NHL '94 Rewind

To borrow a quote from Billy Madison, NHL '94 for the Sega Genesis is the greatest video game of all time. OK, that may not be entirely true, but I do think it is one of the best sports games ever made. I distinctly remember dominating this game on the Genesis (as well as the slightly upgraded NHL '95 on the PC). Everything about this game is just great - the sounds, the visuals (I said I was a sucker for 8 & 16-bit graphics), the gameplay - all of it is just perfect. Even just hearing the menu music is enough to incite nostalgia. When you take the ice and hear the organ music, or the unique grunts of the players, it takes me back to 1994 and playing the game on the Genesis on our old CRT TV. 

I had read about NHL '94 mode for NHL '22, where you could play the modern game in the style of NHL '94. I almost bought NHL '22 because of this, but decided against it. I had no idea you could buy NHL '94 Rewind as a standalone product. Once I discovered this a few weeks ago I immediately paid the $10 for the game.

I'm happy to report that Rewind faithfully recreates NHL '94, or at least my memories of the game. Everything is there - the menu music, the organ, the grunts, and the gameplay. It is a near-perfect of an all-time sports classic. I only have two minor complaints. The first is that I wish you could play an entire season with a team, not just a playoff. However, if I remember correctly, that feature also did not exist in the original game. My other complaint is that I wish you could use the rosters from the original game. When I first played Rewind, I was disappointed that the Red Wings had their current players (from 2022) and not Steve Yzerman and Sergei Fedorov. I was really hoping to dominate on Rewind like I did on the original with the Red Wings. Other than these two complaints, Rewind is great and well worth the $10.