--------------- Blades of Steel --------------- For the one and only NES.... Version 1.0 By Scott W. 1/11/05 The other two FAQ located on Gamefaqs.com cover the basics, but I wanted to cover a few things that weren't covered elsewhere in a little more depth. --------- The Draw --------- Perhaps this was discussed elsewhere, but there are two ways to play the dropping of the puck. 1) mashing the buttons wildly in hopes of winning. This is a good move if you think you can mash harder than a human opponent. However, against the computer this method often doesn't work. 2) As the puck hits the ground, press B once. Watch for the ref to drop the puck, then as it hits the ground, hit B once. I understand that it takes time and with old NES controllers, the controller might just fail to respond altogether, but this is clearly the better method. This is especially the case when playing with other advanced players and the computer. When you begin playing the computer on expert mode, this method is a necessity because you will lose almost all draws using method 1. -------------------- Advancing up the Ice -------------------- For advancing up the ice, I have found that passing in this game is very over-rated. While it does offer chances for more clear breakaways, the breakaways you get in this game are no more likely to result in a goal than if you are surrounded by the defence. Even when you get 4 or 5 rebounds and continue to shoot the puck on net, if the goalie can stay on the arrow, there will be no goal. Therefore, it makes sense to use a safer method. Passing often leads to the puck being intercepted and passed to an unintended player. Also, if you push the pass button when there is no other teammate on screen, it basically just shoots the puck off randomly, so watch out for that. This safer method involvees simply rushing up the ice with the puck carrier and only passing once that player has been checked twice. The reason for this is that the third check often results in a fight. I usually just shoot on net with my puck carrier, but there are advantages to passing it among your players once you are near the net. Watch out for the inevitable interception from the defence though. ------------- Team Rankings ------------- It is generally believed that all the teams are exactly alike. I myself do not believe this. Somewhere on the internet I found the following information. I wish i could credit, but i found it a long time ago. It is as follows: New York: Well balanced. Chicago: Great speed, but no standout shooter. Los Angeles: Fairly fast and aggressive; heavy duty checking. Montreal: Strong with speed, and a break-away offense; aggressive. Toronto: Great offense, but weak defense. Edmonton: Break-away offense and good speed. Vancouver: Great shooting. Minnesota: Good skating and precision. Make of this what you will. One thing that i have found is that some teams seem to be more and less tough when it comes to checking. Some teams are able to shrug off way more than 3 checks before going into fights. Still others start fighting with less than 3 checks. I have also seen it where after checks the puck carrier knocks the checker on his ass...very strange. In other cases, i have seen it where 1 check knocks the puck carrier on his ass and steals the puck. I never figured out why this is. It's possible that this occurs when a puck carrier is checked from behind. ------------------- Goalie Puck Control ------------------- Goalies in this game are notorious for giving up endless rebounds. One thing that i have found that helps minimize this is to keep your goaltender deep in the net for the initial save, then as the puck rebounds, try to push out as far as you can in the direction of the rebound in order to try to scoop up the puck while it is still in the goalie crease. --------------------- Scoring Tips & Tricks --------------------- 1) Passing the puck into the net -Works with computer & human players As with many hockey games, it is possible to pass the puck into then net. It works as follows...approach the net, and as you get extremely close, just press the B button to pass it right in for a goal. It works well because it passes straight. Meanwhile, the goalie will often be off covering the arrow at one of the edges of the net, which only covers for a shot with the A button. Getting this to work is a bit tricky. Oftentimes, pressing the B button will not pass straight into the net, but will instead pass backwards to a teammate. I have found that it works best when there are not other teammates on screen. Try it on breakaways. Basically, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Practice is definitely necessary for this shot. 2) Wrap-around Goal -Works best with human players Take the puck carrier around to the back of the net and do a wrap around. This usually throws off the arrow due to some kind of glitch where it cannot understand that the puck is behind the net. From this point, you can do two things. The first is that immediately as you reach the other side of the open net, shoot. Human players often will not have time to adjust for the new placement of the arrow. Alternatively, try using the pass goal at this point. 3) Shoot right after fights -Works best with human players If you are are near the opposing teams net and get into a fight that you win, shoot the puck immediately after returning to the regular screen from the fight screen. The opponent often will not have time to place his goalie over the arrow before he realizes that you have let off a shot. 4) Shooting from the Blue line -Works best with human players Often, shooting from the blue line or even further away (so that the opposing net isn't yet in view) works very well. The opponent often will not have time to move the goalie over the arrow, or just won't be expecting the puck at all. Shooting before you can see the opposing goal works especially well because the opponent can't yet see his goalie or place it over the arrow. This method gives him a limited amount of time to do so. The only problem with this method is that you often run into the problem of having lots of traffic in front of the net which blocks the shot. Still, I find the success rate to be quite good, or at least as good as the normal method of shooting from close. This method often works well when done right after the face off. 5) Shifting Around in Front of the Net -Works best with human players Since after a certain point, the opponent has to abandon controlling his defence to focus on moving the goalie, it gives you a great opportunity to have some room. You should go up really close to the net and then skate up and down right in front of the net to force the opponent to keep covering a moving arrow. Hopefully, this will give you a better chance at scoring. Also at this point, you could choose to switch it up and do a pass goal. 6) Shooting from the Goal Line -Works with computer & human players Due to a glitch in the game, if you get your player with the puck right up to the goal line (the line that runs top to bottom with the net) and shoot directly at the net, it will often result in a goal, even if the goalie is covering that corner correctly. --------------------------------------------------- In general, I have found that if you use the conventional method of scoring (shooting from close), shooting from wider angles works best. This is especially the case for playing with human opponents. Goals often result from the goalie being a millimetre off the arrow and having the puck dribble in. The chances for this are simply higher when at greater angles. Another thing to think about is that if you think you are a strong fighter, just let yourself get into lots of fights. Only the loser gets a penalty, so its actually an advantage to get into fights that you know you'll win. Don't forget that for fighting, it works best to mash the punch button wildly and switch between high punch and low punch while completely disregarding the block function. I hope this is a bit helpful to all, even if it comes about 15 after the game itself...oops. laterz