Have you ever played NHL 2K10 for the PS2? That game has everything a Hockey fan could want, Deep Franchise Mode, Create a Team, with Colors, City and Logo options, Realistic Player Behavior, Unlockables, Classic Teams and Classic Sweaters, The Fighting is realistic, defensive positioning, I could go on and on, but you get the Point. I still play my PS2 offering to this day.
@@mylitcig1116 I guess more sad. This generation laid the ground work for great sports games for the future & yet the developers got rid of the features to add junk micro transactions or to bring them back as new features.
Yes and on those games, throwback jerseys and legends were not blocked by a pay wall. DLC should've never been things that were available free on previous year's games. I really started to resent gaming during the 360 years.
@@j.peters1222 might be 2k5 you're thinking of.. I remember loving the NFL 2K5, there were mini games, a crib with a trophy room. Was jus a dope game *edit After watching more of the video I'm glad he brought the crib feature up and the mini games lol
I loved 2K3-2K5. I really miss the days of competition in the sports game genre. Everyone loses when there is only one developer putting out game. It´s a sad reality with the increasing costs of game development, specially in sports where there is such a demand for high quality graphics and life-like players with the correct face on them. Hoping we will see indie developers putting out high quality hockey games in the future, like football (gridiron, not soccer) games have started getting. We wont see a NHL license but we just might survive that. Competition would do us all good.
So that's the main reason we don't have competition in the 4 major sports? Costs? That's just awful with all the talent out there. I also hear MLB itself ordered cross play for multiple consoles. Just sad.
I don’t think competition would do any good sadly. If indie developers were to make unlicensed games, they wouldn’t do much of a dent to force EA or 2K to change anything with their games. If 2K and EA were competing against each other…well just look at the recent times when NBA Live made a comeback. Both companies made shitty series. They know they’re going to make money regardless of the quality.
I remember getting NHL 2k10 during Halloween because Ove lived near us and with him being the cover star had like thousands of those games and instead of candy he gave us copies of both NHL and NBA 2k10. Looking back on it, it's pretty neat and wonder if Kobe did the same thing or if cover athletes do that shit today?
Tougie24 (as seen at 17:18) is such a fan of NHL2K10 that he did 2 full 82-game season series on his channel. 1st with Philadelphia where he traded for Kovalchuk and renamed him Philya Kovaldoop and the 2nd which is currently ongoing on Twogie24 is an Ottawa series where the goal is to get Alfredsson and Heatley a Stanley Cup
So glad to see this series getting some love. I played the hell out of NHL2K3 and ESPN NHL Hockey. Great games. Sadly, I dropped out of the series before 2K8, so I've never played that or later ones. Thank you for doing this vid. There's so little content on these games it's good to see this vid.
9:18, i agree, what you said about nhl 2k5, it also features dream team mode, where you can hit the ice with the nhl elite as you take on a ladder of all star teams hand selected by hockey finest including, martin st louis, mats sundin, marty turco, brendan shanahan and more, party mode, you play the battle mode, and playthrough 15 multi player mini games, challenges all in the name of becoming the king of the rink, there also arcade style, elimination mode, pond hockey, mini rink, intense contact controls, 3rd person fighting engine, bigger checks, new contact moves, heritage classic, it had a ton of depth, its a insane jump from nhl 2k4, this is one of the greatest nhl ice hockey video game, ever made, i would like to see espn nhl 2k5, retrospective.
Back then I preferred EA over 2K but I still bought 2K because I was such an NHL video game fanatic. Everyone as a kid was looking forward to the future with future powerful consoles and how amazing “real life” hockey would be…man how disappointed my young self would be looking at the market.
I loved the nhl 2k games as a kid. My first game for the Wii was NHL 2k9. It had everything, even more features on the wii compared to the 360/ps3 version. The one things that I also liked were the goal horns since nhl 2k4 had the actual goal horns of most of the NHL teams and at that it was amazing. I wish they had more games afterwards.
2k5 was so fun , I played a demo of it on a PlayStation magazine demo disc and made me a fan of hockey . In middle school I would play this game at the boys and girls club with a staff member and kept beating him it was such good times
I remembered playing the NHL2k11 Game simply for its gameplay, fun modes, and the mode I most remembered is “Road to the Cup.” Which ironically is one of the main inspirations for an irl event I held with my family every December. Fun memories!
I have no doubt the realism of an NHL 2k game in 2022 would be insane.... could you imagine the atmosphere they would've presented for playoff games. I remember playing NHL 2k10 and having a blast.... A kid who lived in Cleveland Ohio, the only sports I ever played being Baseball, Football, and Basketball and my only knowledge of being on ice was going to my local skating rink around winter I HAD A GODDAMN BLAST PLAYING A HOCKEY GAME...
Thank you for covering the NHL 2K series. I love your videos, they have a documentary style that I can’t get enough of. Would you ever consider covering the NHL Hitz series?
