NHL_manualv2_1/21/00.qxd 7/19/00 2:35 PM Page 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Intro. . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Starting the Game. . . 3 Control Summary . . . 4 Offense . . . . . . . . . . 5 Basic Offense . . . . . . 5 Advanced Offense. . . 8 Defense . . . . . . . . . 12 Basic Defense . . . . . 12 Advanced Defense . 14 Goalie Controls . . . . 15 Game Setup . . . . . . 16 Line Changes . . . . . 21 Pause Menu . . . . . . 22 Replay Controls. . . . 24 Fighting . . . . . . . . . 25 Credits . . . . . . . . . . 27 NHL_manualv2_1/21/00.qxd 7/19/00 2:36 PM Page 2 The score is tied in the last game of the playoffs. The opponent's left winger tries to pass the puck into your zone. You step in and intercept it. In the blink of an eye, you're across center ice. The crowd leaps to its feet and cheers fill the arena. You're on a breakaway. STARTING THE GAME Note: Sega SportsTM NHL 2K is a one-to four-player game. Purchase additional controllers to play with two or more people. Before turning the Dreamcast power on, connect the controller(s) or other peripheral equipment into the control ports. To return to the title screen at any point during game play, simultaneously press and hold , , , and . This causes the Dreamcast to soft-reset the software and display the title screen. This is your shot. A quick deke left and the lone defender is history. Now it's just you and the goalie. The masked man skates up to challenge you. The cheers reach a fevered pitch. You show the puck to the right, like that's where you are going to shoot, and the goalie hits the ice. A flop! You bring the puck back to the left and shoot into the empty net. The lamp is lit. The siren is wailing. Piece of cake. The home team wins and YOU go home THE HERO. You look up into the eyes of 25,000 screaming fans. Moments like this make all those 4:00 a.m. practices worth it, don't they? Power Button Port A Port B Port C Port D Open Button When using a Visual Memory Unit (sold separately), insert it into Expansion Socket 1 of the Dreamcast controller. VMU 2 3 NHL_manualv2_1/21/00.qxd 7/19/00 2:36 PM Page 4 CONTROL SUMMARY NHL 2K is designed with Directional Pad (D-Pad) analog functionality in mind. Analog not only provides a much fuller range of motion, but also adds to the overall depth of the game due to the level of precision control it allows. Note that the controls and tips offered below refer to NHL 2K's default controls, but alternate control schemes are available. To change the controller schemes, go to the Configure Controller Menu. There you can swap the buttons , , , to fit your style of controller layout. Expansion Socket 1 Expansion Socket 1 Analog Thumb Pad OFFENSE For passes and shots, hold the analog pad in the direction you wish the puck to go while pressing the appropriate button. Button Button Button Offensive Moves With Puck Button Tap Hold Dump the puck Pass Wrist Shot Button -- -- Slap Shot -- -- -- Speed Burst Change Coaching Strategy Start Button Change Lines Basic Offense Never touch the analog pad, , or while turning the Dreamcast power on. Doing so may disrupt the controller initialization procedure and result in malfunction. / Triggers This section gives brief descriptions of all the basic offensive moves. Directional Passing To pass to any of your teammates, press the analog pad in the direction of the intended player, then press . 4 5 NHL_manualv2_1/21/00.qxd 7/19/00 2:36 PM Page 6 You aren't alone on the ice. Look for your teammates, and when they're open pass them the puck by pressing . Shooting Tapping causes the player with the puck to perform a wrist shot. Wrist shots are quicker than slap shots and are more accurate, but are not as powerful. By holding and then releasing the player with the puck will perform a powerful slap shot. TIP Don't hang on to the puck too long. The longer you hold on to the puck the greater your chance of getting flattened by a defenseman. TIP Direct your shot by using the analog pad while pressing . Watch where the goalie sets up and use this to your advantage. If he has flopped on the ice, press up on the analog pad while shooting to send the puck high. If he's still on his feet, you can try going between his legs by pressing down on the stick while shooting. You can also aim for the top middle of the net and send the water bottle flying. Getting it past the goalie can be tricky; sometimes you've only got a little room to work with. Press down on the analog pad to get the puck between his legs. 6 7 NHL_manualv2_1/21/00.qxd 7/19/00 2:36 PM Page 8 Advanced Offense The following are general descriptions of the advanced offensive controls. One Timers Probably your best chance for scoring is the One Timer. To perform a One Timer, pass the puck to an open teammate who is ready to shoot. After passing the puck ( ), immediately hit the shoot button to do a slap shot.. If you time it right, you have a great scoring chance. The trailer gets the puck and immediately fires off a quick shot (tap ) for the goal. Offensive Coaching Strategies Here the offensive player could take the shot one on one. NHL 2K has three offensive coaching strategies that change the way your players act on the ice. They cover everything from the way you break out of your own end to the way you set up around the defense in the offensive zone. The three offensive strategies are Passive, Normal, and Aggressive. Passive (Positional Play): The Passive coaching strategy (also known as Positional Play) is a conservative offensive scheme and is the cornerstone of any hockey team. It is a good choice when you're trying to protect a lead. The two forwards will alternately attack the net. While one forward is attacking the net, the other will be holding back and thinking defensively. But instead, he gives up the puck to a trailer down the center of the rink with a quick pass( ). 