Super Blood Hockey by the one person development (studio?) (team?) Loren Lemcke is a fun little title for the Nintendo Switch. It’s a game that draws a lot of inspiration from the old super dodgeball series in a number of ways; the art style, the frantic gameplay, and the over the top brutality hit me right in the nostalgia. Layer on top of this core multiple game modes and a clear focus on multiplayer Switch-style fun and you’ve got yourself a little indy gem.
There’s not a ton to unpack with Super Blood Hockey. No matter if you’re playing a season or you’re playing an exhibition match the gameplay is the same: score more goals than the other team. To do this, you’ve got a few players on the ice. Each one of them has their own unique attributes and skills. Some are better skaters, some have more powerful or accurate shots, some are tougher. No matter the player you choose you’ve got a button to shoot, one to pass, and one to punch.
No matter what your strategy is, you’ve got to have one because the AI in this game is no slouch. Just getting the puck (if you even can) and trying to pound it into the goal rarely works. I found that Super Blood Hockey really demands good puck movement, on-point shooting, and throwing some elbows. Since I like causing as much mayhem as possible (and because the AI will stick to the puck like glue) I often gravitated towards physically beating the other team into submission.
In most sports games this would be frowned upon, but in Super Blood Hockey it’s a legitimate strategy that worked for me a lot of the time. During the season I played I focused on training my players like they were MMA fighters. Forget puck handling, passing, or shooting. As long as my team could remain the last one standing there was nobody to steal the puck or make shots on our goal. This is primarily because I found it to be a fun and effective strategy and because shooting and passing just isn’t that fun.
This was my main problem with the game as a whole: shooting is always inaccurate and skating feels slow. Your players have no boost meaning skating (even for faster players) feels slow and breakaways never feel satisfying. To exacerbate this, shooting and passing rarely feels accurate both because of the hectic pace of the game and because lining up shots is just physically difficult. On top of all of this, the AI is brutal. They’re always on top of you and goalie AI (for both good and ill) hardly ever get fooled by complex passing or strategy.
But for the game’s shortcomings, I had the most fun playing with a friend and for that reason, I really do recommend this as a little multiplayer treat on the switch. If you’ve got a buddy coming over to chill and drink some beers put this on and have fun smacking the puck around and beating each other to a pulp. I think for this reason Super Blood Hockey’s (intentional or not) clear homage to Super Dodge Ball is maybe too fitting for its’ own good.
Super Dodge Ball is one of those games that I loved as a kid. I haven’t looked at reviews of it since becoming an adult and have no idea how it was received critically or by the wider public but my hunch is a lot of people don’t feel overwhelmingly positive about the game like I did. I would expect the same from Super Blood Hockey. I’d be shocked if anyone thinks this game is revolutionary or worth sinking dozens of hours into. By that same token, I’d expect that I could put a joycon into the hand of anyone out there and they’d instantly be able to pick this title up, play it, and have a fun time with it. With that, I’d say if you’ve got a few bucks to spare and you’re a big fan of Super Dodge Ball, hockey, or have a few friends coming over check it out.