Fantastic video, thank you for doing such a deep dive into this. It's crazy to see how much a "rivalry" can produce such great games by wanting to win over the masses. I can only imagine what kind of features the games would have nowadays if both companies had a loyal fanbase. Guarantee HUT would be a lot lower on the priority list, that's for sure! Also, I still can't believe that the crowds in 2K games are better optimized than NHL 22 on PS5. Absolutely nuts.
NHL 04 had the best crowds in hockey game history and I don’t think it’s close… chanting the team’s name/nickname, chanting “we want the cup” in the finals, being loud in general, etc
Nice to see you here J1mmy, I also wish that we could’ve seen what we could’ve been playing with these two companies battling it out every year and having more and more new features.
Agreed. Very good video. Sports games, same thing as a lot of things in this world, are ruined by capitalism. People think 'competition is great', but they forget or don't know that what EA did to monopolize the market of hockey games IS part of the incentives of free market capitalism. The freedom to take over and then lower quality and produce stupid little microtransaction games within the game. Collaboration to make the best possible hockey game would be much better, especially if it was open-sourced meaning the fans would get a say in the features they have been asking for for so many years. All those features that have been taken out could be quickly put back in. And instead of buying a new $70 game each year as a roster and team update - a free DLC of a roster/team update could be provided each year. Then a more significant update every 4-6 years. But, of course, that would destroy the capitalist profit motive and thus why we can't have great things very often. But that gets down to a system level problem. Sorry to get a little philosophical and technical on everyone. It just gets me a bit sad to think how of much better we could all have it with a resource-based economy instead of what we have now.
@@coolioso808 People rarely work on things for free. Back then consumers had a higher standard for products, but now as you see with modern Madden they don’t give a shit anymore.
@@theobserver4214 Oh the lovely "invisible hand of the market" thy God is the only way to organize human society, right? We can't have people actually working on things because they are passionate about it, right? We can't organize by Natural Law on the things we really need to produce and distribute them efficiently. No, no, that would be madness. Let's continuing this monetary-market system where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and the masses actually don't think the system is a problem, they keep blaming small entities that they think are just 'not working right'.
Man, I remember having 21-19 scorelines with my buddy for the 2K games. Defense was optional and the old ESPN commentary was an absolute hoot. Thanks for the rush of nostalgia with this video!
2K5, 2K6 and 2K7 were the first NHL games I ever owned and I played them all the time on my old reliable crystal case Xbox. I’ll never forget listening to the tutorial videos with the voices of Peter O’Keefe and Dan Stevens, explaining in detail how to play the game. That goes for ESPN NFL 2K5 as well. It’s 2024 now and I haven’t played another NHL game since those old 2K games, but want to get back into NHL games. But sadly it seems the modern EA ones aren’t even worth trying.
2K's goaltending was a little bit TOO good. I remember playing against a friend, and the game only being 2-1 (Overtime) despite us both having over 70 shots...
@@brendan9868 yeah i hate that the "best" goalie has a save% of 900 or just over and most have like 880 at the end of a season and the best gaa is like 2.50, its so unrealistic xd. i loved when goalies had realistic stats
@@brendan9868 ...what? I haven't played NHL 22 in a hot minute but I always feel like there are 3-4 goalies a year with a .910+ SV%. I've been playing NHL 12 a bit recently and that game genuinely does have a goalie problem where guys like Roberto Luongo will win 45 games in a season with a .888 SV% but I've felt as if the recent games do alright with at least simulated goalie realism.
I know that this video is about NHL 2k but seeing NHL Slapshot brought back some memories. NHL Slapshot for wii was a very interesting game to me when I played it as a kid, I think it would make for an interesting video.
After purchasing the EA NHL games since the first one on the Genesis, I switched over to 2K with NHL 2K5 and was instantly blown away by the depths of its gameplay. Till this day, I still believe that NHL 2K8 is the greatest hockey videogame of all time with unrivaled Goalie mechanics and puck physics. I played its franchise mode for so long that I actually broke the game. I begrudgingly went back to EA after NHL 2K9. Eventually, I just stopped buying hockey games altogether after NHL 20. A real shame what happened to both series.
Played 2k10 a few years ago after getting bored of the modern EA games and immediately had a CPU pull the Forsberg on me. It's insane what these games had back then
NHL 2K needs to make a comeback fr. Heres my wishlist for NHL 2k: -Historic jerseys -Historic draft classes -Classic and decade teams -ERAS mode (Play in the 70s 80s 90s and so on) -Heavy metal/hard rock soundtrack -Huge customization for rosters, players, franchise mode, arenas, etc -Zamboni mode between periods
I don't think I ever played 2K8 but I wish I did. The gameplay is great, it looks very immersive. The rink size and camera is perfect. It sucks EA don't have any competition anymore.
