When we told you we really love hockey, we meant it. Our look into the awesome retro NHL game community continues with Raphael “KingRaph” Frydman, a man who owns multiple Twin Galaxies records in NHL games as well as a number of major tournament victories in NHL 94. Raph grew up playing the old-school NHL games on Sega Genesis as a young man, inspired by his family’s love for hockey, specifically the New York Rangers. Raph remembers watching every Rangers game on TV, so he definitely could name all the Rangers, but learned about other teams through the NHL games. As time passed, and the NHL experienced lockouts, Raph distanced himself from hockey and focused more of his attention on football. He also got a little too busy for video games in college and fell off there as well.
Falling Back in Love
But like all good love stories, eventually he would be reunited with the NHL game series in 2010 by stumbling upon NHL94.com and poking around. At that point, Frydman said, “The nostalgia started flooding back. It basically hasn’t stopped since.” Frydman immersed himself into the community that he says he “loves” and contributes by running leagues, posting in message boards, and anything else he can. Soon thereafter, Frydman was put on to attempting world records by Mike Sroka, a former Twin Galaxies employee and still an avid member, who (at one time) owned the record for Biggest Blowout in 94, who then lost the record to a member of the NHL 96 community. Like many, Frydman was first introduced to TG through the King of Kong documentary, but was inspired to recapture the record in order to “keep the record in the community." The attempt will also be featured in a documentary about 94 created by Canadian reality television star Mikey McBryan called Pixelated Heroes, which will be released sometime in 2018.
The Records
Once Frydman got his hands on one Twin Galaxies record, he decided to do a few more as a show of sportsmanship. “I enjoy the back and forth with the other communities,” he said. In total, Frydman owns a total of six Twin Galaxies records, all in NHL series games. He also has two second place finishes in records that have since been bested by other players. Frydman says the two most important things when attempting world records are, “Don’t be fancy, and stay on pace. If I don’t have at least 20 goals in the 1st period [when attempting blowout records], it’s time to reset.” Below is Raph’s full record setting attempt at the biggest blowout record in NHL 94.
Raph also credits the streamlined Twin Galaxies submission process for making him attempt more records. “The process was so easy that I went for more records than I originally planned.”
Playing to Win
While playing online was always the best way to find high-level competition in NHL 94, Raph says the new way to play the game is offline. Frydman has been running and playing in offline tournaments since 2015, and has secured top 2 finishes in a number of major tournaments, including the Edge of 94 and King of 94 tournaments the past few years.
KingRaph (Rangers sweater) at the King of 94 II tournament in Las Vegas, NV
Though he owns records in other NHL series games, Raph says 94 will always be his go to, especially competitively. “It just clicks,” he said of the classic game. “They could never re-capture the magic of this game. It was the first time we had both actual NHL teams and players, and the engine was so smooth. 95 was a complete reboot and to me it’s not as engaging as 94 ever was.” Frydman also said he prefers the Sega Genesis version of the game to the Super Nintendo version, calling it “more fluid, less choppy, and overall a better experience. The learning curve is a lot bigger on Genesis, because player attributes actually mean something, rather than the vanilla experience the Super Nintendo version offers.” Frydman did admit to us that he purchased a SNES in order to branch the two communities together, but says there’s still some preconceived notions between the two groups. However he did note the vitriol has been lessened in recent years.
Into The Future
KingRaph (right) playing in the finals of the King of 94 tournament in 2015
Frydman says that he doesn’t play much of anything other than 94, mostly because of time restraints and the desire to keep his skills up. He was very appreciative of the 20th anniversary edition of NHL 2014 which featured a digital copy of NHL 94 in the game. He also laughed at the 94 controller mapping in the recent NHL games, calling it a “testament” of how popular 94 was and still is. As far as real hockey is concerned, Frydman says that the Vegas Golden Knights will be the team to hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup when it’s all said and done. His interest in the team stems from a simulation performed by his custom NHL 94 ROM, which saw Vegas as the champions, and because the former social media manager commonly posted a custom-made NHL 94 animations featuring the Golden Knights when the team was victorious on a given night, both of which you can see below.
#VivaLasVegas pic.twitter.com/sJbD9CKWms
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) February 16, 2018
Frydman is also preparing for the next King of 94 tournament in Vancouver, BC, in celebration of NHL 94’s 25th anniversary. He's also going to be at the Long Island Retro Gaming Expo in Long Island, NY on August 11-12, 2018.
For more from Frydman, you can check him out on Twitter at @KingRaph, and also by joining the NHL 94 communities at www.nhl94.com and at Raph’s budding 94 site at www.nhl94strategy.com. For even more NHL 94 coverage, check out our interview with Raph’s fellow TG record holder Arda Ocal!
