NHL94.com It's In the GA! – Pt. 3 Halifax

The most interesting man on NHL94.com – Halifax!

If you missed them check out Part 1 and Part 2

For part 3 in my series on NHL94.com I spoke with one of the nicest members on the boards, Halifax. Halifax is one of the longest tenured members of the NHL ‘94 community. In his own words “No one in the history of SNES NHL ‘94 loves it more than me….how do I know this? Because I’m still running leagues after 6 years of being on the site”. He is a forum moderator and Classic League co-coordinator and he’s everyone’s favorite bud on the boards, one of the nicest guys, and a great ambassador of the game and the forums.

One-Quest: How did you get involved with the site?

Halifax: I found the site in 2006 doing a simple search on the net. I was blown away with what I found and spent a lot of spare time reading all the information on the site and forums. I immediately wanted to play in leagues and to help organize online leagues much like I had run tournaments back in my hometown during my teenage years. Evan set me up with my own sub forum and I ran my first online league in the winter of 2007. Since then I’ve helped in over 10 online leagues.

One-Quest: What is your role with NHL94.com?

Halifax: I don’t think I have a specific role per se but the following are things I like to do. I like to try and keep the forums organized and answer member’s questions from time to time. I try to acknowledge new members when they first post on the forums. I point new guys in the right direction to help get them set up for playing online. I help coordinate the NHL’94 classic league (the longest running league on the site.) And most importantly, I wish a lot of buds good luck …sometimes for no particular reason.

One-Quest: You’re big on the SNES side of things, is there any reason why SNES over Genesis version?

Halifax: When my brothers and I had a Sega Master System (far inferior to Nintendo), we said we would not make the same mistake again when the next set of consoles came out. We bought a Super Nintendo instead of the Genesis only to discover that Genesis seemed to come out with all of the sports games first. Genesis came out with NHL Hockey, which was a breakthrough in hockey video games (and still one of my favorite games period). SNES didn’t release their first EA game until NHLPA’93. ’93 was okay but when the SNES NHL ‘94 version was released with one timers, manual goalie control, defense control and dekes…we were in heaven. Going from ’94 to NHL ’95 was like walking on gold and then suddenly falling in a barrel of shit. Please try this in your spare time. I know that more people play the Genesis version, but the SNES version is so much better. One reason for me is the manual goalie. You can access the goalie instantly by hitting ‘X’. The GENS version has a delay from holding down the B button before you can control your goalie. By that time the puck may already be in the net. I have not seen a hockey game since that allows goalie control like SNES NHL’94. If there were, I’d probably become an advocate of it. Another reason is defense control. It’s an option that the Genesis version does not have. With Genesis you can only select the closest player to the puck carrier…but what if the closet player is a forward trailing the play? Defense control allows you to select one of your defensemen and get ready for the oncoming puck carrier. The Genesis version has a weight bug, so lighter players are better at checking. Oops! This has been fixed in edited Genesis roms and also recently I’ve read that the goalie delay has been fixed in an edited rom… only took 15+ years to get it right.

One-Quest: How impressed are you of the skill of the players/modders in the community?

Halifax: Hacking that’s be done has been remarkable. Wboy’s N.O.S.E program, Smozoma’s E.A.R.E. program and Statto’s SNES editor have allowed for a lot more creativity in ROM creation. Clockwise has done an incredible job with his NHL11 and NHL12 roms. Smozoma, who I consider to be one of the best members the NHL ‘94 community has ever had, spends a lot of time answering editing questions for Genesis and SNES hackers. This has allowed the community to continue to thrive with new roms for download. The level of skill of the players is awesome. SNES has 10-12 guys every year that can easily win the league and the same goes for Genesis. Having said that, Carse did win the classic league three years in a row. Genesis averaged over 30 players a season during those three years. I don’t think that anyone else will ever win three in a row. I used to win all the time when I was younger so it was nice to come to this site and play some guys, learn some new moves and new styles of how guys play. I took a few beat downs along the way. It’s funny how much I thought I knew about the game before, and then find a whole other level of players on this site.

One-Quest: What is your favorite accomplishment in NHL ’94?

Halifax: I pride myself on seeing that as many games get completed as possible. I ran a league in the summer of 2007 that had all 480 regular season games and playoffs completed. Also, we had 81 members compete in the Fall 2011 classic league. Over 1700 games were played and 97% of all scheduled games were completed in 7 weeks. How many other nostalgic video game leagues are there that would see that success? How many video games leagues period? I like to think that no one looks after a league like we do on any console for any game.

One-Quest: What’s one tip you have for any new players out there?

Halifax: It’s pretty rare these days that we get someone who has never played the game before. Most ‘new’ players are guys that have discovered the site and league and want to bring back their glory days of youth. For those new guys, be proactive if you want to play online. Don’t wait for someone to ask you for a game. Ask them first! Post in the forums or join our facebook group ‘nhl94.com’ and someone will help you get started!

One-Quest: What are some of your favorite games outside of NHL ’94?

In no particular order:
Ice hockey (NES)
NHL Hockey (Genesis)
NBA JAM (SNES or Genesis)
Tecmo Bowl (NES)
RBI Baseball (NES)
Extra Innings (SNES)
Goldeneye(N64)
Call of Duty (any version on any console)
The LEGO games (XBOX360) (Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Wars, Indiana Jones)- It’s the only video game my wife will play, so it’s a fun game for us to play together.

One-Quest: And lastly, what would you like to see happen in the future for NHL94.com?

Halifax: The next step is to have a live tournament with community members.

Drootin is a writer, pod-caster, and the resident hater of things (especially Wii) on One-Quest.com. Drootin is a total sports nerd and sports gamer, spending the majority of his time either watching sports or listening to sports radio, often while playing some kind of sports game. He's also a HUGE pro wrestling fan and often tweets during RAW and Pay Per Views. You can Email Drootin or follow Drootin on Twitter @IAmDroot or Facebook

2 responses to “NHL94.com It's In the GA! – Pt. 3 Halifax”

1. Bo Knows says:

   August 27, 2012 at 1:09 pm

   Great read from King Bud himself!

2. Bo Knows says:

   August 27, 2012 at 1:09 pm

   Great read from King Bud himself!