How did you forget in nhl 2k6 The commentary in franchise mode would do fan mail questions when idling from a pause the game just like the real life hockey night in Canada broadcasters would do I thought that was an insane detail growing up And personally I think NHL 2K six had a great commentary as it Had the hockey night in Canada crew
I personally am an NHL Faceoff guy, I still loved NHL2K as a Sega fan. NHL 2K6 on 360 is my personal favorite due to it's "targeting system" for goals. Funnily enough, I bought my first of 3 Dreamcasts (they all still work fine) 3 days before NHL 2K2 released. Will we be getting an NHL Faceoff video anytime? Faceoff 99 was AWESOME!!!!
as a kid i got a copy of 2K5 as part of a combo deal they did with NBA 2K5 and at that point my knowledge of hockey went as far as the Mighty Duck movies. However, despite that and despite me barely knowing the rules of hockey the franchise mode and customisation options meant that i ended up spending the majority of my time on NHL 2K5! One of the most fun sporting game experiences i had in my childhood for sure
Fantastic video! I miss NHL 2K SO MUCH! I’m a massive hockey fan but I haven’t touched a hockey game since 2K stopped producing the series. Would love to see 2K make more sports games period.
The first NHL 2K was cool. I also have NHL 2K3-ESPN NHL 2K5 (ESPN NHL 2K5 was the best one). I didn't care for NHL 2K6 that much after playing it. I also have NHL 2K7 and recently got NHL 2K8.
I remember playing this with my buddy on his sega Dreamcast and honestly it was a waaaaay better game than EA. I played hockey, and 2K felt so much closer to the actual game, as far as a video game can.
Oh gosh if 2k released NHL now it would be amazing. Imagine franchise mode all set up like MYNba. It’s would be so in-depth and have so much too it. Even BAP
Soft drink tv, 3 retrospective I want to see is, ESPN NHL 2k5, the greatest NHL 2k video game ever, NHL 07, the game that introduced the skill stick, and NHL 08, continued evolution of the skill stick, combined with new skating engine, 1on1 loose puck deking system, create custom plays, creation zone includes Create a player, edit player, create a team, edit team and goalie mode, I really want to see these 3 future retrospective videos please.
TL;DR, The best times to have bought any sports games were from 2000-2008, since that was when all the competition was around. There is now no more competition for NFL, NHL, NBA, and MLB games. That is kinda what I got from watching loads of your videos.
The one feature that killed the NHL 2K game franchise: CINEMOTION! Kidding though that feature really was useless. I think it was in 2K9. I do miss these games though. Played every NHL 2K games from 2K3 to 2K10. I actually liked it better than EA NHL's series for a few years. RIP NHL 2K series. You are dearly missed.
I only had 2k11 and didn't play a new nhl game until nhl 22, lots of changes but I really liked 2ks season mode and the commentary was way better than what it is now I also liked how you could zamboni the ice between periods. It also had achievements related to all the teams
Not every gaming industry have those problems, to be fair it is a company so without profit there is no company no matter if the game plays good or not, they bottom line is does it sell if not then cancel because the company doesn't get anything in return but wasting their money
The entire 2k5 lineup of games (nhl, nba, nfl, mlb) changes sport games forever in my eyes. To me it’s the greatest overall generation of sports games.
There is another NHL game called Hockey Franchise Manager, but it's literally what it sounds like, a franchise manager. From what I have seen, you don't actually play you're just a gm.
You're a GM and coach. But no, you don't actually play the game. Still, the depth is unparalleled; I'm currently using the Senators starting in 1991 with the expansion draft and seeing how quick I can build a winner.
I really miss the days of the 2k sim focused games it was such a good counter to the casual friendly games of EA. It really brought out the best of both companies
One thing I like to do is go to a local used games store and pick up a bunch of old sports games for my 360. Sports games are generally dirt cheap for obvious reasons, but I've always liked checking out the older sports games compared to the newer ones. I always found that the 2K games controlled better in my opinion. Specifically 2K8 which I had a lot of fun with. I wish the modern EA sports games weren't soulless cash grabs anymore.
2K7 had one of the greatest soundtracks ever. Before internet roster updates I made trades myself if not in Franchise. So you heard the songs a lot, and got attached
NHL2K now would be so sick with career mode, imagine something around world of chel but there’s a whole city you can explore. Much better than what world of chel is today imo.
Great vid. One thing I can't understand is why there hasn't been an NHL game on PC since 2009. Another example of what you were saying as to lack of competition but still baffling. Anyone who put even a disappointing NHL game on PC would get 100% of sales, even mine and I own NHL games on my consoles as well.
