The best hockey video games of all time

Updated October 17, 2026

The best hockey video game of all time is NHL 94, and it isn't especially close. After that come the games that each did one thing better than anything before them: the hits in NHL Hitz, the fights in Blades of Steel, the presentation in ESPN NHL 2K5. Here are twelve, ranked, with when they came out, where they ran and why they still come up whenever hockey fans argue about this.

How we ranked them

Three things: how good the game felt to play with a friend on the couch, how much it changed hockey games after it, and whether people still talk about it now. Sales and review scores count a little. Nostalgia counts a little too, honestly, because that's what a list like this is. Platforms listed are the main original ones.

The list

1. NHL 94 (EA Sports, 1993)

The one everyone measures against. It added the one-timer, which is still the most satisfying goal in any hockey game, and it was fast, simple and easy to pick up with a three-button Genesis pad. 26 real teams, real players, the organ music, and on the Genesis up to four players with EA's 4 Way Play adapter. Fans still run tournaments on it. EA made a version of it, NHL 94 Rewind, a pre-order bonus for NHL 21 in 2020. More on why it holds up on games like NHL 94.

2. NHL Hitz 20-03 (Midway, 2002)

Three skaters a side, no penalties to speak of, players checked through the glass and a skater who catches "on fire". The peak of arcade hockey. 20-02 started it and 20-03 refined it; NHL Hitz Pro went to 5-on-5 and lost something. The details are on NHL Hitz 20-02 vs 20-03 vs Pro.

3. Blades of Steel (Konami, 1987 arcade, 1988 NES)

The NES game half a generation grew up on. It was quick, it talked ("Blades of Steel!"), and when two players collided hard enough they dropped the gloves and fought, with the loser going to the penalty box. Simple, loud and a perfect two-player game.

4. ESPN NHL 2K5 (Kush Games / Sega, 2004)

For a few years the 2K series was the better simulation, and 2K5 is the high point: TV-style presentation, deep franchise mode, and a $19.99 launch price. The series kept going through NHL 2K10, and after a Wii-only NHL 2K11 it stopped on consoles.

5. NHLPA Hockey 93 (EA Sports, 1992)

The direct ancestor of NHL 94. It had the players' association license but not the league's, so real player names with no team logos. It also had fighting and glass that could break, both of which NHL 94 dropped. Rough in places, but the base of everything EA did after.

6. NHL 95 (EA Sports, 1994)

NHL 94's sequel added a full season mode, trades and creating players. Some fans prefer it outright. The on-ice play was close to 94's; it's the extras that put it here.

7. Ice Hockey (Nintendo, 1988)

Four skaters and a goalie a side, and you pick each skater's build: thin and fast, big and strong, or in between. It's a small idea that made team building matter long before rosters had ratings. Still fun, and very easy to learn.

8. NHL 09 (EA Sports, 2008)

The skill stick had arrived in NHL 07, but NHL 09 is where modern EA hockey settled in: it added Be a Pro, playing one skater through a career, and the online EA Sports Hockey League, where friends each run one player on the same team. Those two ideas are still the center of the series.

9. Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey (Atari Games, 1996)

An arcade game that went to the Nintendo 64 near its launch, with Midway publishing the home version. Three-on-three by default, four players on one N64, big checks and over-the-top speed. It sits between Blades of Steel and Hitz in the arcade family tree.

10. NHL 98 (EA Sports, 1997)

The 3D EA game that got it right on the PlayStation, smoother and better presented than the year before, and the last NHL game on the Genesis. A lot of people's first "this looks like TV" hockey game.

11. Hit the Ice (Taito, 1990)

Two skaters and a goalie a side, cartoon players, fights and goofy power shots. An arcade game first, later ported to home consoles. Short and silly in the best way.

12. Mutant League Hockey (EA, 1994)

A spin-off of Mutant League Football: monsters, skeletons and robots playing on rinks full of hazards, with violence as a strategy. Not a great hockey game, but nothing else is like it, and people still bring it up.

Honorable mentions

• NHL Hitz 20-02 (2001): the first Hitz. If 20-03 is on the list, 20-02 is right behind it.
• NHL Open Ice (Midway, 1995 arcade): 2-on-2 hockey from the NBA Jam people, with the same on-fire idea.
• Recent EA NHL games: the current games are the only place to play with real NHL rosters every year, with World of CHEL and its 3-on-3 modes. Fans argue about which year was best; the answer usually depends on which modes you play.
• Super Blood Hockey (2017) and Bush Hockey League (2017, as Old Time Hockey): newer indie games in the rough-and-arcade spirit. Neither is for kids.

Where the arcade lineage goes from here

The fast, simple, two-friends-on-a-couch hockey game from Blades of Steel through Hitz mostly disappeared once the yearly simulation games took over. It lives on in indie games and in the browser. Ours, Brudvig Hockey 2027, is one of those: free, 3-on-3 with goalies, big hits and breaking glass, online with friends by link or on a TV with phones as controllers. It's not on this list, and it shouldn't be above any of these. The full story is on the history of arcade hockey games, and the closest modern options to Hitz are on games like NHL Hitz.