Oh, No, Eddie Spaghetti: Old School Stanley Cup Reenactors

September 21, 2009 4:40 PM

The NHL, the way it was meant to be seen: "Relive the Pittsburgh Penguins 1991 Stanley Cup Finals clinching game 6 victory in a dramatic reenactment through a pixelated prism. All the goals, the calls by Mike Lange, and the Stanley Cup celebration are replicated in this 18 minute video of game play action. The broadcast audio is of the actual game, synchronized to the heroics of sprite based hall of famers like Mario Lemieux, Joe Mullen, Paul Coffey, Bryan Trottier, and the rest of the full team rosters." (Takes a minute or so for the action to really get started.)
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson (26 comments total)

Have another donut, Koharski!
posted by kuujjuarapik at 4:48 PM on September 21, 2009 [3 favorites]

This is fantastic. My friends and I spend far too long watching this a few weeks ago. Also fantastic is this RBI Baseball recreation of the bottom of the 10th of game 6 of the 1986 World Series... tough for red sox fans

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t12qml7up-o
posted by Lacking Subtlety at 5:04 PM on September 21, 2009 [2 favorites]

The official Mike Lange Soundboard.

Warning: will create feelings of longing and nostalgia for the City of Champions.
posted by god hates math at 5:15 PM on September 21, 2009 [2 favorites]

Well, scratch my back with a hacksaw!
posted by dirigibleman at 5:29 PM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

I've always said Paul Coffey never looked the same after leaving Edmonton and joining Pittsburgh. These 8-bit sprites prove it beyond doubt.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 5:32 PM on September 21, 2009

This is amazing, and I hope it becomes the next big thing.
posted by Kwine at 5:39 PM on September 21, 2009

"Old time hockey, eh?"
posted by Mayor Curley at 6:17 PM on September 21, 2009

I love this.
posted by schyler523 at 6:27 PM on September 21, 2009

"Oh no, Eddie Spaghetti!
She wants to sell my monkey!
Look out Loretta!!
Call Arnold Smith from Turtle Crik!"

This was way more fun to watch than I thought it would be. My only complaint is that they picked such a lopsided game.
posted by not_on_display at 6:36 PM on September 21, 2009

My allergy to those fucking fans, you know, has returned.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 6:39 PM on September 21, 2009

I'd prefer Bob "off his fat face" Cole and Harry Neale.
posted by furtive at 6:41 PM on September 21, 2009

So very cool. Must've taken a long time to put together...
posted by Jaybo at 7:06 PM on September 21, 2009

Good, furtive. Please, please,.... take Harry Neale out of Buffalo? I liked him on HNIC, but he is the most anti-homer color guy in Buffalo.
posted by Doohickie at 7:31 PM on September 21, 2009

Also fantastic is this RBI Baseball recreation of the bottom of the 10th of game 6 of the 1986 World Series... tough for red sox fans

If anyone needs me, I'll be in my bunk.
posted by zarq at 8:22 PM on September 21, 2009

This makes me feel like a kid again.

I did some digging on the nhl91.com site.

I discovered that nhl91.com has a customized NHL91 ROM for Genesis available for download. I then discovered that my PS3 controller will indeed work on my mac after googling for drivers, and then I found a nice Genesis emulator.

Well, so much for getting anything done tonight. YEAHHH LETS GO HARTFORD
posted by threetoed at 9:00 PM on September 21, 2009 [4 favorites]

These 8-bit sprites prove it beyond doubt.

Actually it's 16-bit sprites. 8-bit hockey, 16-bit hockey. Specifically NHL 94 for the Sega Genesis, as seen in Swingers.

For my money, the NHL series for the Genesis were the best hockey games of all time. When hockey games got more realistic later, it pretty much ruined them for me, because the Genesis hockey games were more fun than actual hockey is.
posted by burnmp3s at 9:04 PM on September 21, 2009

"The Penguins are just really focused right now..." Shot of the Penguin bench, every player completely still. Hilarious.

I miss the NHL. :-(

Give back my league, Bettman.
posted by salishsea at 10:46 PM on September 21, 2009 [2 favorites]

This post is oozing with fantastic.
posted by rollbiz at 7:35 AM on September 22, 2009

Minnesota plays NHL91 like I do.
posted by howling fantods at 7:41 AM on September 22, 2009

Wow. This finally confirmed it for me. No matter how much I can say I played hockey with men and no matter how much I love hockey, I find this totally lame (but appreciate the effort in making it). It must be the girl in me.
posted by stormpooper at 8:08 AM on September 22, 2009

burnmp3s, you might check out Acclaim's NHL Hitz series. It's the NBA Jam of hockey, and, if you're not hung up on realism, it makes a pretty fun game, especially 2-on-2 local multiplayer. (Or, if you like Genesis games, you'll probably dig Mutant League Hockey.)
posted by box at 8:25 AM on September 22, 2009

you might check out Acclaim's NHL Hitz series

I never got into Blitz or Hitz (I think they were both by Midway). They seemed like they were more about twitch reflexes and catch-up logic than actual skill or strategy. To me the EA Sports BIG series of arcade sports games were better during that general time period.