As a good ol Canadian boy the current EA NHL games are terrible. The fundamental aspect of the sport, skating, is so bad it hurts my soul. It feels like the players are skating through soup
Pretty much the downfall was Kush Games making 2k8 then after a few months being let go from 2k so after a few months in 2k never got any roster updates or anything despite 2k8 being extremely successful, Then 2k9 was a complete disaster while NHL 09 had eashl and an inproved skill stick that carried over from 08 and that was the end of 2k hockey
A bit late to the party here but glad to see this franchise getting some recognition. I played on PS2 and loved 2k3-2k6... later tried 2k10 on ps3 but just couldn't get into it. I'd put 2k4 and 2k5 as probably my favorite hockey games ever after the king... NHL94. They were the first hockey games where I could lose and not feel like I got ripped off like in the previous few years of EA NHL games. Seriously finding the right slider settings took about 10 games but then it was near perfection. Losing 20-30 games a season then battling through a challenging playoffs to win the cup was so gratifying and actually FUN. I don't think I ever had more fun and excitement playing video game hockey.
Dude! Okay so it's now 2024, I just started playing nba 2k24 and it's one of the best sports games I have ever played!!! I wish 2k would come back out with nhl using the same structure they did for nba because it would smoke EA's version. EA releases the same garbage year after year with a couple minor tweaks and a roster update and call it a new $80 game..... it's pathetic, we need nhl 2k now more than ever!!!! 😢
I’m Australian, and growing up I knew nothing about ice hockey, but I use to love the hockey games in my Sega master system and then my super nes. There was just something about the sport that worked so well as a 8 bit/16 bit video game. I tried to play ea nhl 22 recently but I couldn’t get into it.
Got 2k10 for Christmas when I was 5 or 6. Didn’t play it until 11-12, I started getting into rosters and jerseys and now I’ve poured hundreds of hours of roster customization into that game. I’ve definitely gotten my money’s worth for it.
NHL 2K10 was the deepest I ever went into a franchise mode in any sports game and hockey isn’t even my favorite sport
Fax I believe I once went 10 years deep
@@jc755. which team and how many cups lol
Have you ever played NHL 2K10 for the PS2? That game has everything a Hockey fan could want, Deep Franchise Mode, Create a Team, with Colors, City and Logo options, Realistic Player Behavior, Unlockables, Classic Teams and Classic Sweaters, The Fighting is realistic, defensive positioning, I could go on and on, but you get the Point. I still play my PS2 offering to this day.
@@davidaulds7031 interesting
Same 🤫
It's still amazing that the PS2/Xbox generation still has the greatest sports games.
Amazing or sad?
@@mylitcig1116 I guess more sad. This generation laid the ground work for great sports games for the future & yet the developers got rid of the features to add junk micro transactions or to bring them back as new features.
Truth … Sports games were great back then, that’s why I still have my original Xbox ! Maddens we’re great also back then
Yes and on those games, throwback jerseys and legends were not blocked by a pay wall. DLC should've never been things that were available free on previous year's games. I really started to resent gaming during the 360 years.
@@kwall337 free money > good reviews
This series needs to comeback
I loved 2ks NHL game, and I miss the attention to detail sports games used to have...sigh
Tell me what nhl 2022 doesn’t have?? Ill be waiting
@@Tampafan33 can you brake the glass?
@@Tampafan33 get off their damn nuts, I don't need to tell you because if you watched the video you wouldn't have said that
@@ANDRESLOPEZ_24 lmfao I watched the video and he literally lied at the end crybaby. All the shit he said wasn't in it is in 2021 dumb fuck bahahaha
@@themaskeddefender9021 you can't even brake the glass irl anymore fucking moron. Tell me you don't watch hockey without telling me you don't bahahaha
NHL 2K5 was so deep with unlock-able teams and jerseys, 2002-6 and 2009-11 for EA and 2k5/6 were elite
I remember NHL 2K6 being an absolute banger. I loved the ESPN style format. One of my all time favorite NHL games.
Then you don’t remember 2K6, because ESPN no longer had their broadcast package in the game.
@@JaredtheRabbit Then it had a similar format to ESPN. It's been well over 15 years now since I played it lol give me a break.
@@j.peters1222 might be 2k5 you're thinking of.. I remember loving the NFL 2K5, there were mini games, a crib with a trophy room. Was jus a dope game
*edit
After watching more of the video I'm glad he brought the crib feature up and the mini games lol
@@acanadianeh8344 you're probably right lol either way it was fun
I loved 2K3-2K5. I really miss the days of competition in the sports game genre. Everyone loses when there is only one developer putting out game. It´s a sad reality with the increasing costs of game development, specially in sports where there is such a demand for high quality graphics and life-like players with the correct face on them. Hoping we will see indie developers putting out high quality hockey games in the future, like football (gridiron, not soccer) games have started getting. We wont see a NHL license but we just might survive that. Competition would do us all good.
So that's the main reason we don't have competition in the 4 major sports? Costs? That's just awful with all the talent out there.
I also hear MLB itself ordered cross play for multiple consoles. Just sad.
