NHL 2K Strategy Guide Version 1.0 7/8/01 Author: DreThug E-Mail: DreThug@hotmail.com Sections: 1: Introduction 2: Update History 3: Basic Controls 4: Move Definations 5: Game Modes 6: Offensive Strategy 7: Defensive Strategy 8: Fighting 9: Replays 10: Frequently Asked Questions 11: Before You E-mail Me 12: Final Thoughts --------------------------------- 1: Introduction --------------------------------- Welcome to my NHL 2K strategy guide for Dreamcast. NHL 2K packs extremely fun gameplay that will make any hockey fan love it. With its great graphics, fun gameplay, and lasting appeal this game is a sure buy. The only major flaw in the game is a lack of options. While you can play a season mode and playoffs they are very limited. You can only play a 82 game season and you can't change much of the other options. Overall, this is a great hockey game for Dreamcast. In my opinion, it ranks up with NBA 2K and NFL 2K. In this strategy guide I will teach you all the basics of playing this game, plus my personal strategy so you can beat almost anyone. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions feel free to e-mail me at DreThug@hotmail.com --------------------------------- 2: Update History --------------------------------- July 8th 2001 - The first and only version of my NHL 2K Strategy Guide. The only way I would ever update this Strategy Guide is if I get some e-mail on it asking for help or people sending in ideas for me to add. --------------------------------- 3: Basic Controls --------------------------------- Here I have listed the offensive and defensive basic controls for NHL 2K. Offensive Controls Y................................Dump the Puck A................................Pass X................................Wrist Shot (Slap Shot if hold X Down) B................................Speed Burst L................................Change Coaching Strategy R................................Change Lines Defensive Controls Y................................Block Shot A................................Change Players X................................Poke Check B................................Speed Burst/Body Check L................................Change Coaching Strategy R................................Change Lines Goalie Controls - With Puck Y................................Nothing X................................Smother the Puck A................................Pass B................................Nothing L................................Change Coaching Strategy R................................Change Lines Goalie Controls - Without Puck Y................................Nothing X................................Nothing A................................Change Players B................................Slash L................................Change Coaching Strategy R................................Change Lines --------------------------------- 4: Move Definations --------------------------------- In the Basic Controls Section I listed all of the controls and what they do. Now I will tell you what each means. --------------------------------- Offensive Controls --------------------------------- Dump The Puck - This is a move that takes up a lot of time. If you have the puck and there is like 10 seconds left in the game, dump the puck. This will send the puck up in the air and far away. It doesn't help if you are behind, but if you want to take some time off the clock its a good choice. Pass - You should already know what this is if you bought a hockey game. By pressing A you can pass to your other teammates. I suggest that you do this because if you hold on to the puck too long, it will be harder to get a shot off. Wrist Shot - This is your basic shot. I always use wrist shots when I do one timers. They are not as powerful and fast as slap shots but they get the job done. Slap Shot - Like to shoot hard? Then use a slap shot. The slap shot is harder for the goalie to block. I personally don't use it that much, but when I do it works. Speed Burst - This is your basic turbo. I keep on tapping it whenever I have the puck. Change Coaching Strategy - I never use this. If you are down you can press L and change your coaching strategy to aggresive or anything you want. Presonally, I like to just play on the basic coaching strategy which is man on man. I never mess with this. Change Lines - If your players have been in the game too long you should change lines. Personally, I never change lines because I never feel that my players are tired. If you do change lines, make sure you dump the puck off to the other side of the rink so your new players will have time to get on the rink. --------------------------------- Defensive Controls --------------------------------- Block Shot - If your opponent is about to shoot a shot and he's right in front of you make sure you try to block it. Pretty much this is just sticking your hand up and trying to knock down the shot. It works sometimes but I usually just try to block it with the goalie. Change Players - If you are controlling someone way off the screen then make sure you press A. By pressing A, you will control the closest guy to the puck. If you never change players, you'll never win. Poke Check - This is something I was unfamiliar with. I guess a poke check is when you try to get the puck away from the guy by using your stick. I never use this because I prefer the Body Check. Watch out if you use poke check too much, because you may be called for hooking. Speed Burst - This is your basic turbo. I keep on tapping it whenever I go after the puck. Body Check - This is my favorite move in the game. If your opponent is coming up to you make sure you press B. This will not the guy over and free the puck. Usually, you will need someone else by you to recover the puck. This is an essential move. Change Coaching Strategy - Look up above in the offensive section for a defination on this. Change Lines - Look up above in the offensive section for a defination on this. --------------------------------- Goalie Controls - With Puck --------------------------------- Smother the Puck - If your opponent shoots at you and you block it and still have the puck make sure you smother it. Smothering it will cause a face off. The only problem with smothering it is the face off is right next to your goal. I only smother it if