NHL 99 for Nintendo 64 - GENERAL FAQ v1
Latest Version - June 26, 2000

Keith Koshman
keithkosh@mail.com

June 26 - The FAQ finally hits it big time. Version 1 is finished, and we
have a fully working FAQ here, people. Now hopefully GameFAQs will put it up.
:) Please submit contributions, all you NHL 99 owners!

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SECTIONS

1. About - So what's the point of this FAQ?
2. Review - What do I think of this game?
3. Controls - So which buttons do what?
4. Gameplay/Strategy - So how do you play this game?
5. Cheats/Glitches - So how can I make this game more interesting?
6. Credits - So who made this FAQ again?

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1. ABOUT

NHL 99 is a very realistic and fun-to-play hockey title for the N64. Although
it's a bit outdated, there frankly aren't that many other titles to choose
from. The more you play NHL 99, the more you'll like it. This FAQ should
answer a lot of your questions about the game and if you have anything you'd
like to contribute, please email me at keithkosh@mail.com.

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2. REVIEW

GRAPHICS
The graphics in NHL 99 are fairly well done. There has been a lot of raving
about how spectacular they are, but I don't see them that spectactular. They
are pretty solid. The little touches, like the ice degrading during the
period, and the players kicking around the puck after the whistle, are nice.
However there are a lot of areas where the graphics are ...well, strange.
For example, they are 3D, but in a way, they fall short. Many times when you
rotate around a player, certain parts all of a sudden appear, like for
example an arm appearing before you even rotated around to that side. And
just watch the replay of a player climbing over the boards - he kind of
goes through it, then all of a sudden he's behind it. Other downsides are
that all the arenas practically look the same (except for maybe Colorado's,
because they have no scoreboard, and Washington's, because they have a really
strange scoreboard), all the players have the SAME face texture, and the ref
looks really, really horrible. You don't notice most of this though when
you're playing, from a zoomed out view, so it doesn't matter all that much.
Total - 7/10

SOUND
The sound falls short a lot. Especially since this is a cartridge, which
means there isn't much room for sound. And you get very little. The crowd
reacts well to breakaways, the opposing team scoring, and your team not
getting the puck out of your own zone. But they can be absolutely livid after
the home team scores, and die down in about 30 seconds to a low pictched
mumble. The sound effects, i.e. slapshots, sticks, glass shattering, are
pretty exaggerated, and sound more cartoony and real. It's not bad though.
The bad part is the play by play, or lack there of. Bill Clement says
about 10 things in the whole game. Well, maybe a bit more. But there is
a total lack of any real commentry. He says "what a save" once in a while,
"offside" once in a while, "he's in all alone" once in a while, "he
CRUSHES him" once in a while, and a few other phrases. And he's horribly
innacurate - I was coming out of my own zone once with the puck, when Bill
said "There's a 2 on 1!" Hm...
Total - 5/10

GAMEPLAY
The gameplay is very addictive. You can't really get away from this game
a whole lot, at least I can't. One-timers, faked shots, cannon shots, goalies
stacking the pads, all the hockey action is there. There's a LOT of hits,
and hooking. Fights break out occasionally, nets come off their moorings
occasionally. And the scoring can be high, but never really high (if you
are in All-Star mode). All-Star mode provides a very good challenge without
being too difficult. The goalies can be beat every so often, but they are a
real challenge. In this, I appaud EA Sports.
Total - 9/10

CONTROLS
The controls are well set up, with a couple of buttons being out of reach
a bit (block shot, etc.) but they can be redone. The defensive/offensive
strategy menus may be a bit too accessible, but maybe I'm just annoyed
because I never use them. Otherwise, the controls are great. The only real
problem is shooting, novice players will get frustrated with this. Because
half the time your player doesn't shoot right away when you press B, because
he's being held. This happens a lot. You will get used to it, but it's sort
of annoying how you can never get the shot away a lot of times. Oh well.
Total - 8/10

TOTAL
The little touches are nice, but there could be a lot more too. There's a lot
of stuff missing from the same version for Playstation or PC, so don't expect
the same game. Overall, this is a very good game once you get past the few
flaws. You'll like it, especially if you're a hockey fan.

NHL 99 TOTAL - 7.25/10

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3. CONTROLS

Here's a comprehensive list of controls and what they do.
This is assuming you have default controls on.

PLAYER WITH THE PUCK

 Control Pad or Analog - Move your player. Pretty simple.

 B button - Shoot the puck. If you hold it down, your player will wind up
 for a slapshot, or draw it back for a wristshot. The longer you hold it
 down, the more power into the shot. Tap it for a quick shot. Use the control
 pad/analog to aim your shot.

