About
NHLPA Hockey '93 is a 1992 ice hockey game released by Electronic Arts for the Sega Genesis and Super NES, the second installment of the NHL series. NHLPA93Genesis is a work-in-progress attempt to reverse engineer a bitwise-perfect, compilable source of NHLPA Hockey 93 for the Sega Genesis. Its retail build already matches the retail ROM bit for bit, and it disassembles the EA logo and sound driver code, though the main code disassembly is under 1% complete.
Getting started
Install Node.js, copy your own NHLPA Hockey 93 Genesis ROM into the project folder and run the included asset-extraction script, then build the logo, sound and game with npm scripts. Use the dev build for modifications, since the retail and Rev A builds include a checksum check that stops a changed ROM from starting.
History
It builds on McMarkis's work getting the NHL 92 source to compile and references Chaos's NHL 92-94 disassembly.
Known limitations
- audio: Some FM instrument patches overlap with PCM data at hardcoded addresses, which can corrupt audio when modding.
- compatibility: Builds require exact asset extracts for bitwise match; minor ROM differences break validation.
- development: Z80 sound driver is extracted from retail ROM and not fully integrated into the build process.
Additional notes
- Tooling
- Includes a script that rewrites opcodes to match the custom compiler EA used to build the game, and documentation of the game's file formats.
- Limitation
- Some FM instrument patches overlap PCM data at hardcoded addresses, so modding can corrupt audio.