NHL 96
Game Boy
Developer: Black Pearl Publisher: EA Sports
By: GammaBetaAlpha
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Table of Contents
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How to Play [HOWT]
Donations/Amazon [DONT]
Contact Info [CONT]
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How to Play
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[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.
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)
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
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Contact Info
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[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
