Ice Hockey

Ice Hockey is Nintendo's own take on the sport, and its one great idea is that you build your team before you play. Each side picks from three body types - a slim fast skater, a balanced one, and a heavy enforcer - and the mix you choose determines how the match plays out.

That is far more design than the sports games around it attempted. A team of three skaters will outpace the opposition but gets knocked off the puck; three heavies win every physical battle and never reach the goal in time. The match itself is arcade-fast: the rink is short, the puck is never out of play for long, and goals come in flurries. It is one of the NES titles that still plays cleanly today because nothing about it depends on what you cannot see.

• ▸Team building from three player weight classes before each match
• ▸Fast arcade rink with no stoppages and a short clock
• ▸Body checking that scales directly with the player type chosen
• ▸Two-player head-to-head with independent team selection