2k5 was my favorite Gen of sport games. All of them were good
I don’t think competition would do any good sadly. If indie developers were to make unlicensed games, they wouldn’t do much of a dent to force EA or 2K to change anything with their games. If 2K and EA were competing against each other…well just look at the recent times when NBA Live made a comeback. Both companies made shitty series. They know they’re going to make money regardless of the quality.
@@mr198221 2k hs is a indie mod/game
I remember getting NHL 2k10 during Halloween because Ove lived near us and with him being the cover star had like thousands of those games and instead of candy he gave us copies of both NHL and NBA 2k10. Looking back on it, it's pretty neat and wonder if Kobe did the same thing or if cover athletes do that shit today?
damn, he's like my hero bro that's so cool
Tougie24 (as seen at 17:18) is such a fan of NHL2K10 that he did 2 full 82-game season series on his channel. 1st with Philadelphia where he traded for Kovalchuk and renamed him Philya Kovaldoop and the 2nd which is currently ongoing on Twogie24 is an Ottawa series where the goal is to get Alfredsson and Heatley a Stanley Cup
So glad to see this series getting some love. I played the hell out of NHL2K3 and ESPN NHL Hockey. Great games. Sadly, I dropped out of the series before 2K8, so I've never played that or later ones. Thank you for doing this vid. There's so little content on these games it's good to see this vid.
9:18, i agree, what you said about nhl 2k5, it also features dream team mode, where you can hit the ice with the nhl elite as you take on a ladder of all star teams hand selected by hockey finest including, martin st louis, mats sundin, marty turco, brendan shanahan and more, party mode, you play the battle mode, and playthrough 15 multi player mini games, challenges all in the name of becoming the king of the rink, there also arcade style, elimination mode, pond hockey, mini rink, intense contact controls, 3rd person fighting engine, bigger checks, new contact moves, heritage classic, it had a ton of depth, its a insane jump from nhl 2k4, this is one of the greatest nhl ice hockey video game, ever made, i would like to see espn nhl 2k5, retrospective.
Back then I preferred EA over 2K but I still bought 2K because I was such an NHL video game fanatic. Everyone as a kid was looking forward to the future with future powerful consoles and how amazing “real life” hockey would be…man how disappointed my young self would be looking at the market.
I loved the nhl 2k games as a kid. My first game for the Wii was NHL 2k9. It had everything, even more features on the wii compared to the 360/ps3 version. The one things that I also liked were the goal horns since nhl 2k4 had the actual goal horns of most of the NHL teams and at that it was amazing. I wish they had more games afterwards.
I remember playing 2K10 for hours mainly because of it's gameplay
2k5 was so fun , I played a demo of it on a PlayStation magazine demo disc and made me a fan of hockey . In middle school I would play this game at the boys and girls club with a staff member and kept beating him it was such good times
The Nostalgia.😢 Thanks for sharing your story man
I remembered playing the NHL2k11 Game simply for its gameplay, fun modes, and the mode I most remembered is “Road to the Cup.” Which ironically is one of the main inspirations for an irl event I held with my family every December. Fun memories!
5:45 My dream of being on a SDTV vid has finally come true! Thank you so much you don’t know how much this means to me
I have no doubt the realism of an NHL 2k game in 2022 would be insane.... could you imagine the atmosphere they would've presented for playoff games.
I remember playing NHL 2k10 and having a blast.... A kid who lived in Cleveland Ohio, the only sports I ever played being Baseball, Football, and Basketball and my only knowledge of being on ice was going to my local skating rink around winter
I HAD A GODDAMN BLAST PLAYING A HOCKEY GAME...
NHL 2K2 was the last dreamcast game in north america, the last one in japan released in 2007.
I have 2K5 on my OG Xbox and I will play it from time to time. Never gets old!!!!
Thank you for covering the NHL 2K series. I love your videos, they have a documentary style that I can’t get enough of. Would you ever consider covering the NHL Hitz series?
Hitz 2002 all day!!
same.
Ah yes the 2k documentary I was waiting for
Facts
Fantastic video, thank you for doing such a deep dive into this. It's crazy to see how much a "rivalry" can produce such great games by wanting to win over the masses. I can only imagine what kind of features the games would have nowadays if both companies had a loyal fanbase. Guarantee HUT would be a lot lower on the priority list, that's for sure!
Also, I still can't believe that the crowds in 2K games are better optimized than NHL 22 on PS5. Absolutely nuts.
NHL 04 had the best crowds in hockey game history and I don’t think it’s close… chanting the team’s name/nickname, chanting “we want the cup” in the finals, being loud in general, etc
Nice to see you here J1mmy, I also wish that we could’ve seen what we could’ve been playing with these two companies battling it out every year and having more and more new features.
Agreed. Very good video.
Sports games, same thing as a lot of things in this world, are ruined by capitalism. People think 'competition is great', but they forget or don't know that what EA did to monopolize the market of hockey games IS part of the incentives of free market capitalism. The freedom to take over and then lower quality and produce stupid little microtransaction games within the game.
