NHL Powerplay '96 was published in 1996 by Virgin Interactive Entertainment and developed by the Canadian studio Radical Entertainment. It reached the PC exactly when hockey games on computers were moving away from two-dimensional sprites towards polygonal models.

That shift is the defining trait of this release. 1996 was a turning point: Pentium processors and the first accelerator cards made it possible to draw players as objects in space and to free the camera from a fixed overhead view. Sports games were among the earliest to take advantage, because a three-dimensional model allowed the action to be watched from any angle and goals to be replayed from shots that had not been possible before.

As a game it is licensed hockey with a league structure, team rosters and multiplayer. Alongside a quick match there is usually a season and basic squad management, so the title aimed both at players wanting a single game and at those willing to see a full year through.

The competition was severe — the Electronic Arts hockey line held a solid position on the PC and every newcomer was measured against it. Powerplay tried to separate itself through its technical presentation and camera work.

It arrived while DOS was fading as a games platform and titles were moving over to Windows 95. Sports series went through that transition early, because they needed dependable access to graphics acceleration and to input devices that DOS had to solve separately for every single game.

Here on OldGame.cz the game is listed with its year, developer, publisher and visual documentation; launching it in the browser is not part of this entry.