and RIGHT. It will save the following areas.
_________
|o o x|
|o o x|
|o o o|
|_________|
Middle Left Save - Press LEFT. It will save the following areas.
_________
|o o o|
|x o o|
|x o o|
|_________|
Middle Save - Press nothing. It will save the following areas.
_________
|o o o|
|o x o|
|o x o|
|_________|
Middle Right Save - Press RIGHT. It will save the following areas.
_________
|o o o|
|o o x|
|o o x|
|_________|
Bottom Left Save - Press DOWN and LEFT. It will save the following areas.
_________
|o o o|
|o o o|
|x x o|
|_________|
Bottom Middle Save - Press DOWN. It will save the following areas.
_________
|o o o|
|o x o|
|o x o|
|_________|
Bottom Right Save - Press DOWN and RIGHT. It will save the following areas.
_________
|o o o|
|o o o|
|o x x|
|_________|
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-----------------------------------FIGHT!!!---------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
9) This section will talk about how a fight starts, how to fight great, and
how penalty shots are triggered.
Fights start when a puck carrier, and a defender run into each other
(usually three bumps). This will cause the two [players to grab each
other, and by pressing the A or B Buttons, will throw punches. If they
are thrown at a fairly even amount by both sides, a fight will begin.
The fight screen has the life meters at the top is set up as follows:
O O O O O FIGHT O O O O O
Each person has five health points that are taken away by ones with each
successfully landed punch. To win a fight, a player must throw many
punches, but they must watch their opponent to see when and where they
will need to block. This skill become much more important on PRO when
the COM become near impossible to beat in a fight.
The loser of the fight gets taken to the penalty box for two minutes of
game time. Winning fights will really help your game play to get more
goals.
If the puck carrier gets into a scuffle in front of the opponents net,
this will cause a penalty shot to be awarded. This is a fun way to play
if you need a challenge. Try to win a game on penalty shot goals only,
as the COM does fairly well on stopping the Penalty Shots most of the
time.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------Tournament Set-Up-------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
10) This section will give a map of what the tournament brackets look like.
YOU ____
| YOU
|____
| |
COM ____| |
| YOU
|____
| |
COM ____ | |
| COM| |
|____| |
| |
COM ____| |
| YOU
|____ Champion
|
COM ____ |
| COM |
|____ |
| | |
COM ____| | |
| |
|____|
|
COM ____ |
| |
|____|
|
COM ____|
The brackets will actually list the teams in the tournament, but YOU will
always be on the top of the bracket.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------Tricks--------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
11)This section will give you a few advantages to use against the COM
opposition.
a) If you have a lead in the third period, and you are facing the COM, there
is a way to let the clock run out. You need to have control of the puck,
and you need to get to your own end of the ice. The idea behind this
maneuver is to get behind your net, and have the one COM player who
pursues you to get stuck on the net/goalie. The COM will be unable to
get at you, and the goalie will keep knocking the COM away. If this
trick is done correctly, you can safely run the clock down.
b) Sometimes (especially on the higher difficulties) the COM goalie seems
unbeatable. A good way to score is to pass the puck into the net. This
trick only requires that the COM goalie is defending the arrow, and
leaves a small portion of the net open for you to pass at. This can be
modified to do a wrap-around from behind the net.
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------------------------------2nd Intermission------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
12)This is a little diversion from the main game. Every 2nd intermission in
a game, you will get one of two shows: a mini-game shooter, or a puck
shooting bear. The first one is interactive, but the second is spectator
only. This section will have some strategies for the Mini-Game.
o---------------o
| The Mini-Game |
o---------------o
- Starts with the question "ARE YOU READY?".
- You are a small ship that must face a larger foe.
- Use the d-pad to move up and down, and A or B Button to fire.
- The enemy will fire four large missiles at a time in a straight line.
- The enemy will take multiple hits to destroy, but you take only one hit.
- There is a time limit, and you must be fairly fast
- After a few rounds, you should beat him each time easily.
- The big strategy I have to offer is to fire rapidly, and to try to stay
lined-up with the enemy while avoiding the missiles.
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--------------------------------Final Word----------------------------------
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13)As is the usual, this walkthrough is copyright property of Brian P.
Sulpher, 2003. The only website, group, person, etc. to have access to
post it is www.gamefaqs.com, www.ign.com, www.retronintendo.com, and
www.honestgamers.com. You must ask for permission before posting this,
as doing so without consent is a violation of international copyright
law.
If you liked it, hated it, have anything to add, then please E-mail me at
[email protected]. You can also contact me through MSN messenger
through the same E-mail address.
This game is truly a masterpiece, and I say dig it out to relive old
glories of days past. if you never have played it, then I suggest you
play it once, just to experience a great NES game such as this. It is
an excellent multiplayer game that can make a quite fierce competition.