It's the NBA Jam of hockey

NBA Jam was a good game but overrated in my opinion. It was basically just Arch Rivals with an NBA license and player faces plastered on the characters. They released dozens of rehashes over the years with no real improvements, which didn't help either. Run n Gun and its sequel by Konami, on the other hand, were criminally underrated and are still fun to play today.

if you like Genesis games, you'll probably dig Mutant League Hockey

Yeah, that's one of the best games for the Genesis, and I wish more companies would take successful sports game engines and push them in new directions like EA did with the two Mutant League games. I actually mapped out and hacked the game rom at one point to create a custom team.
posted by burnmp3s at 9:08 AM on September 22, 2009

You're right--it was Midway. Those games are mostly about big plays and turnovers--if you're the kind of Tecmo Bowl player who goes for the long bomb on every play, they'd probably be up your alley.

NBA Jam got its reputation as an arcade game--much like Golden Tee, or any of a dozen fighting games (or, shit, Pac-Man on the 2600), it doesn't really translate, and it hasn't aged well (I liked the Big games better myself--NBA Street Homecourt is still pretty good). I disagree about the Arch Rivals comparison, though--in my view, NBA Jam (and similar games) were all about cross-court passes, run-and-gun--basically, the turbo button. The heir to Arch Rivals, if it even had one, was that crappy Bill Laimbeer game.
posted by box at 9:26 AM on September 22, 2009

The best hockey game ever is NHL 10, which I've been playing the last few days. It might not be the most fun hockey game ever since I can't seem to score a $*#@*!@#* goal on ALL-STAR level, but fun is for the little people. Fun is for non-hockey fans. NHL 10 is the Finnegans Wake of hockey games.
posted by Justinian at 12:17 PM on September 22, 2009 [1 favorite]

"Also fantastic is this RBI Baseball recreation of the bottom of the 10th of game 6 of the 1986 World Series... tough for red sox fans"

Thank you so much for that link. I LOVED RBI baseball and played it way too much. Oddly, I grew up knowing little about baseball never having played in an organized league and not having a professional team where I grew up. Then, I joined the Navy and was very lucky to be stationed in a town with the Mets triple A team (Tidewater Tides!). I fell in love with the Mets and even got to a playoff game in Shea (watched a long, extra innings game in which Ryan Nolan pitched for the Astros). Unfortunately, I had duty the night of this game and wasn't going to be able to see it. But, we had a lottery for one person to get excused from duty to watch the game and call in with periodic updates and I won. I will never forget the experience.
posted by UseyurBrain at 5:44 PM on September 22, 2009

NBA Jam got its reputation as an arcade game--much like Golden Tee, or any of a dozen fighting games (or, shit, Pac-Man on the 2600), it doesn't really translate, and it hasn't aged well

Yeah, I know, I spent a decent amount of quarters on it, but really in hindsight it was not that great of a game. Once my local arcade got Run n Gun I never looked back. It was kind of like playing Mortal Kombat (another Midway game) and then realizing that Capcom and SNK fighting games were actually way better.

I disagree about the Arch Rivals comparison, though--in my view, NBA Jam (and similar games) were all about cross-court passes, run-and-gun--basically, the turbo button. The heir to Arch Rivals, if it even had one, was that crappy Bill Laimbeer game.

I guess I was talking more in terms of it being 2-on-2, being mostly a series of fast breaks, having a balance between 3 pointers and dunks as the main types of offense, and having defense that consisted of running around wildly pounding the steal/punch button or jumping to block a shot if you happen to be under the basket. Arch Rivals -> NBA Jam -> NBA Hangtime -> NBA Showtime. More or less the same game over and over if you ask me. Meanwhile Run n Gun had a more 3D feel because of the camera perspective, full 5-man teams, a bigger emphasis on making smart passes and setting up drives to the lane, more complex shots like fade-aways/alley-oops/reverse layups, a dual screen setup with up to four players, etc.
posted by burnmp3s at 6:37 PM on September 22, 2009