there is a lot of people right next to my goal. Pass - You should already know what this is if you bought a hockey game. By pressing A you can pass to your other teammates. I suggest that you do this because if you hold on to the puck too long, you will be called for smothering the puck. Change Coaching Strategy - Look up above in the offensive section for a defination on this. Change Lines - Look up above in the offensive section for a defination on this. --------------------------------- Goalie Controls - Without Puck --------------------------------- Change Players - If you are controlling the goalie and want to control someone else make sure you press A. This will change you to another person. Slash - If you want to slash an offensive opponent make sure he's right next to you and press B. This will knock him down. Change Coaching Strategy - Look up above in the offensive section for a defination on this. Change Lines - Look up above in the offensive section for a defination on this. --------------------------------- 5: Game Modes --------------------------------- Sadly, NHL 2K doesn't pack many modes of play. The stuff it packs, I listed with a brief description. Exhibition Mode For one or two players, choose two teams a begin to play some hockey. Season Mode Go through a 82 game season with little statistics. Playoffs Don't want to play a season? Then hop right over to the playoffs. Create-A-Player Want to pretend you are on the San Jose Sharks? Then create yourself. Choose Uniforms Change your uniforms. Enough said. --------------------------------- 6: Offensive Strategy --------------------------------- In my opinion, offense is pretty much everything in hockey. Yes, there is some defense, but it's mostly on the goalie. If you don't have offense, the best you can do is tie in a game. First off, I use three types shots. I use the slap shot, the wrist shot, and the one-timer. I mostly use the one-timer because I feel it's more effective. The slapshot is more of the one on one with the goalie type of thing and the wrist shot is when I'm right next to the goalie. Each of these three kinds of shots are easy to do, once you get the hang of them. --------------------------------- One-timer --------------------------------- Quite possible the best thing to use to score a goal in NHL 2K. The simple pressing of two buttons will let you do a one-timer. First off, have a guy in your passing range. Pass to him by pressing A. While the puck is sliding on the ice, take your other guy and press X. Do not hold down X, because then it will become a slap shot. Just tap X real fast and it should work. Now you are probably asking yourself where should the guy you pass to be? Try to keep the guy you are controlling (the guy who passes the puck) on the left side of the goalie. Have him about halfway to the goal from the middle of the rink. Set your other guy up (the guy who shoots) on the far right side of the goalie. Make sure you have just a little closer to the goalie then you are. Skate up to the goalie so he positions himself to block your shot. Instead, pass it over to the guy on the far right of you to shoot in the easy shot. The first time I started doing this it worked about 33 percent of the time. Now, I can score over half the time using this method. I find this is the best way to score a goal using a one-timer. If you are having trouble understanding what I am talking about, feel free to look at this picture. Setting yourself in position ^--Goalie 0-Guy Who shoots 0-Guy who Passes About to pass ^--Goalie (Goalie moves over thinking you might shoot) 0-Guy Who shoots 0-Guy who Passes Shot ^--Goalie (Right Side of Net) .(puck) 0-Guy Who shoots 0-Guy who Passes --------------------------------- Slap Shot --------------------------------- The slap shot is another good shooting technique to score in NHL 2K. While it may not be as effective, in my opinion, as the one-timer it sure does the job. To get a goal using a slap shot I usually stand on the left or right side of the goal. I am usually about 10 feet from the goal when I charge up my slap shot. I try to position the puck to go to the left side of the goal if I'm standing on the right. If you do the slap shot fast enough, the goalie probably won't react that quick. Also, if the goalie get's hit by the puck, he will usually fall down, and then you just have to skate over with another guy and tap it in. I feel that the slap shot is much harder to score with, therefore I only attempt it around five times a game. On a one on one breakaway, it's good too because even if you mess, the goalie will usually fall down. Another good thing the slap shot is good for is wasting time. Say there's only a couple of seconds left in the game. Instead of dumping off the puck, just power your slap shot to the fullest and let it go. You'll be surprised how long it takes the opposite team to get control of the puck. --------------------------------- Wrist Shot --------------------------------- The wrist shot is a basic shot. Most likely, you will be using the wrist shot for a one-timer but sometimes you can use it for different things. Say you are skating up behind the goal. There are people coming after you so you don't have enough time to try to get around the goal and do a slap shot. Instead, you go next to the goalie and try to get a wrist shot around him. How many times does this work? Not a lot for me. It's still useful to know how to use because sometimes it may work. --------------------------------- A Cheap Way To Score --------------------------------- I have only attempted this about 5 times and it worked 2 times. Say your opponent gets called for icing. When you face off right next to his goal hold the controller so your hand is touching the A and X buttons. Keep on tapping A so you can get the puck when it is dropped. Right when you see that you passed it, press X to shoot. If your guy passed it to the right guy (the guy behind and to the left of him) you should be able to score each time with a one-timer. The goalie has no time to react to the shot, especially because he is guarding the far right/left side of the goal and your shot ends up on the opposite side. It's a great way to score and you pretty much have nothing to lose by doing it. --------------------------------- 7: Defensive Strategy --------------------------------- In my opinion, defensive is not as important as offense in hockey. If you have a good offense and a decent goalie you should win each time. That's why my defensive strategy is a lot more basic then my offensive. In defense, I use two moves. First off, I use turbo whenever I am skating to get the puck or when I am chasing after someone. I feel that when I am using turbo, it's much easier to catch up to the guy. If you don't use turbo, then your opponent will take a lot more shots because there will be no one guarding him. The other move I use is the Body Check. I use the body check always when my opponent has the puck. The body check is great because you rarely get a penalty and it usually knocks your opponent down and puck free. It's kind of cool to see what kind of dumps your opponent is going to take because sometimes he just falls to the ground and other's he slides on the ice for a while. The Poke Check sucks in my opinion because you get called for hooking a lot. Also, the puck doesn't always come free and if it does, your opponent still has a chance of getting it. The block shot is a decent move but I don't use it that much. I find it easier just to skate right next to the guy who is shooting the puck and stand right in his way. Usually the puck will bounce off you and go no where near the goal. The only bad thing about that is your guy you are controlling gets knocked down. It's kind of funny though. --------------------------------- 8: Fighting --------------------------------- Fighting is an important detail in a hockey game. What is more fun then duking it out with a fellow hockey player until one guy is knocked down? Then seeing your guy get pissed off and go to the penalty box for five minutes to cool down. NHL 2K is no exception. Although fighting doesn't happen much, when it does happen it is fun. Fighting Controls A................................Duck B................................Grab X................................Jab Y................................Hard Punch There is actually some strategy in fighting. First off, for all the people who don't like fighting you can get out of a fight. By getting out of a fight all you have to do is press A three times. The cool thing about that is if the person who you were going to fight drops his gloves and you don't he still gets a five minute penalty. If you are a figher, like me, you will drop your gloves. When you are in a fight you should do two things. Duck and Jab. When I think a punch is coming I usually try to duck and then follow up with a couple of jabs. I don't usually do a hard punch because it takes too long to execute. In my opinion, a couple little jabs add up to one hard punch. When fighting, try to always have your power ahead of his. If you are kicking his ass, then just go out with jabs without even ducking. If it's a close match, then make sure you duck and jab a lot. If you just go out punching you won't win because you will always keep yourself open. Don't get discourage if you can't get into a fight, it usually happens around every seven games. --------------------------------- 9: Replays --------------------------------- I was a bit disappointed with NHL 2K when it came with replays. In NHL 2K, there are two kinds of replays. If you score a goal, they show the replay automatically. The other kind of replay is your basic replay where you get to control the camera. Sadly, NHL 2K is lacking options that we take for granted in NBA 2K and NFL 2K. Replay Controls B................................Zoom Out X................................Zoom In L................................Rewind R................................Forward D-pad............................Move Aim Indicator Analog...........................Tilt Camera Angle --------------------------------- 10: Frequently Asked Questions --------------------------------- Question: Does this game have as good as graphics as NFL 2K? Answer: Well yes and no. While the players don't look as detailed as they do in NFL 2K the crowd looks exactly the same. The rink looks nice also, and the stadiums are designed great. Question: I read somewhere that if you don't do line changes it will make your players tired and you will lose. Answer: I don't believe in that. I play 5 minute quarters in my season mode and never have to change lines. Do I lose? What do you think? I have the most points in the whole league on All-Star mode. Question: Does Visual Concepts make this game? Answer: Unfortuanly no. I was a little skeptic about this game because I heard that BlackBox was making this game. I would have rather seen Visual Concepts make it, but Blackbox did a good job on making this game good. Question: I already own NHL 2000 for Playstation. Is there any point in getting this game? Answer: Make sure you pick up NHL 2K because it's the best game on the market. The gameplay is great and the graphics are the best you have seen in any hockey game. Question: I read that this game has out-dated gameplay. Does it? Answer: Not at all. The gameplay is great. Remember those really fun NHL games on the Genesis. Well NHL 2K is that but with better graphics and a lot more real. --------------------------------- 11: Before You E-mail Me --------------------------------- Please don't e-mail me asking stupid questions or I won't respond. When I use to write strategy guides under a different name I would get 100's of e-mails asking the same question which I already answered in my FAQ. Don't think I'm being mean if I don't respond to your e-mail, it's just that I have many other FAQs and I get tons of e-mail a day. Also, if you want to e-mail me about the game please put in the Subject of the email NHL 2K so I know what game I'm getting e-mailed about. If I just see hey or something like that, I might think it's porn and just delete it. Now if you write an educated e-mail to me, then for sure you will get a response. Thanks. --------------------------------- 12: Final Thoughts --------------------------------- Wow! What a lot of typing for me and a lot of reading for you. I hope you like this strategy guide as much as I do. If you have any suggestions or questions feel free to e-mail me at DreThug@hotmail.com. I will respond to your e-mail as soon as I can. Thanks for reading this strategy guide, it was a pleasure writing it.