Collaboration to make the best possible hockey game would be much better, especially if it was open-sourced meaning the fans would get a say in the features they have been asking for for so many years. All those features that have been taken out could be quickly put back in. And instead of buying a new $70 game each year as a roster and team update - a free DLC of a roster/team update could be provided each year. Then a more significant update every 4-6 years. But, of course, that would destroy the capitalist profit motive and thus why we can't have great things very often.
But that gets down to a system level problem. Sorry to get a little philosophical and technical on everyone. It just gets me a bit sad to think how of much better we could all have it with a resource-based economy instead of what we have now.
@@coolioso808 People rarely work on things for free. Back then consumers had a higher standard for products, but now as you see with modern Madden they don’t give a shit anymore.
@@theobserver4214 Oh the lovely "invisible hand of the market" thy God is the only way to organize human society, right? We can't have people actually working on things because they are passionate about it, right? We can't organize by Natural Law on the things we really need to produce and distribute them efficiently. No, no, that would be madness. Let's continuing this monetary-market system where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and the masses actually don't think the system is a problem, they keep blaming small entities that they think are just 'not working right'.
Man, I remember having 21-19 scorelines with my buddy for the 2K games. Defense was optional and the old ESPN commentary was an absolute hoot. Thanks for the rush of nostalgia with this video!
2K5, 2K6 and 2K7 were the first NHL games I ever owned and I played them all the time on my old reliable crystal case Xbox. I’ll never forget listening to the tutorial videos with the voices of Peter O’Keefe and Dan Stevens, explaining in detail how to play the game. That goes for ESPN NFL 2K5 as well. It’s 2024 now and I haven’t played another NHL game since those old 2K games, but want to get back into NHL games. But sadly it seems the modern EA ones aren’t even worth trying.
2K's goaltending was a little bit TOO good. I remember playing against a friend, and the game only being 2-1 (Overtime) despite us both having over 70 shots...
It’s a battle of extremes then, nowadays in the EA games you’ll be lucky if a goalie will stop even half the shots on goal.
@@brendan9868 yeah i hate that the "best" goalie has a save% of 900 or just over and most have like 880 at the end of a season and the best gaa is like 2.50, its so unrealistic xd. i loved when goalies had realistic stats
@@softpianomusic7773 did a franchise once where a goalie had a .903 save and won the Vezina, shits broken these days lol
@@brendan9868 ...what? I haven't played NHL 22 in a hot minute but I always feel like there are 3-4 goalies a year with a .910+ SV%. I've been playing NHL 12 a bit recently and that game genuinely does have a goalie problem where guys like Roberto Luongo will win 45 games in a season with a .888 SV% but I've felt as if the recent games do alright with at least simulated goalie realism.
@@turomilen2944 if you're playing the game. Its a different story. Its better to have 2-1 games. Than 12-0 gamea even on superstar.
I know that this video is about NHL 2k but seeing NHL Slapshot brought back some memories. NHL Slapshot for wii was a very interesting game to me when I played it as a kid, I think it would make for an interesting video.
Still have my 2 hockey games from 2K on Dreamcast and they are my favorite hockey games to play alongside NHL HITZ. 🥰
After purchasing the EA NHL games since the first one on the Genesis, I switched over to 2K with NHL 2K5 and was instantly blown away by the depths of its gameplay. Till this day, I still believe that NHL 2K8 is the greatest hockey videogame of all time with unrivaled Goalie mechanics and puck physics. I played its franchise mode for so long that I actually broke the game. I begrudgingly went back to EA after NHL 2K9. Eventually, I just stopped buying hockey games altogether after NHL 20. A real shame what happened to both series.
The sports games on Dreamcast were way ahead of its time.
Played 2k10 a few years ago after getting bored of the modern EA games and immediately had a CPU pull the Forsberg on me. It's insane what these games had back then
NHL 2K needs to make a comeback fr. Heres my wishlist for NHL 2k:
-Historic jerseys
-Historic draft classes
-Classic and decade teams
-ERAS mode (Play in the 70s 80s 90s and so on)
-Heavy metal/hard rock soundtrack
-Huge customization for rosters, players, franchise mode, arenas, etc
-Zamboni mode between periods
Great video. Would love to see you tackle the Winning Eleven/PES Soccer series. I still think WE6 is the best soccer game ever made.
For me Pro Evo 5 is the best football game ever made. I can't tell you exactly why it's better than 6 - it's just feels better in dribble.
at :59 seconds… that beat is 🔥. Great content and good music 👌🏾 keep it up softdrinksTV
I don't think I ever played 2K8 but I wish I did. The gameplay is great, it looks very immersive. The rink size and camera is perfect.
It sucks EA don't have any competition anymore.
Love your content bro. You deserve so many more subs for as much effort you put in
Intro is a banger oh my
Your intros are so freaking cool man. Great job!
I was waiting for this video for so long. Thank you!
