I don't know what to say about this game. It's just so damn awesome. It's ice hockey - taken from the popular NBA Jam clone, Hit the Ice - meets RPG. Yeah, a final fantasy-esque ice hockey mashup.

You think I'm kidding? Check out the included Quest Mode - you navigate around a world map, "fighting" other teams in random encounters in 1 minute long hockey matches. You gain experience and gold when you win, nothing when you draw, and you go back to the beginning dome when you lose. There's also a quest, and a shop.

This game was actually pretty difficult to come across, which is why I'm posting it here. you see, Lost Levels actually made a post about it a few years ago but the ROM file that it linked to has long since become lost in the Internet cloud.

Thankfully, I've managed to retrieve it for your viewing pleasure. Keep in mind that this is, in fact, a prototype. While there is boxart (as posted here), the game was never finished and released for the NES.

For those of us who have a huge collection of NES ROMs, this is just one more gem that fell through the cracks that we can happily add to our collection. For everyone else, it's a neat look at an interesting concept.

Click Here to download Hit the Ice - VHL the video hockey League.