A Look at the Best Hockey Video Games by Decade

There have been dozens of excellent hockey video games released down the years, from arcade classics to polished sims. Of course, there are games that are much more miss than hit. Still, if you are a hockey fan and a gamer, you’ll easily find something that to whet the appetite, especially during the offseason.

Flames fans will be busy now thinking about how the team will rebuild, and how any trades and player acquisitions will impact the team’s Stanley Cup odds for next season. Yet, while everyone is in reflective mode of the season gone by and the seasons ahead, we thought we’d look back over the past five decades and pull out one great hockey game from each. Let’s dive in:

1980s – Ice Hockey

Year: 1988 | Primary platform: NES | Publisher: Nintendo
Starting where it all began. Ice Hockey – no need for any appendage – was not only the first great ice hockey video game, it was one of the first great sports video games. It might look a bit antiquated now, but it was way ahead of its time, balancing simplicity with a bit more strategy than you would think. It’s still revered today, and it can still be played on video game emulators and other platforms.

1990s – NHL ’94

Year: 1993 | Platforms: Sega Genesis, SNES, Sega CD, MS-DOS | Publisher: EA Sports
One of the best games of the 1990s. Period. NHL ’94 launched to widespread critical acclaim, and it is often cited as one of the best sports games of all time. IGN also named it as one of the top 100 games of all time in 2007, though the list has changed since then. The game is noted for its attempts at realism, being one of the first from EA Sports that was officially licensed by the NHL. Again, it looks a bit dated by 2026’s standards, but it caught lightning in a bottle.

2000s – NHL 2004

Year: 2003 | Platforms: PS2, Xbox, GameCube, Windows | Publisher: EA Sports

A lot of people consider the early 2000s as the golden era of sports video games, with everything from Madden to Tiger Woods PGA Golf standing out, particularly on PS2. Ice hockey wouldn’t be left out, with this truly ambitious effort. It’s beloved for a few reasons. First, it really went big, expanding into European leagues. Second, it got a committed PC modding scene, meaning gamer devs kept adding to it for years after the release.

2010s – NHL 14

Year: 2013 | Platforms: PS3, Xbox 360 | Publisher: EA Sports
Do you notice a pattern here? EA Sports seems to release a classic NHL title on the 4^th year of each decade. NHL 14 hit a sweet spot for the modern EA era, and it is arguably the best modern NHL game ever created. In fact, the NHL franchise became uneven after this, never quite hitting the heights again on PS4s and PS5s. It just got it right in every department, from skating to fighting to team-building. It won several awards, including Best Sports Game at E3 2013. And the highlight? It featured an NHL ’94 anniversary mode.

2020s – Tape to Tape

Year: 2023 | Platform: Windows/Steam | Publisher: Null Games
For the 2020s, we have decided to avoid the uneven NHL series and instead pick something all the more fun, for want of a better adjective. It is a rougelite hockey game, where you are tasked to build the best hockey team possible to play arcade-style matches. It’s a great example of not needing the polish – or the NHL’s blessing – to create a top-tier hockey game.