I loved playing 2k6 back in the day because you could yeet people over the bench haha
NHL 2k5 was amazing. Still longing for that skills competition to come back. Loved 2k10 as well. 2k really had the presentation nailed!
NHL2k8 was amazing .. I’m still shocked what they did to 2009 nhl2k8 best hockey game of all time
How did you forget in nhl 2k6 The commentary in franchise mode would do fan mail questions when idling from a pause the game just like the real life hockey night in Canada broadcasters would do I thought that was an insane detail growing up And personally I think NHL 2K six had a great commentary as it Had the hockey night in Canada crew
2k games used to be great. NFL 2K5 is still the best NFL game.
I'd like to see another company do it.
I personally am an NHL Faceoff guy, I still loved NHL2K as a Sega fan. NHL 2K6 on 360 is my personal favorite due to it's "targeting system" for goals.
Funnily enough, I bought my first of 3 Dreamcasts (they all still work fine) 3 days before NHL 2K2 released.
Will we be getting an NHL Faceoff video anytime? Faceoff 99 was AWESOME!!!!
as a kid i got a copy of 2K5 as part of a combo deal they did with NBA 2K5 and at that point my knowledge of hockey went as far as the Mighty Duck movies. However, despite that and despite me barely knowing the rules of hockey the franchise mode and customisation options meant that i ended up spending the majority of my time on NHL 2K5! One of the most fun sporting game experiences i had in my childhood for sure
Fantastic video! I miss NHL 2K SO MUCH! I’m a massive hockey fan but I haven’t touched a hockey game since 2K stopped producing the series. Would love to see 2K make more sports games period.
same. i still missed nhl 14 for ps3, 32 features that i loved and enjoyed was in 14, and since 15, its has not been the same.
The first NHL 2K was cool. I also have NHL 2K3-ESPN NHL 2K5 (ESPN NHL 2K5 was the best one). I didn't care for NHL 2K6 that much after playing it. I also have NHL 2K7 and recently got NHL 2K8.
havent watched but know its gon be a banger like usual
Must review list: Smackdown vs Raw 2011, NBA2K19, MLB The Show 2010, NBA2K9, Madden 2001, Tiger Woods 2005
Awesome video bro, love watching these rise and fall of games
Never really been a hockey fan but I've been watching the Stanley cup an been pretty entertained definitely gonna pick up NHL 2k8.. thanks softdrink
I miss the NHL 2K games as it was nice to have another option when it came to NHL hockey games. Great job on the documentary.
same.
I remember playing this with my buddy on his sega Dreamcast and honestly it was a waaaaay better game than EA. I played hockey, and 2K felt so much closer to the actual game, as far as a video game can.
Oh gosh if 2k released NHL now it would be amazing.
Imagine franchise mode all set up like MYNba. It’s would be so in-depth and have so much too it. Even BAP
I would love to see 2K make hockey games again. What they did to their NBA games I would love to see them do that with their NHL Games.
Proud to say I still have my copy of NHL 2K10
Soft drink tv, 3 retrospective I want to see is, ESPN NHL 2k5, the greatest NHL 2k video game ever, NHL 07, the game that introduced the skill stick, and NHL 08, continued evolution of the skill stick, combined with new skating engine, 1on1 loose puck deking system, create custom plays, creation zone includes Create a player, edit player, create a team, edit team and goalie mode, I really want to see these 3 future retrospective videos please.
TL;DR, The best times to have bought any sports games were from 2000-2008, since that was when all the competition was around. There is now no more competition for NFL, NHL, NBA, and MLB games. That is kinda what I got from watching loads of your videos.
loved the extra game modes in NHL2K5
The one feature that killed the NHL 2K game franchise:
CINEMOTION!
Kidding though that feature really was useless. I think it was in 2K9. I do miss these games though. Played every NHL 2K games from 2K3 to 2K10. I actually liked it better than EA NHL's series for a few years. RIP NHL 2K series. You are dearly missed.
I only had 2k11 and didn't play a new nhl game until nhl 22, lots of changes but I really liked 2ks season mode and the commentary was way better than what it is now I also liked how you could zamboni the ice between periods. It also had achievements related to all the teams
Between quality issues and cooperate greed, I have a hard time trying to justify supporting the gaming industry anymore.
Not every gaming industry have those problems, to be fair it is a company so without profit there is no company no matter if the game plays good or not, they bottom line is does it sell if not then cancel because the company doesn't get anything in return but wasting their money
The entire 2k5 lineup of games (nhl, nba, nfl, mlb) changes sport games forever in my eyes. To me it’s the greatest overall generation of sports games.
i agree.
2k11 was so fun and underrated on the Wii 😪
I loved 2k's NHL game and the put alot of detail in it and they don't put that much detail in sports video games now
There is another NHL game called Hockey Franchise Manager, but it's literally what it sounds like, a franchise manager. From what I have seen, you don't actually play you're just a gm.
