Featuring the
sportscasterAl Michaels as the play-by-play announcer, players have the choice to play across any of the game modes available against with either CPU-controlled opponents or other players. Despite being licensed by the NHLPA, the game was not officially endorsed by the NHL and as such, all the teams are referred only by city with no use of the team name itself, in addition to not having either NHL team logos or NHL emblems to be seen anywhere in the title.
Brett Hull Hockey is an ice hockey game that is played from a vertical perspective in a
two-dimensional environment with
sprites.[2] Most of the
rules from the sport are present in the title, though they can be disabled from the menu and in-game options. Other options are available such as turning on/off music and sound effects, along with the
pre-gamecoaching mode which can turn a losing team into a winning team and vice versa, among other settings. Some of the gameplay options found within the game include an
exhibition match, regular
season and
playoff competitions, among other modes of play. The announcer, Al Michaels, makes commentary during gameplay and announces Brett Hull by name but other players are only called by their respective
jersey number due to the lack of the NHL license, while his commentaries can also be turned off on the options menu. Season progress is only kept via
password and there is also a two-player option for every mode.
During gameplay, players are able to apply
tactics such as multiple types of
shots and
checking for both offensive and defensive purposes respectively in order to score points.
Offsides can occur if attacking players crossing the blue lines are entering the
offensive zone (red zone), before the
puck and anyone on either team touches the puck before leaving the red zone.
Penalties are applied by an
official when any of the rules are infringed, sending the offending player into the
penalty box for a set number of minutes before re-entering into the playfield.
Fights can also erupt at any moment between players from either team.
Teams
The teams featured in the game only represent their respective cities from both
Canada and
United States, in addition to featuring two original teams: Eastern All-Star and Western All-Star. Some of the teams available to choose in the game are:
In April 1993, Accolade announced that it had signed exclusive licensing agreements with
St. Louis Bluesright winger Brett Hull and former
New York CosmosforwardPelé to endorse and help design sports games for the
SNES,
Sega Genesis, and
MS-DOS.[3]Brett Hull Hockey was first released in January 1994 by Accolade,[1] and it received a European release by Sony Electronic Publishing later in the same year. A version for the
Sega Genesis was advertised and planned for a 1993/1994 release in all regions,[4][5][6][7] alongside the Super NES version.[8][9][10][11][12] Unlike the SNES version, which used
Mode 7 to display the playfield, the Genesis version featured
isometric graphics instead and despite reportedly being completed, it was cancelled for unknown reasons.[11][13]
Brett Hull NHL Hockey
In November 1993, Accolade signed an agreement with
Atari Corporation to be a
third-party developer for the recently released Atari Jaguar and licensed five titles from their catalog to Atari Corp. in order to be ported and released for the system,[14][15][16][17] with Brett Hull Hockey being one of the five licensed games and it was first announced in early 1994.[18][19][20][21] The port was later showcased by Atari in an early playable state at
WCES '95 and slated for a Q2 1995 release, with plans to be published for both the Jaguar and Jaguar CD.[22][23][24][25][26] It was later showcased in a more advanced state at
E3 1995 and was later slated for a Q3 1995/November 1995 release.[27][28][29]
Internal documents from Atari also revealed that Ringler Studios was developing the conversion and that it would feature the NHL license unlike the SNES original, with some magazines previewing the game under the title NHL Hockey,[30] in addition to being listed as still being in development on August of the same year.[31] Other internal documents from the company still listed the port as in development on December of the same year,[32] with Atari sending the final builds of the game to both NHL and NHLPA for approval the next month.[33] Despite the
cartridge version being reviewed and rated by both Game Players and Next Generation magazines in their April and May 1996 issues respectively under its final title, Brett Hull NHL Hockey,[34][35] neither version was ever released during the commercial run of the system, which was discontinued by Atari a month earlier before merging with
JT Storage in a
reverse takeover.[36][37]
On May 14, 1999,
Hasbro Interactive released the patents and rights of the Jaguar into
public domain by declaring it as an open platform and opening the doors for homebrew development, allowing independent publisher and developers to release unfinished titles from the system's past life cycle.[38] A beta build of the cartridge version of Brett Hull NHL Hockey was released by B&C Computervisions on January 9, 2004, for
US$50.[39][40][41] On May 14, 2009, the defunct Jaguar Sector II website released the
CD version under the name Jaguar Hockey to avoid licensing issues for US$35.[39][40][42] Aside from featuring the NHL license and updated graphics and sound compared to the SNES original, the differences between the cartridge and CD versions include
bug fixes and
full motion videocutscenes but longer
loading screens, among others changes.[42][41]
Brett Hull Hockey received mixed but positive reviews since its release.
Next Generation reviewed the Jaguar version of the game, and stated that "In the end, Brett Hull NHL Hockey, with its three camera options, commentating from Al Michaels, full NHL roster, and realistic graphics, would have no problem holding its own against any competitor if it weren't for the choppy gameplay."[35]
Legacy
With the advent of modern
console emulation on computers and despite never being officially published, the previously unreleased Atari Jaguar version of Brett Hull Hockey has since received two unofficial
ROMhacks that were released in 2013 and 2015, titled Jaguar Hockey Legends '13 and Jaguar Hockey League '15 respectively, featuring updated title and menu screens.[55][56] However, in addition to containing then current-day professional rosters while maintaining the original gameplay, each of these hacked versions contains a unique roster set based in members of the Jaguar community.[55][56] The 2015 edition would go on to receive a physical release by community member Gaztee at
AtariAgeforums later in the same year.[57][58]
^Reutter, Hans (February 2000).
"Faran Thomason Interview". CyberRoach Magazine. No. 9. cyberroach.com.
Archived from the original on 2016-08-06. Retrieved 2018-09-18.