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Throwback Thursday: NHL Hitz 20-03

02:20 PM - September 15, 2016 by RaychelSnr

Welcome to the first Throwback Thursday post! As one can infer from the title, we will cover a different classic sports game every Thursday for your unbridled nostalgic pleasure. Join us on our trash-talking trips through memory lane as we discuss sports gaming's all-time masterpieces. Some will be very familiar and others will be a bit obscure, but all are certified classics.

With the release of NHL 17, we felt that it would be very appropriate to begin with a hockey pi�ce de r�sistance: NHL Hitz 2003.

Read More - Throwback Thursday: NHL Hitz 20-03

Game: NHL Hitz 20-03Reader Score: Vote Now
Platform: NGC / GBA / PS2 / XboxVotes for game: 0 - View All

Member Comments

# 1 snc237 @ 09/15/16 02:36 PM

My brother and I still play it time to time (as well as Hitz pro). Still holds up

# 2 Finepanther @ 09/15/16 06:09 PM

Checking someone through the glass might still be the singular most satisfying thing I've ever done in my entire life.

# 3 RustedWalleye @ 09/15/16 06:20 PM

I remember writing the review for this one. If I remember right I gave it a 8 out of 10. Good throwback pick!

# 4 ASUBoy93 @ 09/15/16 10:26 PM

NHL Hitz was my jam! I only stopped playing it was because the disc was so thoroughly scratched and the game would no longer play. I was the designated "go obliterate the CPU with checking" guy and routinely ended up with 100-300 hits every game - I was relentless, no mercy for the CPU.

# 5 Splitter77 @ 09/16/16 09:15 AM

loved this game.
hitz pro was my fav tho because it had roller and street hockey mode.
I wish these would get ported to ps4

# 6 Smallville102001 @ 09/18/16 06:41 PM

Nhl hitz 2002 was a day one game for gamecube and the first game I played when I got a gamecube on day 1. I had only a SNES before I got a gamecube so the graphical jump going from SNES to gamecube was really big and the game was is a lot of fun to play.

# 7 Majingir @ 09/20/16 12:25 AM

I think I got this game in the "bargain bin" in like 2004-2005 or something. Such a great game. I miss those days when I never cared about realism in sports games and could just enjoy even the most arcade styled sports games like this.

So much fun playing this game, and those extra game modes were fun. The "king of the rink" or whatever it was called(where you had to own each section of the playing surface by scoring goals,or hitting I think it was?) was so much fun to play.

The music and game intros were cool too. 3 on 3 hockey at it's best.

# 8 CoolestGameEver @ 09/20/16 06:20 PM

Most people I knew swore by NHL Hitz 2002, but I preferred the more realistic scorelines and better goaltending system from Hitz 2003 (shot rebound physics) even though the on-fire system from 2002 was admittedly better and more rewarding.

I absolutely loved the Franchise mode, where you had your own created team and you went up against every other team in the game, and built your team up from a 30 OVR team to the best in the NHL. The only exception to the teams you played in Franchise included the national teams and the Midway teams with the funny heads (Big Babies, Undead, Clowns, Templers, Scourge, and Sea Dogs come to mind among others) . There were no limitations at all in creating your team, you could make everyone as large or as small as you wanted, and could always change the playstyles of players to your liking.

I always liked pretending that the Franchise mode was a "career mode" in that I would player lock onto "myself" and have my teammates be computer controlled for an added challenge. If only Goalie lock was possible, it would have been the ultimate hockey experience.

The one thing that I felt that 2002 did better than 2003 was the inclusion of the "Balance" attribute. Essentially, a player with higher balance would have to be hit harder (via an equal or higher relative body checking attribute than the balance attribute) or with more speed in order to be knocked down. I didn't like how they removed "Balance" from Hitz 2003, because it seemed all players were thus huge hitters as a result....Pavel Bure absolutely obliterating Zdeno Chara for instance LOL

Last but not least, the one thing I was always most impressed with was the fact that the collision detection system was spot on and almost never glitched out. The puck would react to bodies, boards, sticks, goalies, and would never ghost through them, *ahem* EA *ahem* . It was truly a spectacular game to say the least.

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Throwback Thursday: NHL Hitz 20-03