 A button - Pass the puck. Use the analog/control pad to direct it to a
 certain player. Also, if you tap B right after you let go of A, your player
 will fake the shot. And...if, when you pass to another player and before he 
 gets the puck, you press B, the player getting the puck will one-time it. 
 You can hit B anytime after you pass it, as long as it's before the player
 recieves it.

 C-down - Speed burst. You can HOLD THIS BUTTON DOWN to keep your player
 accelerating. I'm glad I found this out...it's a lot easier to hold it down
 then tapping it.

 C-up - If manual line changes are on, this will bring up the line change
 menu. Then just hit the corresponding C button to change your team's lines.
 Note: If you change the goalie in the middle of the game, then change your
 lines, beware! The goalie wil leave his net and go change with the players!

 C-left - Offensive Strategy menu. I don't even bother with this, because
 do you really need to change your strategy for scoring goals right in the
 middle of a game? It's up to you, I guess...

 C-right - Defensive Strategy menu. I don't bother with this either...

 L or Z button - Spin-O-Rama. Pretty pointless. Basically, your player will
 just do a 360. Since this isn't figure skating, it's not very useful. If
 another player barely touches yours while he's doing the 360, he won't
 finish it. You can do it in the offensive zone, and the player will finish
 by shooting the puck automatically. It seems you never score any goals that
 way, though.

 R button - None.

PLAYER WITHOUT THE PUCK 

 Control Pad or Analog - Same as above.

 B button - Hook. The computers use this button all the time. I actually
 avoid it, and stick with using C-down. However, sometimes it's useful, but
 not very often.

 A button - Switch player. Just keep hitting A until the player you want to
 control is selected. Don't forget it one of your players touches the puck,
 no matter who, you will automically switch to that player. NOTE: I am not
 sure about this, but it may be possible that where you have the Analog
 pointed decides which player gets selected. I will have to try this out
 sometime to find out for sure.

 C-down - I'm going to say Speed Burst again, although the book says "Body
 check." It's not a body check. You hold it down and, just like when you have
 the puck, you gain speed. Of course, you can also body check with it, but
 it's still basically a speed burst.

 C-up/left/right - Same as above.

 L button - Block shot. The computers do this automatically, often with
 players that you are controlling. It's not that valuable, as you go down to
 block the shot for all of .5 of a second, and then get back up. It's easier
 to just try and steal the puck from whoever has it with C-down, then to try
 and block his shot.

 Z button - Change skating direction 180 degrees. In other words, skate
 backwards. Or if you're already skating backwards, skate forwards. This is
 mainly for defensive players. You do skate a lot slower with it on, and as
 soon as you get the puck you will face forwards again.

 R button - Switch to goaltender. You can't when you have the puck, so that's
 why it's shown here. You can only switch to your goaltender when you have
 Goalie: Manual on. I find it useful for retrieving pucks behind the net. But
 I leave the saves to the computer.

GOALTENDER

 Control Pad or Analog - Same as above.

 B button - Make a save (when you don't have the puck), or flip pass (when
 you do have the puck). Trust me, leave the saves to the computer. When your
 goalie saves it however, you can pass it off most of the time. Passing is
 just the same as with a player.

 A button - Pass. Yes, it's pretty much the same thing as B.

 C-down - Cover up. There's no point to this, since once you have control of
 the puck as a goalie, nobody can take it from you. Period. If you want to
 hold it for a faceoff, just stand there.

 Z button - The biggest joke in NHL 99. A spin-o-rama. And remember, this is
 a goalie. Yes, you heard right. There is ABSOLUTELY no point to this. None
 at all.

FIGHTING

 Control Pad or Analog - Left/right moves you left/right, up doesn't do
 anything, and down ducks. 

 B button - Throw a hook.

 A button - Throw a jab.

 C-down - Grab jersey/Break away. To grab a jersey, move toward the other
 player and press and HOLD C-down. You will grab him, sort of, although the
 graphics don't show this well, and then you can use the basic punches. If 
 you're in a grab and want to get out, just press and hold C-down and control
 pad/analog away from the other player.

 Z button - Throw a haymaker.

____________________
4. GAMEPLAY/STRATEGY

Here are my tips for the different elements of the game.

Scoring - Use speed burst a lot.
        - One easy way, have your player come in the zone on one side, now
          turn him sharply until he's going parallel to the net, and press
          and hold B. The goalie will kinda freeze on the one side of the
          net - once you get to the other side, let go of B. Goal.
        - One timers from behind the net to a person out in front work VERY
          well, especially on the powerplay.
        - Don't bother with huge cannon shots. You'll never get them away,
          and even if you do, the goalies never have any trouble with them.
        - In fact, one-time a lot. Half of them will miss the net, but they
          can be suprisingly effective on 2 on 1's, and the like.
        - One-timers that change height in midair fool the goalie almost
          every time. To do one, just one-time to a player who is really
          close to your player. As long as the pass to him doesn't touch
          the ice before he one-times it, it will sort of "dive" on its way
          to the net. Almost all of these go in.

