Sports games have been part of the industry since the very start and will always be part of it. Nintendo’s early sports games on the NES tended to be rather terrible. For instance, the games would have slow pacing and sluggish controls and generally didn’t leave any desire for replay. This was seen in games like Golf, and trend continued on until things changed with the release of Ice Hockey.
One might think Ice Hockey is just another generic early sports game due to the name, but it was much more. Ice Hockey actually marked a turning point for Nintendo and their sports games. Now the sluggish controls and slow pace were gone and replaced with responsive controls and a game that felt natural to play, and you could even increase the speech for more of a challenge or fun. The resulting game was an NES sports game that still is fun to play today, and had a lot of new innovation even as it took time to cut the bloat that was in Nintendo’s earlier sports titles. You could do neat things in this game like adjust the look and size of the players, and even get sent to the penalty box. It had simple and easy to learn yet contained deep gameplay. The game even incorporated brawls and getting sent to the penalty box, and had decent animation while doing so.
What is most important to note though, is the fact that Ice Hockey has a deeper legacy than we realize. Ice Hockey wasn’t just the first good Nintendo sports game, it was the game that laid the foundation for all later Nintendo sports titles, including Mario Kart, Mario tennis and Super Mario Strikers. It was the turning point where Nintendo made their sports games more cartoonish instead of going for a more realistic idea. This in turn created the Nintendo formula for sports titles that the company still uses to this day.. To be honest, I am kind of surprised that there has not been a dedicated Super Mario Ice Hockey game yet, but it is only a matter of time before Nintendo returns to their roots. Until then, we can go online with Ice Hockey via the Nintendo Switch.
See you on the ice.