You're a GM and coach. But no, you don't actually play the game. Still, the depth is unparalleled; I'm currently using the Senators starting in 1991 with the expansion draft and seeing how quick I can build a winner.
i would love to see nhl hitz documentary video, i would also like to see nhl 2k7 ps3 retrospective video.
I really miss the days of the 2k sim focused games it was such a good counter to the casual friendly games of EA. It really brought out the best of both companies
same.
One thing I like to do is go to a local used games store and pick up a bunch of old sports games for my 360. Sports games are generally dirt cheap for obvious reasons, but I've always liked checking out the older sports games compared to the newer ones. I always found that the 2K games controlled better in my opinion. Specifically 2K8 which I had a lot of fun with. I wish the modern EA sports games weren't soulless cash grabs anymore.
Love the intro bro
i still have nhl 2k5 and play create a team franchises it is fire.
I tell everyone. NHL2K5 was the greatest hockey game ever made.
2K5 and 2K8 are some of my fav modern hockey games ever
Fans should launch a Kickstarter to make the game they want.
2K7 had one of the greatest soundtracks ever. Before internet roster updates I made trades myself if not in Franchise. So you heard the songs a lot, and got attached
Loved that soundtrack too, it's my favorite of the series and the best gameplay and jerseys for me.
I wish 2K could make a comeback game one year. It would probably sell well!
EA sucks so much and NHL died after NHL 14 so no doubt.
NHL 2K5 and 2K10 were my favs by far!
I really miss nhl 2k. today I only play the EA games because I love hockey and theres no other choice...
While I'm not defending EA by any means. I've actually enjoyed playing NHL 22 more than any other NHL game since NHL 14
Remember when you could drive a zamboni and skate around with the stanley cup trophy? Prestige knows.
NHL2K now would be so sick with career mode, imagine something around world of chel but there’s a whole city you can explore. Much better than what world of chel is today imo.
They could rescurrect this franchise, do something like what NBA 2K11 did by adding the uniqueness around Jordan...do it for Gretzky...Lemiux...etc
Great vid. One thing I can't understand is why there hasn't been an NHL game on PC since 2009.
Another example of what you were saying as to lack of competition but still baffling. Anyone who put even a disappointing NHL game on PC would get 100% of sales, even mine and I own NHL games on my consoles as well.
I use to love 2k & I honestly use to purchase both copies every year I wish they would come back or a developer that cared
NHL 2K5 had the BEST fighting in a hockey game ever.
The 2K goalie movements were awesome!
Love the NHL 2k series brought like 8 titles they always pay attention to details
I literally just today thought “SOFTDRINKTV should make a video on the NHL 2K games” lol.
As a good ol Canadian boy the current EA NHL games are terrible. The fundamental aspect of the sport, skating, is so bad it hurts my soul. It feels like the players are skating through soup
Pretty much the downfall was Kush Games making 2k8 then after a few months being let go from 2k so after a few months in 2k never got any roster updates or anything despite 2k8 being extremely successful, Then 2k9 was a complete disaster while NHL 09 had eashl and an inproved skill stick that carried over from 08 and that was the end of 2k hockey
A bit late to the party here but glad to see this franchise getting some recognition. I played on PS2 and loved 2k3-2k6... later tried 2k10 on ps3 but just couldn't get into it. I'd put 2k4 and 2k5 as probably my favorite hockey games ever after the king... NHL94. They were the first hockey games where I could lose and not feel like I got ripped off like in the previous few years of EA NHL games. Seriously finding the right slider settings took about 10 games but then it was near perfection. Losing 20-30 games a season then battling through a challenging playoffs to win the cup was so gratifying and actually FUN. I don't think I ever had more fun and excitement playing video game hockey.
Wow, those 2k7 mini games really took me back to 10 year old me.. played so much of those, so good
Once upon a time sports games were good 😢
you should do a story on the NLL games from 10 years ago.
As soon as NHL trademarked the skill stick controls, it was over
Dude! Okay so it's now 2024, I just started playing nba 2k24 and it's one of the best sports games I have ever played!!! I wish 2k would come back out with nhl using the same structure they did for nba because it would smoke EA's version. EA releases the same garbage year after year with a couple minor tweaks and a roster update and call it a new $80 game..... it's pathetic, we need nhl 2k now more than ever!!!! 😢
I’m Australian, and growing up I knew nothing about ice hockey, but I use to love the hockey games in my Sega master system and then my super nes.
There was just something about the sport that worked so well as a 8 bit/16 bit video game. I tried to play ea nhl 22 recently but I couldn’t get into it.
Got 2k10 for Christmas when I was 5 or 6. Didn’t play it until 11-12, I started getting into rosters and jerseys and now I’ve poured hundreds of hours of roster customization into that game. I’ve definitely gotten my money’s worth for it.
NHL2K4 and 2K10 are my 2 favorite hockey games.