Defense - Use speed burst a lot.
        - Attack the puckhandler. Usually they aren't that smart and you can
          easily get it away from them.
        - Have GOALIE: MANUAL set on, every time. That way when the opponent
          shoots the puck in your zone, around the boards, you can quickly
          switch to the goalie, with R, and get control of the puck. The one
          problem with Goalie: Manual is, IF THE OPPONENT GETS A PENALTY
          SHOT, you HAVE to control your goalie. That's not good, because
          it's impossible to stop computer controlled players on a breakaway
          controlling the goalie. Especially on All-Star mode. So if the
          other team gets a penalty shot, just pause and go to Options, then
          set Goalie to Automatic.
        - Don't stand in front of the goalie. Goalies can get screened,
          and you don't want that. Try to stay very close to the opposing
          puckhandler.
        - Don't shoot it down if you are in trouble in your own zone. You'll
          find that passing it out of your zone works just as well, and it's
          faster in a lot of cases too.

__________________
5. CHEATS/GLITCHES

GLITCHES

- Line change about 5-10 seconds before the end of a game. If your players
  are changing when the final buzzer sounds, some glitches are bound to
  happen. I've seen guys change through the boards behind the net, and guys
  get up off his bench, and cheer (and push other guys out on the ice who are 
  still "sitting down"). Very funny stuff.
- Make sure line changes is set to Manual. Now, when the ref goes to fish
  out a puck in the net, watch him. He just stands, perfectly still, and
  stares at it...until the puck dissapears, and he skates to drop the 
  faceoff! I guess he's using his magical powers to make the puck dissapear
  and re-appear in his hand, or...something...
- You can put a player right through the ref, but you can't shoot a puck
  through the ref.
- There is no seats in the penalty box, or bench. You gotta wonder how guys
  can sit on thin air.
- The goal lights float in midair (not on the glass). Just instant replay,
  and rotate around them. You'll see sooner or later, the goal lights
  are just behind the glass, in the air.
- Sometimes the goalies get twisted up when they pass it off. This usually
  happens when they backhand it to another player. They twist themselves
  into a pretzel, then twist back into normal form. Maybe they are just
  stretching?
- Players can shoot on the wrong side, and they will really stretch their
  arms to get a cannon shot off.
- Players can put feet/sticks "under the ice". You'll know it when you see
  it, because their reflections will be ABOVE their actual sticks or feet,
  and so will the shadows.
- This isn't really a glitch, but is interesting to know. You can get 3
  different types of Instant Replay cameras - normal, zoomed-in, or zoomed-
  out! This comes from what in-game camera you have selected. Most cameras
  will put the instant replay as normal. However, Broadcast camera will let
  you zoom in a lot more in instant replay. And Chase camera will let you
  zoom out a lot more in instant replay. You can get a nice view of the
  arena by selecting Chase, then going to instant replay, and zooming out
  on the scoreboard.
- Players have 3 "stages" of detail, the best being when you are zoomed in.
  When you zoom out a certain point, he will lose some detail and when you
  again zoom out a certain point he will lose some more. You can see part of
  this by watching the logo on his jersey when you zoom out. You can usually
  see the 3 stages. And a really easy way to see this is to go on big head
  mode, then instant replay. Zoom in fully on a player, and slowly zoom out.
  As soon as you get to a certain point he will "shift", and his head will
  get more box like. The detail on his jersey will be simplified. Zoom out
  more, slowly, and you will see his head turn into a box with a dark stripe
  at the top! That's it! Usually you can't see this, only when you are zoomed
  out a LOT on a player, but since you have big head mode on you can see it
  even though you are zoomed out so much.

CHEATS

There aren't a lot of cheats for NHL 99 for Nintendo 64. I will gather a list
of cheats for NHL 99 that DON'T work (which are supposed to) later. But here
are a list of the few cheats that I know DO work.

BRAINY - Turns on big head mode.
BIGBIG - Makes all the players...big. (Except the ref, of course)
SPEEDY - Makes gameplay really fast. Until the whistle blows.

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6. CREDITS

This FAQ was created by me, Keith Koshman. Don't copy it, please, because,
well, it's mine. E-mail any suggestions or additions to me at
keithkosh@mail.com

And thank you GameFAQs for a very great site!

- Keith

