NHL Hockey (Genesis)

NHL Hockey
Also known as: EA Hockey (EU), Pro Hockey (JP) Developer: Park Place Productions Publisher: Electronic Arts Platform: Genesis Released in JP: November 20, 1992 Released in US: 1991 Released in EU: 1991 This game has debugging material. This game has regional differences.

NHL Hockey is the first installment in EA Sports' NHL series.

Exception Handler

If the game ever crashes, it'll display an exception handler at the top of the screen.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Regional Differences

Only the US version has an NHL license. As a result, the European (EA Hockey) and Japanese (Pro Hockey) versions use international teams instead, resulting in a multitude of changes:

Title Screen

NHL Hockey	EA Hockey	Pro Hockey

The title screen background was altered outside of the US, with the European version having a fictional "EA Hockey League" logo in place of the NHL logo. The Japanese version has no logo in that spot.

Team Select Screen

NHL Hockey	EA Hockey	Pro Hockey

As with the title screen, the European version replaces the NHL logo with the EA Hockey League logo. Strangely, the Japanese version does as well, despite not doing so on the title screen.

For whatever reason, "United Kingdom" and "United States" were changed to "England" and "USA" in the Japanese version. The text in the Japanese version is in all-caps, and the names of the majority of the settings changed.

Playoff Bracket

NHL Hockey	EA Hockey/Pro Hockey

The Stanley Cup was changed to a generic trophy, for obvious reasons. The background and bracket colors are also different.

Stats Screen

NHL Hockey	EA Hockey	Pro Hockey

The scoreboard in the background says "NHL Hockey" in the US version, and "EAHL Hockey" elsewhere. The names of some of the positions are different in the Japanese version.

Easter Egg

NHL Hockey	Pro Hockey

Winning the championship in playoff mode as the San Jose Sharks (NHL Hockey)/Spain (Pro Hockey) will display the above message. EA Hockey does not feature this easter egg.