Overview
NHLPA Hockey '93 is an EA Sports hockey game for Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis. This game only features an NHL Players Association license: all the players names are present yet none of the actual NHL team names and logos appeared. All of the team's cities and colors however are exact, although the New York Islanders are referred to as Long Island. NHLPA Hockey '93 was the first title to feature Tampa Bay Lightning and Ottawa Senators again though they lacked the team names and logos.
The Genesis version also included EEPROM battery saving, which allowed one to save lines and the ongoing playoff, rather than the passwords of the SNES version.
The game's ruling towards a number of things such as breaking glass, bleeding and injuries caused controversy among hockey fans. The booklet suggested that injuring top players from the other team "with an extra hard body check" was "part of the game". All these features were removed from following titles, besides injuring.
This is the game with the famous wrap-around trick. When shooting downwards, if the player performs a wrap-around starting from the right side of the net, the goalie will get stuck on the far right leaving the goal net wide open.
NHLPA Teams and Rankings
There are 26 total teams in NHLPA Hockey '93. When picking teams, Team 1 defaults to Pittsburgh while Team 2 defaults to Chicago. Team 1 is the home team controlled by Player 1 while Team 2 is the away team controlled by Player 2 or the Computer.
| Team Name | Shooting | Skating | Passing | Defense | Checking | Fighting | Goalkeeping | Power Play Adv. | Home Team Adv. | Overall |
|---|
| All Stars East | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 2 | - | 9 |
| All Stars West | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 9 |
| Boston | 6 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 6 |
| Buffalo | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 3 | 3 | - | 3 |
| Calgary | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Chicago | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 2 | - | 8 |
| Detroit | 8 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 8 |
| Edmonton | 6 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 | - | 4 |
| Hartford | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 |
| Long Island | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | - | 4 |
| Los Angeles | 5 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| Minnesota | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 2 | - | 2 |
| Montreal | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 9 |
| New Jersey | 8 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 1 | - | 7 |
| New York | 7 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 9 |
| Ottawa | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4 | - | 1 |
| Philadelphia | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| Pittsburgh | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 1 | - | 5 |
| Quebec | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| San Jose | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | - | 1 |
| St. Louis | 4 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Tampa Bay | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 3 | - | 1 |
| Toronto | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Vancouver | 6 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 2 | - | 7 |
| Washington | 9 | 6 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 8 |
| Winnipeg | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 2 | - | 5 |
Critical Reception
When the Genesis version was released Electronic Gaming Monthly issued the following scores, 8,9,8,8 adding, "...this version rewrites what the best should be. Better sounds, faster and more controllable game play now correct what was lacking in the first game. The two player action is the best I have ever seen! Where does EA go from here?".
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