8 9 NHL_manualv2_1/21/00.qxd 7/19/00 2:36 PM Page 10 Normal (Funnel Offense): The Normal Coaching Strategy is also known as a Funnel offense. The forwards form a triangular formation with the center (although the shape of the funnel may change). The players then try to get the puck and "funnel" it in close to the goal for a good scoring chance. If you listen to an NHL broadcast, you may hear this strategy referred to as "cycling." The objective of this system is to create a 3-on-2 or, better yet, a 2-on-1 situation! Aggressive (Overloading the Slot): The Aggressive Coaching Strategy is an attempt to overload the slot. When the first rush is stopped and the follow-up attack does not result in a play on the net, the puck is passed out to the point. The defensemen then try to score by shooting a hard slap shot. The forwards go to the net and attempt to take out the trash (pick up the rebound). This system is simple, but it has its risks; everyone is attacking the net. If the defense gets the puck, they have a good chance at a breakaway. The goalie makes the save... The offense sends a slap shot (hold toward the net. ) ...but an offensive player is there to pick up the puck and score the goal. 10 11 NHL_manualv2_1/21/00.qxd 7/19/00 2:36 PM Page 12 DEFENSE Button Tap Hold Change Players Pressing allows you to switch to the player closest to the puck. The purpose of the swap is to always give you a chance at making the defensive play by selecting the player with the best chance of stopping the offense. Block shot Change Players Poke Check Speed Burst/Body Check Change Coaching Strategy Change Lines -- -- -- -- -- -- Poke Check Execute a poke check to attempt to poke the puck away from the opposing player. Your player will attempt to impede the progress of the puck handler by using his stick. If successful, the move frees up the puck so either you or another defender can gain control of it. You may be called with a hooking penalty for this. Performing repeated hooks results in a greater chance of receiving a penalty. Your chance of getting the puck is determined by the stick-handling ability of the opponent and your defensive ability. Body Check Basic Defense This section gives brief descriptions of all the basic defensive moves. Deliver a bone-crunching body check by pressing . Your player attempts to collide with the puck handler. If successful, the puck will squirt loose. You may receive a penalty for this action, however. Block Make your player block a shot by tapping . If your player is between the puck carrier and your goal, you can hit to block a shot by your opponent. TIP Be careful on defense. Every time you bump, hook check, poke check, or body check, you run the risk of a penalty--if you have penalties enabled, that is. 12 13 NHL_manualv2_1/21/00.qxd 7/19/00 2:36 PM Page 14 A quick poke check can cause the offensive player to cough up the puck. Man to Man: This system includes both conservative and forceful approaches to defense. The defensive zone is divided into five pieces, with each player responsible for one piece. The players are also given the freedom to adapt when one piece is flooded and its defensive player is outmanned. Zone: The Zone is a conservative coaching strategy. The defense zone is divided into five pieces again, but it is much stricter this time. It asks the defensive players to outplay the opposition in all 1-on-1 situations. Advanced Defense Defensive Coaching Strategies NHL 2K has three defensive coaching strategies that change the way your players act on the ice. They help your players decide how to forecheck and how to set up the their defense inside their own zone. The three defensive strategies are: Intimidation, Man to Man, and Zone. Intimidation (Box Plus One): The Box Plus One is a forceful defense. It is a balanced system, with the two wings and defensemen forming a box. The system's standard principle is to keep the opposition outside the box. The center's role is to help out the other players, particularly the defensemen. Goalie Controls There are two sets of goalie controls: with puck and without puck. When goalie control is set to "manual" you can take control of the goalie by pressing and holding the button. Goalie control is not available when you set the goalie option to "Auto" in the game settings menu. Button With Puck Without Puck Smother the puck Pass -- Change Coaching Strategies Change Lines -- Change Players Slash (if player is close) Change Coaching Strategies Change Lines TIP Pull the goalie in the last minute if you are down by one goal and need an extra attacker to try to even the score. 14 15 NHL_manualv2_1/21/00.qxd 7/19/00 2:36 PM Page 16 GAME SETUP Main Menu Exhibition Choose any two teams in the league and take it out on the ice. Exhibition Mode Once you've decided to play an exhibition game, you are given the following menu choices before you drop the puck: Choose Teams Pick any of the 28 NHL teams to square off. Season Take your team(s) through a full 82-game season. NHL2K tracks your player and team stats and shows how you stack up against the rest of the league. You can simulate a game in the season by selecting the "simulate" game selection. Before you drop the puck on the new season, make sure you have a VMU to save it. Edit Lines As the coach, you have to decide who plays with whom on the ice. There are 4 offensive lines; 3 defensive lines; plus special lines for power plays, penalty killing, and who is in goal for the game. When you have line changes set to "None", you set only one line in each of the categories. Once you highlight the line you wish to change, press right. Scroll down to select from the "scratched" list, once you highlight the desired player, move to the last column and pick his replacement. Press X to execute. Want to see everybody's ability ratings? From this screen move the cursor to a player on the far right, then press or to view the different ratings. Each player is rated in 20 different statistical categories. Playoffs Each player and each team is striving for one thing--Lord Stanley's Cup, and the chance to be immortalized on the trophy. Playoff mode allows you to bypass the regular season and still have a chance to capture the Cup. You can choose any team you want to play in Playoff mode. The structure follows NHL-regulated rules but you can simulate games, if you wish. The menus for Playoff Mode are nearly identical to those found in Season Mode. Custom Players Here you can create up to 40 players for use in your game. The first 4 slots are reserved for goalies. Move up and down to highlight desired slot, move right to edit. 16 17 NHL_manualv2_1/21/00.qxd 7/19/00 2:36 PM Page 18 Trade Players Want to try out some scenarios or include a last minute trade on your roster? Go to this menu to try your hand as a General Manager. Season Mode Simulate this Game Allows you to bypass the current game by having the computer determine the outcome. Reset Rosters Use the default rosters for each team. Choose Teams Pick the team you ...