So far I’ve reviewed three Champion sports games for the Sega SC-3000 and they’ve come to the grand total of 2 points total with 30 points being possible. That’s an average of .667 out of 10 per game. Well, with Champion Ice Hockey that all changes. This game is so much better than .667 points out of 10 it’s not even funny. Seriously.

I don’t know how it happened but Champion Ice Hockey is actually fun. The teams each have three hockey players each, which, feels like the perfect amount when considering the size of the arena and the processing power of the SC-3000. It never feels too crowded or too empty. There’s also impressive ice physics implemented with the players slipping around as they switch directions and come to complete stops.



The controls are the d-pad to move and one button passes and one button shoots the puck. Shooting the puck is well designed and provides a great sense of accomplishment when a goal is scored. In most modern hockey games I’ve played (which, is very few) it always felt more like luck when I’d score a goal. The player would automatically target the goal and it was hard to aim an exact spot to hit. So, I’d just repeatedly hit the shoot button until the goalie missed one. In Champion Ice Hockey there’s a little arrow behind the goal that shows where the shoot button will hit the puck. By moving your player you can adjust it to find a hole in the goalies defense. It works very well.

Another difference between this game and the other Champion sports games is there’s actually music and lots of sound effects. The music isn’t anything remarkable but it doesn’t grate either and makes the whole game feel more complete than the depressing emptiness of the other Champion games. The sound effects are done well too and help with the immersion to the point that you don’t even notice them.



Graphically, the game does a good job with the limited power of the SC-3000. The players, the crowd, and the arena all are well detailed with the limited colors and are easy recognize. It just shows how lazy of games Champion Baseball and Champion Golf were with their one color silhouette players or even their lack of players at all.

There isn’t much for modes to play and that does cut into the longevity of the game. The only options are to choose between three difficulty levels and when the games over you go back to the start menu. I easily beat the easiest difficulty on my first time playing the game, but the hardest difficulty did put up a good challenge without feeling cheap. There’s also a two player mode, which, is always much more fun than playing the computer.

6.5/10